What’s next for Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena Belova (the adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff AKA the Black Widow) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
After substantial roles in the standalone Black Widow film from 2021 and in the Hawkeye TV series on Disney+, the new Black Widow is setting her sights on the upcoming Thunderbolts movie, the MCU’s closest thing to the Suicide Squad. The Thunderbolts are a team of individuals (most of whom can’t be classified accurately as “heroes”) comprised of The Winter Soldier (played by Sebastian Stan), Yelena herself, Ghost (who first appeared in Ant-Man & The Wasp, potrayed by Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker AKA USAgent (Wyatt Russell), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and the Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). The Thunderbolts team will be overseen by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who could last be seen as a CIA director with a flagrant interest in vibranium in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Although Pugh has to remain somewhat surreptitious about what’s in store for her role in Thunderbolts, and admits she isn’t the most knowledgeable about the comic book source material, she’s still grateful and enthusiastic for her next endeavor in the MCU.
“I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say actually! But I just want to say on this topic: I’m incredibly grateful to be moving forward with the MCU,” Pugh said in an interview with GamesRadar. “I’m incredibly grateful to have had the original experience and to be able to step back into that world again in my old character,” Pugh says. “I don’t know much about what we’re shooting or what the storyline is, but I am very lucky to be in this position. That family is a very supportive one. Whatever they give me, I’ll act the hell out of it.”
The 27-year-old Pugh has most recently appeared in 2019’s Midsommar, 2019’s Little Women, the aforementioned Black Widow, and 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling. She is next set to appear in A Good Person alongside Zach Braff and Morgan Freeman in late March, as well as Christopher Nolan’s next project, Oppenheimer, in July of 2023. Thunderbolts is currently set for a July 2024 release.
What do you think of the comments made by Florence Pugh on playing Yelena in Thunderbolts? Are you looking forward to seeing her reprise her role as the deadly assassin?
