In recent years, many new Black Widow assassins have been introduced to the MCU, and even more are on the way in upcoming projects. Back in the MCU’s Phase 1, Scarlett Johansson debuted as Natasha Romanoff, a SHIELD agent who operated under the codename, Black Widow. For a while, it was thought that she was the only Black Widow in the MCU, but it soon became clear that she was one of many, though it took Marvel Studios a long time to actually introduce any of Romanoff’s Black Widow sisters.

2021’s Black Widow uncovered new details about the history of the titular Black Widow. Abducted when young girls by General Dreykov and trained in the Red Room to be master assassins and elite secret operatives, the Black Widows of the MCU are incredibly powerful and highly-skilled. Despite Natasha Romanoff’s death in Avengers: Endgame, the moniker of Black Widow is still a prominent fixture in the MCU, as some of the lesser-known Black Widows have taken on a more crucial role in the MCU’s recent and upcoming projects.

10. Ruth Bat-Seraph Is A Former Black Widow In Captain America: Brave New World

Shira Haas Will Debut As Ruth Bat-Seraph In 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World

Israeli actor Shira Haas was confirmed to have been cast as Ruth Bat-Seraph’s Sabra in Captain America: Brave New World back in September 2022. This was exciting news, as Sabra is a mutant in Marvel Comics, but, since then, unfolding events surrounding Israel and Palestine have made this casting controversial. In an effort to assuage any concern, Marvel Studios has recently revealed that Ruth Bat-Seraph will be removed from her roots in the Israeli Mossad, and will instead be a former Black Widow in the MCU.

Ruth Bat-Seraph will still be Israeli in Captain America: Brave New World, but this won’t be the core focus of her character. Instead, making her a former Black Widow is a fantastic way to connect her better to the wider world of the MCU, and better establish the concept of the shared universe, as it makes complete sense that freed Black Widows would pop up in various other MCU projects. Bat-Seraph will be working for President Ross and the United States government in Brave New World, so could have a crucial role in the upcoming Phase 5 movie.

9. Oksana Freed Yelena Belova From The Red Room’s Mind Control

Michelle Lee Played Oksana In 2021’s Black Widow

Most of the MCU’s newest Black Widows were, funnily enough, introduced in 2021’s Black Widow. The Phase 4 project revealed that Black Widow assassins had been chemically mind-controlled by General Dreykov to carry out heinous acts, but some former Black Widows had already started to revolt, and had devised a way to break this control. Michelle Lee’s Oksana was one of these figures, but this made her a target for the still-controlled Black Widows, including Yelena Belova, who ultimately killed her.

Moments before her death, however, Oksana managed to break Yelena Belova free of Dreykov’s control. She entrusted Yelena with her mission, which was certainly the right decision, as Oksana’s goal of all the Black Widows being freed eventually came to fruition. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there to witness this occurring, but she played a pivotal role in Yelena Belova’s own MCU story.

8. Ingrid Was Killed After Chasing Natasha Romanoff & Yelena Belova

Nanna Blondell Played Ingrid In 2021’s Black Widow

Similarly to Oksana, Nanna Blondell’s Ingrid also didn’t make it out of Black Widow alive. Ingrid wasn’t freed from General Dreykov’s mind control before her demise, however, but had an even more tragic fate. Yelena Belova’s former partner on the mission to eliminate Oksana, Ingrid was assigned to Yelena upon her meeting with Natasha Romanoff in Budapest. Ingrid chased down the surrogate sisters over rooftops and in the streets, but eventually became mortally wounded after falling from a building.

Instead of leaving her to die, however, General Dreykov decided not to keep Ingrid alive. Finding no use in keeping her alive, Dreykov used the mind control to force Ingrid to commit suicide by shooting herself with her Widow’s Bite. This proved the terrifying extent of Dreykov’s control over the Black Widows, as he could even force them to pay the ultimate price, which only spurred Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova on even more.

7. Helen Takahama Joined The Golden Daggers Club After Being Freed

Jade Xu Last Played Helen Takahama In 2021’s Shang-Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings

Aside from Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, Jade Xu’s Helen Takahama has been the most regularly-seen Black Widow assassin in the MCU. Helen was first seen as a Black Widow inside the Red Room in the eponymous Phase 4 movie, and she was featured as a key player in the epic fight between Romanoff and the other Black Widows in the movie’s final act. Helen was subsequently freed from General Dreykov’s mind control by Yelena Belova, and she reappeared later to help Yelena on her new mission.

Helen Takahama was later seen in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. She can be seen fighting an Extremis-enhanced soldier in Xu Xialing’s Golden Daggers Club in Macau, suggesting she may have abandoned Yelena Belova’s mission to free the other Black Widows, or is perhaps scouting out a mind-controlled Black Widow in China waiting to be freed. This appearance proved that, after Black Widow, these former assassins have spread out globally, meaning they could pop up anywhere.

6. Melina Vostokoff Was A High-Ranking Black Widow

Rachel Weisz Played Melina Vostokoff In 2021’s Black Widow

Rachel Weisz debuted as Melina Vostokoff in Black Widow, introduced as a surrogate mother to Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, and a high-ranking Black Widow working for the Red Room. Vostokoff was the mastermind behind the chemical mechanism that allowed General Dreykov to control the Black Widow assassins, which was implemented after Romanoff’s defection to SHIELD. However, she later reunited with Romanoff, Belova, and Alexei Shostakov’s Red Guardian to bring down the Red Room and liberate the Black Widows.

As a member of Natasha Romanoff’s unusual family, Melina Vostokoff could play a huge part in the MCU’s future. While she hasn’t yet been confirmed to be returning, it’s possible she may be featured in Thunderbolts*, as both Yelena Belova and Alexei Shostakov will be included in the titular superhero team. In Marvel Comics, Melina becomes the supervillain known as Iron Maiden, which could be an interesting evolution for her in the MCU, particularly since Black Widow showed both her good and bad sides.

Marvel Comics’ Melina Vostokoff was not Black Widow’s adoptive mother, but was actually an agent of the Russian government who lived in Natalia Romanova’s shadow and grew to hate her.

5. Sonya Helped Yelena Belova Free Other Black Widows

Yssa Mei Panganiban Played Sonya In 2021’s Hawkeye Episode 5, “Ronin”

Although not seen in Black Widow, Yssa Mei Panganiban’s Sonya was revealed to be a former Black Widow in 2021’s Hawkeye. During the opening moments of episode 5, “Ronin,” Yelena Belova and Sonya infiltrate the home of another former Black Widow, Ana, in the hopes of breaking her free from General Dreykov’s mind-control. Realizing Ana was already free, however, Sonya and Yelena revealed their mission to her to free the other Black Widows, only moments before Yelena Belova fell victim to Thanos’ snap.

After Yelena’s disappearance, Sonya decided to engage in contract work with Ana, building a normal life for herself. She presumably put her Black Widow skills to work as a paid assassin, though nothing is known about her actions after Hawkeye, as Ana only reveals that Sonya left her home “in a much less dramatic fashion” than Yelena. It could be assumed that Sonya is now living a regular life, far removed from her past life as a Black Widow.

4. Ana Helped Yelena Belova After The Blip

Annie Hamilton Played Ana In 2021’s Hawkeye Episode 5, “Ronin”

The Black Widow who Yelena Belova and Sonya traveled to free in Hawkeye was Annie Hamilton’s Ana. Unbeknownst to them, Ana came from a class of Black Widows from before Melina Vostokoff and General Dreykov implemented their brainwashing tactics, meaning she was not under Dreykov’s control, and had already defected from the Red Room, similarly to Natasha Romanoff. Instead, Ana had been working as a paid assassin, using the money to cultivate a luxurious lifestyle full of things she could never have as a Black Widow.

During the five-year-long Blip, which began with Yelena Belova disappearing from her bathroom, Ana got married and adopted a daughter. She built a normal family when Black Widows were raised to never have one, with the Red Room even going so far as to perform hysterectomies to ensure the assassins would never become pregnant. Following Yelena’s return in 2023, Ana informed her of the events of the past five years, and presumably had the horrible duty of revealing Natasha Romanoff’s death to Yelena.

Ana’s defection from the Red Room perhaps fell under the radar, unlike Natasha Romanoff’s, since the latter made an attempt on General Dreykov’s life and then became a global celebrity as an Avenger.

3. Antonia Dreykov Was Revealed To Be Taskmaster

Olga Kurylenko Last Played Antonia Dreykov In 2021’s Black Widow

Black Widow finally paid off the tease of “Dreykov’s daughter” from 2012’s The Avengers by revealing that Natasha Romanoff had used General Dreykov’s daughter as bait to lure her father into a trap and eliminate him as part of her defection to SHIELD. While she carried the weight of killing the young girl for decades, Black Widow revealed that Antonia Dreykov had actually survived, and had been transformed into Taskmaster by her father. An elite Black Widow assassin, Taskmaster could mimic the fighting style of anyone just by watching them.

Antonia Dreykov being revealed to be alive provided Natasha Romanoff with a chance of redemption. She chose not to fight Taskmaster, but instead broke her free from her father’s mind-control. Taskmaster had a relatively small role in Black Widow, but Olga Kurylenko is set to return as Antonia Dreykov in 2025’s Thunderbolts*, where she will be featured as a core member of the MCU’s first Thunderbolts team. This could give her a more substantial role in the MCU, perhaps even addressing criticism aimed at her in Black Widow​​​​​​​.

2. Yelena Belova May Be The New Primary Black Widow Of The MCU

Florence Pugh Last Played Yelena Belova In 2021’s Hawkeye Episode 6, “So This Is Christmas?”

Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova seems to have been introduced to the MCU as a replacement for Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow revealed that Romanoff and Belova were childhood sister-figures, growing up together in their fake American family before being taken to the Red Room and trained to be Black Widow assassins. Yelena lived with Romanoff, Alexei Shostakov, and Melina Vostokoff between the ages of three and six, believing them to be her real family, which made her connection and love to them very real.

Yelena Belova helped Romanoff destroy the Red Room in Black Widow, then set out to free other Black Widows across the globe. She was one of Thanos’ victims during the Blip, and learned of her sister’s death upon her return, and set out to kill who she thought was responsible for Romanoff’s demise, Clint Barton. In Hawkeye, Belova ended on a note of redemption with Barton, and built an entertaining friendship with Kate Bishop. Yelena Belova is expected to be a leader in the upcoming Thunderbolts team, setting her up for a huge future in the MCU.

1. Natasha Romanoff Is The Most Iconic Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson Last Played Natasha Romanoff In 2021’s Black Widow

While there have been many Black Widows introduced to the MCU in recent years, Scarlett Johnasson’s Natasha Romanoff will always be the most iconic and recognizable Black Widow. First seen in 2010’s Iron Man 2, SHIELD agent Romanoff went on to become a founding member of the Avengers, battling Loki, Ultron, Zemo, and Thanos alongside some of the universe’s most powerful superheroes. Despite having no superhuman gifts, Romanoff held her own throughout her entire MCU journey, and went out on her own terms.

Avengers: Endgame marked the end of the road for the MCU’s original Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff sacrificed herself on Vormir so that Clint Barton, her best friend, could acquire the Soul Stone to reverse Thanos’ snap. The introduction of so many new Black Widows continues her legacy in the MCU in the best way possible, as her influence in freeing them all is undeniable. Scarlett Johansson is working on a mysterious MCU project, but this isn’t expected to be connected to the world of Black Widow, though it would still be great to see her return.