heads over at empire have just confirmed her to be playing the part after facing off with several other actresses……

“With much of the casting process held in Marvel’s top secret bunker, zero news had leaked out about the hunt for someone to play Nick Fury’s female sidekick in The Avengers. Until, that is, Samuel L Jackson gabbed about it on a talk show and the list of front-runners snuck out shortly after. But the list is down to one as actress Cobie Smulders is in final negotiations to star as Maria Hill.

Deadline was the first to bring the news that Smulders was the clear front-runner in a field that also included Serenity/V actress Morena Baccarin, Scott Pilgrim’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Cloverfield’s Jessica Lucas, with the Heat Vision blog now confirming the choice of Smulders.

For those without an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Marvel universe, Hill is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D who eventually becomes executive director of the organisation after Nick Fury goes into hiding following a massive scandal. She’s a superb fighter and able negotiator, but also has a mean streak and has never been above blackmailing superheroes to get her way.”