I'm hearing that How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders has emerged as the front runner for the role of SHIELD Agent Maria Hill in the Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers and that a deal could be done before the weekend is out. The role has been the subject of high speculation since Samuel L. Jackson gave it up in an interview with Jimmy Fallon that he would be reading as Nick Fury alongside five actresses vying for an unidentified female sidekick role. That audition happened yesterday. Reports had V's Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as other candidates. Smulders wasn't completely unknown to Whedon. In fact, he liked her as a candidate for Wonder Woman when he was working on that superhero film. Deadline has learned that the role is Maria Hill, who in the comics was the ruthless interim executive director of SHIELD, who was not above blackmailing and bullying superheros to get her way. She was eventually supplanted in that top job by Tony Stark aka Iron Man. As with all Marvel movies, the deal comes with a pile of options for appearances in future superhero films. She's repped by UTA and Roar. Marvel Studios starts production in April, which presumably falls into Smulders' TV hiatus on the CBS sitcom.

The Avengers will be released by Disney May 4, 2012...

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I think that should would be great in The Avengers. She is my favorite actor on HIMYM. I hope she gets the part!