When it comes to Marvel characters, you never know if they are truly dead or not; moreover, MCU fans do not seem to want to let their beloved characters go when the time has come. Scarlett Johansson seemingly responded to these specific fans as she pleaded with them to let Black Widow finally have “her hero moment.” Johansson first graced our screens as Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow, in 2010’s Iron Man 2, and the character has been a fan favorite ever since. She went on to make appearances in The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, where Romanoff courageously sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone. Johansson came back to lead her character-centered prequel film, Black Widow, in 2021. Diehard fans still believe that Johansson will return or cameo for Avengers: Doomsday and other future MCU projects.
Johansson put these assumptions to rest in an interview with InStyle Magazine on Tuesday, responding, “Natasha is dead,” when asked about her rumored return to the MCU. She continued, “She’s dead. Okay? 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.” It seems that Johansson’s opinion comes from a narrative perspective rather than a personal one. Black Widow’s ultimate sacrifice was one of the more emotional points in the film, to have her return would make Natasha’s death seem meaningless. Johansson concluded the answer with, “She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.”
Although Johansson has confirmed her departure from the MCU, she served as an executive producer on Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, which will be released in theaters on May 2, 2025. The actress will grace our screens in other features this year, such as Jurassic World Rebirth, which will release in theaters on July 2, and Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, marking this as her third collaboration with the filmmaker.
