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Thunderbolts was a pleasant surprise for the scant few who actually saw it. The film, which in many ways acts as a sequel to 2021’s Black Widow and saw Marvel star Scarlett Johansson take a role behind the scenes as an executive producer.
But a recent interview with Johansson and Thunderbolts star David Harbour saw the actress reveal that she actually requested Marvel to remove her credit as executive producer. Speaking to InterviewMagazine.com over a Zoom call, the two A-listers discussed Harbour’s recent role in Thunderbolts, when the Red Guardian actor pointed out that Johansson had been an executive on the film, she revealed that she had had her name scrubbed from the credits.
“I asked to have my credit removed because I wasn’t involved,” the actress stated, to which Harbour joked, “You hated the movie that much?” Johansson denied the fact that she disliked the movie, but her choice to have her name scrubbed left fans with questions.
On X many speculated as to why she took her name off the film. One person “Of course because the film flopped.” Another asked “Why was her name there in the first place?”
Why was Scarlett Johansson involved in Thunderbolts?
After Black Widow’s release in 2021, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige confirmed that Johansson would be producing an unnamed project. That project was Thunderbolts, of course. Although she wouldn’t be returning to act in front of the cameras, it was expected that she would be involved in some capacity, giving input and helping to shape the film that Thunderbolts would become.
While it’s not immediately clear why Johansson requested her name be taken off of the film’s credits, her claim that she wasn’t involved does suggest that she ended up not having much to do with the production of the film in the end.
What did she have her producer credit removed?
According to Slashfilm.com, Johansson had quite a packed filming schedule, which likely interfered with her ability to give any meaningful input on the film. While Thunderbolts was in production, Johansson worked on two Wes Anderson films (Asteroid City and The Phoenician Scheme), she also worked on Fly Me to the Moon and Transformers One. Given how busy she likely was, it makes sense that she struggled to find the time to act as a producer for the Marvel movie.
It makes sense that Johansson would not want her name attached to a movie that she ended up not being involved with. Regardless of whether she thought it was good or not, it seems the actress simply didn’t want to take credit she felt wasn’t hers.