Emily Blunt missed the chance to portray Black Widow ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )
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Blunt dropped the details on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, spilling how Scarlett snagged the role. “Come on, the best girl got it,” she asserted, calling Johansson “amazing.” So why didn’t she end up rocking the black suit? Blunt had to turn it down for Gulliver’s Travels.
“I didn’t want to do Gulliver’s Travels,” Blunt alluded, explaining she was contracted to do Gulliver’s Travels and calling it “a bit of a heartbreaker.” Turns out, 20th Century Fox locked her into an optional deal after The Devil Wears Prada, leaving her with no choice. “They kind of have a bit of a hold over you,” she explained, clarifying why she couldn’t join the MCU.
Despite missing out on Black Widow, Blunt’s not bitter. She said working on Gulliver’s Travels wasn’t all bad—“lovely people” and all that—though it wasn’t her dream gig. Meanwhile, Johansson went on to make Black Widow a Marvel staple.
As for those rumors of Blunt being considered for other MCU roles like Captain Marvel or Sue Storm? She brushed them off as just “rumors. Talk. Queries.”
Even without the MCU under her belt, the London-born star’s killing it in films like Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, and A Quiet Place. With or without Marvel, she’s proving she’s still a goddamned powerhouse!
Emily Blunt’s contract with Fox: The real reason why she missed out on Black Widow
In her interview with Howard Stern, Blunt explained that she was locked into a contract after The Devil Wears Prada. She had to take on specific roles, like Gulliver’s Travels, to fulfill the deal. “I didn’t want to do Gulliver’s Travels,” she admitted, but the contract “kind of had a bit of a hold” over her.
An optional picture deal, also known as a multi-picture contract, ties an actor to a studio for several films. It means the studio gets first dibs on their projects. For Blunt, this deal with 20th Century Fox blocked her from playing Black Widow in Iron Man 2.
While Marvel’s known for locking down stars with these kinds of deals, Blunt got caught in one with Fox. Even though Gulliver’s Travels wasn’t her dream gig, Blunt has no hard feelings, praising the “lovely people” she worked with.
So yeah, it wasn’t that Blunt wasn’t interested in the MCU—it was just a contract complication that kept her out of the superhero game.
