Concept artist Ji Hye Lee recently shared several alternate unused costume designs for Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in Thunderbolts*, and they cover a wide range of styles.
Some designs stick close to the aesthetic introduced in Black Widow, reinforcing her spy roots with tactical gear and sleek silhouettes. Others go in a totally different direction, offering a more laid-back, utilitarian look—like a character caught somewhere between covert agent and scrappy survivor.
Marvel was obviously experimenting with how to evolve Yelena’s look as she steps into more leadership and frontline roles in the MCU. After breaking out as a fan-favorite in Black Widow and Hawkeye, she took on a co-lead position in Thunderbolts* alongside Bucky Barnes, and she will be playing a key part in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
Pugh has been candid about the emotional journey that came with filming Thunderbolts*. Speaking to Glamour, she shared:
“During the making of this movie, I had one of the most wonderful, bizarre realisations where the lesson that this film was trying to teach us was something that I was learning from as we were shooting the movie. And it was really wonderful to be taking inspiration from the art that we were creating.”
She went on to say:
“And allowing myself, I suppose, the graciousness that Yelena allows herself of actually accepting that she needs help and accepting that she needs to allow others to care for her, which is something that I find very, very hard. I like being the carer and I like being the person that is there for everybody.”
And finally:
“And I think during that movie it was a real nice wake-up call of actually going, ‘It’s okay,’ and it’s okay to accept that you’re not [feeling] great and it’s okay to accept that you’re feeling quite weak and it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay for people to help you. I had a nice mirrored realisation of the work that I was creating was the exact thing that I needed to teach myself.”
I loved how Marvel and Pugh handled Yelena in Thunderbolts* and I’m very excited to see what her future in the MCU looks like.
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