The MCU star is still salty about the record-breaking blockbuster getting shut out of major categories at the Academy Awards.
Scarlett Johansson has beef with the Academy Awards.
Half a decade after Avengers: Endgame took the world by storm and blew through several box office records, the MCU star is still salty that the film was shut out of major categories at the 2020 ceremony.
“How did this film not get nominated for an Oscar?,” Johansson recently told Vanity Fair, referencing the Best Picture category. “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.”
While Endgame wasn’t in the running for the top prize, it didn’t go entirely unacknowledged by the Academy Awards: the film earned a single nomination for its visual effects.
To date, Black Panther remains the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie — of the 36 released — to land an Oscar nom for Best Picture. In fact, in its 17-year history, the MCU has won only four Oscars: three for Black Panther (costume design, original score, and production design) and one for its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (costume design).
Johansson’s gripes with the Oscars didn’t end there.
Earlier this year, the actress presented alongside June Squibb, the 95-year-old star of Johansson’s upcoming feature directorial debut, Eleanor the Great. While it was “exciting” to share the stage with Squibb, the Black Widow star has some notes about the rest of the show.
“Why was it so long?,” the actress wondered. When Vanity Fair suggested that the much maligned James Bond tribute may have contributed to the overlong runtime, Johansson declined to comment, then added, “It felt like an ad placement. What a weird thing. People were like, ‘What the hell was that?'”
The conversation also saw Johansson reiterate that she has no intent of reprising her role as Black Widow in a future Marvel movie — despite looking back on her time in the franchise so fondly.
“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 said. “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.”
Johansson previously squashed rumors of a potential MCU return back in March, offering a blunt response to the speculation: “Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay?”
Meanwhile, her fellow OG Avengers haven’t been able to stay away. Chris Evans made a brief cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, while both Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. are set to appear in the star-studded Avengers: Doomsday (with Downey playing the titular villain, Victor von Doom).
