Scarlett Johansson's path to playing Black Widow in Iron Man 2 had one very public obstacle -- Emily Blunt was cast in the role first, then had to drop out due to scheduling issues -- but as Johansson told me at Comic-Con, there were several other cinematic superheroines she'd previously discussed playing with Marvel.
According to Johansson, a year prior to the start of pre-production on Iron Man 2, the actress met with Jon Favreau and Marvel's Kevin Feige to discuss characters in the Marvel universe that might be a good cinematic fit for her. At that point, the background of Black Widow was a mystery to Johansson, but she admitted, "I was familiar with the character in that I'd researched all these superheroines."
I asked which ones had she been discussing with Favreau and Feige. "There were different characters, like Moon, and...what's her name, the Scarlet Witch?" Johansson said. "The Blonde Phantom, that's another one we talked about, perhaps, unless I'm getting it all wrong. There were a couple that I kind of, like, looked through and thought, 'OK, these are characters that maybe could work somewhere.'"
The Scarlet Witch (left) was a hex-casting superheroine that was recruited by Iron Man to join the Avengers, and Feige later implied to me that an Avengers film was one of the things Marvel had cast Johansson with an eye towards. Blonde Phantom (right) was a comparatively obscure crimefighter who was created by Stan Lee and Syd Shores yet lacked any notable powers beyond fighting ability.
As for Moon, we're not sure who Johansson is referring to (update: we've figured it out!) -- and neither is Feige, who scuttled Johansson's assertion that she'd been discussing other heroines with him. "I think she's always been interested in doing a character like this," he told me, "but for us, we were always talking to her about doing [Black Widow]." ♦