Scarlett Johansson soaking up success on streaming reveals the real reason why she’s (probably) never making a Marvel return

Scarlett Johansson was cemented as one of the most popular actresses in the world thanks to her turn as Natasha Romanoff in the MCU, debuting in 2010’s Iron Man 2. And yet maybe certain other films she’s made will age better than her Marvel movies.

Controversial? Perhaps, but ScarJo herself seems to have put the MCU behind her following 2020’s Black Widow — itself a prequel to Avengers: Endgame, which killed Nat off. By the looks of things, she made the right call as one of her classic films that you probably haven’t seen in years is now swimming to stardom on streaming once more. Something her last Marvel outing couldn’t hope to achieve in its dizziest daydreams.

Scarlett Johansson’s most underrated movie maxing out on Max proves why we’re never getting Black Widow 2

According to Flix Patrol, a surprise title has risen up the ranks of the streaming charts to reach as high as number two on Max’s top 10 in the United States, at the time of writing. Behind Wonka, which continues to reign supreme in the top spot, is none other than The SpongeBob SqaurePants Movie.

Hands up who either forgot ScarJo was in the SpongeBob movie or who never knew to begin with? Yup, long before bringing Black Widow to the movies was even a glint in Kevin Feige’s eye, Johansson voiced Princess Mindy, daughter of King Neptune, in the iconic — at least for a certain generation — 2004 animation. Even all these years later, no doubt thanks to SpongeBob‘s immortal staying power, the original feature-length outing for the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom is finding love all over again on streaming.

Here’s the sad truth, though. 2020’s Black Widow is highly unlikely to enjoy a similar surge of success over on Disney Plus. Out of all the many MCU movies, the Cate Shortland production ranks as one of the most forgettable and one of the least popular among the fandom. Originally, there was talk of a Black Widow 2 happening, but amidst all the scandal involving its complicated mid-pandemic release that soon quietened. All these years later, the Black Widow brand is now seemingly dead, even if Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova will be the lead in Thunderbolts*.

Who knows, maybe Scarlett telling Al Roker that she could come back as a zombie one day was a preview of an unexpected comeback in Avengers: Secret Wars, but for the moment a reprisal of Princess Mindy seems far more likely.