Scarlett Johansson Has ‘No Plans To Return’ As Black Widow

By Brent Furdyk. Published: 8 Jul 2021 6:50 PM

Black Widow — Disney+

As fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe anticipate the debut of “Black Widow” on Friday, they should also brace themselves for some unfortunate news: the new movie looks to be Scarlett Johansson’s last appearance as Natasha “Black Widow” Romanov.

“I have no plans to return as Natasha,” Johansson revealed in an interview with Fatherly.

“I feel really satisfied with this film,” she continued. “It feels like a great way to go out for this chapter of my Marvel identity.”

However, she also explained that she’d like to keep the door open for a return to the MCU in some other capacity.

“I would love to be able to continue to collaborate with Marvel in other ways because I think there’s just an incredible wealth of stories there,” she said. “Re-imagining this genre is something that I find very interesting. I think there’s a lot of opportunities to tell these stories in different ways than audiences have come to expect.”

As Johansson explained, “Black Widow” is a standalone Marvel movie in every sense of the word.

“The process of making ‘Black Widow’, it was very different. It’s the first film that I’ve produced and my experience, really from conception to what you guys are all seeing now — was absolutely fulfilling and creatively fulfilling, and also personally, really just very fulfilling. Everything was possible because strangely, you would think that the timeline would be sort of limiting in a way, because you were kind of going backwards, but because of Natasha’s ultimate fate, it actually made it in some ways daunting, but it felt limitless in some ways,” she said.

“Because it didn’t have to lead us anywhere. It wasn’t like we had to tie up a bunch of loose ends, or we were introducing another kind of storyline or multi-verse or anything like that. We could really make it very much about her person and her own personal journey,” she added.

“Black Widow” premieres in theatres and Disney+ (with Premiere Access) on Friday, July 9.