‘Thunderbolts*’ is definitely seeming like Yelena’s story

A new look at Thunderbolts* has made one thing clear: This is Yelena Belova’s story. Florence Pugh’s character from Black Widow is at the center of a new first look at the film and it is absolute perfection.

A new special look shows Yelena, Alexei aka the Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) all in a car together when Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is coming after them. It also includes a new trailer with some new footage of the film including John Walker trying to come for Yelena.

Look, John Walker can try to make a joke about the former Red Room assassin but she will drag him through the mud.

The special look was a great way to get to know the characters but it also made one thing clear to me: Yelena Belova is the main character. It is an ensemble piece and I do love that we got to see everyone in their element in this but we spend a lot of time with Yelena and the first character name we see is hers. And having her as the lead of the film is honestly what I waned.

It’s been a long battle to try and get a Black Widow story. It took Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johnasson) dying before we got a stand alone film for the character who had been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man 2. So if Thunderbolts is as Yelena heavy as it seems, it is about time the Widows got the respect they deserve.

I love seeing my girl shine

After Black Widow, I really found comfort in Yelena as a character. She’s a younger sister, she’s sassy, and she is someone who has had to fight most of her life so she doesn’t take anyone’s nonsense. All those qualities made her a character one I loved coming back to. To be fair, I only got to see her one other time when she appeared in Hawkeye and was dealing with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).

Now that she is seemingly starring in Thunderbolts* and taking the team on her shoulders? I’m excited to see what that means for her as a character. I could be wrong. This could very much be a film that is about every member of the Thunderbolts team but the two trailers we’ve gotten feel very Yelena centric and that has me very into the film. That being said, both Bucky Barnes and Baron Zemo are leaders of the team in the comics. But I could see the MCU changing that and letting Yelena take charge of the anti-heroes.

Either way, I’m just excited to see where Thunderbolts* takes my girl. She is one of the best characters in the Marvel canon. She just got her own comic run by Sarah Gailey and if Thunderbolts* is her film, we really are in the era of the White Widow. And that’s pretty perfect to me.