Why did Scarlett Johansson sue Disney?
Thanks to her recurring role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Natasha Romanoff, Scarlett Johansson used her money-spinning gig as a key member of the all-conquering superhero franchise to become one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, male or female.
While her earnings weren’t quite on par with those of figurehead Robert Downey Jr., the profit participation contracts signed by all of the main Avengers proved to be especially lucrative when Endgame briefly dislodged James Cameron’s Avatar as the top-grossing film of all time: Johansson’s income for the year the comic book blockbuster hit cinemas was estimated to be a cool $56 million.
That’s a fair chunk of change, but despite spending a decade as one of the MCU’s most integral characters and appearing in nine entries of the never-ending saga, it wasn’t until after she’d been killed off that Johansson’s Romanoff got her own standalone film. When she did, it opened a legal and contractual can of worms that saw the Academy Award nominee take Disney to court.
Like almost every other big-name title scheduled for release during the pandemic, Cate Shortland’s Black Widow was hit with a string of delays. Originally set to land on the big screen in May 2020, it wouldn’t arrive until July of the following year. When it did, though, there was a catch. No longer a theatrical exclusive, the spinoff could be viewed on streaming via surcharge through Disney+ Premier Access.
Under the terms of her deal with Disney and Marvel, Johansson was entitled to earn a percentage based on how Black Widow performed at the box office. When the studio decided to make it available to streaming subscribers at an extra cost that technically skirted around the fine print on its star’s contract, she filed a lawsuit against the company the month it was released.
Her agreement stipulated that the film was to be released in cinemas only, lopping off a huge chunk of the additional income she would have otherwise earned. In response, Disney decided to play dirty by accusing Johansson of having “a callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects” of the pandemic, in addition to publicly revealing that she’d already been paid $20million upfront.
While a world-famous actor complaining about earning $20million instead of the $40million or $60million they believed they were entitled to is the definition of a first-world problem, it can’t be denied that Disney pulled a bit of a dick move by sharing her remuneration and then trying to shift the blame in her direction.
There was a definite whiff of misogyny in the air, with countless colleagues and industry figures voicing their support for Johansson, who technically hadn’t done anything wrong. Sure, it was more money than most people can ever dream of making in their lifetimes, but at the end of the day, Disney didn’t want to honour the contract it presented her with and that she signed in good faith, leading to the lawsuit.
In the end, the matter was settled, and Johansson walked away with the bumper pay packet she believed she was entitled to, which didn’t exactly leave Disney or its practices showered in glory.
Has she worked with Disney since?
In short, no. Certainly not as an on-camera performer, although Johansson has tangentially been working her way back into the Disney fold, if only in a very minor capacity.
Having executive produced Black Widow, which introduced Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova into the Marvel canon, Johansson will retain that credit in 2025’s Thunderbolts, which features Pugh reprising her role as the ensemble cast’s top-billed name. As far as anybody knows, she’s not going to appear in the movie, but it nonetheless marks the first time her name has been associated with Disney since the legal debacle.
That said, she was welcomed back with open arms not too long after the courtroom action was resolved, even if it came to absolutely nothing. In June 2021, right before the Black Widow can of worms was opened, it was revealed that Johansson would star in and produce Disney’s Tower of Terror, the company’s latest attempts to turn one of its theme park attractions into a movie.
Most folks assumed litigating her employers would torpedo that project, but in November 2023, after the strikes had been resolved, she told NBC that “we are finally able to dive back into polishing up the script.” Tower of Terror may not be completely dead, but that was the last official update on the film, and there’s been almost nothing seen or heard from it since.
