Hawkeye Concept Art Reveals Unused Yelena Belova Design

A new piece of Hawkeye concept art reveals an unused costume design for Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Pugh made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in last year’s Black Widow, which also served as the swan song for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. In the film, Pugh played Natasha’s surrogate sister and fellow Red Room trainee Yelena. Black Widow’s post-credits scene saw Valentina Allegra de Fontaine put Yelena on a collision course with Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye, leading her to believe he was responsible for Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame.

Marvel Studios’ most recent Disney+ series as part of Phase Four, Hawkeye takes place two years after the Blip and picks up with Clint in New York City where he meets Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, who haphazardly dons his Ronin costume. The pair then get caught up in a murder mystery and the city’s criminal underworld all while Clint tries to make it home in time for Christmas. In episode 4, “Partners, Am I Right?” a masked Yelena in tactical gear is thrown into the mix, attacking Clint, Kate, and Maya Lopez/Echo (Alaqua Cox) on a rooftop across from the latter’s apartment.

New concept art revealed by art director/artist Josh Nizzi, shows one of the earliest looks for Yelena in Hawkeye. The piece sees her wear tactical gear, pants wit plenty of pockets, and a poncho. Check it out down below.

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In the end, Yelena’s combat looks were much more stripped-down than the design above. The costume she shows up in initially pays homage to her Super-Adaptoid costume worn in the comics and her outfit in the finale lacks the poncho. Following some mac-n-cheese, hot sauce, and friendly conversation between Kate and Yelena in episode 6, “So This Is Christmas?”, Yelena go toe-to-toe with Clint. Ultimately, Yelena decides not to kill Clint, accepting his explanation of her sacrifice.

Hawkeye certainly doesn’t mark Yelena’s last MCU appearance, as she has a bright (or dark) future ahead of her. While it remains to be seen when Pugh will appear next, it’s all but guaranteed she will return. That being said, the above tactical concept art could actually still be used as Yelena is presumably still working with Val and possibly the Dark Avengers or Thunderbolts. Yelena is poised to inherit her late sister’s mantle of Black Widow and Kate is set to become Hawkeye. Given their standout chemistry, it wouldn’t be a surprise if, the next time we see Yelena, we also see Kate.