Actress Scarlett Johansson has had a wildly successful career, although she’s perhaps best known for her tenure playing Black Widow in the Marvel movies. She made her debut in Phase Four back in Iron Man 2, before joining the other heroes in The Avengers. And Johansson recently revealed how challenging her first action scene was back in Iron Man 2.
Given her years in the MCU, Scarlett Johansson knows her way around a fight sequence. But Iron Man 2 was her first foray into this type of work, so it was a bit of a learning curve to bring Black Widow’s big fight to life. Obviously this paid off, but ScarJo reflected on that process, saying:
That was a humongous moment for me because I was, I don’t know, 23 or 24 when I was cast in Iron Man 2. I had never stepped foot in a gym, and I had five weeks to prepare myself for these huge stunt sequences. Back then when we were doing it, over a decade ago, it was before we kind of figured out how to be most efficient in the process of shooting stunt work—what could be handed off to other stunt people and what the actor would practically need to know. So I was doing these huge choreographed sequences and I had no previous experience with any of that stuff. It was just a massive lifestyle change immediately upon getting cast.
That sounds about right. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a well-oiled machine, but Phase One was all about experimenting. And while Scarlett Johansson was learning how to shoot a Black Widow fight scene, so was the crew. Those efforts really paid off, as audiences immediately responded to the character.
Scarlett Johansson’s comments to Vanity Fair come as the acclaimed actress is promoting her new skin-care brand The Outset. Eventually the conversation turned to her iconic run as Black Widow, and the humble beginning that was her first outing in the shared universe. Following Iron Man 2, she’d go on to reprise her role in a whopping seven more blockbusters including a (controversial) solo movie.
Iron Man 2 served as a great introduction for Natasha Romanoff, who spends a bunch of the movie undercover shadowing Tony Stark. She eventually does an iconic action sequence alongside Happy Hogan, which would immediately draw fans in and have them excited about her return in The Avengers. As a reminder, you can see that fight below.
From the looks of it, we’ve seemingly seen the last of Scarlett Johansson’s signature Avenger in the MCU. She sacrificed herself to procure the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame, while her backstory was finally revealed in Black Widow. But with the multiverse currently in full swing during Phase Four, it does feel like anything could happen.
The next installment in the MCU is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
