She echoed this sentiment in other interviews, as well.
“I’m going to miss not seeing [the Marvel family] every 18 months or two years, like those kind of milestones I always really look forward to,” the actress mused during an appearance on Good Morning America. “But I feel really proud of this film and I think it’s great to go out on a high note. This movie is so different from any other Marvel film we’ve done so far, so yeah… like I said, it’s bittersweet.”
But despite Johansson’s intention to leave the Marvel playground, we may not have seen the last of Black Widow. The character’s MCU prequel film introduces someone familiar to fans of Marvel Comics: Yelena Belova, who also adopted the codename Black Widow in myriad stories.
Midsommar’s Florence Pugh plays Yelena in Black Widow, and the character is set to re-emerge post-Avengers: Endgame in Marvel’s Disney+ Clint Barton spinoff series, Hawkeye. So, is there a chance that a Black Widow sequel film could happen despite Johansson’s MCU exit?
“I think following a different character, yes,” Black Widow director Cate Shortland told Radio Times. “I think Scarlett is really happy that she’s leaving the party, you know, and she’s not the last to leave. She decided she wanted to go. And I don’t think she would want to come back at the moment.”
Shortland has also confirmed that she would be up for returning to helm a Black Widow sequel for Marvel: “I mean, all the beautiful fights and the spectacle, and I think just creating something really fun and joyous is pretty addictive. So yeah, I would do it again. Yes. I feel really happy about it. Usually I feel dread when I have something coming out, but this time, I feel really happy. I think because it was such a group effort.”
