Marvel Studios changed the way fans should look back at the ending of Thunderbolts*, more than a year after the movie hit theaters. The 2025 film ends with Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) rebranding her ragtag team of former villains and assassins as the government-funded New Avengers, a surprising upgrade for the squad. That reveal leads directly into Avengers: Doomsday, arriving in theaters on December 18 with the full crew returning.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which features Yelena (Florence Pugh), changed how people view the New Avengers and how they keep the world safe. Brand New Day plays out somewhere in the 14-month gap between Thunderbolts*' ending and its post-credits scene, which is essentially a scene pulled straight from Avengers: Doomsday. This is why fans can tell Brand New Day isn't set after it, as the events of that movie are expected to shake up the entire MCU.
That gap is what makes Yelena's appearance so interesting, since it's the only time audiences see her operate as the leader of the New Avengers when there isn't an earth-threatening event going on.
Working out of New York City, Yelena has her own system for sorting through what the team should respond to. As she puts it, there are big potato problems and small potato problems, and when Spider-Man (Tom Holland) comes to her about a mind-controlling villain he's dealing with, she initially expresses to him that this is one of the small ones.
It's a simple approach, but it says a lot about how a government-backed team like this spends its time when the world isn't ending, picking spots instead of chasing every street-level threat. During this period of the MCU, roughly in 2028 on Earth-616, there's a hierarchy among superheroes.
It's also a fun detail to see her working out of her "office," which is an old bathhouse somewhere in the city. Yelena never suits up or throws a punch in Brand New Day. She's used passively, helping Spider-Man uncover hidden information about his problem rather than jumping into the fight herself. But that restraint is what makes the cameo work so well.
Yelena's role in Brand New Day is a reminder of when the MCU is at its best, one hero from a different corner of the franchise lending a hand without stepping on someone else's story or their fight. On the other end, another crime-fighter, Punisher, who's a much more grounded character, is in on the action.
Whether Holland's Spider-Man ever gets a chance to repay the favor in a future crossover remains to be seen. At this moment, Holland is not expected to be in Doomsday but could play a big role in Secret Wars.
Where the New Avengers Go From Here
As helpful as Brand New Day's glimpse is, it still leaves plenty of the New Avengers' story untold. It's a shame that Brand New Day might end up being the only filler for that stretch of time between Thunderbolts* and Doomsday.
From the post-credits scene alone, it's clear the New Avengers have been operating as a team for a while now, complete with new suits. But nothing too crazy seems to have happened, despite a large chunk of Manhattan being mind-frozen in Brand New Day.
There's still a chance Doomsday fills in more of that gap once it finally arrives. The post-credits scene also raises a bigger question: who counts as the real Avengers?
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) already put together his own team as Captain America, and it isn't until this scene that Yelena and Bucky's (Sebastian Stan) team even seems aware they have a rival on their hands.
The quick conversation also hints that Yelena's New Avengers haven't won over the public or earned the standing they were hoping for, suggesting the team hasn't been up to much in saving the day or winning the popular vote over the past 14 months.
That might come down to who's signing their checks. The New Avengers answer to the CIA and the overarching government, and that relationship could easily have limited what the team was allowed to get involved in, even if they think it's a big potatoes problem.
It's the same tension that traces back to Captain America: Civil War, with Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) wanting the team to answer to something bigger than themselves, and Steve (Chris Evans) wanting the freedom to act whenever needed, no matter what anyone says.
