Whedon: Only One Female “Avenger”

When “The Avengers” hits theaters in 2012, there will be only one female member of the group, says director Joss Whedon.

Whedon revealed that member will be Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson. The announcement squashed rumors that the Wasp might play a role in the film.

However, that doesn’t mean that Johansson will be the only female cast member in the ensemble film.

“It is true that the movie is only going to have one female Avenger,” Whedon told the Sunday Herald Sun. “But she will not be the only female character.”

Whedon’s comment could mean that one of the supporting female characters from the previous Marvel Studios films — for example Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) or Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) from the upcoming “Thor” adaptation may return. Or it could potentially indicate that one of the villains for the film may be female as well.

Whedon also spoke out about the film’s storyline and indicated that he doesn’t plan to draw on only one of the team’s comic book origins.

“It will be a new story that has many things from different arcs of the comics in it,” offered Whedon. “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.”