I got the idea for today’s comic from the comments section of Friday’s comic. It actually hadn’t occurred to me that we haven’t heard Scarlett Johansson speak in-character as the Russian spy, The Black Widow. You’d think after two theatrical trailers and a few online profile pieces, it would have turned up somewhere.
But, no. Production is keeping her under wraps for some reason and it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I mean, isn’t Johansson considered an A-lister? Maybe not. At least not when you look at her resume. But I think her appearance in a comic book movie would certainly be an advantage?
But, yeah… The complaint that we don’t hear Johansson speak cropped up again in the comments section on Friday. It’s kind of an old complaint, but a valid point. I’ve been hearing people speculate on this for a while now. It’s a minor quibble that I think is representative of Johansson’s status as a sex object than a serious actress. People automatically assume the worst.
I dunno. I’m kind of rooting for her. Despite her sometimes wooden acting, Johansson has always been a favorite of mine. Considering she’s kind of been floating around, doing cameos for the last couple of years, she could probably use a hit.
Not much else for me to talk about this morning except that I’ve been busy packing up orders of Theater Hopper: Year Three from the Kickstarter campaign that ended in December. So, if you’re one of the people that pre-ordered a book, know that I’m trying to get them out the door. It’s just been difficult since Pearl doesn’t really settle down until after 9:00 PM. So that only leaves a couple of hours to work on book orders until I have to crash out myself.
I have all of the envelops addressed, though. So, hopefully, with that prep work out of the way, I can hit the ground running. Custom sketches will slow me down, but I plan on posting pictures of them for you guys to see.
Which reminds me, I should probably change the store so those of you who didn’t pre-order can actually BUY a copy of the book now if you want to. I’ll be selling the regular edition for $15 and an “artist edition” with sketch for $20. I’ll post an update here when I get around to that.
That’s all for now! Any thoughts about Johansson in Iron Man 2? Leave your thoughts below!
But I'm concerned that we haven't heard Scarlett Johansson's character SPEAK yet!
Johansson plays a Russian spy - The Black Widow.
I'm concerned she won't be able to pull off the accent!
Iron Man 2 has Scarlett Johansson running around in a leather cat-suit and you're CONCERNED if she'll pronounce her "V's" like "W's?"
What's WRONG with you?
I’ll be too busy looking at boobs to hear any dialogue at all.
And that’s just RDJ.
I don’t know, I’ve always thought she was very attractive but she doesn’t have that great of a body. She has great boobs but some wide hips so I don’t know how that will look in leather. But I do have confidence that she could pull of the accent, just maybe not the leather.
Not that great a body? Are you kidding? Her body is just shy of, say, Christina Hendricks-level absolute perfection.
I’ve always liked her. She’s been in several movies that I absolutely loved (Ghost World, Lost in Translation, and The Prestige) and I just sort of ignored everything else she’s been in.
That said, I think Stana Katic of Castle would have been a great Black Widow.
The filmmakers may just skip the whole Russian accent thing because Russian spies just aren’t a valid threat to the USA anymore. They may be keeping her non-accent under wraps because they don’t want to offend the FanBoys or give away her new spy origin. Just a thought…
BTW, even women think Scarlett Johansson has a smoking bod! My female friends and I like the fact that she is naturally voluptuous & isn’t trying to be a Hollywood twig. As for her acting, I think she is decent & I have enjoyed her work on indie/Allen films.
Personally, I’ve always thought it odd that the spies in movies even had accents. If you wanted to infiltrate a nation wouldn’t you want to speak the language as perfectly as possible? Isn’t it a little obvious that our enemy spy will be the one with the accent? Therefore a spy with no accent would be a better spy.
Also notice that they show Johannson’s character as “the” notary. Depending on the state, the requirements to be a notary generally include citizenship and fluency in English.
That’s my concern, as well. I love the way she looks, but I’m afraid that she won’t have the accent right.
I think Kim makes fair points. It’d be easy to justify her losing the accent altogether; she’s a modern spy that has learned how to lose the accent! 😉
Maybe she speaks like an american at the begining and then has the accent later. However I’d assume she has to have the russian accent at some point with Whiplash being Russian, that’s an easy segway into validating her character being there.
Tom I demand a no prize!
Does it really matter if she has an accent? I mean they switched out a main character from the last movie and put a horrible person in as a villain. I expected more from Iron Man 2, but seeing whips and more Iron Man type suits makes the movie look less impressive.
It’s all about the illusion, comrade. If the accent sounds hokey or out of place, then sure – the illusion of the cinema will have faltered.
Michelle Pfeiffer would have been a better choice for a chick in a black cat suit, but that’s just my ancient teenage self resurfacing.
Technically there is no such thing as no accents. American is considered an accent as well.
Yeah I have to agree with Kim on the point that shouldn’t the spies not have accents at all? Actually, thinking about all my exposure to Black Widow, the whole accent thing has never really been used at all. In the comics its not like how some treat Nightcrawler or anything, just straight-forward language as far as I recall. Even in the early appearances it wasn’t really drawn to (of course the only reference I have for this is her involvement in Hawkeye’s first appearance). I’d be fine with no accent as long as she speaks some Russian (even 1 or 2 sentences) during the film, just to firmly establish those national ties.
“…sometimes wooden acting “? Only when she’s conscious. The only actors more wooden are Orlando Bloom and Roger Moore. Scarlett Johansen doesn’t get hired for her acting ability.
This is obscure, Phil’s comment reminded me of a bit that Mindy Kaling did on a Comedy Death Ray record that I own.
Basically, she just goes up to the mic and says “Here’s my impersonation of Scarlett Johansson in my favorite movie ‘In Good Company’.”
Then, in the butchiest voice with the flattest delivery you can imagine, she grunts “Daddy, I’m not a little gurl anymore!” and it’s hilarious.
You should totally add your comic to ComicHovel.com to get more readers. =]
I agree with Kim. It really makes little sense for a super spy to be running around sounding like Natsha from ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ all day long.
And TheCastro: what’s so wrong with Mickey Rourke?
You know, in retrospect, I would have rather her do the Walter Koenig school of Russian accents than the flat reading she actually gave her lines.
I was REALLY hoping to hear a Russian accent out of Black Widow. They shoulda used a relatively “unknown” actress (one who has a decent body but can also, you know, ACT) and tied her into a multi-picture contract. That woulda added major legitimacy to the franchise.
Anyway, sorry, I know this thread is really old 🙂 But I had to chime in, being a really big Iron Man fan myself.