At its core, Thunderbolts* is a Yelena Belova story. The movie follows the Black Widow as she overcomes loneliness and despair, eventually becoming a New Avenger and co-leader of the team alongside Bucky Barnes. 

The movie set the stage for Avengers: Doomsday in a big way, both with that last-minute “New Avengers” reveal and a post-credits scene shot by the Russo Brothers. In both of those, you may have noticed that Yelena’s look is simplified, with that design now set to carry over to Avengers: Doomsday. 

Talking in the newly released “Art of” book for Thunderbolts* (via The Direct), Pugh revealed the one request she had to ensure that Yelena’s self-expression would come through in subtle ways, and explained how that factored into the hero’s evolution. 

“She is now her own person and can choose what to do,” she said of how the character evolves from assassin to New Avenger. “We want very stripped-back colours; no bright anything, and very simple hair and makeup. Though I was like, ‘It’s Yelena, she can’t not have cool eyes.'”

Expanding on that point, Pugh said, “When you think of superhero movies, you’re constantly imagining these amazing people being able to do these amazing things all the time. I think something that has been really brave of Jake [Schreier] and Marvel to start dipping their toe into is really looking at the inner workings of these characters and how they feel.”

“What these people must go through when they are around all of this action and this need to be on point all the time,” the actress continued. “What does that do to your brain? Because at the end of the day, they are humans. Maybe their shiny life isn’t actually so shiny.”

The “cool eyes” look for Yelena carried over to Thunderbolts*’s post-credits scene, with the character still wearing relatively muted colours as part of her New Avengers uniform. The character is in a much better place now, though she does seem to be struggling with how the public perceives the team.

It’s been widely reported that Pugh will reprise this role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, perhaps to see if the wall-crawler wants to join the team (if Marvel Studios is now sticking closer to the comics, Spidey won’t be a team player).

However, we wouldn’t bet on her new look changing much, even with the events of this movie taking place between Thunderbolts* and Avengers: Doomsday. 

Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.