Scarlett Johansson Opens Up About Her Legal Battle With Disney Over Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson is looking back at the whole Black Widow-vs-Disney mess and, honestly, she sounds both pragmatic and a little disappointed. Not in the outcome, but in how quiet her fellow actors were while it was happening.

What kicked this off

Quick refresher: Black Widow was supposed to be a standard theatrical release. Then the pandemic hit, Disney shifted it to a day-and-date rollout in theaters and on Disney+, and Johansson’s contract (which tied a big chunk of her pay to box office) got kneecapped. She sued in 2021 and, according to reports, the fight ended with a $40 million settlement.

What she says now

In a new interview with The Telegraph, Johansson says the quiet from the industry stung a bit. She makes it clear she would have liked more public backing from peers, even though she’s proud that pushing back on her own actually worked.

"I mean, it would be great to have more support from the community and my peers - vocally, publicly - on certain issues that affect the entire industry."

She also points out the obvious: once Hollywood shifted from traditional box-office bonuses to the cloudy world of streaming metrics, the rules got blurry. Her take is that the lack of clear standards around streaming payouts created confusion for everyone, and calling it out helped move the business in a better direction. She’d still welcome more voices next time, though.

The context that matters

• Black Widow did $379 million worldwide on an estimated $200 million budget, which is not what Marvel usually expects from an Avengers-adjacent title, but also, welcome to 2021.
• The legal dispute centered on the simultaneous theatrical/Disney+ release and how that impacted her box-office-based bonus.
• The case reportedly wrapped with a $40 million settlement.
• Johansson’s larger point: streaming-era compensation needs actual guidelines, not vibes.
• For the record, the movie (directed by Cate Shortland) is Natasha Romanoff confronting the stuff she left behind, with the kind of spy-family baggage that actually fits the character.

Why this still matters

None of this is shocking if you’ve watched the last few years of studio math. But it is a rare on-the-record reminder from a Marvel lead that the business side was, and still can be, a black box. And even though Johansson says going it alone was effective, you can hear the subtext: it would be nice if the next person who has to push for clarity doesn’t have to do it solo.