Appearing in acclaimed projects and having an extensive filmography isn’t always enough for Hollywood actors to land roles in big-budget franchises. Something similar happened to Scarlett Johansson when she was offered the role of Black Widow for the first time in Iron Man 2.
Apparently, Scarlett Johansson wasn’t the first choice for the iconic role. It was Emily Blunt whose rejection landed Johansson her infamous MCU opportunity. Working hard for the role and going out of her comfort zone, the actress even perfected her martial arts moves, but unfortunately, she still gets trolled for them, even after 13 years.
Emily Blunt’s Rejection Landed Scarlett Johansson Her MCU Role
When Jon Favreau was busy with Iron Man 2, following the worldwide success of its predecessor, he had been auditioning renowned actresses for the iconic role of Black Widow. The female superhero character that was highly appreciated by fans, was yet to have a face. That’s when Favreau learned about the British actress Emily Blunt.
Mesmerized by her work in The Devil Wears Prada and her lead role of Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria, Jon Favreau wanted to hire Emily Blunt for the role of MCU’s Black Widow. However, at that time, the actress was stuck in a multiple-picture deal with 20th Century Fox. Thus, she was obligated to appear in the adaptation of Gulliver’s Travel.
Thus, after losing out on Emily Blunt, Marvel auditioned Scarlett Johansson, who started her career as a child actress and transitioned to nuanced adult work in indie films. She was famously known for her role in Lost in Translation. Therefore, Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios signed Johansson for the role of Black Widow, and the actress didn’t disappoint.
Scarlett Johansson Perfected Her Martial Arts Moves for The Role
Getting the billion-dollar opportunity to work with MCU, Scarlett Johansson threw herself into grueling training to achieve the physical transformation required for the role. Spending five or more hours a day in her workout sessions, learning the techniques of onscreen combat and practicing wirework stunts, Johansson dedicated herself to the role.
Being constantly under the supervision of a nutritionist, Scarlett Johansson mentioned why she needed to undergo so much training. According to MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, the actress admitted how she was out of her element when it came to the physical part of acting. And as she wanted audiences to see her, rather than her stunt double, Johansson had to engage in extreme training.
“I was totally out of my element when it came to the physical part of this work.”
Eventually, the actress perfected her martial arts moves and savored the physical thrills of manhandling giant bodyguards. She became so comfortable with action sequences that in one scene with Black Widow’s trademark move of taking out an opponent by leaping up and scissoring her legs around his neck, Johansson even did a middle-of-combat hair flip.
Unfortunately, although Scarlett Johansson performed the move with utmost ease, fans ended up trolling her for that trademark move. The actress therefore blamed it on the s*xualization of the character that made people question her capabilities, and troll her for taking out bodyguards and flipping her hair in between.
