Ever since Robert Downey Jr. announced his heel-flip return to the MCU as iconic villain Doctor Doom, Marvel fans have been clamoring to find out who from the original “Avengers” might be resurrected for the next installments. While it’s unclear who, if anyone, will be joining Downey Jr., one star wants it to be known that her character will remain peaceful in the after-life.
“Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay?” said Scarlett Johansson in a recent interview with InStyle. Speaking of how Marvel fans refuse to accept her character’s death in “Avengers: Endgame,“ she added, “They just don’t want to believe it. They’re like, ‘But she could come back!’ Look, I think the balance of the entire universe is held in her hand. We’re going to have to let it go. She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.”
Though her part in the “Avengers” series and her standalone feature “Black Widow” have helped elevate Johansson to superstar status, she’s ready to put this part of her life in the past. Especially considering how much she values her privacy and how being a part of the Marvel machine disrupts that.
“The thing about being a public figure is that the idea of being recognizable and celebrated feels fun, but then you can never stuff it back in the bottle,” Johansson said. “The reality of it is, there’s a massive loss to that, you know? So I think preserving that for as long as possible until it’s someone’s choice, that’s the choice I make as far as my kids go.”
In fact, Johansson has recently decided to step from in front of the camera to behind it. Releasing at some point this year, Johansson’s directorial debut “Eleanor the Great” stars nonagenarian June Squibb and is described as being inspired by indie films of the “mid-80s to the mid-2000s,” such as “Living Out Loud,” “Crossing Delancey,” and “Moonstruck.” Not only did the film give Johansson a chance to take some of the spotlight off herself, but it also satisfied a need to grow and take in new experiences.
“When I would get home from work,” Johansson told InStyle, “and I would say to Colin [Jost], ‘You know, it’s so exciting to be 40 and learn a new thing. Now I know how to make a movie like this. I know how to finish it. The process of sound mixing and coloring and editing’ — I didn’t know that before. And now I know how to do it.”
