In a recent interview, director Joss Whedon (Firefly, Serenity) revealed a few bits about his upcoming Marvel Studios superhero team-up film, The Avengers. Whedon said that while Scarlett Johannson‘s Black Widow will be the only female Avenger in the first film, there will be other female characters who are  important to the storyline. Which opens up speculation that Gwyneth Paltrow (Contagion) could reprise her role as Pepper Potts from the Jon Favreau (Cowboys & Aliens) directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

Whedon told The Herald Sun:

“It is true that the movie is only going to have one female avenger. But she will not be the only female character”.

Whedon also spoke about the film’s storyline:

“It will be a new story that has many things from different arcs of the comics in it. There is no one Avengers story that you can just do the way that you can do the origin of Spider-Man. You really have to cull from the original and The Ultimates, which is one of The Avengers titles.”

The film stars Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye).

The Avengers is slated to hit theaters on May 4th, 2012.

The Avengers is slated to hit theaters on May 4th, 2012.