Marvel

Scarlett Johansson reveals which scene from 'The Avengers' felt "powerful" and changed her mind about the film

By Sophia Soto | Last updated May 17, 2025 12:01 PM ET

While speaking with Vanity Fair, Scarlett Johansson reflected on making 2012's The Avengers. The actress made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in 2010's Iron Man 2, and while her character met a tragic end after sacrificing herself in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, her solo film was released in 2021.

"When we made the first Avengers, none of us knew what the potential of this, the Avengers particularly, would be," the actress admitted. "Iron Man was massively successful. It was huge, it built the studio of Marvel. And then, Iron Man 2 was also very successful. There was Thor, and that character felt like [he] was from a completely different universe, in a way. I mean, obviously, there's a whole MCU, but it was such a different tone of the Iron Man movies and then, of course, Captain America had its whole own identity as well."

"When you added the characters all together, plus Hulk and Hawkeye, it just felt like a big mess, I mean, to be honest," she continued to explain. "Even on the set, it felt crazy, because we all looked insane. It was like, 'What are we doing?'"

The Avengers also starred Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Johansson commented, "I don't think anybody knew if it was gonna work or not. I'm sure Kevin Feige knew it was gonna work, Joss Whedon knew it was gonna work, but the cast, it was blind faith, basically, that we all had in Joss and Kevin Feige."

However, there was one scene during the Battle of New York that changed her mind, along with her co-stars'. "[I remember that] big scene that you see the 360 of all the characters together — that was the moment where all of us were like, 'I think this is maybe gonna work.' It felt powerful," she expressed. "When we watched the playback, it looked really cool. But so much of it didn't feel very cool when we were shooting it."

She then added, "We were so young, and we were having such a great time, and such a great group of actors, and we all became such good friends. I have great memories of shooting it, it was just a blast. It's like a whole family for us. We've gone through, all personally, so many changes, and ups and downs, and ins and outs, and everything else, and we've all kind of come out the other side, a little bruised and battered, but together — united."

The Avengers is streaming on Disney+.

Sophia Soto

Sophia Soto is a writer and interviewer with a passion for all things entertainment. She is a Senior Reporter at The Nerds of Color and contributes to Yardbarker, Screensphere, Den of Geek, What to Watch, Nerdtropolis, and Temple of Geek. You can see her past work on Remezcla, Young Hollywood, Looper, Paste Magazine, Primetimer, Soundsphere, and Starry Constellation Magazine

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