This is arguably where there’s smoke, there’s fire of a story, but it lends credence to a lot of recent online rumors growing louder and louder and hard to ignore. In a recently unearthed clip from W Magazine from nine years ago, Scarlett Johansson says she first met with Marvel she met for the characters Black Widow, The Scarlett Witch, The Wasp, and The Blonde Phantom, a project she is heavily rumored to be involved with.
“I came to the Marvel Universe because I loved the first ‘Iron Man,’ and I went and met with Marvel, and one of the characters I met for was Black Widow, and there was the Scarlett Witch and Blonde Phantom and a few others, Wasp and whatever,” she explained. “I maybe thought I could fit in that universe, and I did.”
“It’s a great character, she’s rich, she’s deep, she’s dark… she’s faced death so many times that she has this whole other perspective on the value of life and living presently,” she said of the Black Widow role she ultimately took.
But for some time now, it’s been said that Johannson was developing a secret project for Marvel, and Kevin Feige even admitted it himself back in 2021.
Calling her “an enormously talented storyteller,” Feige said to People a few years back, “We already are working with Scarlett on another not, non-‘Black Widow’-related top secret that Marvel Studios is producing.”
She’s “a very, very smart producer,” Feige continued, “Scarlett is one of the most talented, versatile, and beloved actors of our time.”
Many online reports have said that the project that Johansson is producing is the “Blonde Phantom” character she met Marvel about all those years ago. Recent online rumors and reports have claimed that Johansson is developing “Blonde Phantom” as a Disney+ series, but it seems unlikely that she would star, given she already played Black Widow in the MCU and the character perished in ‘Endgame.’
It’s also unclear if the project is animated or live-action, but “The Blonde Phantom” was a masked crime fighter who appeared in mid-1940s noir-y mystery thriller comic books, and personally, the style and cartooning of the character seems like it’s perfect for animation that’s maybe not super connected to the MCU, or at least on the periphery. That said, online rumors have said that Taylor Swift and Sydney Sweeney have met Kevin Feige for the role, so it’s potentially live-action. That’s all unclear.
The Blonde Phantom character is also known as her secret identity Louise Grant Mason, a secretary at the Mark Mason Detective Agency, and secretly in love with her boss. When he is on a case, becomes the glamorous masked hero, rescuing him from danger in a floor-length evening gown, which was said to be at the time a designed role reversal of the Superman and Lois Lane dynamic.
Now, we can’t say for sure whether this project is indeed happening or not. But Feige said he and Johansson were cooking up something, online reports point to Blonde Phantom and this old unearthed interview shows she originally had interest in the character too. Not proof of any kind obviously, but perhaps “The Blonde Phantom” is slowly coming together, we shall see.
"I met with Marvel, and one of the characters is Blonde Phantom" 🧐 pic.twitter.com/D0pk2CfhzE
— Keeping Up with Scarlett (@whatsupscarlett) May 14, 2024