James Oconner 
Anil Krishna 
Jonathan Millar 
Florence Pugh’s Yelena Fate Confirmed in Avengers: Doomsday for Secret Wars
© Marvel Studios
Florence Pugh isn’t done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe just yet. A new profile on the actress has confirmed that she will return as Yelena Belova in Avengers: Secret Wars, which is currently set to bring the Multiverse Saga to a close in 2027. That gives fans a pretty big clue about where Marvel sees Yelena going next, although it doesn’t necessarily tell us exactly what happens to her in Avengers: Doomsday.
The confirmation comes from Vanity Fair, which included Avengers: Secret Wars among Pugh’s upcoming projects. So, after appearing as Yelena in Doomsday, Pugh is set to stick around for the sixth Avengers movie as well. It’s another step in a story that started with Black Widow and continued through Hawkeye and Thunderbolts*.
Yelena has slowly become one of the more important links between the old MCU and the newer group of heroes. She started out as Natasha Romanoff’s younger sister, but Marvel has gradually given her a personality and story that are very much her own. Having her appear in both upcoming Avengers movies suggests that Marvel isn’t treating her as someone who just shows up for a quick scene and disappears again.
Yelena’s Secret Wars Return Doesn’t Tell Us Everything About Doomsday
At first, it might seem pretty simple. If Florence Pugh is already confirmed for Secret Wars, then surely Yelena has to survive Doomsday, right? Well, maybe. The Multiverse Saga makes that kind of guess a lot harder than it would have been a few years ago. Marvel has spent several projects playing around with alternate realities, variants and different versions of familiar characters. So a character appearing in the next movie doesn’t automatically mean the exact same version of that character made it through the previous one.
In theory, Yelena could even die in Doomsday and still appear in Secret Wars as another version of the character. That’s obviously speculation at this point, but it’s also the sort of thing the MCU’s current setup makes possible. With Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom and the story involving multiple realities, Marvel has plenty of ways to get around the usual rules when it comes to character deaths. So the casting news is interesting, but it probably shouldn’t be treated as a giant spoiler for Doomsday just yet.
Yelena Won’t Be the Only Familiar Face in Secret Wars
Yelena is also joining a pretty crowded group of returning characters for Secret Wars. Letitia Wright is expected to return as Shuri, while the film will bring together heroes from different corners of the Multiverse Saga, including the Fantastic Four and Shang-Chi. Chris Evans is also set to return as Steve Rogers, with more casting announcements expected as the movie moves closer to production.
That’s a lot of moving pieces for one film, and it makes Yelena’s place in the story even more interesting. She’s not one of the original Avengers, but she does have a direct connection to that era of the MCU through Natasha. At the same time, she’s very much part of the newer generation that Marvel has been building over the last few years. That puts Yelena in a slightly unusual position. She can connect two different eras of the franchise without Marvel having to pretend she’s still the same character she was when she first appeared in Black Widow.
What Happens to Yelena After the Multiverse Saga?
Kevin Feige has previously described Secret Wars as more of a reset than a complete reboot for the MCU. The idea is to create a more unified timeline while giving Marvel a way to move into whatever comes next. If that happens, Yelena could be one of the characters who benefits from the transition simply because she already belongs to the newer generation. And that’s probably more interesting than simply asking whether she survives Doomsday. Yelena has spent most of her MCU story living in someone else’s shadow, at least to some extent. She was introduced as Natasha’s younger sister, carried the emotional weight of losing her and then slowly started figuring out who she was without Natasha around.
Secret Wars could give Marvel a chance to push that even further. By the end of the Multiverse Saga, Yelena may no longer need to be “Black Widow’s sister” at all. She could simply be Yelena Belova, one of the MCU’s established heroes with a future of her own. For now, though, there’s still a big question hanging over Doomsday. We know Florence Pugh is coming back for Secret Wars. What we don’t know is exactly which Yelena will be there when the dust settles.
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