Fans notice Doomsday Bitty Pops seemingly retconning key Spider-Man: Brand New Day moment

The MCU timeline may have another little puzzle on its hands, thanks to a new piece of Avengers: Doomsday merchandise. The new Avengers: Doomsday Bitty Pops design seems to leave out an important detail from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, mainly about Yelena, played by Florence Pugh, raising questions about how the two movies fit together.

On September 15, an X (formerly Twitter) page uploaded a tweet featuring the first look at Avengers: Doomsday Bitty Pops, which includes many figures, including Black Panther, Cyclops, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, Captain America, Johnny Storm, Gambit, Doctor Doom, Thor, Nightcrawler, Magneto, and the one that is gaining fans' attention, Yelena. The packaging simply labeled Florence Pugh's character as Yelena, instead of using her speculated character's name, Black Widow.

However, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Yelena Belova takes on the Black Widow name once held by her sister, Natasha Romanoff, after she sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone.

Avengers: Doomsday Bitty Pops raises questions about Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Yelena

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, when Yelena is talking to Spider-Man about the Jean Grey mystery, with Ned and MJ beside him, Ned Leeds calls her "Black Widow." Until now, the title belonged to her sister, Natasha, who sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone to help the Avengers win over Thanos.

While Yelena didn't instantly become the Black Widow after her sister's death, in Thunderbolts*, Yelena, Red Guardian, Ghost, and U.S. Agent join Bucky to stop the Sentry and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. By the end of the movie, to save her reputation, Valentina introduces the team as the New Avengers.

Thunderbolts* was released in 2025, while Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in 2026, and Ned calling Yelena "Black Widow" comes after she joins the new Avengers.

This further led to speculation at the time about whether she had officially taken on the name and stepped into Natasha's old role within the Avengers. However, the new Bitty Pops design has brought that question back for a different reason. While most of the figures are labeled by their superhero names, like Cyclops, Professor X, and Doctor Doom, Yelena is simply listed as "Yelena" instead of Black Widow, raising speculation about why Marvel chose not to use "Black Widow" for her, especially if that is the name she is using in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Johnny Storm is also identified by his real name instead of Human Torch on the merchandise, but his situation is a little different from Yelena's. He is part of the Fantastic Four rather than the Avengers. Hence, the choice feels less connected to any change in his superhero identity.

On the other hand, this could also be an intentional choice by Marvel. In the comics, Yelena eventually moves away from the Black Widow name and takes on the White Widow identity. So while Spider-Man: Brand New Day might have Ned call her Black Widow, Marvel could be keeping her name as simply "Yelena" in the Avengers: Doomsday merchandise to avoid revealing what identity she might have in the movie.

It's important to note that this is only a theory for now, as it's not confirmed whether this is simply a merchandising choice or if it points to a bigger change in the story. Additionally, Marvel has not commented on the detail yet, leaving it to speculation.