Black Widow's Hawkeye & Yelena Belova's Future Set Up

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Black Widow.

Here's how Black Widow sets up the connected futures for Yelena Belova and Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The twenty-fourth MCU movie's importance in the grand scheme of the shared universe has been questioned almost ever since it was announced. The MCU timeline places Black Widow during Captain America: Civil War, seven years before Black Widow's death in Avengers: Endgame. Since fans already know how her story ends, Black Widow's role in setting up the MCU's future largely pertains to its other characters.

The very end of Black Widow sees Natasha work with her Russian spy family to actually bring down Dreykov and the Red Room after she believed this was accomplished during her time in Budapest. This event results in Yelena, Alexei, and Melina fleeing with the other Widows and Taskmaster before Thunderbolt Ross arrives to arrest Natasha. However, Black Widow then jumps forward two weeks to show that Natasha helped Steve Rogers with the jailbreak at the end of Captain America: Civil War, freeing Hawkeye, Falcon, Ant-Man, and Scarlet Witch out of The Raft. The movie is otherwise relatively self-contained in its narrative, which is partially due to its prequel setting, but that all changes with the post-credits scene.

Viewers who stay through Black Widow's credits are treated to an extra scene featuring Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. It sets up her immediate MCU future and connects her to a previously rumored appearance in the Hawkeye Disney+ series. Based on the scene, Yelena and Hawkeye's MCU futures are tied together. But, it might not go as fans would've expected and sets up some intriguing possibilities for Hawkeye.

Black Widow's Post-Credits Confirms Yelena's Return In Hawkeye

Black widow post credits scene Yelena Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine Hawkeye Ronin

Black Widow's post-credits scene begins with a moment fans have been hoping to see ever since Natasha's death was rather quickly passed over in Avengers: Endgame. Yelena takes a trip with her dog to a cemetery in America's Midwest, where Alexei and Melina raised her and Natasha as children. The movie then shows the tombstone for Natasha, which reads that she was a daughter, sister, and Avenger. What starts as a potential heartfelt scene of Yelena paying respects to her fallen sister is cut short when Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) appears. Yelena mentions that Valentina isn't supposed to contact her during her time off and jokes about wanting a raise. However, Valentina gives Yelena her next mission, which confirms that she'll return in Hawkeye.

Before Black Widow's release and this post-credits scene, Yelena's involvement in Hawkeye was only rumored. Marvel Studios confirmed multiple cast members for the series, but Florence Pugh was not among them. She now officially joins a cast led by Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye and Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop. They'll be joined by Vera Farmiga as Kate Bishop's mother, Fra Fee as The Clown, Tony Dalton as Swordsman, Alaqua Cox as Echo, Zahn McClarnon as Echo's father, and Brian d'Arcy James as an unconfirmed character.

Black Widow Sets Up Yelena To Be Hawkeye's Villain

Yelena Belova and Clint Barton as Hawkeye

Yelena's role in Hawkeye is plainly set up to be a villain in the eyes of Clint Barton. MCU fans already know that Valentina is not the most trustworthy nor heroic person after her brief appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This automatically makes Yelena working for Valentina a potentially worrying indication of what she's been up to since Black Widow's ending and where her future is heading. But, she's now been hired by Valentina to take out Hawkeye and get revenge on the person responsible for Natasha Romanoff's death. This clearly sets up Yelena on a mission to take out Clint when she arrives in Hawkeye. Whether or not she's successful is up for debate (and we'll touch on that more later on), but there's no doubt that Clint won't walk into a friendship with Natasha's "sister."

Hawkeye Is Blamed For Black Widow's Death In The MCU

Hawkeye and Black Widow in Avengers Endgame.

Another takeaway from Black Widow's post-credits scene is the possible belief that Hawkeye is to blame for Black Widow's death in Avengers: Endgame. Valentina sells Yelena on the hit job by positioning Clint as the one who is responsible for her death on Vormir in Avengers: Endgame. Viewers know that Natasha made this choice on her own. Clint was more than willing to die so she could live and bring the Soul Stone back to the Avengers, but Natasha made a last-second jump to save him. While people in the real world know exactly what happened on Vormir, characters inside the MCU have no idea. The only person who can truly say what happened is Clint Barton, so there's a chance that some people believe that Natasha didn't willingly die on the planet. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Clint was murdering members of the cartel and Yakuza who survived the snap, so his judgment might be in question after Avengers: Endgame. Then again, perhaps this was just Valentina's way of manipulating Yelena into doing her bidding. Still, Yelena accepting the mission indicates that at least a part of her believes there is truth in what the Contessa is saying.

Will Hawkeye Kill Off Clint Barton?

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton with Kate Bishop in Hawkeye Show Concept Art

Yelena hunting down Clint Barton in Hawkeye raises a massive question about Jeremy Renner's MCU future: Will the Disney+ show kill the sharpshooter? Black Widow made it clear that Yelena is incredibly skilled in combat and capable of being more ruthless than Natasha was. This is solidified with the knowledge that she's working with Valentina and accepting hit job missions. Marvel Studios could be telling this story as a means to kill off one more original Avenger. Hawkeye introduces Clint's replacement with Kate Bishop, so taking Clint off the board would solidify her place as the MCU's future Hawkeye. However, this would also emphatically confirm a villainous turn in Yelena's future. Marvel might instead be setting up fans for a throwdown between two important people in Natasha's life only to see them reconcile their differences and connect over their adoration of her. It even gives the MCU a great opportunity to flip Hawkeye's original encounter with Black Widow. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent him to kill Natasha before making another call, so Yelena could similarly flip her allegiance in Hawkeye and go against Valentina's kill order.

Is Yelena The MCU's New Black Widow?

Natasha and Yelena standing amongst the ruins in Black Widow

Due to Black Widow's set up for Yelena to be the villain of Hawkeye, that does leave her status as the MCU's next Black Widow up in the air. It was previously said that the solo film passed the baton from Natasha to Yelena, but that transition isn't as apparent by the end of the movie as some would've expected. Considering Yelena is completely removed from the Red Room program, presumably freed the rest of the Widows from Dreykov's mind control, and is now working for Valentina, there aren't many signs pointing to her taking on the Black Widow title right away. Marvel Studios could slow play this part of her character development, though, with Clint Barton even potentially being the one to convince her to take the title after their encounter in Hawkeye.

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