8 MCU Characters Who Could Be In The Thunderbolts Movie

While she was never part of Thunderbolts in any of their comic book iterations, it would make sense for Yelena Belova to be part of the MCU Thunderbolts line-up.

Just like the US Agent, Yelena was recruited by the mysterious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine with a mission to assassinate Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, for his role in the death of Yelena’s sister, Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow.

When approached by Valentina at Natasha’s grave, Yelena suggested the pair have already had a working relationship, saying: “You’re not supposed to be bothering me on my holiday time, Valentina”. In events seen in the Hawkeye series, it later transpired that Belova had been hired by Kingpin, who just happens to be the most recent leader of the comic book Thunderbolts.

This seems too much of a coincidence to not point at a version of events where Yelena is a member of the anti-hero group, probably serving a similar role to that of Black Widow in the Avengers. With the relative low performance of the Black Widow movie but the strong audience reaction to the Yelena character, it would make more sense to feature her in more upcoming team-up pictures rather than any solo storylines.

With her morally ambiguous background as an assassin, martial arts master and wise-cracking personality, Yelena Belova would make a great addition to the Thunderbolts.