Cobie Smulders In Final Negotiations To Play Maria Hill In The Avengers

Cobie Smulders on How I Met Your Mother
(Image credit: CBS)

Before all of the madness that was Super Bowl Sunday and the new trailers for Captainn America: The First Avenger and Thor, the big Marvel story was that Cobie Smulders, best known for playing Robin on the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother, was the top choice to play S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in 2012's The Avengers. Just two days later she's gone from "frontrunner" to "has the part."

THR reports that Smulders and Marvel are now in final negotiations to have the actress play a part in the major superhero movie. In the comics, Hill is one of the highest ranking officers in the secretive organization and has previously taken control as Exectutive Director in Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) absence. The character's most famous storyline is during "Civil War" when she, alongside Tony Stark/Iron Man, attempts to enact the Superhuman Registration Act and locks away any superhero that doesn't comply. Smulders will be one of, so far, two female S.H.I.E.L.D. members, the other being Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow.

As was mentioned this past weekend, Smulders was director Joss Whedon's choice to play Wonder Woman in what ended up being a failed project, and she seems to be quite a good fit for the role. But now we are left with another question: are they going to make her cut her hair?

Eric Eisenberg
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.