# Who would you have picked to play Black Widow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647 "2015-02-26T06:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/1 "2015-02-26T06:44:13Z")
If you had the chance to pick who should have played Black Widow from the beginning or if she had to be replaced now who would you pick and why? BTW this is Black Widow from The Avengers ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/2 "2015-02-26T06:48:02Z")
I would have picked Michelle Trachtenberg ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/3 "2015-02-26T06:48:37Z")
Emily Blunt ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/4 "2015-02-26T08:45:58Z")
Scarlett Johannsen _was_ my choice. If she was off the table, then Jessica Biel, only because I’m curious what she’d look like as a redhead. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/5 "2015-02-26T09:11:32Z")
Nastasja Kinski. Yes, at her [current age](http://www.commeaucinema.com/images/galerie/big/252618_d6d5167fde0a47308d43b93775e4473f.jpg). Have her play an actual former soviet spy. Use body doubles for the action scenes (Scarlett uses them anyway) and you’ve got it. But if you really need a sexy young gal, then Olga Kurylenko could work. ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/6 "2015-02-26T10:05:28Z")
Good call on Olga Kurylenko. Either her or Emily Blunt. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/7 "2015-02-26T11:34:49Z")
Both Blunt and Kurylenko look too soft. I’d look for someone a little harder like Katee Sackhoff. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/8 "2015-02-26T12:02:36Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Both Blunt and Kurylenko look too soft. I’d look for someone a little harder like Katee Sackhoff. Have you seen _Edge of Tomorrow_? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/9 "2015-02-26T14:22:28Z")
Emily Blunt works hard at being a rock-hard M’rine in EOT, but her prettiness kept taking me out of the moment. Someone more like Jenette Goldstein in her _Aliens_ role would be better, but I can’t think of any 30ish actress right now who’s a good fit. Anybody but ScarJo. Damn, I thought so much of her until her miscasting in Avengers and absolutely wooden performance in _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_. She doesn’t quite descend to January Jones territory, but she’s not nearly the actor she was made out to be, early on. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/10 "2015-02-26T15:51:59Z")
Noomi Rapace is pretty badass. I think she could pull off the look, too. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/11 "2015-02-26T16:10:46Z")
As a fan of “The Americans”, Annett Mehandru would be a decent choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/12 "2015-02-26T18:07:13Z")
I have no criticism of the choice they went with. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/13 "2015-02-26T22:34:22Z")
[Thandie Newton](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628601/) ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/14 "2015-02-27T06:39:29Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > As a fan of “The Americans”, Annett Mehandru would be a decent choice. High five on that one! ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/15 "2015-02-27T06:45:38Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Nastasja Kinski. > Yes, at her [current age](http://www.commeaucinema.com/images/galerie/big/252618_d6d5167fde0a47308d43b93775e4473f.jpg). If you going that route, why don’t you just get [Diana Rigg](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3555923/Diana-Rigg-her-story.html) to play the [catsuited female spy avenger](https://nummynims.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/emma-peel-03.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/16 "2015-02-27T07:16:55Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Thandie Newton](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628601/) I’m a fan of Ms. Newton, but she doesn’t exactly look Russian, Pushkin jokes aside. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/17 "2015-02-27T07:19:04Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > If you going that route, why don’t you just get [Diana Rigg](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3555923/Diana-Rigg-her-story.html) to play the [catsuited female spy avenger](https://nummynims.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/emma-peel-03.jpg). Lady Oleanna!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/18 "2015-02-27T08:53:56Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Emily Blunt works hard at being a rock-hard M’rine in EOT, but her prettiness kept taking me out of the moment. Someone more like Jenette Goldstein in her _Aliens_ role would be better, but I can’t think of any 30ish actress right now who’s a good fit. I like Jenette Goldstein but I cannot see Vasquez as Black Widow. Black Widow has always been portrayed in the comics as very sexy and Goldstein’s character in Aliens is someone who’s made fun of because they think she’s looks and acts masculine. > [@](#): > > Anybody but ScarJo. Damn, I thought so much of her until her miscasting in Avengers and absolutely wooden performance in _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_. She doesn’t quite descend to January Jones territory, but she’s not nearly the actor she was made out to be, early on. I was looking forward to a film version of Black Widow that had at least a slight Russian accent. I think it would have added some slight nuance to her scenes with Captain America because it would remind the audience that at one time these two would be Cold War enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/19 "2015-02-27T09:08:11Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Lady Oleanna!!! 😉 If a man in his late sixties can play Nick Fury, then a women in her late sixties can play Romanov. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647/20 "2015-02-27T13:16:08Z")
Gina Carano. Hotter than the sun, and an actual high level martial artist. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-have-picked-to-play-black-widow/713647.md?page=2)