Florence Pugh is no stranger to bold moves on screen, but in Marvel’s upcoming Thunderbolts, she pushed the limits — literally. The Oscar-nominated actress revealed she had to fight for the opportunity to perform a jaw-dropping stunt herself, calling the mental discipline required “its own superpower.”
Reprising her role as Yelena Belova from Black Widow (2021), Pugh stars in Thunderbolts alongside a lineup of anti-heroes, including Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster. The highly anticipated Marvel film hits UK cinemas on 1 May 2025.
In an interview with Fandango, Pugh opened up about the intense behind-the-scenes battle she had with Marvel Studios over a specific stunt — jumping from the top of Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, the second tallest building in the world, towering at an incredible 2,722 feet.
“It was in the script,” Pugh said. “And then slowly as we got closer and closer to shooting, they said they don’t think it’s going to happen because it’s a crazy insurance ordeal and obviously we’re not going to throw [me] off the second tallest building in the world.”
But Pugh wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“I was like, ‘What the f**k? Of course we are! We have to do that’,” she recalled. “I got on all the emails. I was being a sassy Karen emailing Kevin [Feige] and saying it’s going to do wonders for the press tour.”
Her persistence paid off. “I had to keep on pushing, and then they’re like, ‘Okay, if you want to fall off the second tallest building, we’ll figure it out for you.’”
Despite her comfort with heights, the actress admitted the experience was next level. “I don’t mind heights. I quite like them and enjoy them, but that was a whole different ballgame and insane,” she said. “The mental control I had to do that day was its own superpower.”
With Thunderbolts promising to bring action, thrills, and now record-breaking stunts, fans have even more reason to be excited about Marvel’s next chapter.