Kevin Feige Wants To Keep Working With Scarlett Johansson After Black Widow

Kevin Feige: Kevin Feige expresses Marvel Studios’ intention to continue working with Scarlett Johansson in any capacity past Cate Shortland’s Black Widow.

Scarlett Johansson is bidding the MCU farewell via Black Widow but Kevin Feige hopes that they can continue working with her moving forward. The actress is among the founding heroes of the franchise as she was introduced in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 in 2010 as Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury’s trusted operative.

Now, Nat is finally getting her own film. The hero met her end in Avengers: Endgame after she sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone in Vormir. Marvel Studios works around that fact by setting Cate Shortland’s Black Widow after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where an isolated Nat reunites with her Russian family for some “unfinished business.”

As it is, the upcoming MCU film will be Johansson’s final outing as Nat. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, the Marvel Studios boss points out that there are several ways that they can continue their partnership beyond the actress being an on-screen talent.

Kevin Feige After Black Widow

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As Feige said, it was Johansson who recruited Shortland to do Black Widow; the filmmaker reveals that she actually turned down the job offer, but the actress personally sought her.

Admittedly, closing Nat’s arc this way is both unconventional and risky. If it fails to meet viewers’ expectations, it could worsen the backlash on her death in Endgame.

So while in an ideal world, Nat should also be getting her own trilogy of movies, at least the Black Widow movie sounds like it will deliver on its promise of a well-deserved send-off for the Avenger.

Whether or not Johansson will be involved in the MCU past Black Widow moving forward is currently uncertain. As with other actors who have retired their Marvel roles like Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., the actress might want to focus her energy on other projects outside of the comic book movie world.

That being said, the mantle of Black Widow is expected to live on with Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova set up to take over the identity.