Spider-Man: Brand New Day had many exciting moments in store for fans, from the reveal that Sadie Sink was in fact playing Jean Grey (which many had suspected, but the reveal was still fun), to multiple appearances by the Hand, and, of course, the involvement of the Hulk. However, in terms of massive cameos, there weren’t actually a lot; this was far from the shocking cameos of Spider-Man: No Way Home, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, for example, especially because the Hulk and the Hand had already been shown in teasers and trailers for Brand New Day. The biggest cameo of the movie was therefore Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, who audiences did not know would be in the movie in advance.
Yelena didn’t play a massive role in Brand New Day, at least in terms of the action, although she did provide further insight into what the New Avengers—her newly formed group from Thunderbolts*—had been up to and had some hilarious moments, including with the reveal that her “office” was a bathhouse, which caused Peter to have to visit her and have serious conversations with her there. Neither of those aspects of Yelena’s Brand New Day role were truly shocking, though, as much as the latter was funny and unexpected. However, there was a truly surprising Yelena moment in the movie, and it’s one that audiences are continuing to debate, even a few weeks after the movie hit theaters.
In a shocking moment in Brand New Day, Ned Leeds referred to Yelena as “Black Widow,” thereby suggesting that Yelena has fully become the MCU’s replacement for her older sister, Natasha Romanoff. Immediately, there was a major response from fans, with some feeling like this was the right fit for Yelena and a touching full-circle moment and others arguing that Yelena isn’t the true Black Widow and shouldn’t adopt the title moving forward in the MCU. To an extent, debate remains regarding whether she herself has taken on that name, which seems like something that would be extremely emotionally complex (it’s easy to imagine that she doesn’t feel she can lay claim to the name or would find it too painful, for example). After all, Ned saying it is one thing; the title becoming truly official is another.
An X post showing the first officially released photo of Yelena’s Brand New Day cameo has now stirred up this debate once again, with those in the comments arguing about whether Yelena is really Black Widow now. One comment simply reads, “She’s not Black Widow.” However, both responses to that comment beg to differ, with one reply saying, “They quite literally call her it in the movie,” and another asserting, “She is now, deal with it.”
These comments echo those that have been seen across social media since audiences saw Brand New Day and learned of this seeming Black Widow replacement, and they will likely continue until the MCU makes a more declarative statement about Yelena becoming the new Black Widow—and, notably, there is a difference between Yelena being a Black Widow versus the Black Widow, which seems to be the crux of this debate.
