Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has teased that Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova will make an appearance in an MCU film ahead of December’s Avengers: Doomsday, meaning the New Avengers leader will likely cameo in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Making a special appearance at the Bilibili World 2026 in Shanghai, Feige teased Yelena’s cameo by telling the audience, “if you’re a fan of Yelena, wait until Avengers Doomsday, Yelena plays a big part in that. But if you don’t want to wait until then, you might see Yelena a little bit sooner in the movies.”
While Feige didn’t explicitly say that Yelena will appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it does seem extremely likely, as the film is the only one in the MCU’s line-up slated for release before Doomsday in December, and while other MCU series like VisionQuest or X-Men ’97 Season 2 are also set to arrive, Feige did specify “in the movies”, making Tom Holland’s next web-slinging adventure the most likely candidate.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also set to feature appearances from Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher, and Michael Mando’s Scorpion, alongside Sadie Sink, who although plays a currently undisclosed role, is heavily rumoured to play the MCU’s incarnation of X-Men’s Jean Grey. While Yelena’s cameo would likely be quite small, possibly showing up during the film’s end-credit scene, her appearance would no doubt build up hype for both her and Spidey’s appearance in Avengers: Doomsday.
As the adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, Yelena made her debut in 2021’s Black Widow and would go on to star alongside Hailey Steinfield’s Kate Bishop in the Hawkeye series before receiving the spotlight in 2025’s Thunderbolts*. Speaking of, she is set to reunite with her team of Red Guardian (David Harbour), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Bob (Lewis Pullman), now renamed the New Avengers, in Doomsday.
Til then, fans should keep an eye out for Yelena’s early appearance when she makes a cameo in an unspecified MCU film, which will most likely be Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which swings into theatres on 30 July 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
