Disney is facing criticism on social media following the company's public response to Scarlett Johansson's recent Black Widow lawsuit.

As reported by BBC News, the 36-year-old Marvel star has filed a lawsuit against Disney after it streamed the new MCU movie on Disney+ at the same time as its release in movie theaters. Johansson's lawsuit claims that, in doing so, Disney has breached their contract.

Johansson, who reprises her role as Natasha Romanoff in the highly-anticipated solo outing, says that she was promised by Marvel Studios - which is owned by Disney - that movie would be a "theatrical release".

The lawsuit states that the star understood this to mean that Black Widow would not be streamed on Disney+ for at least 90 days.

However, Disney opted for a simultaneous release of the superhero movie - a move that the actor claims has impacted her compensation for the flick.

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Per The Independent, the lawsuit states: "Disney was well aware of this promise, but nonetheless directed Marvel to violate its pledge and instead release the Picture on the Disney+ streaming service the very same day it was released in movie theatres."

Now, in response to the lawsuit, Disney has told The Independent in a statement: "There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Disney has fully complied with Ms Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20m she has received to date."

Disney's response has since been slammed by both Johansson's agent and fans alike.

Bryan Lourd, Johansson's agent, said in a statement: "Scarlett has been Disney's partner on nine movies, which have earned Disney and its shareholders billions.

"The company included her salary in their press statement in an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of.

"Disney's direct attack on her character and all else they implied is beneath the company that many of us in the creative community have worked with successfully for decades."

Fans of the Black Widow star also took to Twitter to voice their support, with one person writing: "when someone says you breached a contract and you start talking about global pandemics you 100% breached that contract."

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A second wrote: "If Disney can do this to Scarlett Johansson - a Big Name - imagine what they're able to do to creators/actors with a lot less power and money.

"There are implications to this breach of contract beyond ScarJo herself, or even the convenience (& safety) of home streaming."

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"I’m not personally a fan of Scarlett Johansson for myriad reasons but the idea that Disney, a corporation, is chastising one individual for “callous disregard” to the pandemic when they opened their theme parks in summer 2020 makes you just wanna laaaugh laugh laugh," a third wrote.

The movie was originally scheduled to be released back in May 2020, but due to the pandemic, was pushed back to last month.

Featured image credit: Credit: Barry King / Alamy

Disney claps back at Scarlett Johansson's 'distressing' Black Widow lawsuit