Scarlett Johansson's time as Natasha Romanoff ended in Avengers: Endgame when the hero sacrificed herself to save the universe. However, in a rather perplexing turn of events, a Black Widow movie followed two years later.
Set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, it filled in some of the gaps in Natasha's past and gave the MCU a new Black Widow in Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova.
Unfortunately, those gaps weren't necessarily the ones fans wanted to see explored on screen.
Talking to MTV UK about the release of Transformers One, Johansson admitted that she too would have liked to better explore Black Widow and Hawkeye's shared past.
"I probably would have gone further back in the Black Widow story," the actor says in the player below. "I would have loved to have seen the Hawkeye, Black Widow, some of that stuff. You see early parts of her life [not that origin]."
The moment has arguably passed at this stage, though Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars at least open the door to a possible reunion for Johansson and Jeremy Renner.
The Black Widow movie was released in the few theaters still open during the pandemic and on Disney+'s Premier Access service. Unhappy with the impact on the box office bonuses she'd been guaranteed in her contract, Johansson sued the House of Mouse and eventually reached a settlement which also saw her agree to produce a new project for Marvel Studios.
We've since learned that's Thunderbolts*, though we're definitely not expecting Johansson to make any sort of surprise return.
"Yeah, I am sad, of course," she said earlier this year of bidding farewell to Black Widow. "I absolutely loved every filming experience I had, working 10 years with Marvel and with that amazing cast, and I love the character Natasha. I have a lot of empathy for her, and it was amazing to build that character over such a long period of time."
"I also feel really good about her story coming to a close," Johansson added. "I think she has a lot of dignity in her legacy."
Thunderbolts* is currently set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2025.