‘I don't think so': Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson casts doubt on Scarlett Johansson's MCU return
'Thunderbolts*' writer Eric Pearson doesn't think Scarlett Johansson will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
The 40-year-old actress had starred in the franchise from 2010's 'Iron Man 2' until 'Black Widow' in 2021 as the Avenger Natasha Romanoff, though Pearson doesn't believe that her character will appear in any future movies in the MCU.
When The Hollywood Reporter asked the scribe whether Johansson's Black Widow would return to the film series in the future, he said: "I will preface by saying that I have no idea, but I don't think so.
"I feel like her end in 'Endgame' and then her epilogue with our 'Black Widow' prequel were so lovely.
"So I would be surprised, but I know nothing about that. I have very little knowledge of what's going on with 'Doomsday' right now."
Pearson added that while the sacrifice of Natasha Romanoff was important to the character arcs of her sister Yelana Belova (Florence Pugh) and her adoptive father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) in 'Thunderbolts*', the story needed to "push forward" without her.
Pearson explained: "As much as we love that and where they came from, we didn't want there to be too much looking in the past.
"We had to address the forever loss of Natasha and that effect on Yelena and Alexei. But we really wanted to push forward because Yelena is taking a big leadership role moving forward with this, and it's a big journey for her.
"She is naturally anti-establishment, and if you look too much into the past, she couldn't move that far forward."
'Thunderbolts*' - which also stars Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus - centres on a ragtag group of former villains and anti-heroes who unite for a secret mission, only to realise they've been betrayed and must now fight for their survival.
Pearson revealed Marvel weren't initially going to make a 'Thunderbolts*' film, and said he wanted to make a "team" movie that focused on the duel protagonists Yelena Belova (Pugh) and James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes (Stan) in a dynamic similar to that seen in the iconic gangster flick 'The Godfather' with Michael Corleone and Ton Hagen.
He explained: "Marvel didn't really have a plan for a 'Thunderbolts*' movie. I brought it to them, but I was thinking that, having had the pleasure to meet Florence on 'Black Widow' and write the first Yelena Belova stuff and work with her to build that character, with her doing quite a bit of heavy lifting there.
"She's incredible, and I knew that she was someone who could carry a movie like this. I didn't want to go in saying, 'Let's hide a Yelena movie in a team-up movie', I wanted it to be a team.
The scribe added: "'The Avengers' had the centrepiece of Tony Stark and Captain America, and the duality of those guys at the lead. For the Thunderbolts and the way that I wanted to view these team members and the themes of the movie, it felt like Yelena was a natural leader.
"I'm not sure if this comparison is fully baked, but the idea is that she's Michael Corleone and Bucky is Tom Hagen. That's the way that I see it."
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