Black Widow Trailer Provides First Look at Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova

Marvel Studios debuted the first official trailer for Black Widow tonight, showcasing what fans can expect from the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase 4”. The film, which serves as a prequel to the 2023-set events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, will follow Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) on a new and unexpected adventure. The first trailer showcased some of the other characters that will be part of Natasha’s journey — including Yelena Belova, a fellow Black Widow recruit played by Midsommar and Little Women star Florence Pugh. The trailer showed Yelena genuinely kicking butt, and you can check out a few screenshots of her debut below.

For the uninitiated, Yelena is the second modern character to take on the mantle of Black Widow, who was trained in the same Red Room as Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). The two became at odds over the years, largely due to Yelena believing that she was the true Black Widow. Yelena briefly retires, but ultimately returns to the Marvel Comics world as a super-powered member of Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts.

“I was excited to see how bold it was and to see how raw it was and to see how sad it was,” Pugh said of Black Widow in a previous interview. “It was a script that I didn’t expect to be associated with this, and that’s part of why I got so excited. And with [director] Cate Shortland attached and telling the next part of Natasha’s history was only thrilling to be a part of.”

“Well, A, I think Cate Shortland’s vision… Everything that I’ve seen her direct is just so sensitive and raw and honest, and that is exactly what I think she’s doing with this script,” Pugh added. “It’s about these two, well, these many women and these many men as well. But Natasha’s story… people have been wanting to hear about it for a really long time, and it’s been really amazing to show these women in a natural light and in an honest way.”

With speculation that Yelena will eventually succeed Natasha in the mantle of Black Widow, and potentially play a larger role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to come, it will certainly be interesting to see how her role in the film evolves.

Black Widow also stars David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as Melina, and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.