Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day sees the MCU officially label Yelena as the franchise’s next Black Widow, and in doing so covertly explains why she wasn’t immediately officially referred to by that title. The MCU timeline is just starting to explore the concept of legacy mantles, with Sam Wilson having become the new Captain America, and with Kate Bishop in line to become the MCU’s next Hawkeye.
2026 has confirmed another MCU mantle is getting its due time as a legacy mantle passed between heroes thanks to its exploration of the Black Widow mantle, and Yelena’s role as the new bearer of the title. Of course, this is made all the more interesting by the fact that the Black Widow mantle has technically gone empty for several years in-universe following Natasha Romanoff’s death in Avengers: Infinity War.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day does an admirable job of changing this with its own story, while also subtly nodding at why the Black Widow mantle changing hands hasn’t happened for the MCU until now, providing an effective update on a major hero title in a manner that feels fitting for the film and franchise, rather than simply being fanservice for those curious about what will happen next with the Black Widow title and mythos.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Officially Confirms Yelena Is The New MCU Black Widow
Spider-Man: Brand New Day sees MJ and Ned Leeds be responsible for a whole range of major moments in the movie, but one of the easiest to miss is when, after Spider-Man takes a call with Yelena in MJ and Ned’s apartment, Ned excitedly mentions Spider-Man was talking to Black Widow.
Since Ned is established as a major superhero buff – to the point he creates an app to track Spider-Man through New York because he’s so fascinated by the vigilante – it seems unlikely that the character would have made an error in mentioning mantle here, meaning this serves as a form of confirmation that Yelena has officially taken on her sister’s hero mantle in the MCU.
Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that Yelena may not have actively chosen to take on the Black Widow title herself, but rather could have simply started to be called that by the general public, or by those aware of her ties to her sister Natasha and how she came into the hero world around the time of the prior Black Widow’s death. That said, this is still a fascinating update for the franchise for more than one reason.
Yelena’s MCU Arc Perfectly Explains Why She Wasn’t Officially Confirmed As Black Widow For So Long
Though many thought Yelena would pick up the Black Widow title right after Natasha’s passing, it does make sense that her sister didn’t lean into this concept, given what the title means, and where Yelena was at around the time of Romanoff’s death.
First and foremost, the Black Widow mantle has a complex legacy given its ties to the Red Room, and the torture and abuse those who were taken in for training went through. This explains Yelena not taking on the Black Widow title to honor her sister immediately after Natasha’s death perhaps best, as the name has some sour associations for her – though Natasha having gone by the codename would likely prevent Yelena from actively having issue with it when people like Ned may have begun calling her it.
On a similar note, Yelena wasn’t actively serving as a superhero per se up until the ending of Thunderbolts*, which would have discouraged her from taking on the Black Widow mantle to besmirch it, so to speak, with her own more morally complex dealings.
Now Yelena is part of the New Avengers going into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though, it makes far more sense for her to at least be comfortable taking on the title whether she fully chose to or not, and makes far more sense for people in the MCU to draw comparisons between her and Natasha that see them label her the next Black Widow.
