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Who is this red-headed mystery woman we saw tempting Tony Stark, in the Iron Man 2 Comic Con footage? We talked about all things Black Widow with Scarlett Johansson — from squeezing into the catsuit to Avengers possibilities. Spoilers below.
We got a few precious minutes with Iron Man 2's new red-headed beauty, Scarlett Johansson, at the Comic Con round tables. We grilled her about the sexy suit, and her character Black Widow. She remained stubborn about revealing anything about her character at all — even whether she has a few scenes with Sam Jackson (as we know they have had dealings in the comics). Still, the possibility of Black Widow returning in the Avengers is enough of a spoiler to let us know that we may not have seen the last of ScarJo's curves in Paramount's new Marvel-verse.
We're you nervous about the catsuit at all?
I knew what to expect, because I had seen the later incarnations of the character, so I knew it was a catsuit of some kind. So I had a freak-out moment , but that only lasted about half a day — but then I was like suck it up, just do it. And I never turned back after that I just went full force, and just did it.
Can you talk a little bit about filming action scenes with the catsuit?
The idea of so many millions of people watching what I'm going to do, I'm used to that, kind of thing. But as far as the action scenes and how the costume relates to that. One thing obviously important to my character is that the costume moves. My character is an expert in hand-to-hand combat, she's a mixed martial artist, she comes from a dance background, there's some gymnastics thrown into it, it's kind of everything all thrown into one big fighting machine. So a big part of me wondered: Can I move in this, can I run in it, can I curl myself up around things with this? I think you just have to put in the hours. Putting in the the hours, and repetition, training — basically befriending the stunt team. Spending all day, everyday, just over and over and over, until you sell it.
What is your relationship to the other characters in the film?
Well I'll tell you that um, my character... there are two sides to my character. She's a bit of a shape shifter, I suppose. There's a side of the character that's kind of demure and covert — I wouldn't say that she's submissive, but she's blending in to the Stark Industries [team, as an assistant]. Then the other part of the character is a really aggressive, bad-ass character, that is sure of herself and is going to kick the shit out of you if you get in her way. So that's as about as much as I can tell you, and how that relates to the other characters.
Do you wear the catsuit?
Out and about? No, it's kind of an attention grabber. I try to stay under the radar. But no, I have to say after the last time I had to wear that catsuit I was like, "Begone, catsuit." Hopefully I'll see that catsuit again, and be able to bring that character back, maybe some slight flaws will have been worked out, like some kind of ventilation.
Are there any truth rumors about the cat fight between you and Gwyneth Paltrow?
No, nothing could be further from the truth. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about working with her. Well, she's very much out of the loop. She's very much out of the loop, you know — she's got a wonderful family whom she spends a lot of time with. So for her, she's like, "What's going on? What?" And of course Jon [Favreau] who's on his Twitter, he's crazy about any kind of news about anything. He's like "You haven't heard? You haven't heard?" And he comes onto set and we're both like, "Oh god." Every time I would say to Gwyneth, "Oh yeah, that was on the seventh," and she'd say, "Are you sure it wasn't on the sixth?" He'd [Favreau] yell, "what? It's a cat fight! It's breaking out."
The last thing they were saying is that she was in New York purposely snubbing Comic Con because you were going to get all of the attention.
Believe me she's worthy of plenty of attention and I know that that fans love her and they are going to love to see her in this movie, because her character kind of comes into her own. I know she would love to be here as well, but she's with her family.
Your character's background revolves around Communism — is that updated in this movie? How does your character deal with that?
The character remains quite mysterious in this film. This movie is not about revealing the Black Widow's identity. Hopefully, if the character continues on, whether that is through the Avengers or something like that, we'll be able to explore more of her past. Obviously the film is in the present day, so to bring in that whole Communist perspective to the character might be a little dated. Well, it would be very dated, to say the least. But there are a lot of ways we can bring in different elements of her history.
How daunting is it as an actor signing on with Marvel, when they usually sign an actor to a multi-picture deal?
Obviously we have a vested interest in our character as well. I didn't go into this thinking, "Oh, this is the last I ever want to see of this character." I want to see this character come back, and reveal more about herself. I loved making the film and working with Jon, and I loved working with Robert. For me, as an actor, oftentimes we have a beginning, middle and end. And it's often a one-hour or two-hour segment, and we're done with it. So for me to be able to bring something like this back, and kind of do all of the character, is exciting and something we don't normally have the opportunity to do as actors...
I'm curious as to how your character balances out Whiplash and the other villains. A lot of people are saying two villains is too many, what does your character bring?
We don't know whether the character is villainous. She does have a dark past, and she is very seductive and distracting. We are not sure exactly where she's coming from, and what her intentions are, I'm not saying that will all be revealed. But there are a lot of characters in this movie, and a lot of new characters. And it is a balancing act. I think that between the huge explosive action, the romance, the battle of good versus evil — even within one's self — there's a nice balance between all of us. And I think fans will be excited to be taken down all these different journeys. They all really play into one another, and it doesn't feel like a lot of different films coming together. It feels like an ensemble. And you know, who can have too many villains?
In the comics your character works with Sam Jackson, do you have any scenes with Sam?
Um, I have worked with Sam Jackson.
Send an email to Meredith, the author of this post, at meredith@io9.com.
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