Doomsday is close at hand, and the crashout has already begun. The fifth Avengers film is heavily rumoured to feature its fair share of, well, doom – prompting fans across the internet to catastrophise over the potential brutal deaths of their favourite characters.
I’m riding into battle for Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh: not only do I not want her to die, I also think it would be a really bad idea. Hopefully Kevin Feige sees this and, if needed, makes a few last-minute tweaks before the film hits UK cinemas on December 16th.
In an era defined by a lack of definition, Yelena has emerged as the closest thing the post-Endgame MCU has to a main character. Natasha Romanoff’s sister first appeared in 2021’s Black Widow, before a memorable supporting role in Hawkeye later that year. After a three-and-a-half year drought, she returned to head Thunderbolts* in 2025 and turned up again in this year’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
For those counting, that’s four projects across five years, and it’ll be five with the release of Doomsday. Hardly Tony Stark numbers – crucially, though, it’s more than pretty much anyone else. (Special mention to Wong, who’s been on screen four times since 2021.) The MCU had its highs and lows in the years before Endgame – but back then, even the bad projects felt connected, and therefore worth seeing. In recent years, even the most important characters have gone years between appearances. I was 13 when The Falcon and The Winter Soldier aired, and about to become an adult when Captain America next appeared on screen. Some have just drifted off into the void, never to be seen again. It’s hard to get attached.
What that means is cameos like Yelena’s in Brand New Day are rare, but exactly what the franchise needs to feel real again. And who better to play that role than someone who’s already very well connected? Hawkeye established Yelena’s relationship with Kate Bishop, another fan favourite (it’s me, I’m the fan), who may or may not be in Doomsday alongside Ms Marvel leading a Young Avengers-style team. In Thunderbolts*, she works with a number of anti-heroes with ties to other MCU projects, most notably Bucky Barnes – also a very popular character, after 15 years in the franchise. Though Sam Wilson may disagree, she comes out of that film as an Avenger. If anyone’s going to randomly pop up everywhere, it’s her.
The big potato in the room I haven’t mentioned yet is that, of course, none of this matters if the character connecting everything sucks. Yelena has stood out every time she’s been on screen. She’s hilarious yet emotionally vulnerable, impressive yet delightfully real; she feels important through nothing but the weight of her own character. We actually deeply understand who she is.
A huge part of that is Florence Pugh. Her acting obviously – I genuinely forget she isn’t actually Russian – but she’s also been central to developing her character’s journey, and the passion she has for the job has kept her firmly afloat among the modern MCU’s sea of forgotten players. I doubt Yelena would be such a face of the franchise if Pugh hadn’t breathed so much life into the character at every opportunity.
And I definitely would call her a face of the MCU. Yelena’s first three projects, as good as they were, were far from commercial successes. Despite that, her cameo in the biggest movie of the summer still got a cheer from the audience. People know her, and people love her.
She’s also probably the leading woman in a franchise with alarmingly few – just 5 out of the 27 names originally announced for Doomsday. Marvel has a huge female fanbase, and to kill off one of the only women who has actually been treated with the importance she deserves would be a massive mistake.
What comes after Doomsday and Secret Wars will likely be a reset, but we already know some people make it to the other side. They’re not binning off Peter Parker. Yelena needs to be put on that lifeboat; she’s only at the start of her journey, and that journey needs to be at the core of whatever comes next for the MCU.
This film is going to be an explosive cocktail of 40 characters from about five different eras, and it’s entirely possible it’ll take a sledgehammer to everything the MCU’s got right since 2021. Please, Kevin, look out for Yelena Belova.
