MCU Fans Refuse to Believe Scarlett Johansson Actually Ages
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong for 13 years, and few of its actors can post the longstanding Scarlett Johansson has with the box office giant.
Since Iron Man 2, Johansson’s Black Widow has fought side-by-side with Tony Stark and the rest of the Avengers both on earth and in the greater universe. With the news that young actress Hailee Steinfeld is joining the universe in Hawkeye, people are shocked to learn that she’s the same age Johansson was when she joined the MCU.
Steinfeld joins Scarlett Johansson in the MCU
Steinfeld might be 25 years old, but she’s already been in the spotlight for well over a decade. Like Johansson, she started acting at an early age, but unlike Johansson, she entered the A-List when she was still a child. As such, fans have a hard time believing that the True Grit actress is the same age that Johansson was when Natasha joined the MCU in Iron Man 2.
Reddit user u/wandavisionbaby kicked off the thread with a simple, not on the subject. From there, fans could not believe that Steinfeld, who still consistently plays teenagers and other high schoolers, is as old as she is. Others, like u/Deeriz220, joked about Johansson’s agelessness since she burst into the A-List at 19, writing, “I feel like she’s been 31 for 15 years.”
As u/huxley00 noted, however, Johansson avoided the type of teenage roles that Steinfeld still takes, and that could be why it seems like Johansson should be much older than she is.
“She was already a major actress at 18, which is somewhat unusual and leads us to expect her to be much older than she is, I think,” they wrote.
Regardless, Black Widow has been a part of the biggest franchise in cinematic history for well over a decade and finally gets the solo movie to prove it. The actress has already been making the media rounds about the project, which was supposed to come out during the opening weeks of the worldwide shutdown in 2020.
Johansson on Marvel
Black Widow entered the MCU disguised as a young prospective assistant for Tony Stark. However, audiences quickly learned that the young Russian was a secret soldier who was heavily trained in combat and the mental games that made her just as powerful as those with actual superpowers.
Despite taking part in a major franchise, however, Johansson recently told The Gentlewoman that she did not see the universe being as big as it was.
“Even the thought of all of us together in our superhero costumes sounded like it was going to be a disaster,” she says. “Not a disaster, but, like, What is this? What is this?”
It was a massive hit, and the motivation that Marvel, not yet owned by Disney at the time, needed to go full force toward their cinematic universe. Now, people like Steinfeld, who have grown up with the MCU since they were only children, and she’s excited to bring her style to the universe, too.
Steinfeld speaks
Steinfeld was an Oscar-nominated actress before she was old enough to drive or even go to some of her movies. However, now a young adult, she’s excited to inspire the next generation of girls like her when she joined Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye for Disney Plus. Unlike Johansson, however, she is entering a franchise that is already a sure thing.
“If there’s anyone to trust, it’s Marvel,” said in an interview with Collider. “I’m just so honored to be a part of the MCU, and more so excited to be able to talk about it…. It’s just very exciting to be playing a character, much like Emily (Dickinson), that is so loved by so many people.”
Whether this lets her cross paths with Johansson, whose character is, as far as we know, dead within the world of the MCU, remains to be seen. However, their journeys show how one generation of young actresses inspired the next ones as they began adulthood, too. Who knows, maybe Steinfeld will inspire a new generation of fans when Hawkeye drops in the future. Black Widow, on the other hand, will make her solo debut on July 9, 2021.
