Marvel Writer Believes One Original Avenger Is Truly Done With the MCU

A seasoned writer for Marvel Studios doesn’t believe a founding Avenger will make their return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The original Avengers aren’t what they used to be. Iron Man and Black Widow are dead following the events of Avengers: Endgame, and Steve Rogers has passed the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson. But with Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, there is speculation that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could assemble again. We know that Robert Downey Jr. is trading Iron Man’s armor for the green robes of Doctor Doom, and Chris Evans is also rumored to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Will Marvel resurrect Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow? One writer believes the answer is “No.”

Thunderbolts* co-writer Eric Pearson spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the movie, where he was asked about the potential of Scarlett Johansson returning, similar to Robert Downey Jr.’s villainous role as Doctor Doom, and Chris Evans reprising his role as Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm/Human Torch for a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine.

“I will preface by saying that I have no idea, but I don’t think so,” Pearson said. “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.”

[RELATED: Are the Thunderbolts the Perfect Replacement for the Avengers in the MCU?]

In Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow sacrificed her life so Hawkeye could retrieve the Soul Stone during the remaining Avengers’ time heist. Endgame was followed by Black Widow, a prequel that showed what Natasha Romanoff was up to between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Two of the Thunderbolts* stars, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Red Guardian (David Harbour), made their MCU debuts in Black Widow, which Pearson was also a writer for, so he’s very familiar with those characters.

To her credit, Scarlett Johansson has addressed a Black Widow return on several occasions. Even though her character is dead, the multiverse opens up many possibilities for resurrections and alternate versions of characters. We saw this with Chris Evans and the Human Torch, so why not another version of Black Widow from the multiverse? However, Johansson is sticking to her character being dead.

“Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay?” Johansson told InStyle in March. “They just don’t want to believe it. They’re like, ‘But she could come back!’ Look, I think the balance of the entire universe is held in her hand. We’re going to have to let it go. She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.”

While Marvel fans probably won’t be pleased to hear what Scarlett Johansson had to say about Black Widow, we have to factor in whether or not we can truly trust her words. It’s become common for Marvel actors to downplay or deny that they’re involved in various projects, like with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire returning for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Johansson’s Avengers teammate, Chris Evans, has even had to respond to reports that he’s making an MCU return for Avengers: Doomsday.

“That’s not true, though,” Evans told Esquire in January. “This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years—ever since [Avengers]: Endgame. I’ve just stopped responding to it.” Evans then gave the same response that he previously shared with Anthony Mackie when he inquired: “Yeah, no—happily retired!”

While speaking to TODAY about her cosmetics line in 2023, Johansson sang a similar tune regarding Black Widow returning. “Oh my! I don’t know how that would… Is that a zombie film?”

What do you think about Eric Pearson’s comments regarding a Black Widow return? Let us know in the comments below!