When speaking about how Natasha Romanoff has evolved throughout Marvel movies, the actress acknowledges that there was 'hyper-sexualization' of her character in her early appearance.
- Jun 18, 2021
AceShowbiz - Scarlett Johansson has credited herself and her growth as a woman in desexualisation of Black Widow. Looking back to the early appearances of her character, the actress acknowledged there was "hyper-sexualization" of Natasha Romanoff in "Iron Man 2", which marks the character's debut in the MCU, but it has now changed, thanks in part to her self-acceptance.
"It definitely has changed and I think part of that change has probably…," she said of her character's long journey when speaking to Collider about the Black Widow solo movie, "it's hard because I'm inside it, but probably a lot of that is actually from me too. I'll be 35 years old and I'm a mom and my life is different."
She elaborated, "Obviously, 10 years have passed and things have happened and I have a much different, more evolved understanding of myself. As a woman, I'm in a different place in my life, you know? And I felt more forgiving of myself, as a woman, and not - sometimes probably not enough. I'm more accepting of myself, I think. All of that is related to that move away from the kind of hyper-sexualization of this character."
Reflecting on how her character was overly-sexualized in earlier movies, she shared, "I mean, you look back at 'Iron Man 2' and while it was really fun and had a lot of great moments in it, the character is so sexualized, you know? Really talked about like she's a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever - like a piece of a**, really." She particularly took issue with Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) line in which he says of Natasha, "I want some." She tried to recall the line, "And Tony even refers to her as something like that at one point. What does he say?"
After the interviewer mentioned the line in question, she continued, "Yeah and at one point calls her a piece of meat and maybe at that time that actually felt like a compliment. You know what I mean?" Johansson admitted at the time her "thinking was different. Maybe I even would have, you know, my own self-worth was probably measured against that type of comment or, like a lot of young women, you come into your own and you understand your own self-worth."
But the 36-year-old star said, "It's changing now." Deciding to see the good out of it, she noted, "Now people, young girls, are getting a much more positive message, but it's been incredible to be a part of that shift and be able to come out the other side and be a part of that old story, but also progress. Evolve. I think it's pretty cool."
During the interview, Johannson divulged another thing what would differentiate her character now from then. "I think Natasha has a lot of compassion and that's not necessarily what I would have anticipated when we were filming 'Iron Man 2' or 'Avengers' or whatever," she said.
"Black Widow" is set to be released in U.S. theaters and simultaneously on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 9.
