Benedict Cumberbatch Calls Scarlett Johansson's 'Black Widow' Lawsuit Against Disney A 'Mess'

Benedict Cumberbatch has become the first "Avengers" star to comment on his co-star Scarlett Johansson's ongoing lawsuit with Disney. He feels it is "a bit of a mess."

In late July, Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney alleging the company breached her contract by releasing her movie "Black Widow" in theaters and on OTT platforms simultaneously. She claimed it caused her to lose up to $50 million in earnings.

Cumberbatch got candid on several topics during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. The 45-year-old actor had a fairly balanced response when the interviewer asked him about the ongoing lawsuit between Johansson and Disney.

"It's sad what's going on between the lawyers," he said. "Just the verbiage and the accusations of, 'Put it in a global pandemic context.' The whole thing's just a bit of a mess."

He said the film industry has not yet decided how artists should be compensated for their work during such challenging times.

"We're trying to understand what the revenue streams should be for artists that contribute to the billion-dollar business that is Disney. And it has to be contractualized. How does an artist's normal compensation with box office bonuses, how does it work? It's a new paradigm, and it's a very complex one. No one saw this coming, and no one should use hindsight to say, 'Well, it should have been done.' That was the first of these films that was going to get a cinematic release during the pandemic and got stalled and stalled and stalled. It's very new territory," he said.

Cumberbatch also spoke about an instance when he improvised one of his lines during the filming of "Avengers Infinity War."

"Infinity War" brought together all the previously introduced Avengers to fight against one big threat, Thanos. But there was some visible tension between some of the superheroes, like "Doctor Strange," played by Cumberbatch, and "Iron Man," played by Robert Downey Junior.

"I remember on the set when I called him a douchebag, there was this sort of ripple effect. 'Oh my God. Did you just call Iron Man a douchebag?' They kept it, good for them. And then, it got the same kind of response at the cinema. I was just … I got bored of being compared to Liberace or whatever other retorts the guy with the same camp goatee had opposite me, so I tried to knock him down. It's great fun to play with that stuff. You find your feet. The more times you do it, the more familiar it becomes," he said.