Benedict Cumberbatch On Disney Feud With Scarlett Johansson: 'A Bit Of A Mess'

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch weighs in on the legal combat between Walt Disney Co. DIS and Scarlett Johansson, with cautious but solid support for his “Avengers” co-star.

What Happened: Johansson sued Disney in July claiming her “Black Widow” contract linked her compensation to the film’s theatrical box office release. The studio simultaneously released the films in theaters and on its Disney+ streaming service, which Johansson claimed diluted her earning potential.

Disney countered by publicly denigrating Johansson’s lawsuit, leaking that she was paid $20 million for her performance calling her litigation “especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

What Happened Next: In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Cumberbatch expressed regret that the situation between the parties, although he was particularly displeased with Disney’s dismissive attitude to the lawsuit.

“It’s sad what’s going on between the lawyers,” Cumberbatch 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.

“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.”

Cumberbatch, who is returning to his Marvel Cinematic Universe character of Doctor Strange in the upcoming films “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” added, “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.”

In addition to the “Avengers” series, Johansson and Cumberbatch also worked together in the 2008 film “The Other Boleyn Girl.”

Related Link: Disney Promises To Become 'Major Player' In Asia-Pacific Entertainment Markets

What Else Happened: Cumberbatch is among the very few A-list stars to publicly comment on the Disney-Johansson situation. Elizabeth Olsen, who also co-starred with Johansson in the “Avengers” series, praised Johansson last month in a Vanity Fair interview.

"I think she's so tough and literally when I read that I was like, 'Good for you Scarlett,'" Olsen said.

Separately, People Magazine reported Johansson's attorney John Berlinski has accused Disney of trying to inflate its stock price by releasing “Black Widow” and its other titles in theaters and on Disney+ at the same time.

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like ‘Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company's stock price’ – and that it's hiding behind COVID-19 as a pretext to do so,” said Berlinski.

“But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts.”

Photo: Benedict Cumberbatch in the upcoming " Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," courtesy of Disney.