‘Black Widow’ Cast: Will Yelena Belova Appear? Solo Movie Casting Natasha’s Adversary

The “Black Widow” solo movie is in the casting process, and the latest news makes it sound like a famous comic book adversary could face off with Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff.

Florence Pugh is in talks to join the Marvel Studios film, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “Pugh will play a spy on the same level as Romanoff, likely her moral opposite,” the outlet reports.

While it’s entirely possible that this character could be created for the movie, it sounds like this could also be comic book character Yelena Belova.

“Black Widow” readers know Yelena as the other Black Widow. Like Natasha, Yelena was trained in the Red Room to be an assassin for Russia’s KGB. However, she didn’t train alongside Nat. She was trained after the original Black Widow defected to S.H.I.E.L.D., and she was the first Red Room student to do even better than Natasha.

Still, the Marvel comics show that Yelena idolized Black Widow and wanted to be her. She continually showed up and tried to interfere with the hero’s missions to stop the bad guys. Even when given the chance to kill her predecessor, Yelena let Nat go so that they could keep their competitive relationship.

Natasha, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily view Yelena as a threat that needs to be eliminated. She wanted to make Yelena see the error of her ways. She tried to make Yelena question her blind loyalty to Russia and see the reality of her allegiance to the Red Room.

Fans will have to wait and see if Pugh is playing Yelena. Marvel Studios, of course, has not commented on the casting news. They haven’t even officially announced the project for their slate. The company has not released dates for anything after “Avengers: Endgame,” out April 26, and “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” out July 5. Marvel wants to keep the focus on those projects before they reveal what’s coming up next.

Despite no official announcements, there has been plenty of work on the “Black Widow” solo movie. Cate Shortland will direct the movie, and Jac Schaeffer wrote the original script (though Ned Benson was hired for rewrites, according to Collider). A premiere date has not been announced, but a 2020 release seems likely since the movie is reportedly scheduled to shoot in June.