Marvel Wanted Saoirse Ronan For A Key MCU Role

Ultimately, as we all know, Florence Pugh portrayed “the sister” in 2021’s “Black Widow” — more specifically, Yelena Belova, assassin and adopted sister to Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). The first (and only) standalone film for Johansson’s Black Widow delved into her family dynamic for the first time, also introducing Rachel Weisz and David Harbour as Natasha and Yelena’s makeshift parents Melina Vostokoff and Alexei Shostakov. Pugh is fantastic in the role, which is to be expected — the young British actress tends to elevate basically any project in which she appears — but one has to wonder what Saoirse Ronan might have been like in the part as well.

The two performers are equally talented but distinctively different actors, which audiences know because the two worked together before either of them were publicly mentioned in the same breath as the “Black Widow” movie. Though Pugh was announced as a “Black Widow” lead in March 2019, she and Ronan had already finished filming Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of “Little Women” — which arrived in December of that same year. Pugh played the tempestuous, vain Amy March, while Ronan portrayed the headstrong, brilliant Jo March. The fact that Ronan passed on a role that eventually went to her on-screen sister is pretty interesting, and in the end, Pugh was a perfect pick for Yelena.

Ultimately, as we all know, Florence Pugh portrayed “the sister” in 2021’s “Black Widow” — more specifically, Yelena Belova, assassin and adopted sister to Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). The first (and only) standalone film for Johansson’s Black Widow delved into her family dynamic for the first time, also introducing Rachel Weisz and David Harbour as Natasha and Yelena’s makeshift parents Melina Vostokoff and Alexei Shostakov. Pugh is fantastic in the role, which is to be expected — the young British actress tends to elevate basically any project in which she appears — but one has to wonder what Saoirse Ronan might have been like in the part as well.

The two performers are equally talented but distinctively different actors, which audiences know because the two worked together before either of them were publicly mentioned in the same breath as the “Black Widow” movie. Though Pugh was announced as a “Black Widow” lead in March 2019, she and Ronan had already finished filming Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of “Little Women” — which arrived in December of that same year. Pugh played the tempestuous, vain Amy March, while Ronan portrayed the headstrong, brilliant Jo March. The fact that Ronan passed on a role that eventually went to her on-screen sister is pretty interesting, and in the end, Pugh was a perfect pick for Yelena.