Backstage after Comic-Con's Iron Man 2 panel, actress Scarlett Johansson shed some light on the character she portrays in the movie, Natasha Romanoff, AKA the Black Widow:
There are sort of two sides to my character, she's a bit of a shape-shifter, I suppose. There's a side of the character that's kind of demur and sort of covert, and, um, kind of … I wouldn't say that she's submissive, but she's kind of blending into sort of Stark Industries of some kind. And, then the other part of the character, which is a really aggressive and badass character that is sure of herself and is going to kick the shit out of you if you get in her way. That's about as much as I can tell you.
When asked if she was nervous about donning the skin-tight black leather suit that the Black Widow is famous for, Johansson admitted she was nervous at first:
I had a bit of a freak-out moment. Well, it was more seeing ... 'cause the costume took a while to build it, obviously, but I saw some of the sketches and I knew what to expect because I had obviously seen the kind of later incarnation of the character. I knew that it was going to be some kind of cat suit of some kind. So, I had a freak-out moment, but that only lasted about, you know, half-a-day and I was like, "Suck it up, you gotta just do it," so I never turned back after that. I just went, like, full force.
Johansson seemed perfectly comfortable onstage for the panel, unlike her co-star Sam Rockwell, who admitted to being rattled by the 6,000-plus in attendance at Hall H. She also said that she's used to the idea of being scrutinized by millions of people and her only real fear was that the Black Widow costume would be restrictive:
I have to say that the idea of so many millions of people watching what I'm going to do, I'm used to that kind of feeling. But, as far as the action sequences go, and how the costume relates to that — one thing that's obviously important to my character is that the costume moves, the character is, you know, an expert of hand-to-hand combat, she's a mixed martial artist, she comes from a dance background, there's some gymnastics thrown in — it's kind of like everything all thrown into one big, sort of, fighting machine. So, a big part of me was like, "Can I move in this, can I run in it?"
Johansson said that after the mental hurdle of wearing the suit was behind her and the suit had been designed and built, it all came down to hard work. She said, "You just have to put in the hours, you know?"