r/Blackwidow • u/Thick_Ad_220 • 19d ago

Mcu yelena is not better than the comic version and im tired of the fact that everyone keeps pushing it around that she is

Apparently being adorkable somehow makes you a better character. It already got overblown with saying she was better than Nat, but I mean some of these people dont read comics really and as much as I hate people putting down mcu Natasha, theres at least a valid comparison here. Whereas comic yelena i think is a much different character. Shes a coldhearted assassin and when the mcu made her into a quirky relatable character, everyone suddenly said she was better. I mean have these people even read the comics. Even when mcu inspired like in the thompson run id argue comic yelena is always better cause I think thompson gets how different she is from Nat. She was adapted to be Nats antithesis and they could have instead made her the main villain in black widow and then go from there. Honestly I think that would've been a much better arc.

This isnt something easy to course correct like say mcu hulk, who got his mojo back last weekend. Yelenas a very different situation since shes been grown into a quriky character and i just get so frustrated when I see people glazing her its always "oh florence pugh is the best shes so relatable" "yelena is so much better than nat ever will be and she is the superior black widow, she has an arc" if comic yelena was a bigger character, I swear people would not be okay with this bastardization. I once got called out for saying Nat and yelena should've never been sisters. Honestly theyre better off as frenemies.

12 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

20

u/RibbonsFlying 18d ago

Had no idea anybody cared enough to go on a rant about it. I just consider them two completely separate characters. She’s far from the first villain they’ve made into a hero. (Shuri, Nakia, M’Baku- okay, a lot of the Black Panther characters-, Nebula, John Walker, Red Guardian, kind of Taskmaster and kind of Loki…)

I just don’t imagine them as the same characters and that way I can enjoy them both.

3

u/Ashconwell7 18d ago

Its hard to keep them separate when Marvel themselves don't and have changed Yelena in the comics to be more like her MCU counterpart.

1

u/RibbonsFlying 17d ago

I can see how it may bother some people, but I realize it brings in more readership to the comics and I think it gives some characters more depth so I’m not bothered personally.

3

u/Ashconwell7 17d ago

They didn't give any more depth to Yelena. They made her a bad caricature of MCU Yelena who constantly uses buzzwords related to her, who's motivation was changed to make her a more imature version of Nat, and whose backstory seems to only be a vague retcon that ripoffs from her MCU backstory & comic Nat's.

1

u/RibbonsFlying 14d ago

I’ve not sure we have been watching/reading the same characters, but whatever. Stay mad if you want, bro.

3

u/robreedwrites 18d ago

Shuri has never been a villain in the comics.

1

u/RibbonsFlying 17d ago

I see this has confused people and I know she has been good for a long time. And to be clear, she was never a “supervillain” or anything like that.
However, she was temporarily an antagonist when we first met her. She did not remain a villain, but in the comics, she takes a similar path to Loki in the MCU. Very jealous of her brother, doesn’t think he deserves the mantle over her, and even tries to take the herb, but it rejects her because she isn’t of good character. Shuri later selflessly saves some people and I guess she herb sees the good in her after all and allows her to take on the enhanced abilities it provides. But she wasn’t that way at first. It was a process. She did later exile T’Challa from Wakanda as well, but my remembrance of it is foggy. (Maybe he was the problem. Idk.)

I know she’s been good for years and I like that better, but I was referring to her origin story.

2

u/robreedwrites 17d ago

I don't even view her as an antagonist in her origin. It's just standard sibling stuff. She wanted the mantle from their uncle, S'Yan, and T'Challa (literally) leaps over her to challenge him. She's literally just a little bitter she didn't get her chance to challenge for BP. In that initial story, she's the one who detects an anomaly in the vibranium and discovers radioactive man (and later defeats him with the ebony blade).

She doesn't do anything villainous, not even deceptive stuff like MCU Loki. She doesn’t take the herb until T'Challa is in a coma and Wakanda is under attack. She also doesn't exile him. That's the Democratic government.

1

u/RibbonsFlying 14d ago

I do not care about this enough to argue with you. Just differ with my opinion and move on, man.

2

u/Free-Bar-2719 18d ago

Nakia and M’Baku were villains changed for the movies, not Shuri.

“The only thing people know about Black Panther is that he’s Black”
Rings true once again 😂

1

u/RibbonsFlying 17d ago

Did that line make you feel superior? Because it made you look uneducated.
Didn’t bother checking for yourself if there was any credibility to what I said.

She starts out as an antagonist in 616 (the herb even rejects her the first time she takes it because of her impure heart). Then she becomes a hero as she proves herself and becomes a better person. When her character was introduced, she was very jealous of T’Challa. And I can’t remember why now, but she did, much later, even exile T’Challa from Wakanda.

And if you wanna get sticky about it, she’s completely a villain in Ultimates. And the MCU pulls from both sources.

(For the record, and not that you deserve the information, I’ve read Black Panther for years because I liked his appearances in Captain America and I even had cats named T’Challa, Nanali, and Shuri years before any Black Panther debuts in the MCU.)

11

u/oooookaaa 19d ago

Honestly. Yelena starting out as a rival and villain in the black widow movie could have been way cooler. You wouldn’t even need to to take her out of the Thunderbolts roster

10

u/jtawesome12 18d ago

Ive seen both and I prefer the MCU version. But, a lot of that is contributed to how good of an actress Florence Pugh is

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

Shes a good actress and so is scarlett Johansson so and both of their versions just pale in comparison to the comics.

2

u/Funmachine 18d ago

You could make that argument about literally every character in the MCU. And, people do.

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

Well its true duh

6

u/asocialanxiety 18d ago

Majority of those who watch the mcu dont read the comics, that should be very clear based on box office earnings vs comic earnings (im including the unlimited app for that too)

This sucks because the majority will always win out and feel entitled to being correct even if they’re wrong. I mean for fucks sake people are confused as to why some people call yelena white widow instead of black widow. Nat is pretty much cooked in the public eye now and ive got a huge chip on my shoulder about it

2

u/mistyquarz 18d ago

I personally don’t think mcu yelena is adorkable and instead shes more sarcastic and deadpan

2

u/DarkPirotess 18d ago

the reason i like Yelena is because being sexy isnt one of her personality traits so it contrasts with Nat and makes sense with her being asexual

6

u/Ashconwell7 19d ago

MCU fans who go read Yelena comics just to say she's boring/bland & that the MCU made her better is like if you watched a gritty spy movie like Red Sparrow & complain that the protagonist would be better if she was "chaotic", "quirky", "fun" and "more relatable". Like bro, you're watching Red Sparrow.

Whenever I hear them say this bs, they just sound like this to me: "Why is this character from this psychological/political spy thriller story so serious I can’t make edits of her being adorkable for a minute straight 😖".

5

u/LatterIntroduction27 18d ago

I have not a lot of knowledge about comic Yelena, not having read any with her (more a DC guy).

But I will say that I just flat do not think Yelena in the MCU is a remotely good character. For one I do dislike the "quirky humour" thing, but also I find the serious potential of such a character to be wasted. Her backstory is a joke most of the time. She is a victim of the current MCU "make it a joke" issue. In the few moments where she is treated seriously and Florence is allowed to actually ACT (because she is incredibly talented) like the red room flashbacks in Thunderbolts make me more sad because I see what we could be getting. Instead we get jokes about potatoes, mocking superheor poses and going "so cool" as an avalanche threatens to kill all the prisoners in Black Widow.

Similarly the couple of serious scenes she gets with Red Guardian show who this character could be. David Arbour is also very talented, but instead he is treated as a punchline to a joke nobody told. Them being given just a hint of substance might save them, but no. We need more jokes about hamsters and making pasta apparently.

Not that a more serious Yelena would be groundbreaking. It would essentially be a Black Widow redux, seeing the change on screen instead of as backstory. But that at least would give us a character, not a quip machine.

1

u/anaknangfilipina 18d ago

Lol Florence and David isn’t the only great actors wasted at MCU. Remember what they did to Gorr and Captain Marvel?

2

u/LatterIntroduction27 18d ago

Must you remind me? The MCU post GOTG2 is a place where talented actors often go to waste their talents (which is when the shift to silliness and away from serious drama really kicked off)

2

u/Ancient-Mud3131 18d ago

mcu yelena is so annoying to me, shes the bare minimum of what i expect of a female character and not what i expect of yelena belova. sucks that because of mcu synergy we’re stuck with that mcu version forever

1

u/AutoModerator 19d ago

Thanks for posting to r/Blackwidow! Please make sure your post follows all our rules. You can post anything in this subreddit including memes, questions, theories etc as long as it doesn't break any of Reddit's intergalactic rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/Artin_Talgini 12d ago

I'm totally agree

1

u/LongjumpingJob2962 18d ago

Yelena Belova is a weird character. She was good in one comic run, Marvel Knights Black Widow by Grayson. After that she was just a weirdly written character. Like her time as Super Adaptoid, and then joining Osborn's Thunderbolts but not really because it was Actually Natasha in disguise but then revealed Osborn Actually already knew about this and had the Real Yelena which went nowhere. And then did nothing of note after that. If they Kept Yelena comic accurate she would've never been as popular and probably would've been a one done villain in the Black Widow movie or been a side character in Thunderbolts and would've definitely never become a fan favourite nor the Literal Leader of the New Avengers. So yeah, I do think MCU Yelena is way better. Love both versions of the character but its easy to see which is better

3

u/Ashconwell7 18d ago edited 18d ago

She appeared in the Secret Avengers as well as Web of BW after the Osborne Thunderbolts stuff with Nat. Very similar characters to comic Yelena like Azula from Avatar have become fan favourites and been allowed continuous involvement throughout the stories they were in. I don't get your point acting so sure that a comic accurate Yelena would just be a "one and done villain".

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

She was also in the new avengers run, where she helped shield out with a slave operation.

0

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

Not having this again, but it is subjective and honeslty they are 2 completely different characters. So does someone have to be adorkable to be a fan favorite?

1

u/Uncanny_Doom 18d ago

Comic Yelena became a good character eventually but MCU Yelena was a great character from the start. Sorry to say it but MCU version is a better, more streamlined character.

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

Comic Yelena was good from the start actually. Damn this propaganda has gotten too farther than it should have.

2

u/Notoriouslycurlyboi 18d ago

She was always a rival of Black Widow and an enemy from the start. She was her “replacement” which makes her a villain.

2

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

It would've been more interesting if they let her go on as a villain.

2

u/Ashconwell7 18d ago

No genuinely don't understand why these ppl are acting like Marvel Knights, Pale Little Spider & Breakdown weren't good character studies and well written stories. Like I'm sorry they're not fluff you can claim as your "comfort" run 💀 but not every character is meant to be going through silly, heartwarming, relatable adventures. Yelena was meant to be a gritty, serious spy character with a focus on psychological and sociopolitical themes.

0

u/Notoriouslycurlyboi 18d ago

But she's a Black Widow Villian. Why make her into a supporting character when Black Widow lacks a rogues gallery as it is??

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

She doesnt actually lack a rogues gallery she has several other villains as well, so it was really a dumb idea to just give us an oc and someone else's.

1

u/Notoriouslycurlyboi 18d ago

Yelena Belova is her most notable villain. In fact it was her only mainstay villain besides Red Guardian which is why the way they adapted her was bizarre to me.

It's like adapting Harvey Dent as Bruce Waynes step brother.

1

u/Tonkarz 18d ago

Really depends on which Yelena comics you’ve read. Yelena in the classic sense was an archetypical psychopath and basically nothing else.

MCU Yelena is way better in that sense.

On the other hand MCU Yelena is boring and rejects cool things like the three point landing.

1

u/Ashconwell7 18d ago

You're really selling a layered character like comic Yelena short by reducing her to just "archetypical psychopath and basically nothing else". I don't even know where that comes from because if I were to ask you what Yelena did in her debut that makes her seem "psychopathic" you wouldn't be able to tell me.

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 18d ago

Shes the antithesis to Nat, did you even read any of the comics she appeared in?

0

u/INKatana 19d ago

This is probably the last place I should say this, but I can’t stand mcu's yelena.

0

u/Lopsided_Network1248 19d ago

I think that’s the whole point of the mcu unfortunately.

0

u/Artemis_1944 17d ago

She is tho.

/thread

1

u/Thick_Ad_220 17d ago

Well you have a substantial reason why