Black Widow: Scarlett Johansson Teases Relationship With Florence Pugh’s Yelena

Natasha and Yelena in Black Widow

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have delayed the start of Phase Four as a result of global health issues, but the franchise will return to the big screen shortly with Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson’s long-awaited solo movie will introduce us to her first chosen family, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena. And Johansson recently teases the unique relationship the sisters have.

Director Cate Shortland brought a slew of new characters to Black Widow, revealing the title character’s dark history in the process. Fans can’t wait to meet Florence Pugh’s character Yelena, especially if she ends up having legs in the greater MCU. Scarlett Johansson recently spoke about how their dynamic will play out on screen, saying:

What Yelena does is to kind of point out Natasha’s pain. She’s part of Natasha’s history. And I think that’s why we get this opportunity to look into Natasha’s history, because Yelena comes knocking and says ‘Yo, let’s deal with this pain.’

Well, color me intrigued. Marvel fans have been calling for a Black Widow movie for years, mostly because so little is known about the Avengers’ dark history. It seems that she’s been compartmentalizing… at least until Yelena comes knocking.

Scarlett Johansson’s comments to Total Film magazine (via Twitter) are an exciting tease about what’s to come with Black Widow. While Marvel Studios has been keeping the movie’s contents under wraps, the limited footage shows how Natasha and Yelena’s relationship will seemingly be pivotal to the story.

Marvel fans can re-watch Scarlett Johansson’s time in the MCU so far on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Florence Pugh quickly became a household name over the past few years thanks to her acclaimed performances in projects like Midsommar and Little Women-- the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination. As such, moviegoers are eager to see her join the MCU in such a pivotal role.

Conversation surrounding Yelena picked up after Scarlett Johnasson referred to Black Widow as the first movie of a franchise. Considering Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame to procure the Soul Stone, fans have been theorizing about the possible future of Florence Pugh’s character. Later in the same interview Johnasson went on to describe the newcomer as:

She stands completely on her own. She’s strong and different. She’s so different to Natasha.

Luckily all of the questions and theorizing will soon come to an end, as Black Widow is set to arrive in theaters and homes next month. The project was originally supposed to arrive last year, and was delayed time and time again as the timeline of theaters opening changed. But Scarlett Johnasson’s solo movie is nearly here, and it’ll be interesting to see how it gives closure to fans after her shocking death.

Black Widow is currently set to arrive July 9th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.