One of the earliest character integrations into the MCU, after a post-credits Nick Fury appeared in Iron Man, was the mysterious secretary Natalie, who was later revealed to be Natasha Romanoff, an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. with the codename Black Widow, in Iron Man 2. Established actress Scarlett Johansson, who had already gained acclaim with projects like Lost in Translation and tried her hand at big-budget action with The Island, would begin her journey with the franchise which would make her a household name.
Down the line, it would be revealed that Emily Blunt had almost played the role, but had been forced to opt out due to a pre-existing contract. According to Deadline, Blunt weighed in on the experience when she recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Blunt would get quite…well, blunt…on the topic. “Come on, the best girl got it,” she stated while adding that Johansson was “amazing” in the role.
In 2019, Blunt reflected on Howard Stern about the disappointment when she had to pass on being Black Widow due to her being contractually obligated to make the Jack Black comedy, Gulliver’s Travels, in 2010, despite not wanting to do the film. “It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me because I take such pride in the decisions that I make, and they mean so much to me, the films that I do, so that was tough. They [Fox] kind of have a bit of a hold over you. There were other movies that I would want to do.”
On Happy Sad Confused, she also responded to the other rumored roles in Marvel movies that she was allegedly up for, which is said to have included “Captain Marvel which ultimately went to Brie Larson, Peggy Carter who Hayley Atwell ended up playing and Sue Storm from Fantastic Four which went to Jessica Alba and Kate Mara in different adaptations of the franchise.”
Blunt waved off those theories pretty quickly, “Rumors. Talk. Queries. That kind of thing.” She states she had never met with producers or directors for talks of any of those projects.
