Florence Pugh Credits Tom Holland for Making Her SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY Cameo Happen
Florence Pugh and Tom Holland finally get some MCU screen time together in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Holland deserves some credit for making it happen.
Pugh makes a brief appearance as Yelena Belova alongside Holland’s Peter Parker in the film, continuing a Marvel run that has already taken her through Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thunderbolts.
The pairing may feel like a natural MCU crossover now, but according to Pugh, the idea started years ago with a simple answer Holland gave on a red carpet.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Pugh explained that the story goes back to 2021, around the time Black Widow introduced Yelena to the MCU.
“You know this all happened because of Tom? Years ago, when I had just kind of started my relationship with Marvel and Black Widow had come out, and Yelena wasn’t as obviously big as all of the other big superheroes.”
At that point, Yelena was still a relatively new face in Marvel’s massive collection of heroes. Holland, however, was already interested in seeing Peter Parker cross paths with her.
Pugh recalled an interview in which Holland was asked which Marvel hero he wanted to work with next. Instead of picking one of the MCU’s established heavy hitters, he chose Yelena.
“He [Tom] on the red carpet of his previous movie, when someone said, ‘Who do you want to do the next movie with? Do you want it to be with, like, Thor?’ I don’t remember the superheroes, but they were all massive superheroes, and he said, ‘No, actually, I want to do it with Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena.’”
Fans latched onto the idea, and Pugh believes that enthusiasm helped turn what was once a hypothetical Spider-Man and Yelena team-up into something Marvel eventually put on screen.
“So because of that, fans were then so excited about the idea of it, and that started the ball rolling, so thanks to Tom. Thank you, Tom,” the actress concluded.
Now, years after Holland first floated the idea, Peter Parker and Yelena Belova share the screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Pugh’s appearance may be brief, but it was fun!