A second Avenger is rumored to be joining Tom Holland’s next outing as Spider-Man.
Which Avenger will reportedly appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
According to notable scooper Daniel Richtman on the social media platform X, Florence Pugh will reprise her role as Yelena Belova in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. If this rumor ends up being true, Brand New Day will serve as Pugh’s fifth appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after Black Widow, Hawkeye (both 2021), Thunderbolts* (2025), and Marvel Zombies, the latter of which is set to debut on Disney+ in September. She will also appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which will be released in theaters five months after Brand New Day in December 2026.
Pugh made her first appearance as Yelena Belova in Black Widow, which was set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. The prequel revealed that she was the adopted sister of Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, with both having been trained as Black Widow assassins in the Red Room. Following the events of Black Widow, Yelena worked as a contract killer for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine before becoming part of the Thunderbolts, who are later rebranded as the New Avengers.
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With Pugh’s rumored casting, there are now seven returning MCU alums in Spider-Man: Brand New Day: Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion, and Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Other cast members include Sadie Sink and Liza Colón-Zayas, both of whom have been cast in undisclosed roles, although Sink is reportedly playing someone who is “an ally to Peter, not Spider-Man.”
Destin Daniel Cretton is directing Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which began filming on August 1 in Glasgow, Scotland. The screenplay for the MCU sequel was written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, who have so far scripted all of Holland’s Spider-Man movies. The movie is scheduled to hit theaters on July 31, 2026, as part of Phase 6 of the MCU.
