With Marvel Studios gearing up to begin shooting 'Iron Man 3' in a few weeks, one of the biggest questions regarding the film has been whether Scarlett Johansson would return as Black Widow. Well, the actress has now ended the speculation.

In an interview with Screenrant to promote 'The Avengers', in which Black Widow gets a lot to do, the star was asked whether she will show up in Tony Stark's next adventure. Black Widow was introduced in 'Iron Man 2' -- embedded into Stark Industries by S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep an eye on Robert Downey Jr's loose cannon hero -- and it would seem to make sense that she might continue working with Stark after the events of 'The Avengers.'

Nothing doing, however. Johansson said that despite rumors, Natasha Romanov would not show up in 'Iron Man 3.'  That jibes with producer Kevin Feige's recent comments that the new film would find Stark left pretty much to his own devices and not able to rely on his friends in the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. to get him out of trouble.

So it looks like Johansson won't be joining fellow redheads Gwyneth Paltrow and (possibly) Jessica Chastain in 'Iron Man 3,' which is being written and directed by Shane Black for a May 3rd, 2013 release. Although that means we're not likely to see the sultry spy again until 'The Avengers 2,' Johansson did add that she'd love to see Natasha get her own movie, saying, "I personally think there’s an awesome Black Widow movie in there that is a Bourne type of film. It would be totally awesome.”

Are you sad that we won't see Black Widow in 'Iron Man 3'? Should the campaign start here for the character to get her own "awesome" Marvel movie?

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