The next year, she did a solo turn in her own three-issue miniseries, Black Widow: Pale Little Spider under the mature audience Marvel MAX imprint.

The storyline by writer Greg Rucka and artist Igor Kordey was a flashback to her taking on the mantle of the second modern Black Widow.

She apprehends and eliminates his killer, unaware that both his murder and the investigation were part of a ploy to get Belova to assert herself as the new Black Widow.

[4] Believing herself to be the rightful successor to the "Black Widow" title, Yelena enthusiastically volunteers for a mission that will put her at odds with Natasha, although the meeting and confrontations between the two do not lead to a decisive battle.

Natasha refers to Yelena as "little one" and "russkaya", meaning "Russian", and encourages her to find what makes her unique and her personal identity rather than blindly devote herself to her nation.

"[5] Natasha later subjects Yelena to a cruel but necessary manipulation to shatter her illusions about the "Black Widow" title and teach her the reality of the espionage industry.

[8] Shortly afterward, she barely survives an attack by Sauron, receiving severe burns and being subsequently approached with an offer for revenge against S.H.I.E.L.D.

[9] Belova is genetically altered by the terrorist organization HYDRA, as she had suffered debilitating and disfiguring injuries after her last encounter with the New Avengers in the Savage Land.

[15] After Natasha's escape from the Thunderbolts, Osborn then revealed the true Yelena in stasis to Scourge and warned him that she could be his replacement on the team.

(alongside Andrew Forson, Graviton, Jude the Entropic Man, Mentallo, Superia, and an undercover Taskmaster) as the Minister of State in Bagalia (a country populated by supervillains).

[17] After Captain America's Hydra doppelganger kills Natasha during the Secret Empire storyline, Yelena assumes the Black Widow identity again in her honor.

She travels around the world to destroy Hydra's remnants, attracting the attention of Natasha's former lovers Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.