Scarlett Johansson Calls Out Oscars Snub for “Endgame”: “It Was an Impossible Movie That Really Works”
Scarlett Johansson isn’t ready to let go of a lingering frustration with the Academy. While promoting her directorial debut “Eleanor the Great”, which is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the two-time Oscar nominee also opened up about her upcoming role in “Jurassic World Rebirth” and revisited a sore spot from her Marvel days: the Oscars’ cold shoulder toward “Avengers: Endgame” to Vanity Fair.
Despite being one of the highest-grossing films of all time and a cultural juggernaut, Endgame received only a single nomination—for Best Visual Effects—at the 2020 Academy Awards. For Johansson, who played Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow across nine Marvel films, the snub still feels unjust.
Scarlett Johansson On Avengers Oscar Snub
“How did this film not get nominated for an Oscar?” Johansson said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. “It was an impossible movie that should not have worked, that really works as a film — and also, it’s one of the most successful films of all time.”
Indeed, the only Marvel Studios film to have ever cracked the Academy’s Best Picture category remains 2018’s “Black Panther”. While Marvel has consistently dominated the box office and popular culture, critical recognition from the industry’s most prestigious award show has proven elusive for its blockbuster fare.
“Endgame” carried particular significance for Johansson. Not only did it cap off a massive, interconnected cinematic journey, but it also marked the end for her character, who sacrificed herself in one of the film’s most emotional moments. It was a defining send-off for “Black Widow”, a role Johansson originated in 2010’s “Iron Man 2” and carried through more than a decade of Marvel storytelling.
She did reprise the role once more in the 2021 prequel “Black Widow”, released during the pandemic, but the film only reinforced her decision to bring Natasha Romanoff’s arc to a definitive close. While she remains proud of her Marvel legacy and close with her co-stars, Johansson has made peace with the end of that chapter.
“It would be very hard for me to understand in what capacity [returning] would make sense for me, for the character that I play,” she explained. “I miss my buddies and really would love to be with them forever, but what works about the character is that her story is complete. I don’t want to mess with that. For fans, too — it’s important for them.”
As Johansson embarks on a new creative journey behind the camera with “Eleanor the Great”, her reflections on the MCU serve as both a tribute to the power of genre filmmaking and a critique of the industry’s resistance to acknowledging it at awards shows.
While the Academy has often reserved its top honors for more traditionally “prestigious” fare, Johansson’s comments echo a growing sentiment among fans and filmmakers alike: blockbuster films, too, can be art.
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