Scarlett Johansson is set to make her debut as a Luc Besson-brand action hero in Lucy on July 25. The actress is becoming known for playing a variety of complex, and often a**kicking characters - perhaps most notably, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. We were able to speak with Johansson recently in advance of the release of Universal's Lucy - stay tuned for more on that. During the course of our conversation, we touched on her role as Widow in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, whether she'd like to see the character receive superpowers, and where she sees her going from here.

Should Widow Have Superpowers?:

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Joss Whedon is Part Hulk, Part Widow:

A Complex Superhero:

One of the interesting things about Black Widow is that she's one of the only members of the group without either superpowers or a technical marvel of a suit. She's just herself, a kick-a** assassin. When asked if she would ever want to find a way to manufacture a kind of superpower, to join the team at that level, Johansson said that Widow's devious mind is actually her greatest asset."Oh, man... I think her greatest attribute is that she's -- I don't want to say she has a criminal mind, but she does in a way," Johansson said. "She's a super spy. Her ability to understand the complexity of the criminal mind, she uses that to her advantage. She's often the one that's going, 'Right, you think it's this way, but if you think about it from this person's perspective, this might be the answer.' She's always using her experience in her sordid past to her advantage. I don't think there's any super suit that could supersede that for her. I think what she lends to the team -- she let's everyone else play with their big toys. And she gets some pretty good toys too, especially in Avengers 2 -- I can't complain. [Laughs]"The character will reportedly ride an electric Harley in the film , for one thing.When last we saw Widow, at the conclusion of the game-changing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, she was facing a crisis of conscience and unsure of her place in this new world. When we asked Johansson how, having had the dream of S.H.I.E.L.D. shattered for her would play out in The Avengers: Age of Ultron , the actress said that her character was going to be making some very big choices."Of course in Avengers 2, it's very much a continuation, a maturation, of this universe, of this reality," the actress said. "It's not a sequel in the sense that it feels like a rehash. 'Hey, remember this old thing you loved in the first one? There's even more in the second!' It's nothing like that. Joss has lived with these characters now for a couple of years, and he is, as you can imagine, obsessed and tirelessly worked to help these characters evolve. Of course, I'm very fortunate that Joss has an affection for female characters in the work that he writes, and an understanding of them. To me, the Widow is a part of Joss. It really is. I think about Joss, I think about him being part Hulk and part Widow. [Laughs] I don't know if he would agree with that, but I've really thought a lot about, 'What is Joss?' He's all of his characters, of course, like every great writer. At this stage, when you see the Widow, she's -- especially in Avengers, these characters all have a past, and hers is a very complex one, where she's realizing -- and it's kind of a continuation of Cap 2 -- 'I've never made an active choice. I'm a product of other people's imposition.' That's going to catch up with her. That's bound to have a huge effect. There's got to be a result of that realization. I think that in Avengers 2 you'll see that. You'll see her actively making some choices in her life, for better or worse. You know, when she splashes, the wave is big -- all these characters have that effect. So it'll be interesting to see what the audience thinks of what kind of wave we're sending their way. [Laughs]"An IGN reader, @clockwork_bells, requested that we ask the actress if she selects roles "based on certain criteria, such as the impact on girls/women with strong female characters?”"I don't know that I actively choose my roles with any preconceived ideas of the impact they might have on other women," Johansson reflected. "It's a nice byproduct of the choices I've made, but I've never sought out roles that would empower other people. That's never been a part of my process of picking roles. I've been very fortunate, particularly with Black Widow in the Marvel films, to finally play one of the first superheroines that's complex and is more than just a decoration. She's a product of where she comes from, of her backstory, of her struggles as a person, a woman, as a product of a program, as an orphan. It was all of these things. She's really complex, and I see that genre opening up for women. That's fun to be a part of."

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in April of 2015 and rolls out globally from there.Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN