A New Avenger requires a new costume. Official concept art for Marvel’s Thunderbolts* shows alternate designs for the suit worn by Red Room-raised mercenary and assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who made her debut alongside adoptive sister Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in 2021’s Black Widow. That film had the Widows trade their black tactical suits for all-white spy wear, a nod to Yelena’s “White Widow” alter-ego from the comics.
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Black Widow also had Yelena don a forest green vest —with handy pockets! — that she gave her sister as a parting gift. A blonde-haired Natasha would go on to wear the vest over her black suit in Avengers: Infinity War, retroactively revealed to be a link to her sister.
In the unused designs shared by artist Ji Hye Lee, a senior illustrator at Marvel Studios, Yelena’s wardrobe pays homage to the now-iconic green vest from Infinity War and Black Widow with a collared look that you can see in the gallery below.
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Other designs incorporate the Black Widow symbol belt buckle that appeared on most of Natasha’s suits since her first appearance in 2010’s Iron Man 2, while a fur-collared design appears to be a homage to Natasha’s “Madame” look from her first appearance in Tales of Suspense #52 in 1964.
“I was honored to work with so many amazing artists under the supervision of [Marvel Studios Director of Visual Development Andy Park],” Lee captioned the Instagram post. Lee’s Yelena designs, along with concept art for other characters like Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), will be included in the Thunderbolts: The Art of the Movie book slated for release on August 26.
By the end of Thunderbolts*, after CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has rechristened the team of “disposable delinquents” to be the New Avengers, Yelena’s dirty blonde hair has been slicked back, and she has a more official-looking jump suit to go along with her public-facing role as co-leader of the New Avengers.
The team, which includes Bob Reynolds/Sentry (Lewis Pullman), is based out of New York City’s Watchtower (formerly Avengers Tower) and will return in Avengers: Doomsday. The Anthony and Joe Russo-directed superhero ensemble is slated to open in theaters on May 1, 2026.
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* — starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, with Wendell Edward Pierce — is now playing only in theaters.
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The main cast of The Wandering Earth (2019) -
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