Do people actually think Yelena and Bob are sibling coded?

I have watched thunderbolts multiple times, putting the brilliant acting and the insane chemistry Florence and Lewis aside, I just feel like the director Jake and the team had purposely set up these framing looking like they have very deep intimately bonds and is the most important aspect of the story.

Personally I see them as potential love interest and it didn't develop during the show because they need time to build the foundation of the relationship so that the Russos could further tell their story. They failed to tell the Natasha x Bruce story because we didn't see much of their relationship development.

However when I search on the social media, some fandom is labelling them as "sibling coded" which I don't see at all? I see more of this is with Shang-Chi and Katy or like John and Yelena. At most they are platonic deeply bonded soulmates and I don't get the sibling vibes at all.

Commentaires

rubyschnees2025-10-01 15:21

yes, the idea of them romantically weirds me tf out big time

one of the main arcs/plots of the movie is yelena healing from losing her sister by finding a brother and getting to be the big sister

ubutterscotchpine2025-10-01 15:43

This. Also the childish innocence they gave Bob, especially where his interactions with Yelena are concerned, just really feel icky to ‘ship’. Thunderbolts* was 100% family coded, from Ava and Yelena picking on Walker in a ‘we’re his sisters only were allowed to pick on him’ kind of way to Bucky’s big brother vibes, and the group protecting Bob like they would a little brother.

We don’t have to ship every single female and male that interacts emotionally and doing so here belittles their story SO much. Men and woman ARE allowed to have chemistry and form emotional bonds without fucking or being in love romantically.

bearpi7282025-10-01 16:59

From the vault scene we can tell despite Bob is craving for physical affection from Yelena, such as not shying away from Yelena touching him (from the start to the end of the movie, ultimately sticking together with her and the team). He despised to be viewed as an inferior civilian, or "little brother" by keep proving himself worthy and ultimately sacrificing himself. He craves for Yelena's affection and seeking validation from her treat him as her equal.

When we talk about siblings there is always hierarchy or power imbalance, like who would be elder younger etc, which is that one thing Bob hates.

ubutterscotchpine2025-10-01 20:59

My dude, none of this makes me feel romantic ship lol. You’re really not going to convince me. It’s so gross people can’t just let men and women be friends and family and insist that they’ve got to be involved in some way.

bearpi7282025-10-01 22:03

The part I want to bring up for discussion is not about their ship but more like their sibling coded label

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-01 22:05

You do realize that the MCU has ~1 active f/m couple right now (Reed and Sue) compared to an abundance of platonic relationships? It’s not “gross” to want romance in these movies.

SharpshootinTearaway2025-10-01 23:13

Scott and Hope are still together, aren't they? Same for Hank and Janet. It's just a bit unsure whether Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas would be willing to reprise their roles.

I guess it's a bit early to count Strange and Clea.

_DreamerOfTheDay_2025-10-03 01:59

thank you

Tipop2025-10-02 00:05

I think you’re projecting, bro. You’d like to be in a relationship with Yelena (who wouldn’t?) so you project that feeling onto Bob.

“Not shying away from her touch” is not the same thing as “craving physical affection”. Trying to prove his worth is more sibling-coded than romantic.

Kurandaand2025-10-02 00:17

”Trying to prove his worth is more sibling-coded than romantic.”

LMAO!! What?!? Look everyone is entitled to their opinion but this is ridiculous. Every Knight in every romantic epic ever is side-eyeing this. Open the schools!! 🤣

Tipop2025-10-02 00:22

Younger siblings are always trying to prove their worth to the older ones.

Also, you don’t need to be insulting just because someone disagrees with you. “Open the schools” indeed. I was attending college in the 80s, kiddo.

bearpi7282025-10-01 16:23

I don't think she needs a brother, Alexi already filled up this role after she lost her sister, and it doesn't make sense she needs another family member. When she met Alexei she asked what's the point of working, and he mentioned about fortune gets new clothes, friends and love, so it's like foreshadowing she would get all those at the end as we see in the post credit scene she has new clothes, friends, so I guess Bob symbolise love.

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-01 17:22

>one of the main arcs/plots of the movie is yelena healing from losing her sister by finding a brother

Nowhere in the movie is this shown or even implied. She is simply seeking connection (someone to come home to) period. If anything, the director said JOHN is like a brother to her. Their dynamic isn’t intended to be romantic but it’s not meant to be sibling-like either.

midnightphoton2025-10-01 15:40

delulu fans who ship them are from alabama, LET THEM DO THEM OKURRRR

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-01 17:20

They aren’t siblings though? They’re grown ass adults who met as adults. There’s nothing wrong with it. Lots of people ship Bishova, which Florence described as a sisterly relationship, but that doesn’t stop them. What’s exactly the problem here?

OdoWanKenobi2025-10-01 15:42

Yelena is one of Marvel's most prominent Ace characters. They're not giving her a love interest.

RihoSucks2025-10-01 16:47

I hope not 🙏

bearpi7282025-10-01 17:03

It is never mentioned she's an Ace in comics, and in the comics she slept with a man. In the most recent Marvel Zombies she also flirted with a man.

ubutterscotchpine2025-10-01 21:20

Lmao are you implying ace people can’t flirt?

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:54

They can do whatever they want. Just that I find it is a weak excuse gatekeep her from having a love interest just because she is "ace"

ubutterscotchpine2025-10-01 22:02

No one is gatekeeping anything. I don’t even think Yelena is ace, but if you’re out here watching Marvel movies for romantic relationships I think you’re in the wrong genre lol. Just chill.

Responsible_Egg75192025-10-01 17:26

She isn’t ace.

“Devin Grayson herself considers it to be her own headcanon and actively encourages people not to consider her word as official confirmation.”

ChronoMonkeyX2025-10-01 15:51

I don't think they've known eachother long enough, but it could go that way. Like Shang Chi and Katy have been friends for a while.

Yelena, a human weapon who only recently gained free will and introspection, sees that Bob is in a similar situation which triggers a protective impulse, and that could lead to a sibling relationship over time. I hope they get enough time to build on that. There was a time skip at the end of the movie, but we don't see them together very long, there needs to be screentime as well as skipped time to make it work.

bearpi7282025-10-01 17:13

In the vault scene it did trigger her protective impulse. But as I replied to other commentor the problem with a sibling type of relationship would create a power imbalance, which is one of the key plot of the movie is that Bob despised to be treated as an inferior, like power tripping with Val and proving himself worthy to Yelena and others.

The relationship development led to Bob became equal footing with others. And if they let Bob to be the "little sibling" in Doomsday it's like the whole relationship develop is back to square one.

Edit: Spelling and grammar, and the "family dynamic" would work if Bob actually embraced himself as the little brother of the team and doesn't mind but throughout the whole movie he is actively against that identity.

ChronoMonkeyX2025-10-01 17:38

There's a world of difference between being a little brother to a protective big sister, even if that protection is purely emotional, and being subservient to a power hungry schemer like Val.

Bob needs Yelena's emotional support, even if the Void can wipe out all of humanity with a thought. It's that big sister relationship that can keep the void in check.

Younger siblings are not in a power imbalance unless the older sibling is abusive, which Yelena is clearly not.

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:51

Bob needs Yelena's validation and respect that she would treat him as an equal being that is capable of fighting and protecting her. Throughout the vault scene Yelena kept forcefully dragging him around and he was showing uncomfortableness the whole time. Like how would someone feel if he or she just met a girl from work/school, but she treats you like an incapable big baby instead of a friend, it is demoralising.

It is a power imbalance if they are not siblings to begin with. It's even worst than being friends.

ubutterscotchpine2025-10-01 21:21

A romantic relationship would be a huge power imbalance I have no clue what you’re going off about. If you ship them, cool. But you can’t force other people to have the same imagination you do.

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:30

I mean the whole point of the discussion is not about the ship but the sibling dynamic that I don't see it

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:40

I don't see how a romantic relationship would be a huge power imbalance if they treat each other as equals?

I mean this is not a ship discussion, I just don't see how they are sibling coded. I know that in the fandom thunderbolts team like to treat Bob as their baby brother. But I don't see how he would submit himself to be the baby brother in the team, he would strongly oppose to the idea, like how he hated John and Yelena dragging him around

Defiant_Wheel48882025-10-01 17:02

They try to create banner natasha style \[ making fan move on from natasha\]

![gif](giphy|UWMqiZtcixB4MoWX20)

[https://i.pinimg.com/236x/9e/d1/ca/9ed1caabda18f5ec47c308df3866e53c.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/9e/d1/ca/9ed1caabda18f5ec47c308df3866e53c.jpg)

ClubEnough2025-10-01 17:44

Marvel has created so many friendships that when they have potential, people think they are "siblings" and that's why the MCU is in such a decline in romance. They have great potential both for their incredible characters and great chemistry, now we need to know if Marvel will invest

teacup_tiger2025-10-01 18:06

I think the movie uses various elements to illustrate that they have a strong connection, as if they are recognizing each other on a deeper level, and there is one specific moment that parallels them to Yelena and Nat in Black Widow: the curtain that is choking them in the Void. This is significant because Nat was Yelena's most important relationship previously, and you can read it as Bob basically becoming for Yelena what Nat was for her before. At the same time, there are other elements that point to Yelena taking over Nat's spot in the relationship, while Bob takes over Yelena's - Yelena is the one who protects and guides, Bob is the one who is more emotionally open and vulnerable, who accepts Yelena taking the lead. That is something that can be read as sibling-esque, or a platonic friendship, but it doesn't have to, and it doesn't mean that it can't develop into something else. I believe it's absolutely possible for these interpretations (like siblings, friendship, romantic couple) to stand side by side, and nobody should use one or the other to devalue someone else's views.

ricardo510682025-10-01 20:02

I think they are just friends. The way I see it is that Yelena will never find another Natasha replacement. At the very least, she finds it healing in helping another vulnerable person and spending time with that person.

"You can't stuff it down. You can't hold it in all alone. No one can. We have to let it out we have to spend time together. And if even it doesn't make the emptiness go away, I promise you it will feel lighter." - Yelena

RumpledStillsuit2025-10-01 20:12

It looked more like empathy and compassion than romantic interest.

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:31

Yeah I agree but I don't get the sibling vibe

RumpledStillsuit2025-10-01 21:48

I agree. I never saw their interactions developing in that direction. However, the film is kind of a "found family" flick, which Marvel films like to portray.

PhilRobinsonMusic2025-10-01 20:14

I have the exact opposite perspective as you--

I see Yelena & Bob more as siblings; and I see Shang-Chi & Katy as having more romantic chemistry.

bearpi7282025-10-01 21:33

interesting take, may I know why u see them as siblings instead of just friends?

PhilRobinsonMusic2025-10-01 21:50

I don't really have much to point to in terms of reasons, other than to say that's just the vibe I got from the movie (and the vibe I got from the Shang-Chi movie). Bob and Yelena didn't seem to be 'attracted' to each other, it just seemed like Bob was very fragile/vulnerable/self-deprecating, and Yelena is a good, noble person, so she looked out for him like how any good person would try to look out for someone less fortunate than they are if they are in a position to do so.

If you put any other selfless, noble character in Yelena's position (like perhaps Natasha, Steve Rogers, or Peter Parker), I feel like they would also 'take care of' / 'protect' Bob in a similar way as Yelena did. The same way Peter Parker 'cared' for the villains in No Way Home and wanted to 'save' them rather than 'eliminate' them, that's the same vibe I got from Yelena toward Bob-- she wanted to 'save' him from the dangerous situation they all found themselves in.

Now with Shang-Chi and Katy, I definitely had the sense that they had deep feelings for each other but had formed such a friendship for so many years, that each was probably not fully conscious of those feelings, and also, to the extent they were conscious, too scared to potentially 'ruin the friendship by acknowledging their passionate feelings for the other, in case the other one didn't like them back'... But from watching the movie I definitely had the sense that their romantic endgame for each other over the course of upcoming movies is each other. By the time their last appearance comes, they will be a couple.

I could be completely wrong on both counts, but if I were hired to write the next movie in each series and I asked myself what what be the organic next step for each relationship to take based on what it seemed was happening in the initial movies-- the above is how I would interpret what had happened in those two initial movies and how I would build from there.

Kurandaand2025-10-01 23:40

A lot of the “sibling coded“ thing comes from younger fandom that has gotten weirdly puritanical…and just plain weird…about anything having to do with sex or romance. I am sure someone at some point will do a study as to why the mere thought of sex or romance makes this certain set of fandom so uncomfortable.

In reality, the characters are unrelated consenting adults and the actors have great chemistry; so if Feige and the writers want a romance at some point there will be a romance at some point. There is absolutely nothing stopping that. 🤷‍♀️

ChaoticCaptain1772025-10-02 00:02

I prefer them being a sibling dynamic than shipping them tbh

Grayx_28872025-10-02 06:31

No. I don't think they are.

BartleBossy2025-10-02 16:55

I hope they dont make Yelena his love interest. [who knows the story of Bobs wife in the comics?](https://preview.redd.it/rsrpoqvfhdrf1.jpg?width=892&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2c064ebdd4789535b6e82e570b545351b1c5b77)

Ming_theannoyed2025-10-02 18:26

Yeah... in a Folgers coffee way.