Scarlett Johansson Didn’t Want Black Widow to be an Origin Tale

Black Widow is still a long way off from release, but that hasn’t stopped several cast members — notably Florence Pugh — from dropping a few tidbits about the film for eager fans to munch on. One interesting bit of news comes via a Vanity Fair interview with the film’s star Scarlett Johansson, who reveals her disinterest in an origin tale for the popular MCU character.

“I did not want it to be an origin story,” Johansson said. “I did not want it to be an espionage story. I didn’t want it to feel superficial at all. I only wanted to do it if it actually fit where I was with that character. I had spent such a long time peeling those layers away—I felt that unless we got to something deep, then there was no reason to make it. Because I did my job in Endgame, and actually felt satisfied with that. I would have been happy to let that be it. So there had to be a reason to do it other than just to milk something.”

Echoing Pugh’s words, Johansson revealed that Black Widow will deal with “a lot of trauma and pain” that she will have to overcome; a notion the actress believes will (hopefully) elevate the genre.

“And so by elevating the genre I mean I hope that it can be both explosive and dynamic and have all that great fun stuff that goes with the genre, but I hope that we can also talk about, you know, self-doubt and insecurity and shame and disappointment and regret and all that stuff too,” Johansson said. “It has many different things, it’s not just that. But there’s a lot of deep stuff, I think, that drives it.”

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Scarlett Johansson returns as Natasha Romanoff, a spy and assassin who grew up being trained by the KGB before breaking from their grasp and becoming an agent of SHIELD and an Avenger. The film is expected to be set after the events of Captain America: Civil War, but before Avengers: Infinity War.

Black Widow will also feature a star-studded cast including Golden Globe nominee David Harbour (Stranger Things, Hellboy) as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, Florence Pugh (Fighting with My Family) as Yelena Belova, Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as Melina and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason.

The movie is being directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) from a script written by Jac Schaeffer (The Hustle) and will release in theaters on May 1, 2020.

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