Scarlett Johansson’s MCU comeback is confirmed to happen in an unexpected place, and we demand to know what it means

Is Black Widow really gone from the MCU? What with Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom and Chris Evans cameoing as Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine, the door seems more open than ever for Scarlett Johansson to return as Natasha Romanoff. Even if only for a multiversal cameo opposite her old Avengers co-stars in Secret Wars.

As it turns out, we don’t need to wait until 2027 for ScarJo’s next MCU project. Four years on from the release of Black Widow — which was promoted at the time as absolutely, positively the actress’ final appearance following Nat’s demise in Avengers: Endgame — the Transformers One star is confirmed to be involved in an arguably surprising studio enterprise that will be hitting screens in 2025. Nope, sorry, she’s not teaming up with Anthony Mackie’s Cap or the Fantastic Four. Johansson is back at Marvel for Thunderbolts*.

Scarlett Johansson is making her first Marvel return since Black Widow with Thunderbolts*

With the release of the first Thunderbolts* teaser trailer, Marvel Studios has subtly confirmed a surprising fact about the movie. As per Marvel.com, Scarlett Johansson officially serves as an executive producer on the film. This is her first time collaborating with the studio since Black Widow in 2020.

This revelation also helps solve a mystery we’ve been trying to crack essentially ever since, as Johansson has been known to be attached to a Black Widow sequel in all but name. Not only is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in the lead, David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster are likewise both back in the mix. Black Widow‘s Eric Pearson similarly worked on the script.

Even so, this is a significant development in ScarJo and Marvel’s partnership, after it looked like her professional relationship with Disney might be over forever more once she sued the company over Black Widow going to streaming against her wishes. Johansson — and Marvel — clearly view Thunderbolts* as an extension of the Black Widow brand, hence why she was involved in its development behind the scenes. Although what we really want to know now is… Could this EP credit be a hint at a possible cameo in the film itself?

There are many ways to throw a little ScarJo our way without undoing her Endgame sacrifice. A flashback, most obviously, or even some kind of hallucinatory sequence. By the looks of things, Yelena’s grief leading her to find a new family with the Thunderbolts will be the big character arc of the film, so a small role for Nat even makes total narrative sense.

Even if this fails to materialize — when we were convinced Downey would cameo in Black Widow? — this EP role just ramped up Johansson’s chances of a Marvel return down the line. Don’t forget, Jeremy Renner seemed pretty certain all the OG Avengers will reassemble for Avengers: Doomsday.