Credit: Unsplash

Johansson is invested in the mindset of her character.

The newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow, hit theaters today. Initial impressions have been fairly positive; while Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff, has often been seen as something of a B-lister among the Avengers due to her lack of superpowers, filmgoers have praised Scarlett Johansson’s ability to bring the character to life as a complex, flawed individual.

“I think it’s a film about self-forgiveness,” Johansson told Fox News.

“I think it was really important to see Natasha off her game,” she said of her character. “Suddenly we find her in a place where she’s utterly alone and really not attached to anything. She has to face her demons and is really able to face them because of Yelena.”

Yelena is Natasha’s younger sister, played in the film by Florence Pugh.

“Yelena is the woman who is saying to her, look, you experienced this and you need to examine it and it’s not okay… this is why you don’t sleep at night, and neither do I. It’s a very powerful experience,” Johansson said.

#BlackWidow has earned $13.2M in the film’s domestic Thursday night previews.

It is easily the best preview night to date during the pandemic besting #F9 ($7.1M). pic.twitter.com/0CEyUBQgXu

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 9, 2021

Pugh, for her part, offered up some high praise of Natasha as a character, as well as Johansson’s portrayal of her. “I really loved how, despite all that she’d gone through, she never came out of that experience as weak. I really appreciate the everything that came out of her mouth was very honest, and even though it may be harsh at times, it was real and it was very human,” Pugh described.

“I just love the way that despite however broken she felt, she kind of came out everything with a boldness and whether she was fighting with someone or arguing with someone, she kind of came at them exactly the same way. It just totally came from her heart,” she teased. “She’s ferocious.”

Black Widow is playing now in theaters, as well as on Disney+.