Scarlett Johansson's return to the MCU has been revealed

Few actors have had as much tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Scarlett Johansson. The star made her first appearance back in 2010's Iron Man 2 in a supporting role, but it was in 2012's The Avengers that her character's potential as a lead was showcased, and she hasn't looked back since. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow, became one of the founding members of the Avengers and a core character of the franchise, as fans quickly fell in love with the badass hero.

Johansson's final appearance as the character came in her long overdue self-titled movie Black Widow in 2021, but it's long been stated that this isn't the last of her involvement with Marvel Studios. Though Natasha won't be returning, Johansson is expected to return to produce a future Marvel project and now a number of details about that have reportedly been revealed.

Scarlett Johansson's mystery Marvel project is a TV series

Scarlett Johansson will be returning to Marvel Studios to produce a project for the shared universe of superheroes. In the past that might have meant a straightforward MCU movie, but these days, there are plenty of options as Marvel has branched out into miniseries, ongoing TV series, animated series, and Special Presentations.

It looks like the project that Johansson will produce, however, will be a TV series for the Disney Plus streaming platform. As reported by Comic Book Movie, on Marvel Creative Executive Courtney Baker's LinkedIn page, it's listed that she will "Serve as an executive on the upcoming TV project Untitled Scarlett Johansson series for Disney+".

This is an incredibly exciting development as it does suggest that Johansson's involvement in the creative process could be a more long-term thing. While Marvel Studios generally opts for limited shows on the Disney Plus platform, some have continued beyond the first season, particularly Loki and animated shows What If...? and X-Men '97. If this is the case here, Johansson's involvement with Marvel Studios could continue for some time.

Marvel Studios has yet to officially confirm what the project will be, but it's unlikely that it is one of the shows already in production as having Johansson attached as producer would have been a major selling point and it likely would have been announced along with those shows.

Johansson herself confirmed that the project was "still happening" as recently as last summer, adding that no work could take place on it until after the strikes that were ongoing in Hollywood at the time. Now that those strikes are no longer happening, the project could come to fruition in the near future.

Johansson's return to Marvel won't bring back Black Widow

It's important to reiterate that Scarlett Johnasson's new collaboration with Marvel Studios will be in the producer role and thus it won't bring back Black Widow. Natasha died during Avengers: Endgame when she sacrificed herself so that her longtime friend and partner Hawkeye could retrieve the Soul Stone and return home to his family when the battle was over. While Johansson did return for Black Widow, that movie was a prequel designed to give the character the spotlight in her send-off.

Johansson has remained committed to that being the character's grand finale, telling the world that she is done playing Black Widow in the MCU. She reiterated as much in an interview with Variety, adding:

"Yeah, I am sad, of course. I absolutely loved every filming experience I had, working 10 years with Marvel and with that amazing cast, and I love the character Natasha... I have a lot of empathy for her, and it was amazing to build that character over such a long period of time."

- Scarlett Johansson

She also added that she feels "really good about her story coming to a close" as Natasha "has a lot of dignity in her legacy".

Those are very true sentiments, as the character is one of the MCU's most beloved (which is clear in how many fans are longing for her comeback) and part of the reason she became so engaging to viewers is her emotional redemption arc. The character turned her back on a life as an assassin to become one of the universe's greatest heroes; you can't get a more compelling arc than that.

Even though it is sad that we won't see Black Widow on-screen again, the notion of Scarlett Johansson and Marvel Studios working together again is very exciting indeed. We can't wait to see what Disney Plus show she is involved in and we are even more excited to watch it now.