The Black Widow movie introduced the Red Room, the location where Natasha Romanoff received her training as a child. In both the comics and movie, the Red Room is part of the Black Widow Program, which is a top-secret Soviet brainwashing and training program that brings in young girls and turns them into the world’s deadliest assassins.
In Black Widow, the Red Room still existed with several Black Widow trainees, although most remain interchangeable. There have been Red Room members spotlighted in both Black Widow, Marvel’s Agent Carter, and the comics in which they originated. Red Room trainees and trainers prove to be some of the deadliest assassins in the world, powerful adversaries in the MCU.
Niko Constantin
The trainees of the Red Room are all young girls, but the Black Widow Program tried to train a boy at one time, to disastrous results. Niko Constantin was the only male trainee in the history of the Black Widow Program, the organization’s version of the Winter Soldier.
Called the Wolf Spider, Niko was powerful and dangerous in his own right, killing several targets, but he ended up impossible to control. Thanks to this, the program considered him a failure, and he ended up locked away in a gulag, holding a grudge against the entire system.
Ying Liu
The Black Widow Ops Program brought Ying Liu to the Red Room when she was a young girl, although it is unclear how young she was when she entered the program. She stands out as one of the most intelligent members of the Red Room. While not as powerful as a fighter as many others, she was useful as a scientist and biochemist.
Ying Liu couldn’t beat Nadia Pym when sent to retrieve her, but she proved to be a great warrior when she defected and joined up with Nadia as former Red Room trainees fighting on the side of good.
Dottie Underwood
Dottie Underwood was a Red Room assassin that acted as a villain in Marvel’s Agent Carter. She was undercover when the series began and became close friends with Agent Carter while working for Leviathan, a Soviet-run deep science and espionage agency.
Dottie escaped and became a free agent, although she came into conflict with Agent Carter again. The Russian spy proved her power when she escaped again and remained free when the series ended. Throughout the series, she killed several agents and spies.
Eva
Eva is a Red Room trainee from the MCU, appearing in the series Marvel’s Agent Carter. Dottie was dangerous in the series, but Eva was scary and proved powerful assassins live in the most unlikely of packages. Eva was a young girl, a pre-teen luring in the enemies and killing them.
She stabbed Dum Dum Dugan with a knife before escaping. Eva also proved to be as capable as many adult heroes and villains when she killed Howling Commandos member Junior Juniper and Agent Mike Li. She also injured Howling Commandos member Happy Sam Sawyer and proved how powerful she was when she escaped again, avoiding capture.
Nadia Van Dyne
Nadia Pym is Hank Pym’s daughter with his first wife Maria. Hank didn’t know she existed; his new wife was kidnapped during their honeymoon and killed. Nadia grew up in the Red Room, becoming one of their legion of young assassins. Nadia, like Ying Liu, became a scientist and the two became friends.
It was Nadia that escaped first and helped Ying also defect. Nadia remains stronger than many Red Room assassins because she used her father’s Pym Particles to become the new Wasp. This allows her the size reduction and growth skills that turned her from a spy into a superhero.
Melina Vostokoff
Melina Vostokoff appears in both the Black Widow movie and the comics, but the characters are very different. In the movie, she once portrayed Natasha’s mother and was a scientist developing mind-control tech for the Red Room. In the comics, she was a Red Room assassin that always lived in Black Widow’s shadow and grew to hate her.
Melina Vostokoff became Iron Maiden in the comics, an assassin that wanted to kill Black Widow to prove her superiority. She added an iron costume to increase her power levels above most other Red Room assassins, although she always fell short in battles with Black Widow.
Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova also received a different origin in the Black Widow movie. In the movie, she was Natasha’s younger sister, although not by blood relation. The girls grew up in the United States in a fake Russian sleeper cell family. Yelena, however, didn’t know the truth until she returned to the Red Room.
In the comics, she was a Red Room trainee who scored higher than Natasha in average test results. Yelena, however, only received the physical training and not the mental conditioning, causing her to turn on the Red Room. She is second in power to only Black Widow concerning Red Room trainees.
Ursa Major
Ursa Major is a Russian mutant. When the Soviet Union trained all mutants as potential agents, Ursa Major was one of the first and became a Soviet Super-Soldier. The Red Room returned and after Captain America killed Black Widow in Secret Empire, the Red Room tasked Ursa Major with controlling Natasha’s clone. Ursa used her to bring the Red Room down.
As a mutant, Ursa Major is one of the most powerful people connected with the Red Room. His power allows him to transform into a giant red bear with his full level of intelligence.
Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, a former military soldier who worked with Captain America during World War II. However, Captain America fell, ending up frozen for decades. Bucky also fell, feared dead. The Soviet Union found him and turned him into a super-soldier, brainwashing him and turning him into an assassin.
They also used him to train girls brought into the Red Room, including Black Widow. In modern times, Winter Soldier and Black Widow are allies. He is one of the most powerful fighters ever to work for the Red Room, second to only Black Widow.
Black Widow
The Black Widow Ops Program created one of Marvel’s deadliest and most powerful assassins. Natasha Romanova entered the Red Room as an infant and was raised to become its greatest asset. However, after battling Iron Man and working as a secret agent, Black Widow defected and became a hero, an eventual Avenger.
Natasha in the comics is also more than a superspy. She is a superhero, and in the Red Room received biochemical enhancements that gave her superhuman fighting abilities, healing factor, and enhanced longevity.