Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson on Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek joining MCU: 'It's about time'

With Marvel Studios hiring some of Hollywood’s biggest female stars for Phase 4, franchise regular Scarlett Johansson has said it is exciting to see women who she looks up to become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek were announced for Marvel’s newest cosmic film The Eternals; Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman will reprise their roles in Thor: Love and Thunder which will see Portman as female Thor and Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh will be joining Johansson in Black Widow stand-alone.

“It was amazing. I mean, there’s a lot of women up there that I hugely admire Angelina, Salma, Rachel, Tessa, Natalie. It’s bananas. I think it’s very exciting. I think it grounds the presence of the MCU in a way. It’s very exciting to see such a diverse group of people. It’s awesome. And it’s about time,” she told E! News on the sidelines of San Diego Comic-Con 2019, which concluded Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_4739021” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] File image of Scarlett Johansson. Twitter[/caption] Johansson earlier said the studio adding more female names, like Brie Larson and Danai Gurira, to the MCU was a matter of “huge relief” for her. “… A decade ago when we started all this, it was a major testosterone festival. It was me and the dudes and the locker room banter,” she had said. While Black Widow will be released in 1 May 2020, The Eternals is slated for November 2020.