Scarlett Johansson explains how ‘Black Widow’ became Marvel’s #MeToo movie

By Chloe Melas, CNN

Scarlett Johansson says her highly anticipated movie “Black Widow” began to really take shape in 2017, amid the #MeToo movement.

Johansson said in a new interview with Yahoo that she and the screenwriters felt inspired to draw comparisons between the Marvel character’s story and that of women who had experienced abuse by men of power in real life.

“We had to comment on what is this incredible movement of women supporting other women, and coming through these shared experiences of trauma on the other side by really coming forward and supporting one another,” she said. “At the very beginning of really seriously talking about what this could be about, it was right during the beginning of the #MeToo movement and felt like, you cannot miss the opportunity to draw the comparison between these two things.”

The film follows Johansson’s character, Natasha Romanoff on a quest to defeat Dreykov who is kidnapping women and forcing them to become assassins called “Widows.”

“She’s been the victim of childhood trauma and exploitation and it’s a past that she doesn’t want to face that she’s running away from,” Johansson said. “And then her sister, who’s this very self-possessed kind of firecracker liability in some ways, but person who is fiercely independent, basically forcing her to come to terms with that, forcing her to face it.”

Adding, “It felt very much like what is happening now. It was amazing to have the platform to be able to comment on that.”

“Black Widow” is in theaters and on Disney+ Premimum Friday.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.