Why Scarlett Johansson is happy that Marvel waited to make 'Black Widow'

When Scarlett Johansson made her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe all the way back in 2010’s Iron Man 2, it was widely assumed that she would get her own solo Black Widow movie quite quickly.

It ultimately took 10 years for Black Widow to come to fruition, with the coronavirus pandemic pushing it back another year.

But, rather than feeling aggrieved by how long the movie took to make, Johansson has revealed she’s happy that they waited to give Black Widow her own movie.

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She admitted as much in the Black Widow: The Official Movie Special Book, as reported by Comic Book Movie, saying that if they’d released her solo adventure straight after Iron Man 2 it would have been a lesser movie.

Especially when you consider that we’ve already seen Natasha Romanoff sacrifice herself for the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame.

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"If we had made a Black Widow standalone back then, it would be such a different film to this one. Natasha's sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame gave me a totally different perspective on who she is. Before, I don't think I would have been able to show people who Natasha really is, what drives her, and show her emotional core. I don't think we'd be able to cut that deep back then.”

Instead, Johansson believes that any film back then would have been “much more of a straight-up spy thriller,” which she believes would have only scratched “the surface” of what unfolds in Black Widow.

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Of course, Black Widow was originally expected to hit cinemas all the way back in May, 2020. Marvel have since scheduled the film, which will also star Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz, for release on May 7, 2021.