Black Widow actor Florence Pugh, who plays Natasha Romanoff's sister Yelena, has revealed that the best joke in the movie was improvised.
More specifically, it stemmed from a conversation Pugh had with stunt performers about what her character's superhero pose in Black Widow could be. After mentioning Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow pose, the stunt performers told Pugh that Johansson's pose would actually break every bone in her character's body if it was done in real life.
"The whole, 'me taking the piss out of Scarlett's pose' was because on set, in the stunt rehearsal, the stuntees were like, 'We gotta figure out your pose,' and I was like, 'oh cripes, I have to have a pose,'" Pugh said in an interview with MTV News.
Pugh asked the stuntees what would be realistic and they told her that none of the superhero poses "are correct for landing," including Black Widow's. Realistically, her landing pose would leave her with "so many broken bones." Pugh, shocked to learn of this, asked if Johansson knew that and it was there that she began to "take the piss out of her."
Black Widow writer Eric Pearson was one set and, after hearing this discussion, wrote the joke into the movie — the one that probably made you laugh a lot if you've seen it.
"He was like, 'I'm sorry...I've been listening to this and I love it,'" Johansson said. "And I was like, 'here we go, ten years of work, flush it down the toilet.'"
Johansson joked that when "these kids come in," alluding to Pugh's new placement in the MCU compared to her own 10-plus years in it, things like that joke in Black Widow happen.
"Ten seconds of me prodding you the wrong way and we get juicy material," Pugh said. "I mean, obviously I'd love to have a pose. I think that'd be a nice wink-wink, but I don't know. Honestly, I think I've been now so terrified of it being posey after I've made such a joke about Natasha being posey that now I'm like, 'oh maybe I should just walk into rooms.'"
It's safe to say that most everyone is probably thankful Yelena doesn't have a superhero pose in Black Widow because it gave the world an excellent joke. Now, tell us about the vest with pockets, Pugh.
For more about Black Widow, check out our thoughts on the movie in IGN's Black Widow review and then read about how the movie tackles the MCU's darkest issues yet. Check out this story about how one of the actors in Black Widow says he's the MCU's first mutant after that read about this Fantastic Four easter egg that almost ended up in the movie.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
