(PCM) Men still greatly outnumber women when it comes to action heroes, but in “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” even though it stars Chris Evans as the Captain, Scarlett Johanssen gets her fair share of the action playing Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow.
The movie begins with Steve Rogers (Evans) living quietly in Washington, D.C., trying to get in tune with the modern world, as well as find a friend or two, because he’s lost everyone and everything that he previously knew as the world passed him by while he was in limbo in his frozen state. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. To save the planet, Captain America joins forces with the Black Widow and a new ally, the Falcon (Anthony Mackie), against a formidable enemy: the Winter Soldier.
At a press conference for “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” in theaters on Friday, Johanssen spoke about the personal side of Natasha, being a role model, and her future as an actress.
This is a film about not knowing who you can trust. In your life, what trust issues do you have?
I trust no one! [she jokes] I don’t think people have to prove themselves for me to trust them. I think I am mostly trusting by nature. I guess I wait for people to prove me wrong and then I don’t trust them and they would never get [the trust] back. Once I don’t trust you, you are out of the circle.
Can you talk about playing Natasha and how she is different in this film than “The 
Avengers”?
Other than being in physical therapy for the rest of my life … I think this is the first time we have really gotten to see Natasha. There was a little bit of her in “The Avengers” and we saw a little bit of her backstory and you will see more of that in “Avengers 2.” But in this, you really get to see Natasha a person who gets up, gets ready for work in the morning and has a life outside her job. When she’s out of her suit, she’s a woman and she has her own reality outside of it. Although, who knows how far that structure is?
It is not until a series of circumstances, as the plot unfolds, that we find both Steve and Natasha questioning their own identity, realizing that they were pretty strong people who had their beliefs and their twisted morals — maybe the Widow more than Caps — but at the end of it, they actually realize, “I’ve been this hired hand for my entire professional career and young adult life, who am I? What do I want and what do I need from someone?” Both of these characters are left with kind of a cliffhanger at the end because they are just cresting the wave of having this huge moment of self discovery and, hopefully, we’ll be able to track where that goes in the next installments.
You are such a strong character in the movie, what do you think about being a role model for girls?
I think Natasha is a bit of a reluctant superhero. She doesn’t really have this strong, golden, moral compass. Let’s not forget, she started out her career as essentially a mercenary. I don’t know if that makes her role-model material, but in some ways, I will say, one of the things that is attractive to me about the character is she uses her feminine wiles as part of her job, but she doesn’t rely on her sexuality or her physical appeal to get the job done. She is extremely smart, she thinks on her feet, she is a leader, and, she has a lot of foresight. Those are all qualities that I think it is wonderful to celebrate for young women. Of course, it is really rad for me to have my friends’ kids look up to that character, dress like her on Halloween, and play with the boys and be rough. I always say the Widow always wins — and it’s true. It’s a nice sentiment.
How did you prepare for the role?
I had just come off of doing a Broadway run, which is pretty much the most physically challenging thing you can do. I felt if anything was going to prepare me to have stamina, it was that. So, everything seemed like a piece of cake after treading the boards for that long. I think I was in pretty solid shape from that run.
Then it is just maintaining it. Get up at 5, go to the gym — all of that stuff that is horrible and not glamorous at all. I trained like a dude and ate a bunch of lettuce and whatever. Nothing fancy.
Is this a fun character for you to come back to?
It is an interesting challenge to come back to this character. I have the good fortune to play a character who is evolving with each installment that you see her in, so going in to play this character, I have to understand who this character is, where she comes from, and have this rich backstory. I think the exciting thing is scraping away a little part of that each time to reveal a small part of the bigger picture of her. It is a very complex character, which is wonderful for me because over the period of time I’ve played her, I’ve also grown — it’s six years — as you do in your career and your life, so I feel the character’s story is more enriched as my own experiences are.
What do you think will happen for the future of your career when you are done playing action roles and femme fatales?
I don’t know. I have been in the industry for 20 years so the roles that become available to me change. As I grow older, as I transition through life, I am sure that will continue. You hope to have a career that has longevity and reflects the experiences you’ve had. It is what we all hope for — men and women alike.
Marvel’s “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, opens in theaters on Friday, April 4.
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