The coat Yelena Belova wore in Hawkeye features two Black Widow Easter eggs. A standout star of both the show and movie, Yelena has quickly left an impression since her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. The adoptive sister of Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, Yelena, portrayed by Florence Pugh, is already becoming a major player in the MCU.
Yelena has become somewhat of a fan favorite after Pugh turned in performances in Black Widow and Hawkeye that proved the character is just as charming as she is ruthless. One Hawkeye scene in particular, in which Yelena and Kate Bishop try to work things out over a pot of macaroni and cheese, is a perfect example of Pugh balancing the character’s quirkiness with her deadly resolve. But the scene also contained a couple of secrets that only eagle-eyed viewers would have spotted and they both call back to Yelena’s first MCU appearance in Black Widow.
Speaking to Insider, Hawkeye costume designer Michael Crow revealed that the coat Yelena is sporting in the series’ pivotal macaroni and cheese scene actually hides a couple of Easter eggs calling back to Black Widow’s solo film. The coat, which Crow says was one of the last of its kind in the world, was adorned with a few enamel pins. One of the pins was of a spider, an intentional nod to the Black Widow mantle. Another pin, a disembodied hand in a “finger gun” pose carries two meanings. Crow explained:
One of them is sort of a finger gun, which was the name of a production company for Hawkeye. That’s also something that Florence really liked because it’s something that Yelena does in Black Widow a couple of times. She thought it was a cool reference to Yelena and I thought it was a fun nod to our production company.
The scene between Yelena and Kate is arguably one of the series’ most tense, so it’s no surprise that many viewers didn’t catch the extremely subtle nods upon first viewing. Still, the fact that they were included at all is indicative of the attention to detail the creative team put into Hawkeye and the larger MCU as a whole. From Pym Tech arrows to Kingpin’s iconic comic book outfit, the show is loaded with callbacks to previous stories, characters, and events. It only makes sense that Crow would approach his costume design with that same mentality. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Yelena’s wardrobe has played somewhat of its own role in the MCU. In her solo movie, it was revealed that Black Widow’s now-iconic vest was gifted to her by Yelena.
With Scarlett Johansson’s character dead in the current MCU continuity, there’s a Black Widow-sized hole needing to be filled, and it looks like Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova may be the one to fill it. After stepping into the spotlight and shining in both Black Widow and Hawkeye, it seems unlikely audiences have seen the last of Yelena. Even her clothes are already helping to tell the MCU’s story.
Source: Insider
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