Although Scarlett Johansson insists that she doesn’t think of herself at all as sexy, Hollywood still seems to have a different idea. After all, she is the token “chick” in The Avengers, which is an otherwise male-dominated gathering of superheroes. As much as I’d honestly like to admire Scarlett’s desire to be taken seriously as an actress (and I really do believe she was pretty good in Ghost World, Lost in Translation, and Match Point), it’s hard to make that argument for a starlet who has willingly suited up in a tight-fitting catsuit yet still insists that she’s holding her own by virtue of talent and without any regard to her sensual allure. Further, when Scarlett claims to have grounded her We Bought a Zoo character in reality by adopting a wide-legged stance (i.e., spreading her legs), it’s hard not to laugh. And look, she’s doing it again as Black Widow:
This is all a precursor to the latest released clip from The Avengers which features Scarlett facing off against several men while handcuffed to a chair. She ceremoniously kicks their asses, which is kind of cool, but then her stunt double flips the chair over, and the scene falls apart. Mostly, it’s the fight choreography that is doing Scar no favors here, but her boobs are also a quiver with every single, solitary breath and movement that she makes. Observe:
The scene isn’t bad as far as cheesy action flicks go, sure, but it’s hard to look at anything but that marvelous rack, which is a rather strange phenomenon because every female has boobs, yet Scarlett’s seem rather exceptional despite not really being that huge. Indeed, The Superficial has hypothesized that Scarlett was only signed on as Black Widow because of the everpresent jiggling that punctuates action sequences such as this one. Yes, this is a cynical view to take, but it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility.
The fact of the matter is that Scarlett even signed onto Iron Man 2 for a very low-balled rate (a mere $400,000) because it virually guaranteed her a continued role within a very extensive movie franchise. This was a very smart career move. Black Widow is a huge break for Scarlett, and I can see why she fought for this role, which was probably bargained for in an attempt to break free of a failed string of commercial failures that included period dramas (The Other Boleyn Girl) and romcoms (The Nanny Diaries). It must be hard for Scarlett to acknowledge that her quivering rack secured this very important gig for her, and she will probably always be in denial in that regard. Whatever the case, she looks damn good in that catsuit.
Photos courtesy of AllMoviePhoto
So many male action stars do impossible stuff but it’s all fine because it’s cool. When it’s a female one, people suddenly fall over each other to point out it’s unrealistic.
Also, the Avengers comics have LOTS of female members to choose from (more than 20, maybe even more than 30). Too bad they only got one.
Well said! One guy is going to be a CGI clown jumping all over the face of the planet (Hulk) so Widow smashing dudes in the faces tied to a chair is no stretch of the imagination. I actually thought it was a pretty cool sequence…
I think too because this is the start of the Avengers they are only focusing on the original ensemble? That said I am glad it’s Widow and not Ms. Marvel in the movie.
Or “Spider-Skank” haha although I cannot deny that is one hot costume.
Haha, you’re right about the Hulk. Amongst the other characters there is a enhanced guy from World War II and a Norse god. Jumping with chairs is not nearly as out there as all that.
The original line-up was a little different, without her (though I think she was in one of the first line-ups) or the Hulk and with some other people.
You’re probably right about them wanting a small line-up with famous characters. They also have their own movies to introduce them as well. Still, the beauty of the comic in my opinion was the enormous amount of colorful characters.
Stop with the Hulk-hating, GAH!!!
You’re all very lucky that I haven’t been exposed to those magic gamma rays because (if I had) I’d be smashing some bitches here.
So instead — considering I haven’t — I’m raspebrrying really hard at all of you.
*HUMPF!*
Okay, Eve, I’ll take it back, haha.
To be fair, I hate movies where guys get clobbered/beaten/shot/knifed etc and then miraculously get up and kick the pants off 3 guys who are all bigger than him. So its not just the fact that Scarlett/Widow is female that makes me agree with Bedhead about the scene falling apart.
I do agree with you about the fact that there could have been more chicks in this movie though 😉
Yeah, I don’t like it when normal people do that either (or fly up walls and things like that). Because it’s a superhero movie with all kinds of powers, I’m more willing to dispense disbelief.
Black Widow had some power enhancement above human level (I just read 😉 ), but she’s probably one of the least superpowered Avengers ever. It’s too bad they did not pick a superpowered female one as well, but maybe for the next movie.
Well said. It’s funny how people hate on Scarlett for trying to seem modest (I’m sure she knows her appeal) but then we jump all over Biel for saying that she’s too beautiful to get roles (which in fact IS ridiculous). Can’t we find a middle ground?
I find the quivering, pouting lips a turn off.
Not this idiot again. Can we please discuss some other Hollywood pop-tart with boobs(Not even BIG boobs as we have seen in the naked pictures)???????????????
Meh, what I liked the most about this clip was Agent Coulson. Sigh…I miss The New Adventures of Old Christine so much.
omg- I LOVED The new adventures of old Christine too! I don’t know why julia Dreyfus isn’t in more stuff- she was hilarious in that show- everyone was!
His (Clark Greg) interaction with Dreyfus was the best.
And Wanda Sykes? That show was priceless!
omg me too! I can’t believe they cancelled it 🙁
So what? She has a large chest, that’s what they do when you move unless they’re strapped down in a sports bra and even than they still jiggle.
As someone with a large chest who does everything possible to stop them from moving whenever I do any physical activity, it gets tiring to have to hear people make remarks about your chest as if you’re making them jiggle on purpose. Most women don’t even want to bring attention to their large breasts.
Plus you guys on this site rag on Zoe Saldana for playing action roles, now Scarlett, it’s like you guys think that the only actress that can or should be allowed to play in action roles is Angelina Jolie. Give Scarlett a chance, sheesh.
“it gets tiring to have to hear people make remarks about your chest as if you’re making them jiggle on purpose.”
Exactly. We get this crap from guys, but do women have to join in to?
Yeah, I see no difference in Scarlett not trying to cover up her breasts completely in an action flick than every male action star finding an excuse to take off his shirt at some point.
I really liked Vicky, Cristina Barcelona. But I do feel as though Scarlett’s dimension as an actress is very limited. It works for some roles, to be sure. But mostly I end up feeling like “different movie, same character.”
I saw that movie, it wasn’t my favorite.
I don’t know what it is about her, but I just don’t care for her.
Every single thing she is in, it seems forced and unnatural to me.
Penelope Cruz, you believed the character. ScarJo’s . . . no. It was just painful.
Thing is, that’s what natural breasts do – they jiggle and wiggle. Perhaps Hollywood is so used to rock hard fakery that Scarlett’s jiggle sets her apart?
Yes ^^^ this! I have the same problem… Rather chesty as a smaller woman. My boobs jiggle every move I make… Not much I can do about it!
I think you hit the nail on the head… so many Hollywood actresses have fake boobs now that seeing natural ones that jiggle is kind of shocking! Sad but true!
I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps we see so many fake bolt-ons, we are no longer used to seeing the real thing? Real boobs jiggle with movement. Not a whole lot you can do about it.
Taking a firm, wide-legged stance to convey a character’s sturdiness (or whatever she was trying to do) is not the same as ‘spreading her legs’. I’m not a big fan of Scarlett but I think that’s a ridiculous thing to say; you really can’t see the difference?
Love the scene, Love Scar’s ass kicking! I think it’s choreographed fine.. what’s the problem? And flipping the chair over and breaking it is CLEARLY what I would do in the same situation 😀
loved the new trailer! scarjo is rocking this one 😀
This clip is actually alright. In the second Iron Man I found her action scenes to look too contrived, too much like they used rope and suspension for the scenes. Though almost all action films use such devices, they are practiced, and it just seemed hers weren’t really.
I think also because she has no muscle definition, she’s just a petite girl makes it unbelievable slightly. However, on the bright side, even though the action sequence is over the top here, not her fault this goes more to the director, I do think she is more practiced here, and I like it. Loads better than her performance in Iron Man II. The phone conversation, her glances, those aren’t the best, but at least she isn’t pose hard in the action sequence like she was in Iron Man II. Thant’s my two cents.
meh…this scene reminds me of Drew Barrymore’s own ‘beating the hell out of some guys while in a chair’ in Charlie’s Angels *shudders*.
I’ve been looking forward to the Avengers too much to care what she’s doing in it. I’ll admit I’m no fan of ScarJo – i think it’s the way she mumbles her lines and stares so furiously into the camera, but as long as she doesn’t talk much I can handle it.
I think she gets picked on more than is warranted. She says that she doesn’t think of herself as sexy. And then gets ragged on for playing a role that requires jiggling in a catsuit. Hollywood sees her as a sexpot and that is what she gets offered. She certainly takes more dramatic roles when offered–but she can’t hold out for them or she wouldn’t work enough. She is not the most talented actress out there, but if you rounded up every working actress, she probably has the chops to out-act at least 60% of them. Not everyone can be a Cate Blanchett. And Hollywood isn’t trying to breed a bunch of Blanchetts….they are churning out the Blake Livelys, Kstews and Jessica Biehls.
She has been given many opportunities to prove herself and has almost always come up short. She reminds me of Biel, but with a few better roles. I’ll take the KStew’s and Lively’s any day. Even they are more interesting and appealing than Ms. Johansson.
i laughed
I basically like ScarJo, even though she seems like a mean person. I wouldn’t want to hang out with her, but I like what she represents.
I like how she has maintained a healthy-looking weight for 10+ years in Hollywood. Even in this Avengers role, she lost fat and gained muscle, she has not become emaciated. As as many have pointed out, it was important that she get this role for her career, and you can’t have her usual soft, curvy body type and be a plausible action hero. Granted, she has a body type that is very popular among the menfolks in real life: petite and curvy, which is why she was always so vaunted as being hot. However, despite the fact that lots of real people in real life like her body type, it’s unusual on screen.
I also like her surly public persona, because it’s comes of as genuine. I don’t even like her personality, I just like that she’s real. I hate when every Hollywood women acts like they are super-chipper, domestic goddess, “omg I am so excited to have kids!” fake. There is nothing wrong with having that personality for real, like I think Hilary Duff does, for example. It’s the fakeness I object to. It’s not even plausible that a majority of actresses and socialites who have fought their way to national prominence are like that.
She promotes herself as superior intellectual feminist while making stupid comments about things like how a politician dresses (when that is about the least offensive thing about the jerk) and profiting of her sex kitten image. She seems like a pretentious hypocrite to me.
She promotes herself as an intellectual feminist while making stupid comments about things like how a politician dresses (when that is about the least offensive thing about the jerk) and profiting off of her sex kitten image. She seems like a pretentious hypocrite to me.
Dear Hollywood. SJ can’t act. She has a pretty face and nice rack, but that does not make her an actress. Please take her picture and quit giving her lines to mutilate on screen destroying every movie she’s been in.
Honestly, if you’ve got it flaunt it! Scarlett’s rack looks natural and not like gyrating silicone and that’s kind of awesome. Even Helen Mirren can still work her natural rack in an action role, so more power to them both for taking advantage of it. I just wish Scarlett’s styling was better, it just looks all wrong. It makes her look frumpy and blended in the background, nothing that makes her stand out as an awesome “super hero.”
I used to think she was the hottest woman in Hollywood, now she’s just kind of meh. I think its the Sean Penn residue.
I liked the clip. And breasts move when the body moves. If she was standing still and they were moving, I could understand your point, but she’s fighting in a dress, tied to a chair. There’s no way those puppies weren’t going to move.
You rock on, Black Widow. Show them you’re not just window dressing.
Who cares about her rack? Can we talk about Jeremy Renner’s arms???
Holy bulging biceps Batman!
That pic of her looking down while sh!t blows up behind her is absolutely iconic.
And the action scene is supposed to be funny and over the top – they have the bongos going on the soundtrack while they hold on a shot of the guy with his cell phone patiently waiting for her to kick ass and get back to him? This is what superhero movies are supposed to be – big, fun, and stupid.
She can’t act and I can’t stand her face. Not that its ugly but its just um, something. I just can’t stand to look at it.
She’s got a good rack. That much is obvious.
I want to see this movie so bad but she is turning me off it so much!
I’d say somebody’s a bit obsessed. In a 43 second clip there’s *maybe* 2 seconds of a “quivering rack”. And I’d never have noticed it without reading your take first.
“cheesy action flicks” the Avengers?
If I could, I would slap you.
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