When Black Widow finally arrives in July and draws a close to Scarlett Johansson’s tenure as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s going to be a big gap in her schedule for the foreseeable future. After all, since debuting in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, the actress has gone on to make a further eight appearances in the franchise, but the series can’t rely on the same faces forever.
It’s not as though she’ll be struggling for work given her star power and reputation, especially after she nabbed her first pair of Academy Award nominations in the same year for her lead performance in Netflix’s Marriage Story and a supporting gig in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. But the only project on her calendar after Black Widow right now is a voice role in animated sequel Sing 2. However, a new report claims that Johansson could’ve had one more effort on her slate as she turned down the chance to play a villain in Indiana Jones 5.
Apparently, The Resident‘s Shaunette Renée Wilson will be the CIA handler of Mads Mikkelsen’s villain, a former Nazi scientist recruited by NASA to give the United States an edge in the space race, while Scarlett was earmarked for the role of an ‘evil and brutal killer’ who works for the Hannibal star’s nefarious bad guy.
Outside of the MCU, the actress isn’t really known for showing up in big blockbuster sequels, and even dropped out of Mission: Impossible III fifteen years ago, and as of yet, there’s no word on who could end up potentially inheriting the part. No official plot details have been revealed by either Lucasfilm or director James Mangold, either, so it’s best to treat any and all Indiana Jones 5 hearsay as entirely speculative for now until cameras start rolling this summer.
