Did The New Hawkeye Trailer Tease Yelena's Return?
Only a week and a day after its series premiere, "Hawkeye" is already halfway through its six-episode first season. The first three episodes have introduced Marvel fans to the live-action versions of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), in addition to their various family members and the bumbling crew known as the Tracksuit Mafia (plus, maybe, someone familiar pulling the strings from afar). However, Marvel fans have yet to spot Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who was previously announced to appear in the first season of the series, after making her debut in "Black Widow" (via Variety).
In celebration of the show's 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Marvel Studios released a short new promo for the remaining three episodes of the season. While most of the footage has been used in previously released promotional material, eagle-eyed fans are pointing to one particular new shot as evidence of Yelena's imminent return.
Maybe we saw Yelena, maybe we didn't
Around the 12-second mark of the 15-second promo, an obscured figure wearing a five-eyed visor appears on screen for less than a second. Next, a shocked Kate Bishop appears and asks someone offscreen, "Who's that?" While it is unknown if the two quick segments are directly related, speculation about the figure has so far focused on Yelena Belova. Yelena's extensive comic book history shows us that, not unlike Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Yelena has used more than one alias before. One of those names could give Marvel fans a better idea of exactly whose face is hidden behind that visor.
Yelena made her first comic book appearance in "Inhumans" #5, released in March 1999 (via Marvel). Seven years later, in "New Avengers" Annual #1 (via Marvel), Yelena became known as Super-Adaptoid, a being with the ability to absorb other powers (not completely unlike Maya Lopez's ability to copy skills). During her time as Super-Adaptoid, Yelena's character design featured a visor noticeably similar to the one spotted in the "Hawkeye" promo, though her comic book counterpart sported six eyes, instead of five.
Whether Yelena is the figure spotted in the promo is not known for certain, but with the season already halfway over, she's bound to appear soon enough. Disney+ will release new episodes of "Hawkeye" every Wednesday until the season finale on December 22 (via IMDb).