Cobie Smulders Assembling With The Avengers?

We let you know the other day that Samuel L. Jackson was going to be screen-testing to find a sidekick and Deadline now reports that one person in particular might be standing out from the rest of the pack.

Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) apparently has a strong shot at portraying Maria Hill in The Avengers. In the comics, Maria was an executive director of SHIELD who had a reputation for being ruthless and occasionally blackmailing or bullying superheroes to get her way. She lost her job when Tony Stark/Iron Man stepped into the role. Maria might sound like a mean and callous person but you have to commend someone that has the spine to blackmail anyone in the Avengers.

Joss Whedon likes to work with people he already has history with and he liked Smulders for the part of Wonder Woman when he was attached to that project. The Avengers could finally offer up the chance to work with her.

If Smulders does become the newest member of the gang, she’ll have the opportunity to appear in more than just The Avengers since the deal comes with the option of appearing in other Marvel films.

The Avengers starts production in April with a planned release date of May 4, 2012. This movie is so huge and stars so many big names, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that nothing comes up to push that date back.