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Yelena Belova made her MCU debut in Black Widow, with the movie showing her to be a very skilled fighter. Black Widow takes place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a fugitive after abetted Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in violating the Sokovia Accords. Black Widow also follows Natasha teaming with her fellow assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), along with Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) to bring down Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and his Red Room operation.
Black Widow‘s end-credits scene moves into the present after Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame, with Yelena paying her respects at Natasha’s grave. With Yelena being recruited by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Yelena returned in Disney+’s Hawkeye and is set to assume Natasha’s mantle as the MCU’s new Black Widow. With many battles ahead of her, Yelena will need to call upon her vast fighting skills in order to get the job done.
Kali
One of the skills Yelena displays most often in her fight scenes is knife fighting, Yelena often going straight for the kill against an enemy. Yelena’s knife-fighting skills are primarily drawn from the Filipino art of Kali (also known as Eskrima and Arnis), which is heavy on both knife and stick fighting. In Black Widow, Florence Pugh’s Yelena often fights in close-quarters combat with her opponents, with Yelena closing the distance in order to nullify her enemies defense’s to slash and stab them. Yelena is still very versatile with her skills in Kali and is able to hold her own with a blade at a mid-range distance too. Though Black Widow‘s fight scenes are not terribly bloody, Yelena’s Kali-based blade work fits them well with her skills as an assassin.
Krav Maga
When Yelena fights her opponents hand-to-hand, she also shows herself to be skilled in the Israeli art of Krav Maga. Created by Imi Lichtenfeld in the late ’40s, Krav Maga was developed as a system of practical self-defense for the Israeli military, with Lictenfeld forming the art from elements of boxing, judo, karate, and other martial arts. In Krav Maga, the practitioner seeks to end the confrontation with the minimal amount of technique necessary. Throughout her mission in Black Widow, Yelena clearly displays this methodology of fighting against numerous opponents.
Like Kali, Krav Maga also frequently involves close-quarters fighting to disable the opponent, while Yelena’s techniques of disarming her enemies weapons also resemble those of Krav Maga. Though predicated on self-defense first and foremost, Krav Maga also fits well with Yelena’s assassin background.
Judo
In Black Widow and Hawkeye, another skill Yelena shows is her talent for throwing her opponents, with Judo being one of the martial arts most closely associated with throwing. While many different schools of Judo exist, they all share the same essential principle of redirecting an opponent’s attacks with throws and sweeps, with Judo itself translating as “The Gentle Way“. While Yelena can stand her ground with her knife work and strikes against her opponents, her small stature leaves her vulnerable to being overpowered by larger enemies.
As the MCU’s new Black Widow, Yelena‘s skills in Judo come in very handy due to her less imposing frame. Yelena even puts her Judo skills to use against Natasha in their fight scene, with Yelena using a sacrifice throw to divert Natasha’s incoming attack. As a path of least resistance type of martial art, Judo is a very effective tool in the hands of a petite assassin like Yelena.
Tae Kwon Do
While Yelena is less prone to kicking her opponents than Natasha is, she still clearly knows how to throw a strong kick when she needs to, and Korean Tae Kwon Do is the art she draws upon to do so. Translating as “The Way of Fist and the Foot“, Tae Kwon Do places strong emphasis on kicking. Like most martial arts, Tae Kwon Do has numerous different schools and methodologies of training, with some being flashier and others more traditional. Natasha’s own fighting style as Black Widow makes use more gymnastically-inclined forms of Tae Kwon Do.
Yelena’s fighting style seems to rely more on traditional Tae Kwon Do, with Yelena putting her opponents down with a powerful roundhouse kick or front kick as she needs to. Still, Yelena will also take a dive into the flashier side of Tae Kwon Do, with some of her kicks similar to Natasha’s. When the chips are down, Yelena’s kicks often emerge as her secret weapon of fighting.
With Black Widow and Hawkeye being Yelena’s very first appearances in the MCU, it is entirely possible that the full spectrum of her skills as a martial artist have not been revealed yet. With Yelena joining Marvel’s Thunderbolts, she will surely face many more formidable opponents. Even so, Yelena’s roles in Black Widow and Hawkeye have given a vivid glimpse into her skill set as both an assassin and a warrior.
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