Next Friday brings a bittersweet experience for longtime fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Scarlett Johansson set to bow out after eleven years as Natasha Romanoff when Black Widow finally comes to theaters and Disney Plus Premier Access.
Of course, we’ve already heard a multitude of rumors about potential comebacks, as is the case when any of the franchise’s major stars signal their departure. However, Johansson has said goodbye, so we’re better off taking the actress at her word. The good news is that early reviews have been signaling that the MCU’s super spy is going out with a bang, and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova has already been confirmed to pick up the mantle, with her next outing set for later this year when Hawkeye premieres on Disney Plus.
However, one person struggling to reconcile themselves with Natasha’s swansong is Victoria Alonso, Executive Vice President of Film Production for Marvel Studios. In a new interview, Alonso admitted that she’s not ready to let the longtime fan favorite go, despite her excitement for audiences to finally see Black Widow fourteen months later than intended.
“I don’t want to let her go, so it’s hard for me to say it’s the end of the journey. It’s a cycle. We’re looking inside a chunk of time that we didn’t know what she was doing, so I refuse to let her go. I’m attached. She’s been with us forever, we love her. We love our Widow, and we love our Widows. So it’s inspiring to see where we’ve gone from where we were, and I can’t imagine the reaction. I’m just so excited that the world will get to see it.”
A solo outing for Agent Romanoff has been in the works for a decade at this point, with the pieces not falling into place until after she was killed off in the main timeline during Avengers: Endgame. Of course, the impending explosion of the multiverse means that a return can’t definitively be ruled out by any means, but you’d imagine the ball is firmly in Johansson’s court about whether or not Black Widow really marks the end of the line for one of the most popular characters in cinema’s biggest-ever film series.
