Yelena (Florence Pugh) can whistle as hard as she likes, but Scarlett Johansson has made it clear that she has no plans on putting the iconic Black Widow wristbands back on and reprising her role in the MCU. After her character sacrificed herself to save the universe in Avengers: Endgame, her little sister has now taken over as the new ex-assassin wanting to go straight, and has been allowed to do so just recently by becoming one of the New Avengers in Thunderbolts. That doesn’t mean that Johansson is ruling out returning to the MCU in a different capacity, though, with the former Avenger revealing she’d consider directing a future film in the franchise, instead.
While attending Cannes with her recent directorial effort, Eleanor the Great, Johannson spoke about the possibility of popping back to the MCU with Deadline, after parting ways with it in 2021 with Black Widow, which gave her character a fond farewell. “I think the movies that I like that are big action movies that also have the human connectivity piece,” she explained. “Even producing Black Widow and being a part of the production of that, and the development of the story, and the story between Natasha and Yelena… [there is] I think, a way of doing it, a way of maintaining the integrity of the idea of human connection, family, disappointment, all of the things that were themes in [Eleanor the Great], and doing it in a giant way in a giant universe — there’s ways of doing that… So, yeah, definitely, it could be, it would be fun.”
Her new film still has ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (although it’s hard for any film not to nowadays). Former Flag-Smasher Erin Kellyman stars alongside June Squibb in this heartfelt story of a remarkable friendship. Squibb plays the titular Eleanor, who moves to New York and befriends a 19-year-old student (Kellyman). The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jessica Hecht. While there’s no release date just yet for a pivotal moment in the actor and now director’s career, you can check out 50 other cool Scarlett Johansson moments here.
