In the lead-up to Avengers: Endgame, we were so busy debating and speculating on who will and won’t come out of the MCU’s latest release alive that we failed to notice Scarlett Johansson delivering the goods under the guise of a joke.
Earlier this month, the Black Widow actress appeared alongside Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Paul Rudd on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where the host lamented that it felt like “the last gathering” of the team on his show. After Downey gave the standard, Disney-approved response that “the future is very uncertain,” Johansson leaned over to her co-star and offered the following, seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark:
“Don’t lie to him, we’re never coming back.”
Okay, so clearly we weren’t supposed to take actress’s comment seriously at the time, but seeing how Black Widow and Iron Man were the two main heroes who died in the new movie, it certainly seems in retrospect like Johansson was cracking an in-joke with her fellow Endgame fatality.
That being said, while last week’s release heavily implied that Downey is now retired from the MCU, we already know that Johansson is coming back at least one more time for the long-awaited Black Widow solo movie. Assuming that the upcoming flick doesn’t have a resurrection twist lined up (and Endgame certainly gave us our fill of those), it’s probably safe to say that Cate Shortland’s film will serve as an origin story for the heroine. As for the cast, Johansson will reportedly be joined by Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Florence Pugh (Fighting with My Family) and David Harbour (Hellboy).
Hopefully we can get a few more details on the Black Widow movie when production gets underway later this year. In the meantime, Avengers: Endgame is still in theaters, and breaking an insane number of box office records.
