It looks like Marvel might have found Nick Fury's number two for the upcoming film The Avengers.
Entertainment magazine Variety has confirmed rumors that actress Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) has been cast S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. This confirms a previous report by Deadline.com stating a final casting call took place on February 4th with Smulders edging out Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
During an interview last week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Samuel L. Jackson — Nick Fury himself — said that was about to start screen testing with a "around five" actresses to play Fury's "female sidekick". At the time the role was un-named, with fan speculation keying in on the possibility that it was Hill, Carol Danvers, Sharon Carter or a new character introduced akin to Clark Gregg's role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson. With the casting of Smulders, specifically in the role of Hill, it looks as if Marvel's movie-verse is looking more like its current comic-verse and is leaning towards a certain Maria Hill.
Originally created by Brian Michael Bendis & David Finch in 2005's New Avengers #4, Maria Hill would be one of Marvel's newest comic characters to make it to the big screen. Introduced as a star-on-the-rise in the ranks of the spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., she's appointed to the top spot when former head Nick Fury goes rogue in the aftermath of Secret War and leading into Civil War.
Avengers' director Joss Whedon has had his eyes on Cobie Smulders going as far back as 2007 when he was working on the script for a Wonder Woman movie for Warner Bros. Although he ultimately left the project, Whedon revealed that Smulders was Whedon's choice for the titular role.
Smulders rose to success starting in 2005 with her role on the CBS series How I Met Your Mother, which stars two other former Whedon crewmates — Alyson Hannigan (Buffy) and Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog). And although her casting in Avengers would arguably be her biggest role to date, it isn't her first appearance in a comic-based flick — she appeared in the short-lived Showtime drama Jeremiah which was based on a Belgian comic of the same name.
Let's ask you — do you think Smulders is fit to play hard-charging Maria Hill? And what other members of the Avengers ensemble line-up would you like to see in Whedon's 2012 adaptation — and most importantly, who should play them?
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Great. I love her on HIMYM.
I love her PERIOD
FYI, she’s a comic fan, like a real one.
I had my fingers crossed getting her in Fables as Snow White. Guess that could still happen though.
omg, Robin Sparkles!
All I know is that she’s sooooo fuckin’ hot… so yeah cast her as anything you want
Awesome, love her!!!!!
Let’s go to the mall everybody!
i was really hoping for Morena Baccarin..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morena_Baccarin.
i guess it’s my LaGuardia HS/ Firefly-loving bias, but i think she even looks like Maria Hill.
I don’t know who this is, other then she is on HIMYM (never watch the show).
But hopefully she can channel the extremely annoying and downright pissy attitude Maria Hill has.
I have no clue who she is..was hoping ofr Morena Baccn=arin as well
@NathanNicdao lol, her PERIOD. But on a serious note I love her on HIMYM and would love to see her expand her acting CV.
@NathanNicdao ? that’s kinda gross…
She’s got the right look. I’m not familiar with her work, so it’ll be interesting to see if she’s got the chops to pull of the Maria Hill attitude.
Only if you think it is.
oh crap. LOL. Yeah.
But yeah, what i meant was “I love her.”
I hope there’s an impromptu rendition of ‘Let’s go to the mall’ halfway through the movie.
I’m not the guy ho goes “They should look like the character!” Cause that’s BS… but I hope she does the short hair, because Smulders would be SMOKIN looking like that.
im sure they wont make her cut her hair to represent a character most people dont know. it looked like fury’s sidekick would be the black widow as shown in the piece of crap iron man 2 film.why pack more characters into a film that allready has so many. i am happy she got a part though. i really enjoy her in himym.
@azrael1981 I would imagine that they hadded Maria Hill because as it stands, Avengers is rather male character heavy.
Side note, but since we’re talking SHIELD casting… I know Jackson is Fury, but if they had gone with the non-Ultimate version, I think Stephen Lang from Avatar would have been awesome.
This totally sucks only because I always thougth she’d be perfect for Lois Lane… I guess there goes that chance.
‘Cobie Smulders’ has to be an all-time un-sexy name for as woman as hot as she is.
Have had a huge crush on her ever since I first watched HIMYM. I highly doubt the role will call for all that much other than being a tough chick next to Sam Jackson. I’m sure she can do that just fine.
I think she would’ve made a perfect Wonder Woman. Whedon was on the money with that idea.
@DarkKnightDetective Now Lois i could be down with.
@j206 I would also be down with her as Wonder Women. oh well…
@Haupt She’s a comic fan? Really? Where did you hear that? More info, please?
Love her in HIMYM, by the way.
They better not shave her head.
fine by me, fellas, fine by me
Okay dont want to really be “that guy” but there is a good chance that “Originally created by Brian Michael Bendis & David Finch in 2005′s New Avengers #4″ is incorrect as she was probably already written into Secret War #5 as per bendis script before she appeared in New Avengers #4. alluding to the fact that secret war was delayed because of the art timeline. no guff with me though. Its grea that they are alinging things from the Avengers mightiest heroes cartoon to the non comic following public to this. Anything that can be kept as relevent as possible to the current marvel universe can only assist the entry into current comics for newcomers. It’s how I started on the x-men in ’95 with Cable and the X-men Cartoon series.
She can pull it off. http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3300000/Cobie-cobie-smulders-3301455-1024-768.jpg
Awesome! She’s fantastic. And come on, this is a Joss Whedon film. It definitely needed more kick ass women in it. And I really, really don’t mean that as a slight.
@TheNextChampion: That is practically her character on the show, so no need to worry.
I think this is a very good choice. I’m surprised Whedon didn’t go with Baccarin since they’ve worked together before. Also I’m not one for recasting roles but would anyone object to swapping Scarlett Johansson out for Christina Hendricks for Black Widow?
I like it! I enjoy her on the show, and I think she’ll be a good fit for the role and for Whedon’s direction. While I was sure we’d see Morena Baccairn, Smulders does seem to fit in better with the cast age wise more than Morena. Feeling good about this movie.
@j206 really? She’s Smulder-ing!
Yeah, she’s hot, don’t know if I see her as Maria Hill though. Hopefully I’ll be surprised, but I nearliy always have a problem with Whedon’s casting, especially females. They always seem to fit one need of the character really well, but fall short everywhere else.
@JesTr – I love Christina Hendricks, but I just don’t see her as Black Widow at all. Maybe Medusa from the Inhumans? Her figure is certainly otherworldly enough to play a Kree or something else cosmic.
@TomE She was featured in the back of Fables 100 as one of their famous readers and I’ve read several interviews where she talks about her comic collection.
I think she can do it. She pulls off the masculine quality very well on HIMYM that Maria Hill has. I just hope they don’t hand her a gun so big that it makes me laugh just watching her hold it up.