There are a lot of big reveals in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and some minor revelations as well. Some might even say they’re small potatoes and big potatoes.
One such nugget of information that could be easily skipped over, though, involves one of the movie’s most casual and downright coolest cameos. As is compulsory with any story diving into plot points of the new wall-crawling cinematic outing, we’re going to drop an official spoiler warning here. Ignore your Spidey senses and despair, or dive right in willingly. The choice is yours.
Oh good. You made it. The cameo we’re referring to is none other than Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, leader of the Thunderbolts* and now New Avengers, who dropped in to give Spidey (Tom Holland) some help with his mysterious body-hopping villain at the start of the movie (during a hilarious spa scene) and nearing its third act.
Jumping on a call to help the webhead out, their conversation gets interrupted by Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya), who are in awe of the superhero-hosted chinwag. It’s here, though, that after getting ushered out of shot by Peter, Ned points out that he’s talking to none other than Black Widow.
It might be a throwaway line, but it’s worth pointing out that up until now, Yelena hasn’t officially been named the Black Widow. The title stuck squarely on her big sister, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), who has long since passed away following the events of Avengers: Endgame and the Red Room program's shutdown. It’s nice, then, that now, after finally finding her place in the world, she’s able to carry on her sister’s legacy, which will very likely flourish during the events of Avengers: Doomsday.
Yelena will be one of many heroes who have taken up mantles previously held by heroes who either died or have given up the superhero schtick altogether. When Victor von Doom does arrive, he’ll be taking on the next generation of Black Panther (Letitia Wright’s Shuri), Captain America (Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson), and now a Black Widow. We’ll have to see how they all get along when Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in the US this July 31. While you wait, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, or see our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
