With the end of the Infinity Saga the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a number of major stars said their goodbyes. Of course, in the world of Marvel Comics that inspired the films, no hero ever says goodbye for too long, so fans have always wondered if we might see the likes of Robert Downey, Jr. Chris Evans, or Scarlett Johansson again. In at least one of those cases, the actor is making a pretty clear statement that she is not returning, so don’t expect to see the original Black Widow again.
Appearing on Gwenyth Paltrow’s Goop Podcast, Scarlett Johansson was asked by her MCU co-star Paltrow, who occasionally forgets she was in the MCU, if she might ever return to the MCU and pay Black Widow again. She calls that chapter of her career “over” and says there’s simply nothing left for her to do there. The actress explains…
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.
Scarlett Johansson’s final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was actually a prequel to the events of Avengers: Endgame, so the possibility of seeing her return certainly would not have been impossible, other prequels could have been made. Beyond that, the MCU is currently neck-deep in the Multiverse, so we could see an “alternate” version of Natasha Romanoff appear that would also Johansson to return without technically playing the same character.
But it doesn’t sound like she’s that interested in coming back. She calls her time in the MCU a “unique experience” and while it sounds like she was very happy to have had the experience of returning to a character again and again over a period of years, she’s happy to leave it unique, and isn’t looking to do it again.
Johansson’s comments aren’t quite the same as her fellow MCU co-star Chris Evans. While he has repeatedly made it clear that he’s not looking to play Captain America again anytime soon, and says that any return would have to be just right, he has never entirely closed the door on the idea of returning eventually.
In Marvel Comics it's easy to bring back Steve Rogers and let him be Captain America for decades, but when you’re dealing with actors who age, that’s much less possible. While that means that eventually there will come a point when it’s literally impossible for the original actors to return, it opens a door to a sort of storytelling in the MCU that the comics have never really indulged in, seeing what happens to a superhero universe when these iconic characters are truly gone forever, replaced by new heroes carrying on the mantle, or perhaps simply gone for good.
