Black Widow never has it easy.
Offscreen, much of what Scarlett Johanssons character does is scrutinized through the lens of gender politics.
Thats heavy lifting even for a superhero.
Credit: Zade Rosenthal
Others were outraged that Widow expressed regret over the juvenile assassin program that forced her to be sterilized.
If she was Iron Man, shed be the problem-causer.
If she was Captain America, shed be the uptight one.
If she was Hulk, shed have out-of-control emotions.
Which brings us toCaptain America: Civil War.Where does Natashas fifth appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe find her?
Stark rubs at the center of his chest, where his ARC reactor was once embedded.
You know the problem with a fully functional heart…?
Its stressful, he tells Natasha.
Shes all business: We are painfully understaffed.
Itd be pretty awesome if we had a Hulk, he tells her.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Where is Natashas head these days?
In what state do we find her after the events ofAge of Ultron?
SCARLET JOHANSSON:My gosh, this is like a therapy session!
When we last saw her I think the stakes were astronomical.
And she basically had to make this choice between [duty] and what she probably deserves.
[Laughs] You know, I dont think shes ever aspired to become an Avenger.
Thats not really achoicethat she made.
Shes finally at a place where shes going, Okay, I actually kind of know what I want.
And I think I kind of deserve it.
But shes still in the fight.
So is that what she wants?
And she chooses that, and its a really heroic thing that she does, I think.
NEXT PAGE:The future of the Hulk-Widow storyline… and her opinion of the scrutiny.
And shes not personally invested.
I mean, thats what she tells herself anyway.
And so that keeps her head kind of level and clear.
She seems to be leaning strongly toward Iron Mans side of things.
Shes never been one to divide and conquer.
I dont think thats her.
Shes seen that and it never works.
She would see this as a kind of, its more complicated than picking sides, you know?
You know, I think she understands where everyone is coming from.
And none of it really matters to her, you know?
Theres a bigger problem at hand and shes, I think, strangely, kind of the mediator.
Which is not exactly how you would imagine her to be.
Shes not out to prove anything to others?
I imagine that there are a couple of ways you could respond to that.
Maybe you want to call it abandonment or whatever it is, exactly.
But she understands that Banner did what he had to do.
Certainly shes not going to be the person to chastise someone whos not ready to open up.
I dont think shes taking it personally.
Is she kind of like, Hey, your loss?
I dont think even its that.
I think shes just, its not the right time.
Its one of those things where you think of the person with a lot of fondness.
You keep that in a warm place in your heart for them.
But that would be out of character, I think.
Will that storyline continue?
I mean its certainly in there and theres references to it.
But this is not the opportunity for us to explore the Widows deep, personal backstory.
What do you hope for the character as the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding?
My hope for the Widow is, weve certainly grown from film to film.
Were building these different layers of her character.
And seeing her, I think weve kind of grown together.
Shes very capable and I think shes emotionally capable.
I think youll see her coming into her own in this story.
Do you get much input into what she does and what she says?
And what her motivation is for making the decisions that she does.
I had a lot of conversations with Joss about what she sees in Banner.
Or why is she, at this point in her life, able to be open in this way?
What are your feelings about the scrutiny Widows stories get?
You know, Im happy that people scrutinize the Widows storylines and care about it and are invested.
Id much rather it be like that than have a kind of meh reaction.
For me to have people say that would be,ouch, you know?
Everything that Ive done with the Widow, to me makes sense.
Its in line with active decisions that Ive made for the character.
So when people get fired up, youre like, all right, we pushed some buttons?
Yes, of course!
Thats better than the mediocre reaction, definitely.
The character is so beloved.
you’re free to only hope that people are going have opinions about it, you know?
