Black Widow is set during MCU Phase 3 and stars a slightly younger Natasha Romanoff. Here's how old Nat and Yelena are in the movie and when Nat died.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Black Widow.

Here's how old Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) are in Black Widow. Ersatz 'sisters' who were put together as children to be part of a 1990s Russian deep-cover op in Ohio, the adult Natasha and Yelena team up to take down the Red Room in Black Widow. They both face and overcome the demons of their pasts, but Black Widow also acknowledges that Natasha died saving the universe in Avengers: Endgame.

Natasha Romanoff's career as a superhero is well-documented in her 8 MCU appearances as Black Widow. Natasha's career as an espionage agent is less well-known although Black Widow provided the details of how she and Yelena were indoctrinated into the Red Room, and how and why Romanoff eventually chose to defect and join S.H.I.E.L.D., which involved the "Budapest mission" Nat and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) joked about in The Avengers. But from her debut in Iron Man 2 to her death in Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow fought "to do some good in the world" for about 13 years, or roughly one-third of her life.

In Black Widow, Natasha is 32 years old. Captain America: The Winter Soldier established that Romanoff was born in 1984 and Black Widow's prologue introduced young Natasha (Ever Anderson) in 1995 when she was 11 years old. Meanwhile, young Yelena (Violet McGraw) was established to be 6 years old in Black Widow's prologue so she was born in 1989. Yelena is 27 when she reunites with Natasha in Black Widow. In real life, Scarlett Johansson was 34 when Black Widow was filmed, so she played her character as slightly younger in her solo film, while Florence Pugh was 23 during production so Yelena is always older than Pugh, especially in Black Widow's post-credits scene set during MCU Phase 4.

Natasha's death in Avengers: Endgame happened in 2023, when she traveled to Vormir with Hawkeye to retrieve the Soul Stone and learned from the Red Skull (Ross Marquand) that the sacrifice of life has to be made to acquire the Infinity Stone. Natasha chose to be the sacrifice and so, Romanoff was 39 years old when she died, but the time travel in Avengers: Endgame creates a little bit of a complication. Romanoff and Barton used the Quantum Realm to journey back to 2014 so they could beat Thanos (Josh Brolin) to the Soul Stone by 4 years. In 2014, Natasha was 30, which was how old she was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

In Black Widow's post-credits scene, Yelena visits Natasha's grave in an Ohio cemetery when her grieving is interrupted by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), who gives Yelena a mission to target Clint Barton as the person to blame for Natasha's death. This sets up Yelena to appear in Hawkeye on Disney+. Since Yelena paying her respects at her sister's memorial is set in either late 2023 or 2024, Yelena is either 34 or 35 in MCU Phase 4. However, it's unknown whether Yelena was among the billions Thanos killed with his Infinity Stone snap. If she was, then Yelena is actually about 29 or 30 since she would have been dead for 5 years.

Despite the sheer number of violent encounters Black Widow survived against other superspies, supervillains, and aliens, Natasha Romanoff undeniably and tragically died far too young at only 39. Nat left behind no known significant other (she never has any type of romance in any of the movies Black Widow appeared in) and she has no children thanks to the hysterectomy forced upon Romanoff and all other Widows by the Red Room. But Natasha did leave behind two families who loved her: the Avengers and her Russian family introduced in Black Widow that includes Yelena, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz).

Next: How Black Widow Changes The Way You See Infinity War & Endgame