The upcoming Marvel movie Thunderbolts* is in many ways a direct follow-up to 2021’s Black Widow. Three of the movie’s major characters, Yelena, Red Guardian and Taskmaster, debuted in that film, and this is the first time we’ve seen the latter two since then. It is, of course, not surprising that Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha doesn’t appear, but considering the rest of Black Widow’s “family” is here, it makes one wonder what happened to Melina.
Rachael Weisz joined the Black Widow cast as Melina, a Red Room operative who also played the role of mother to Natasha and Yelena during their days undercover. At the end of Black Widow, the family comes together, but Melina is nowhere to be found in Thunderbolts*. Speaking with THR, David Harbour is surprisingly open that he doesn’t know where Melina is, but he absolutely wants to see her back, and has even been talking to Marvel about making that happen. He said…
No, [we don’t]. I’ve talked to [Marvel] people about Melina, and I think there’s still very much potential for Melina.
While Harbour's Alexei and Weisz’s Melina were only playing an undercover husband and wife in Black Widow, the movie reveals that there was real affection between the pair, and there’s even a Black Widow deleted scene (viewable with a Disney+ subscription) where the two kiss at the end of the movie. But Red Guardian is very clearly a bachelor during Thunderbolts*.
While Yelena and Red Guardian are not particularly close in Thunderbolts*, they have remained in touch. It’s unclear if the same is true with Melina. It could be that she is simply elsewhere during the events of the film, or there could be something else going on.
The fact that Melina isn’t anywhere in Thunderbolts* could be an indication that her story is simply seen as over, and the MCU will move on without her, as it has with so many other characters over the years. However, David Harbour thinks there’s a real chance we could see Melina again, and he thinks it would certainly make for some real drama for his character. He continued…
But I do think that there’s potential for Melina’s reemergence in some kind of interesting way, and I would love to have her back in Alexei’s life. She would add such an interesting complexity.
We know that David Harbour and the rest of the Thunderbolts* cast will be joining the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, and as long as Red Guardian and Yelena are a significant part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the door is likely open for a return for Melina. Florence Pugh was in the same interview with Harbour, and it seems clear that both of them would love to see Rachel Weisz return. Maybe it really could happen.
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