The next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be the long anticipated Black Widow film. The movie will be the next film we see in the franchise, but, of course, it won't necessarily carry the story of the MCU forward, as we know the movie will be a flashback, taking place at some point in the past. It will be one final movie for Scarlett Johansson to play the role of Natasha, something the actress says she needed because it gave her some degree of closure over the character.
Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Johansson was clearly looking forward to chance to headline her own Marvel movie, and she told the host that the experience of making the movie brought her closure that she really needed following the epic experience of Avengers: Endgame. According to Johansson...
We just finished it a couple of weeks ago. We shot the film in London, I’m so excited about it. I can’t wait to share it with everybody. It was fantastic. I mean, I’m partial, but I’m pretty excited. It was honestly, it brought a closure to me that I needed. Because I was kind of wiped out of that last one [Endgame]. I mean, emotionally and literally.
Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were produced back to back, and Scarlett Johansson was one of the actors who had a significant role in both movies. It's not surprising if making those two movies like that was emotionally taxing for the actress.
And yes, there's also the fact that her character died off after being a staple of the MCU for nearly its entire run. The character debuted in Iron Man 2, the third MCU movie made, so bringing that story to a close with Natasha's death in Avengers: Endgame was certainly a big deal for the actress as well.
The new Black Widow movie will get around the whole "death" thing by, as far as we know, being set much earlier in the MCU. While death in comic books, and therefore, one assumes, in comic book movies, is never truly final, Scarlett Johasson has clearly come to terms with her character's end The actress believes Black Widow is gone for good, even though many have apparently tried to convince her otherwise.
There’s very few certain things, but death’s pretty certain. But people definitely don’t believe it and have tried to convince me that my character did not actually die, that it exists in a different universe, but I did die.
Check out Scarlett Johansson's complete appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below.
Of course, while the mere act of making the movie may have provided some closure, there's also the possibility that the story itself aided in that closure. We certainly assume we'll learn more about Black Widow's background in this movie than we ever learned when the character was still "alive." Perhaps those details helped Scarlett Johansson say goodbye.
The rest of us will have that chance in May of 2020.
