Scarlett Johansson first suited up as Black Widow in 2010's Iron Man 2, and would go on to become an MCU mainstay with appearances in The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
She'd end her lengthy stint as Natasha Romanoff with 2021's Black Widow, though the movie became bogged down in controversy when former Disney CEO Bob Chapek released it on Disney+'s short-lived "Premier Access" service.
That led to Johansson filing a lawsuit against the House of Mouse for her lost box office royalties, though Bob Iger and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige later made things right.
Talking to Vanity Fair about potentially returning to the MCU for Avengers: Doomsday, the actress doubled down on past comments by making it clear that her time as Black Widow ended with the solo adventure set between Civil War and Infinity War.
"It would be very hard for me to understand in what capacity [returning] would make sense for me, for the character that I play," Johansson said. "I miss my buddies and really would love to be with them forever, but what works about the character is that her story is complete. I don’t want to mess with that. For fans, too — it’s important for them"
So, no Black Widow in Avengers: Doomsday; even with Multiversal Variants in play, it seems Natasha's farewell will remain and that the spotlight will instead shift to Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova.
Elsewhere in the interview, Johansson criticised the Academy for not giving Avengers: Endgame a "Best Picture" nomination in 2019.
"How did this film not get nominated for an Oscar?" she said of the record-breaking movie that was only recognised for its VFX at the show. "It was an impossible movie that should not have worked, that really works as a film—and also, it’s one of the most successful films of all time."
While there's a chance we could see Johansson make a surprise appearance in either one of the next Avengers movies (Secret Wars may be the more likely of the two), it does sound like she's closed the door on playing Natasha again.
Despite that, she was a producer on Thunderbolts* and is rumoured to be working on something for Disney+ (possibly a Blonde Phantom series).
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on May 1 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on May 7, 2027.