Just the other night, the baddest MoFo around, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson (The Killing Game, Meeting Evil) sat down on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to discuss his latest project, a television adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s 2006 play, The Sunset Limited for HBO, directed by Tommy Lee Jones. Never one to shy away from talking about his Marvel movie alter ego, Jackson let a few details slip about Nick Fury’s upcoming cinematic appearances. The actor also revealed that Fury will have a new female sidekick in The Avengers.

Check out the video below (if it’s blocked in your country or you want to skip the ads, we’ve transcribed the important parts below).

Samuel L. Jackson on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

About Fury’s upcoming appearances:

“Everybody loves Nick Fury. I am the first black Nick Fury. It has been David Hasselhoff and somebody else, and now its me. In the next month or so, I have to do one day on Thor, and one day on Captain America: The First Avenger. In April we start The Avengers, which is the big deal with everybody. Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger are pretty much done, but I haven’t done my part in them yet. I am just connective tissue for them to come and join The Avengers.”

About his new female sidekick in the forthcoming Joss Whedon directed superhero team-up, The Avengers:

“I gotta screen test like five actresses on Friday. They have this new character who I guess is like my sidekick, or something that’s like with me all the time. So, they’re auditioning girls for it.”

Early speculation about this female sidekick of Fury’s keeps pointing back to Janet van Dyne a.k.a The Wasp, though Marvel refuses to confirm or deny the character’s identity, THR reports that Baccarin is the top contender for the role and others said to by vying for the part are Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Thing), Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield, Friends with Benefits) and Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother).

The deal for the role is said to involve a nine-picture option, so whoever snags the role has a chance to be seen in subsequent Marvel movies.

While there has been rampant speculation about Baccarin playing Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp going back to the earliest rumors of director Edgar Wright‘s big-screen adaptation of Ant-Man, don’t forget that the Marvel movie universe tends to pull from various comic book continuities. While I won’t deny that Baccarin has the physical similarities to pull of The Wasp, she’s also a real-life doppelganger for the Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch created character, Maria Hill.

Maria Hill has appeared in Marvel Comics since 2005, and has also had appearances in both Iron Man: Armored Adventures and, according to Wikipedia she will be a major character featured in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes voiced by Kari Wührer. She appears as a central member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a protege of Nick Fury serving as his second-in-command and being explicitly taken for tasks. She is often being corrected over mistakes or quizzed on her knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs. She maintains her comic self’s hard-edged and aggressive nature as seen in the episode “Iron Man is Born” where she immediately tried to arrest Iron Man at gunpoint when he took a threatening stance towards Fury.

Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Stevenson and Jaimie Alexander is slated to hit theaters on May 6th, 2011.

Captain America: The First Avenger starring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Neal McDonough, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell and Toby Jones is slated to hit theaters on July 22nd, 2011.

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon and starring Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Clark Gregg and Tom Hiddleston is slated to hit theaters on May 4th, 2012.