Kevin Feige hints Florence Pugh’s Yelena will appear in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ before ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige may have accidentally let a major Spider-Man: Brand New Day surprise slip.

During an appearance at BiliBili World in Shanghai on Saturday, Feige hinted that Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova will return to the big screen sooner than many Marvel fans expected.

“If you’re a fan of Yelena, wait until Avengers: Doomsday. Yelena plays a big part in that,” Feige said while discussing the upcoming crossover film. “But if you don’t want to wait until then, you might see Yelena a little bit sooner in the movies,” he added.

That doesn’t leave much room for speculation. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day standing as the only MCU film scheduled to hit theaters before Avengers: Doomsday, Feige’s comments strongly suggest Yelena could be swinging into Peter Parker’s next adventure.

Pugh first introduced audiences to Yelena—the adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson‘s Natasha Romanoff—in 2021’s Black Widow. She later reprised the role in Hawkeye before joining the unlikely team of antiheroes in 2025’s Thunderbolts. By the film’s conclusion, that group had officially become the New Avengers, setting up a major role in Avengers: Doomsday alongside heroes from Fox‘s X-Men films, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and several familiar faces from Avengers: Endgame.

One of the biggest returns will come from Robert Downey Jr., who is trading Iron Man’s armor for the role of Victor Von Doom. Feige also shared the line that sold him on Downey’s latest MCU chapter.

“His exact words were: ‘I played the best hero. I can play the best villain,’” Feige recalled.

Before Marvel’s next massive ensemble event, though, Brand New Day will bring together its own impressive roster. Tom Holland is back as Spider-Man, joined by Mark Ruffalo‘s Bruce Banner/Hulk and Jon Bernthal‘s Frank Castle/Punisher. Returning cast members Zendaya and Jacob Batalon reprise their roles as MJ and Ned, while Sadie Sink, Tramell Tillman, Liza Colón-Zayas, Eman Esfandi, and Marvin Jones III round out the cast in undisclosed roles.

Marvel has kept story details tightly under wraps, but Entertainment Weekly recently revealed annotated script pages that offer an early glimpse at Peter Parker’s state of mind after Spider-Man: No Way Home. The notes describe Peter as “completely alone” at the start of the film and mention “a small, sharp headache,” providing “our first inkling that living completely in the shadows is taking its toll on Peter — something is changing, and maybe not for the better…”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens exclusively in theaters on July 31.