Fans may have already pieced this together, but it seems that ‘Black Widow’ sets up Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character was introduced as a second Black Widow who was originally sent to kill Natasha Romanoff, the character that moviegoers have fallen in love with, as portrayed by Scarlett Johansson. But of course, Natasha was killed in ‘Avengers: Endgame’. Pugh’s Yelena will debut in ‘Black Widow’… whenever that comes out. But it seems fans should get used to her presence, as it sounds as though we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the coming years.
Speaking to Empire, director Cate Shortland shared:
“[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction. And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
‘Black Widow’ is currently scheduled to open in theaters on November 6, 2020, depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic works out. Due to the film’s $150-$200 million budget, Disney doesn’t want to just give it away free on Disney+ and is clinging to a theatrical release, but a freakin’ plague kind of limits what they can do.
Marvel Studios hasn’t announced a new Avengers-like gathering. Tony Stark is dead, and the public thinks Captain America/Steve Rogers is as well. The Hulk was seemingly injured beyond recovery. Thor is off-planet. But there are still a number of major players left that could come together if events demand it. (And there surely will… at the very least, we know Doctor Doom will arrive at some point!)
Would you like to see Yelena Belova take over as Black Widow, moving forward?
