There’s a moment in the final battle in Avengers: Endgame where many of the female heroes of the MCU appear together onscreen, prepared to run defense for Captain Marvel and the Infinity Gauntlet. It was a brief glimpse of what an all-female Marvel movie could look like, which is something that has been discussed and championed by the universe’s actresses since before even Captain Marvel hit theaters. Actress Scarlett Johansson is still pushing for the all-female Marvel movie, and when recently addressing the possibility, she said:
I don’t know what my future is in that world. Obviously, it’s a little more opaque for my character. But that group of actresses is so incredibly powerful and when they come together, it’s explosive and unstoppable. So yes, I’m pushing for that. I think audiences want it and I’m definitely one of them.
Scarlet Johansson is a big believer in her fellow MCU actresses, and she loves the prospect of seeing them all onscreen for their very own team-up movie. The actress thinks that it’s something special when all of those talented women come together. Therefore she wants to see an all-female Marvel movie just from a fan perspective, and she believes that the audience demand to see it is there as well.
So as if there was any question, Scarlett Johansson is still rooting for the project to get made, even if she may not be a part of it - which leads us to the elephant (or Soul Stone) in the room. The reason why Scarlett Johansson doesn't know much about her future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the fact that Black Widow died in Avengers: Endgame. This occurred before that final battle, so her character’s absence was keenly felt in that shot with all of the female superheroes.
There is the upcoming Black Widow solo film, but that will be a prequel, and Black Widow’s death puts her and Scarlett Johansson’s presence in any future MCU outings that take place after Avengers: Endgame, including a potential all-female movie, very much in doubt. The actress admits as much to Variety in the interview.
That fate might preclude Black Widow from showing up opposite Valkyrie and Scarlet Witch and Okoye and the Wasp and all the rest of the female Marvel heroes in an all-female movie, but Scarlett Johansson is still going to bang the drum for it, hoping that it will happen. She isn’t alone in this hope either.
We first heard about this idea a couple of years ago, well before Marvel’s first female-led solo film hit theaters. Apparently a bunch of Marvel actresses, including Scarlett Johansson, pitched the idea to Kevin Feige. Tessa Thompson has been a major champion of the idea and recently Elizabeth Olsen also spoke about her belief that such a movie would have a huge impact.
It’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility. That shot in Endgame was likened to the A-Force team from the comics, which was a team led by She-Hulk - who will soon be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in her own Disney+ series. The MCU already has enough female heroes to constitute an all-female Avengers team if the powers that be want it to happen, and it works in the overall story Marvel Studios is trying to tell.
Even if this all-female Marvel movie that Scarlett Johansson is pushing for doesn’t happen, it’s not like there will be any shortage of women kicking ass in Phase 4 and beyond. After Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, 2020 will see a bunch of new female characters introduced in Eternals. There is also the aforementioned She-Hulk series, WandaVision and Ms. Marvel all coming to Disney+. And let's not forget that Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster will pick up the hammer in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder.
Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha Romanoff, possibly for the last time, in Black Widow, in theaters on May 1, 2020. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see all the huge movies on the way next year.
