Scarlett Johansson's agent calls Disney response to 'Black Widow' suit 'a direct attack on her character'

Scarlett Johansson's agent calls Disney response to 'Black Widow' suit 'a direct attack on her character'

Disney is currently dealing with a far larger issue than Thanos.

Scarlett Johansson, a veteran Marvel actress and the star of the forthcoming superhero blockbuster "Black Widow," filed a lawsuit against the studio in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. According to court filings acquired by USA TODAY, her contract was broken when "Black Widow" was put on the Disney+ streaming service at the same time movie was launched in theatres.

According to the complaint, Johansson's contract with Marvel Studios guaranteed her an exclusive release in cinemas and her com

pensation was predicated in significant part on box office results. 

According to the lawsuit, "Disney purposefully caused Marvel's breach of the agreement, without reason, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from reaping the full benefit of her contract with Marvel."" Furthermore, after learning of the Disney+ distribution plan for "Black Widow," the actress' agents requested to renegotiate her contract "The complaint, however, claimed that Disney and Marvel were indifferent to the request.

In a statement to USA TODAY, a Disney representative claimed the action had "no merit whatsoever" and is "particularly sad and upsetting in its callous disdain for the devastating and extended worldwide impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic."

The business argues that it "completely complied with Ms. Johansson's contract" and that the Premier Access release "substantially increased her opportunity to earn further pay on top of the $20 million she has earned to date."

Bryan Lourd, co-chairman of the Creative Artists Agency and Johansson's agency, responded on Friday, claiming Disney "shamelessly and wrongly accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the worldwide COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her out to be someone they and I both know she isn't." He also termed it a "direct attack on her character" that is "beneath the corporation that many of us in the creative community have successfully worked with for decades."