Black Widow almost looked a whole lot less bad ass. Scarlett Johansson revealed that her character, Natasha Alianovna Romanoff, was once going to wear a costume that included “tennis whites” rather than body con black leather.
“After Iron Man to going into Avengers, there’s been an evolution of her look,” the 36-year-old actress, who previously said her character was “sexualized,” told Fatherly in a Thursday, July 8, interview.
While she rocked a “femme fatale” look for Iron Man 2 in 2010, writers proposed an alternative outfit for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which aired in 2014, that was quite a departure.
“At the time, Marvel was interested in the character being a shape-shifter. When we were doing Captain America: The Winter Soldier — this is a really funny thing — the look is fantastic and utilitarian,” she told the outlet. “She first drives up in this beautiful car and picks up Cap, and initially in the script, it was like, she arrives in her tennis whites, with a blonde wig. It was very quickly killed.”
The star went on to explain that the misguided costume choice was in part due to the fact that she worked with “a lot of male writers.”
“Things were shifting. You have to be a part of the change. Audiences are also demanding stuff and there’s a cultural shift and it feeds everything into a more progressive direction,” she said. “It’s been a process, it’s been a process.”
While the actress, who is pregnant with her second child, finds the character “very mindful, very thoughtful and considerate,” she still decided to leave the franchise. Black Widow, which is currently available for streaming on Disney Plus, will be her last appearance as Natasha.
“I feel really satisfied with this film. It feels like a great way to out for this chapter of my Marvel identity,” she told the outlet.
Still, she’s leaving the door open for further opportunities down the line.
“I would love to be able to continue to collaborate with Marvel in other ways because I think there’s just an incredible wealth of stories there,” Johansson said. “Re-imagining this genre is something that I find very interesting. I think there’s a lot of opportunities to tell these stories in different ways than audiences have come to expect.”
While fans will certainly miss Johansson on the big screen, newcomer Florence Pugh, who plays the role of Yelena Belova, seems to be stepping into the role nicely.
The 25-year-old actress caused quite the buzz at the Black Widow premiere last month, showing off her superhero style in a gorgeous Miu Miu midi-dress that was just as fierce as it was fabulous.
