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Scarlett Johansson is done with the MCU - talks down a possible return

The actor is done with the MCU, after 10 years of starring as Black Widow.

Scarlett Johansson is done with the MCU - talks down a possible return
Andrew Williams
24 April 2023

Scarlett Johansson has said she has no intention to return to play Black Window within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Johansson talked to Gwyneth Paltrow about all things Marvel on her GOOP podcast, and summed up her feelings with a no-nonsense “I’m done.”

“Chapter is over. I did all that I had to do. Also coming back and playing a character again and again, over a decade of time, is such a unique experience,” she told Paltrow.

She was, sensibly, not down on her experience after 10 years playing Black Widow, though.

“Every couple of years, we would go back and do it again, and all be in different places in our lives. Somebody would have a kid, or was getting married, or divorced, or remarried, or whatever. And it was like an adult summer camp thing. It was cool. It was really some of the best experiences,” says Johansson.

(Not) back to Black

We already knew Black Widow was likely to be Johansson’s last Marvel movie, and that last chapter was not exactly turbulence-free.

Johansson and Disney were at loggerheads when Black Widow was released on Disney+ at the same time as the cinema. The reason: her earnings for the film were linked to box office takings, and it was the weakest performer of the MCU in recent years, bar Eternals. The case was eventually settled out of court.

Johansson also suggested, during the podcast, that Marvel will attempt to get Paltrow back in the Marvel films. Her last appearance was a brief one, in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

Meanwhile, Johansson’s next film sees her to return to the kind of film we might have expected to see her in before she was sucked into the Marvel wormhole, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. It's due to hit cinemas in June.

Image Credit: Marvel Studios