Scarlett Johansson is widely recognized as the face of Black Widow, a beloved superhero from Marvel’s cinematic universe. However, the actress wasn’t just interested in playing the character for fame or fortune. Instead, she intentionally sought out the role to challenge herself and embrace the difficulties that come with it.
Scarlett Johansson’s iconic portrayal of Black Widow was initially introduced to fans in 2010’s Iron Man 2. However, it wasn’t an easy road for her to land the role. In fact, director Jon Favreau had originally considered Emily Blunt for the part before Johansson fought hard to secure it.
Johansson felt disappointed when she thought that she might lose the role to Blunt. At the time, she wasn’t getting the types of roles that she desired and this added to her frustration. Johansson confessed in an interview with Variety, that the role meant a lot to her and losing it was hard to bear. She explained that she felt hopeless and wondered if acting was the right job for her. The actress felt unfulfilled with the roles that were being offered to her and she even joked about being offered every Marilyn Monroe script there was. This made her question if her creativity had reached its limit.
Due to conflicting schedules, Emily Blunt was unable to take on the role of Black Widow in Iron Man 2. This led to Scarlett Johansson being given the opportunity to play the character, which she welcomed as a challenging project. According to Johansson, creating something great requires some form of pain, be it physical or emotional. Despite the hardships that come with playing a superhero character, Johansson found joy in pushing herself to the limit and seeing just how far she could go. At one point, the actress even doubted if her portrayal of Black Widow would be successful.
Johansson had concerns about how her portrayal of Black Widow would be received by fans when The Avengers hit theaters. This was only her second appearance in the Marvel cinematic universe, following her role in Iron Man 2. The upcoming superhero film would delve deeper into Black Widow’s background, and Johansson was eager to see how audiences would react to this new dimension of her character.
When I began working on Avengers after doing Iron Man 2, I realized that the character of Black Widow was relatively unknown. She was only seen in Widow mode. After discussing with Joss Whedon and conducting research, I wasn’t sure if the audience would like my portrayal of her. The quote is from an interview with Johansson on Trippin’ With Tara.
When Johansson’s character development was well-received by fans, it opened up a chance to delve deeper into the superhero’s past. She explains that it allowed her to create her own version of Natasha and explore the vast library of source material available, as the character has had many incarnations and different creators have contributed to her stories over time.
During a conversation with Scarlett Johansson about her character, Black Widow, in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Marvel producer Kevin Feige was nervous. He informed Johansson about his plans for her character’s journey in the film, but seemed hesitant to do so. According to Johansson in a recent interview with BBC, Feige expressed that “We all expected that there would have to be some big sacrifices.” However, Johansson was not taken aback by the news and seemed content with the direction of her character. She stated that she understood Black Widow’s decision and that it had to be hers, made out of love, and with a sense of resolution. Johansson believed that her character had been through so much in life that the choice to sacrifice herself had to be hers, and not something happening to her.
