Scarlett Johansson says she is "forever wounded" because of the injuries she's sustained in her action movie roles.
The 29-year-old actress has slipped back into a slinky catsuit to reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff and her superhero alter-ego, Black Widow, for a third time in her latest Marvel caper Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
And Johansson has admitted she has been suffering bumps and bruises since playing the spy for the first time in 2010 for Iron Man 2.
"I am forever wounded from these movies," she said. "I have old injuries from Iron Man 2 and I keep re-injuring them. That's part of the joy and part of the process, I guess."
She said that despite the risks, she prefers to do as much of her own stunts as possible, and enjoys comparing the "battle wounds" with her male co-stars, who include Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie and Samuel L Jackson.
"As you sustain more injuries over time, it hurts for longer and things like that, but I guess I like to do as much of the stuntwork as possible and you take a little bit of a risk with that," she explained.
"I'd rather that than to hand off my scenes to the stunt team. As amazing as they are all the time, I'd rather do some of it and have some battle wounds. That way, I can compare bruises."
Johansson revealed that fans will get more insight into Romanoff's background in The Avengers sequel, Age of Ultron.
"You'll get more of Black Widow's back story in Avengers 2," she said.
"I think she has a rich past. She definitely comes from a really dark past. I think she's had to desensitise and dehumanise to be able to do some of the things that she's seen and participated in willingly. She's now grappling with the fact that she may be experiencing some trauma from that...and it's just hitting her now that she's been acting as a gun for hire."
* Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in Australian cinemas on April 3.
