Florence Pugh appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night and revealed that fans of her Marvel character Yelena Belova should really thank Tom Holland for her performance in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
“This all happened because of Tom,” Pugh said. “Years ago, when I had just started my relationship with Marvel and ‘Black Widow’ came out, my Yelena wasn’t as big as the other big superheroes. I was on the red carpet of her previous movie and someone asked, ‘Who do you want to be with in the next movie?’ And he said, ‘No, actually, I want to do this with Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena.’ That’s why fans were so excited about this idea.
Pugh has been portraying Yelena since appearing in 2021’s “Black Widow,” and has since reprized the role in 2025’s “Thunderbolts*” and 2026’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Yelena is known in the MCU as an assassin and the successor to the Black Widow title.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which premiered on July 31, grossed $2.49 billion at the domestic box office, becoming the third highest-grossing movie of all time. It ranks behind 2009’s “Avatar” ($2.92 billion) and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.88 billion). “Well done Spider!” Pugh talked about success.
Slated for release on December 18, Pugh will once again star as Princess Irulan Corrino in director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three.” That same day, theatergoers can once again reprise her role as Yelena in the highly anticipated “Avengers: Doomsday,” the sequel to 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
Watch the full episode here.