Scarlett Johansson is about to play Black Widow for the second time in "The Avengers," but she wasn't always the first choice to star as the secretive S.H.I.E.L.D. spy.

Once upon a time, the role was Emily Blunt's for the taking. Of course, that never played out; Johansson won the "Iron Man 2" role. But that wasn't the only Marvel character Blunt was up for — she also had a fighting chance at playing Peggy Carter in "Captain America: The First Avenger," but that too never happened.

Why has Blunt passed on not one, but two roles within the Marvel universe? We're not the only ones wondering. New York Magazine spoke with the actress and learned her reasons for saying no to the comic book movie space.

"Usually the female parts in a superhero film feel thankless: She's the pill girlfriend while the guys are whizzing around saving the world," offered Blunt. "I didn't do the other ones because the part wasn't very good or the timing wasn't right, but I'm open to any kind of genre if the part is great and fun and different and a challenge in some way."

"I would love to do a comic-book movie or a science-fiction film that would scare the bejesus out of me," she continued. "Maybe I need to be James Bond! I just did 'Looper,' because it's so original and breathtakingly cool. The time-travel aspect is just a backdrop to visit this heightened world, where you're atoning for something and attempting to be more than you've been."

There you have it—don't look for Blunt in any upcoming super-flicks, but the increasingly buzzed-about "Looper" is just around the corner. And hey! I would absolutely line up to see her as the first female 007!

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