Actress Emily Blunt has done a bit of everything, from iconic, memorable roles like the one in The Devil Wears Prada, action movies like Edge of Tomorrow, her horror franchise A Quiet Place, and her Disney roles in Mary Poppins Returns and Jungle Cruise. She also most recently starred in the blockbuster Oscar-contender Oppenheimer. But fans have linked her to Marvel roles since the creation of the MCU, and she is finally talking about it.
She was a final contender for the role of Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2, but ultimately had to turn down the part because of a contractual obligation to Fox. In an interview from 2019, Blunt said on the Howard Stern show on SiriusXM that she was “contracted to do Gullever’s Travels” in 2010 despite not wanting to do it.
“It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me because I take such pride in the decisions that I make, and they mean so much to me, the films that I do, so that was tough,” she said of turning down the Marvel role. “They [Fox] kind of have a bit of a hold over you. There were other movies that I would want to do.”
But she’s an amazing sport about the whole thing, as she stated on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, “Come on, the best girl got it,” she said of Johansson, adding that she was “amazing.”
As for the other roles Blunt has been rumored to be attached to, they include Captain Marvel, which ultimately went to Brie Larson; Peggy Carter, who Hayley Atwell ended up playing; and Sue Storm from Fantastic Four, which went to Jessica Alba and Kate Mara in different adaptations of the franchise. But Blunt said of the parts, “Rumors. Talk. Queries. That kind of thing,” noting that she never met with the directors or producers on any of those projects.
Blunt has had an amazing career so far, and she could still end up in a Marvel movie. But even if she doesn’t, I look forward to seeing what other film choices she makes.
Blunt will next be seen starring in the Netflix drama Pain Hustlers, which will debut on October 27th. Next March she will appear in the action drama, The Fall Guy. She will voice a character in the star-studded film Imaginary Friends, written and directed by her husband, John Krasinski, out next May. And a sequel to Disney’s Jungle Cruise is in development.