Scarlett Johansson Says Avengers: Endgame Deserved a Best Picture Oscar: “It Should Not Have Worked, But It Did”

Scarlett Johansson is making waves with a bold but heartfelt opinion: Avengers: Endgame deserved a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. In a recent Vanity Fair profile, the actress—who portrayed Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, for nearly a decade—expressed disbelief that the record-breaking Marvel film wasn’t more widely recognized by the Oscars.

“How did this film not get nominated for a [Best Picture] Oscar?” Johansson asked. “It was an impossible movie that should not have worked, that really works as a film – and also, it’s one of the most successful films of all time.”

Released in 2019, Avengers: Endgame was a cinematic milestone. Wrapping up over a decade of interconnected storytelling, it brought together dozens of characters in a narrative that balanced fan service, emotional resonance, and blockbuster spectacle. The film earned nearly $2.8 billion at the global box office, briefly overtaking Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time before James Cameron’s film reclaimed the title with a re-release.

Despite this massive success and a warm critical reception, Endgame was only nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 92nd Academy Awards—losing to Sam Mendes’ 1917. That year’s Best Picture race was fierce, with Parasite taking home the top prize over contenders like Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and The Irishman.

But Johansson’s point resonates with many Marvel fans and film critics alike. While Black Panther managed to break through with a historic Best Picture nomination the year before, Endgame, arguably more ambitious in scope and payoff, was overlooked. To many, it felt like a snub—not just of the film itself, but of what it represented: a culmination of a cultural phenomenon that reshaped modern cinema.

Though Johansson has since exited the Marvel Cinematic Universe—her character met a tragic end in Endgame, and 2021’s Black Widow served as her farewell—her legacy as one of the MCU’s original Avengers remains intact. Meanwhile, the franchise is gearing up for its next ensemble chapters with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, while planting seeds for splinter teams like the New Avengers, teased in the Thunderbolts post-credits scene.

Johansson’s words tap into a broader debate about how genre films, especially superhero epics, are viewed by awards bodies. And while Endgame may have missed out on Oscar gold, its impact—and its defense by one of its biggest stars—continues to resonate years later.