Scarlett Johannson: Iron Man 2 (2010)

During the 2000s, Scarlett Johannson played teenagers ("Ghost World," 2001; "The Man Who Wasn't There," 2001) and young women ("Lost in Translation," 2003; "Match Point," 2005; "Scoop," 2006), blonde, pretty characters in romantic or mystery movies.

But beginning with "Iron Man 2" (2010), in which she took on a recurring role as a Marvel superhero, and with "Under the Skin" and "Lucy" (both from 2014) she made a series of science fiction/action movies that allowed her to expand the kinds of roles she took.

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(You could include "Her" (2013) in this list, since it's essentially science fiction -- it's about a man who develops a relationship with an AI girlfriend voiced by Johannson -- but she is only heard and never seen on-screen, and frankly the concept has aged badly and I'm not going to watch a movie about a stunted man-child and his tamagotchi, however "advanced" the AI is supposed to be.)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Directed by Jon Favreau

Let me just get this out of the way: the Marvel "Iron Man" films are about an arrogant billionaire named Tony Stark who has invented an armed, computerized, metal suit that enables its wearer -- Stark himself -- to fly, shoot bullets, withstand attacks and so on. Revealing that he, the billionaire inventor, is himself "Iron Man," he cultivates a cult of personality, behaves like a professional wrestler turned technological savior, and having "privatized national defense," refuses to turn the mechanized weapon over to the U.S. government. In other words, a figure like Elon Musk, a dozen years before that description (minus the suit itself) applied to him.

A viewer in 2023 who has only a vague familiarity with ... what are they calling it ... the Marvel Cinematic Universe or "MCU," and who had only seen bits of this movie in passing when it was shown on television all the time eight or ten years ago (though it is, like most of the MCU movies and TV shows, now only available for streaming on Disney+), I was already marveling (pardon the expression) at the similarity of the fictional billionaire to Musk. Billionaire, check; arrogant, check; a player in multiple industries, check; of dubious politics, check. "You come from a family of thieves and butchers," another character says to Stark. "And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history." Check.

Then, about a fifth of the way through "Iron Man 2," the protagonist attends a social occasion for the ultra-wealthy in Monaco when Elon Musk himself suddenly enters the frame dressed in a white blazer.

Stark: Elon, how's it going? Those Merlin engines are fantastic.
Musk: Thank you. Yeah, I've got an idea for an electric jet.

From center left: Scarlett Johannson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr., and Elon Musk, in a screen capture from “Iron Man 2“

It's one thing for the film to be prescient about just what kind of cult of personality the 2010s would bring us. It's another for it to be so absolutely on-the-nose about it that they would include the selfsame man who successfully built one. I suppose we're just lucky that instead of Donald Trump, who then was only a game show host inflating his image and lying year after year about being a billionaire, they chose Musk for their winking cameo instead.

And note it's "Merlin" engines that he has supplied to Stark Industries. As in magic. As in what every techbro wants you to think about his products. The other day I saw a post on Bluesky:

Presto! indeed.

But I'm here to talk not about Elon Musk, who like any good villain constantly exceeds one's worst expectations; or Robert Downey Jr., who embodies the character of Stark so completely that it's impossible to imagine any other actor doing it; or Gwenyth Paltrow, who plays his assistant and work-wife, complete with rapid-fire Cary Grant-Rosalind Russell dialogue and sublimated passion.

I'm here to talk about Scarlett Johannson, whose character is introduced just before the Elon scene. Stark has suddenly promoted the Paltrow character from executive assistant to CEO of his companies, and as soon as Johannson walks into the room, he names her his new assistant. She's a reddish brunette, slinky in any outfit, and in that way every sexist work of pop culture signals its audience to take a female character seriously, is ridiculously overqualified, able to speak six languages and take out a sparring partner with an effortless martial arts move. Her character's name is Natalie Rushman, but it soon reverts to her birth name Natasha Romanov. That's right -- aside from Musk, and Stark himself, the film further enhances its homage to imperial patriarchy by harking back to imperial Russia. What with the film's first main scene, in which Stark mocks the weakness of representative democracy in the person of the U.S. Senate, it seems democracy won't stand a chance in the face of the movie's ... good guys.

Natasha, once revealed as "Agent Romanov" at the beginning of act II, has subtly brighter red hair and a black cat suit instead of dark hair and a red dress. She's an agent of an organization of, what, secret agents, I guess. It's at this point we're just going to forget about the plot, because it's not only A Marvel Movie (TM) but one that fits into the ur-narrative that's going to guide every Marvel movie for the next ten or so years... I'm not interested at all. So let's just concentrate on Scarlett Johansson.

As "Agent Romanov" aka Black Widow, she is instantly less interesting. Now she has to act like a Marvel superhero: resolute, brave, resourceful, and the rest of the Scout oath. She does some choreographed fight scenes, but no more acting; she wears the same blank (yet determined and resourceful) facial expression throughout. Which is why it's enough to mention just one of the several Marvel films in which she appears. The character doesn't get her own Marvel movie for another 11 years.

So it's not like Johannson has a lot of terrific emotional scenes as an actress here, but in terms of her craft, she did have to learn, I think for the first time, how to appear credible doing fight and action scenes, and that too is a terrific skill for an actor and worthy of respect.

Tomorrow: A penetrating look at “Under the Skin” (2014)