Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies released so far, one that has seemingly become surprisingly vital to the franchise’s future is Black Widow. While the movie didn’t make a massive splash upon release (for reasons that were largely out of its control), it ultimately was key to Thunderbolts* which in turn is likely to be important to Avengers: Doomsday. It’s also an important movie to its writer, who had an epic experience with star Scarlett Johansson on set.
One of the reasons Black Widow had a rough go was that it came out during the global pandemic. Screenwriter Eric Pearson recently told THR that his memorable ScarJo encounter only came about because another cast member was sick, likely with an early case of COVID. Pearson said…
Our reshoots were in January of 2020. We think OT Fagbenle had COVID. He and I are still pals. He said, ‘I’ve never missed work in 20 years. I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without my heart racing.' No one knew what COVID was then, but he couldn’t be there.
COVID was brutal on Black Widow. The movie wouldn't receive a full theatrical release, instead getting a hybrid Disney+ release. That decision ultimately led to Johansson suing Disney, though the two sides would ultimately settle.
Most of the world wouldn’t go into full pandemic response until March 2020, so the Black Widow reshoots happened as they otherwise would have. However, since Fagbenle was unavailable, Pearson took on the job of running some lines with Scarlett Johansson in his stead. The writer says he tried to have some fun with the actress. It sounds like it was fun, but only because Johansson allowed it. He continued…
So I got to read his lines with Scarlett. And I remember improving a little thing to try and trip her up, and she gave me this look, like, ‘You know I could kill you. Not physically kill you, but I could embarrass you with my talent. And I’m choosing not to because I’m your friend.’ I cherish that memory.
It would take a certain level of bravery, or at least a certain level of friendship, to try and intentionally trip up Scarlett Johansson. I can’t imagine a lot of people would even try it. I suppose at that point you would discover just how good a friend you are, because if you weren’t as good a friend as you thought, she would make you look like a fool.
It makes one all the more disappointed that we’ll likely never see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow in the MCU again. While indications are that following Avengers: Secret Wars, we could see characters that have died come back to life, ScarJo has continued to insist Black Widow is dead. Even if the character comes back, she may be recast.
