Florence Pugh recently appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," where she revealed how she landed a role as Yelena Belova in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." According to Pugh, the crossover began taking shape after Tom Holland publicly named her as an actor he wanted to work with, sending fans into a frenzy over the potential team-up. 
"This all happened because of Tom. Years ago, when I had just started working with Marvel and 'Black Widow' had come out, my Yelena obviously wasn't as well known as all the other major superheroes," Pugh said.
She recalled that Holland was attending the red-carpet premiere of his previous "Spider-Man" movie when he was asked who he most wanted to work with in the next film. His answer was immediate: "No, actually, I want to work with Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena."
"So because he said that, fans started getting really excited about the idea," Pugh continued.
After making her debut as Yelena in 2021's "Black Widow," Pugh went on to reprise the role in "Thunderbolts*" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." Now that Yelena has officially crossed paths with Holland's Peter Parker, a public shout-out made when Pugh was still a fresh face in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally become an onscreen collaboration.