Scarlett Johansson: Mystery Batman Role Gave Me 'Existential Angst'

Scarlett Johansson says her undisclosed role in The Batman: Part II gave her "a lot of existential angst". The actor, a veteran of the superhero genre, told Entertainment Tonight the part pushed her outside her comfort zone.

"It was very hard to figure out," Johansson said in an interview tied to her upcoming film Paper Tiger. "I don't know why, whether it was just the role or it was just where I am in my life, but it was just hard to crack it. And that's all I can say about it."

That last sentence is doing heavy lifting. No character name. No genre hints. Just angst, and a closed door.

How was the casting announced?

Director Matt Reeves confirmed Johansson's involvement in May with an X post. The post contained no text, only a GIF of the actress's reflection in a car's rear-view mirror, lifted from the 2013 film Under the Skin. It was casting-by-teaser, the studio equivalent of a wink in the dark.

Two other superhero-franchise alumni joined her in undisclosed roles: Sebastian Stan and Brian Tyree Henry. The film stars Robert Pattinson, reprising his Bruce Wayne from 2022's The Batman.

Who is directing now?

Production is currently being led by Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. Reeves, who also helmed the 2022 original, temporarily stepped away from the film due to a personal matter. The handover is unusual: a franchise auteur passing the baton mid-cycle, not after it.

Reeves has already sketched his creative intent. He said last year the sequel would focus more on Pattinson's Bruce Wayne, after the first film leaned heavily on his Batman incarnation.

"Once you get past the origin tale, which we didn't quite do, but we did something that referred to his origins, then you start telling the Rogues Gallery story and that character's sort of arch," Reeves said. "But I never wanted to lose [Robert Pattinson] at the center of these stories, and so that is really what we set our aim on."

The Rogues Gallery reference — the roster of villains orbiting Batman in the DC comics — is doing quiet work here. Johansson's "hard to crack" role sits somewhere in that gallery, or near it. Nobody is saying which.

What does the angst tell us?

An actor of Johansson's franchise pedigree doesn't usually volunteer discomfort. She spent a decade inside Marvel's machinery as Black Widow. If a comic-book role now produces soul-searching, the part is either genuinely strange or she wants us to think so — both useful for a film still keeping its cards face down.

The unanswered question is when Warner Bros. names the character. Until then, a rear-view mirror GIF remains the film's only official clue.