Scarlett Johansson congratulated by Chris Evans for Black Widow film

Scarlett Johansson says her 'Avengers' co-star Chris Evans was one of the first people to congratulate her when the trailer for 'Black Widow' came out.

The 35-year-old actress plays the titular character in her first standalone movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but she was unaware that the trailer had been released on Tuesday (03.12.19) until Captain America Chris got in touch to share his excitement over the upcoming blockbuster.

In an interview on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert', she said: "Nobody told me it was coming out. I woke up and I got a text from Chris Evans and he said the trailer looks great. I don't know what he was doing up at 5am."

Scarlett also spilled some details about the action film, revealing that the story will take place between 2016's 'Captain America: Civil War and 2018's 'Avengers: Infinity War'.

She said: "It takes place after 'Civil War', and before 'Infinity War'."

Scarlett has played Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in seven previous Marvel films and she believes her experience have helped shape her standalone story, which is set to be released next year.

She said: "The movie, a lot of people told me the film should have happened before and they wonder if it should have happened before, but I could not have told this movie 10 years ago."

Scarlett continued: "It has a complexity to it that's just delicious. That's not to say it wouldn't be entertaining 10 years ago but it's just good. That's what this is all about. It's a homecoming."

Stephen proposed the theory that this would Scarlett's final performance as the character - who died in 'Avengers: Endgame' - but she refused to comment on the speculation.

She said: "There's someone out there with a dart gun that's a Marvel representative and I don't want to let something slip."