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April 2010 

Return to Table of Contents April 2010

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Cover Story: Scarlett Johansson
If the Suit Fits

Scarlett Johansson admits she knows nothing — and cares little — about comic books. But when you’ve got a body like hers, and have the opportunity to put it in a suit like that, playing Iron Man 2’s sexy villain becomes a lot more appealing


By Kevin Williamson

Scarlett Johansson couldn’t list Marvel’s stable of superheroes if a radioactive spider jumped up and bit her.

No, nerds, she’s not one of you.

But unlike other young starlets who feign geek cred, at least Johansson doesn’t pretend to know the difference between the Daily Bugle and the Daily Planet — even though this is her second foray into the comic-book realm, after playing Silken Floss in director Frank Miller’s widely panned 2008 adaptation of The Spirit.

“It’s all new to me,” the 25-year-old says during interviews at last summer’s Comic-Con, where the first footage of Iron Man 2 was unveiled.

In the sequel, Johansson turns up as Tony Stark’s new assistant, Natasha Romanoff, who, in comics lore, moonlights as the red-tressed Russian secret agent the Black Widow.

The gig originated from a meeting she had with Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to discuss not only the Widow but other costumed crusaders.

“It was just to talk about some of the superheroines in the Marvel universe and Black Widow was one of them,” she recalls.

Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow
in Iron Man 2

Which other characters was she circling? “Let me see if I can remember them. Scarlet Witch was one of them.” She pauses. “Blonde Phantom, is that the other one? Am I messing that one up? Is there a Blonde Phantom?”

There is. She’s an obscure Marvel heroine whose existence began in 1947 and ended in 1949. Not a likely candidate for a feature film.

For now, Johansson will have to suffice with Iron Man 2, which finds Robert Downey Jr.’s armour-clad avenger coping with the unexpected consequences of retiring from arms dealing in order to save the world full-time.

“A lot of the characters in this film have to make a choice,” Johansson says. “And good and evil comes into play.

There are choices that have to be made. It’s not gray. Some characters have to step up to the plate and realize how valuable they are. It’s ‘I have this all in the palm of my hand, which way can I go?’ It’s an epic kind of story.”
Among the forces Stark confronts this time out? The U.S. government, for one, which wants the Iron Man technology for itself — an ambition that puts Stark at odds with his long-time friend and military liaison James Rhodes (Don Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard). And there’s a duplicitous new weapons manufacturer on the scene — Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) — who wants to pick up where Stark left off. But the most lethal adversary of the lot is Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash, a cybernetically enhanced menace out for revenge against the Stark empire for reasons as yet unknown. There are familiar faces too: Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, newly promoted to CEO of Stark Industries, and Samuel L. Jackson as SHIELD honcho Nick Fury, hoping to convince Stark to help him form a cadre of superpowered do-gooders.

And that’s about all the information the cast members, including Johansson, who’ve come to Comic-Con will give up. Johansson even hesitates to confirm her character is Eastern European. “You’re going to have to wait and see. I will say she is covert. She blends in. It’s not like she comes onto the scene and you’re like, ‘Who’s that Russian chick?’ I would think that would be a dead giveaway. I don’t know how covert you would be tawking like theese,” she says with a Russian accent. “But I would have if I had to.”

Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff with
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)

Of course, when portraying a superhero, even if an accent is optional, the skintight spandex is not. And the Black Widow, she quickly learned, is no exception.

“It’s all about the suit,” Johansson says.

And about being able to fight convincingly. “There was a lot of training — stunt training, weight training, strength training…. I wanted to be able to look at something and say, ‘I’m going to beat the sh-t out of that person,’ which is a challenge when you’re 5’3” and fighting, seemingly, a giant. To have conviction in that was just as much a challenge as the physical part.”

If all goes according to Marvel’s master plans, it will prove to be time — and energy — well spent. Since Downey appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, the studio (now owned by Disney) has been meticulously plotting to create a cohesive comic-book movie universe. Next summer sees two more Marvel mainstays — Thor and Captain America — make the leap to the big screen ahead of The Avengers in 2012.
That interconnected mega-franchise has long been expected to team Downey’s Iron Man and Edward Norton’s Hulk with Thor and Captain America against a common enemy. Such supporting characters as Cheadle’s Rhodes (who dons grey armour of his own to become War Machine), Jackson’s Fury and Johansson’s Black Widow will also, presumably, have stakes in the burgeoning Marvel mythos. Could there be a Black Widow spinoff film someday?

“I wasn’t pitched it that way,” Johansson says. “Certainly Marvel is building a fanbase around these characters to extend their life in the movie world…. But it’s up to the fans, and if the fans respond to the character. Marvel works that way. They’re fans themselves. So they’ll feel out what the masses are craving and hopefully that’ll be Black Widow.”

And while some actors might find that kind of multi-film commitment more constricting than any rubber outfit, she doesn’t see it that way. Downey, she points out, has considerable creative input behind the camera.

“You’re able to develop your character with the studio,” she says. “For me that’s exciting because rarely does an actor get to take it to the next level. We see a beginning, a middle and an end in a two-hour segment and you’re done with it. But for me to build something with a character who has such a history and has had so many paths, to think about where she might go, that’s something you can invest yourself in.”

Besides, no acting resume is complete these days without a comic-book franchise on it — and there’s not much chance The Spirit will spawn a sequel. Johansson’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, after all, has not one but two superhero franchises: Green Lantern and Deadpool.

But that doesn’t make it easy. “The whole getting-the-crap-beat-out-of-myself thing is a little daunting,” admits Johansson.

Kevin Williamson is a Calgary-based movie columnist for Sun Media.

 

She gets around

And that’s why they call it the Marvel Universe. Black Widow was born alongside Iron Man in the pages of Tales of Suspense 46 years ago, but you can’t keep a good woman caged. Over the years she’s appeared in Marvel comics from The Amazing Spider-Man to The Avengers, updating her look appropriately along the way.

Clockwise from left: Daredevil #90 (1972); Tales of Suspense #52 (1964); The Uncanny X-Men #268 (1990)

—Marni Weisz

 

© Comic book covers and Black Widow illustration: 2010 TM & © Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

 



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