Scarlett Johansson’s days as Black Widow may be in the rear view, but a future still awaits her at Marvel Studios. In the months that followed the release of Black Widow, Johansson’s eighth outing as Natasha Romanoff and the first time that she suited up as her in a solo project, Marvel President Kevin Feige revealed that the two were working together in a producing capacity on a “non-Black Widow related top-secret Marvel Studios project.” Following that quote, Marvel announced its Phase 5 and parts of its Phase 6 slate eight months later, but Johansson’s mystery project was nowhere to be found.
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Beyond Feige’s lone quote about the mystery project, Johansson has been relatively quiet on the Marvel front since. Her latest MCU comments came on fellow Marvel star Gwyneth Paltrow’s podcast where she re-emphasized that she is done playing Black Widow, saying that that “chapter is done.” While that may be true from an acting standpoint, Johansson still has a future with her longtime collaborator.
Speaking with ComicBook.com at the Asteroid City press junket, Johansson noted that her mystery Marvel producing project is still in the works but progress has been paused due to the WGA writers’ strike.
“It is still happening. Yes,” Johansson said. “It is still happening, [but] not currently because nothing is happening right now. We’re all sort of in this holding pattern as we wait out the writers’ strike and potentially our own guild strike, and so on and so forth.”
Per the strike, all Hollywood projects still in the writing phase on pre-production have gone on an indefinite break. While some blossoming films like James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy are able to continue progress because final scripts were submitted before the strike commenced, anything that was still in the midst of the scribing process cannot complete their scripts until the strike ends.
Johansson’s allusion to “potentially our own guild strike” is in reference to the looming possibility of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ guild, going on strike as well. SAG-AFTRA announced last week that 97.91% of the guild supported the authorization of a strike. They will reportedly go on strike if contract talks are not resolved by June 30th.
Johansson added that developments were happening shortly before the WGA strike began on May 2nd.
“Right before the strike, we were in the middle of developing it, and now everything is at a simmer,” Johansson added.
Details beyond the fact that it is happening have been kept close to the vest. Since Johansson’s tenure as Black Widow concluded, Marvel Studios has expanded its storytelling mediums tenfold, relying more on Disney+ for multi-episode narratives as well as one-off special presentations. While all of her Marvel Studios acting work came on the big screen, there’s every possibility that Johansson’s secret project could take her to the television realm.
Johansson has collaborated with Feige for well over a decade now. She made her Marvel debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2 and went on to be a foundational piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her relationship with Marvel parent company Disney hit a speed bump in Fall 2021, as she filed a lawsuit against the house of mouse for Black Widow‘s release rollout going against what was specified in the initial contract. Johansson was promised a full theatrical release but the film was instead given a hybrid drop, with viewers able to stream it on Disney+ for an additional fee on the same day it hit theaters. The lawsuit was settled in September 2021.
Johansson can next be seen starring in Asteroid City, which hits limited theaters on June 16th before expanding to a wide release on June 23rd.
