Black Widow: MCU asked to avoid stalwart Scarlett Johansson for standing up to Disney?

With the heated back and forth of Marvel star Scarlett Johansson and media conglomerate Disney over a legal battle, fans might have to forgo their wish to see the former in a different superhero avatar. On July 29, the American actor filed a lawsuit against Disney in LA for breaching her contract after releasing Black Widow simultaneously in theatres and on Disney Plus. This action has, reportedly, caused the actor over USD 50 million of the revenue from the movie.

Marvel to avoid Scarlett Johansson in future?

Amidst the ongoing legal battle of the actor with the media house, a report from We Got This Covered revealed that Disney has asked the President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige to avoid the 36-year-old actor for the future Marvel projects. Johansson has appeared in dozens of Marvel movies from Iron Man to Avengers over the decade. The reports came following Disney's dismay over Johansson filing the lawsuit during an 'especially sad and distressing' times of the pandemic.

Earlier, the actor revealed in an interview with Fatherly that she was officially done playing the decade-long role. Especially after the character was shown dead in the last movie of the Avengers franchise. However, she expressed her wish to work again with Marvel in future projects if given the chance.

Scarlett Johansson's character Black Widow was introduced a decade ago in Iron Man 2 movie after which the superhero established her place in the universe. After years of requests and petitions, the superhero bagged her stand-alone movie titled Black Widow which was on June 29, after undergoing numerous postponements due to the pandemic. The movie grossed over $320 million worldwide and made $60 million in Disney+ global revenue.

Black Widow controversy

For the unversed, Johansson's lawyer, John Berlinski, in a statement said:

''It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so. But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts''.

Disney fired back stating, 

''There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date''.

IMAGE- AP