Joe Maher/Getty; Jonathan Olley/DC Comics/Warner Bros.
IsScarlett Johanssonswitching teams?
Marvel's Black Widow is reportedly in talks to jump toDC Universefor a role in directorMatt Reeves'The Batman Part IIopposite starRobert Pattinson,PEOPLEhas confirmed. The new film is scheduled to begin shooting in the spring.
Johansson played Natasha Romanoff in several films, including 2012'sThe Avengersand as the titular star of 2021'sBlack Widow. She's been clear that she won't be returning to the role, however, after the character died heroically in 2019'sAvengers: Endgame. (It's a complex timeline.)
"Natasha is dead. She is dead. She's dead. Okay?"Johansson said in March. "[Fans] just don't want to believe it. They're like, 'But she could come back!'"
Johansson famouslyresolved a legal battle with Disney, which owns Marvel, in September 2021. TheLost in Translationstar had filed a lawsuit against the media giant in July, alleging that the Walt Disney Co. violated her contract when it releasedBlack Widowin theaters and on streaming service Disney+ at the same time. She argued in her lawsuit that her compensation had been tied to how much the film made at the box office and that she'd been assured that the film would be a "theatrical release."
TheJojo Rabbitstar has, however, said she would return to theMarvel Cinematic Universebehind the camera.
"I think the movies that I like, that are big action movies, also have the human connectivity piece,"she said during the Cannes Film Festival. "Even producingBlack Widowand being a part of the production of that, and the development of the story, and the story between Natasha and Yelena [Florence Pugh]... [there is,] I think, a way of doing it, a way of maintaining the integrity of the idea of human connection, family, disappointment, all of the things that were themes in [her directorial debut,Eleanor the Great], and doing it in a giant way in a giant universe — there's ways of doing that... So, yeah, definitely, it could be, it would be fun."
The Oscar-nominated actress would appear in front of the camera inThe Batmansequel.
Jonathan Olley/DC Comics
The Batman Part IIdirector Reeves confirmed in June that he had handed in the finished script, co-written by Mattson Tomlin. The film is scheduled to begin filming in spring 2026, David Zaslav, head of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, revealed in an August earnings call with investors.
With Pattinson set to reprise his role as the Dark Knight,The Batman Part IIis scheduled for release on Oct. 1, 2027. Costar Zoë Kravitz, who played Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman), is not expected to appear in the sequel, according toVariety.
Entertainment Weeklyhas reached out to DC, Warner Bros., and Johansson.
Meanwhile,Johansson will starin Mike Flanagan's newExorcistmovie, the director announced last month. Universal and Blumhouse hope to reboot the religious horror franchise again after scrapping a trilogy that was planned around 2023'sThe Exorcist: Believer. The as-yet unnamed film will be the franchise's seventh in just over 50 years and is set to shoot in New York City. Flanagan's film will tell an all-new story set inThe Exorcistuniverse and is not a sequel, according to a November press release.
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