In the screenshot above – taken from the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer that debuted last night – you’ll notice that there are three women standing alongside Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). On the left is clearly Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and the footage from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con helps us identify the woman on the right as Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), but the identity of the woman in the middle remains a mystery. Who is she?
Fans who have been pouring over every frame of the trailer have been speculating wildly about the identity of the actress in the scene, throwing out possibilities based on other characters seen in the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the cast list featured on the movie’s IMDb page. Some have suggested that she could be a big name actress who is merely making a cameo in the movie – which is why she can’t be seen in any of the trailer’s other shots – but another (potentially less exciting) possibility is that it’s an actress we first learned signed on to be in Avengers 2 back in March:
Credited as Soo-hyun on her IMDb page, this Korean actress will be introduced to American audiences as Claudia Kim when The Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out next summer, and she is our best guess when it comes to identifying the mysterious third woman in the trailer. In addition to the fact that there are some obvious shared aesthetic qualities, it’s been reported in the past that the actress will have a "substantial supporting role" in the movie, which would make her an understandable fit for a scene like this.
If we’re looking at it from the other angle, however, and it does turn out to be a big name cameo, the most natural fit would probably be Jane Foster from the Thor movies, as played by Natalie Portman:
The end of Thor: The Dark World saw the titular God of Thunder returning to Earth to be with his lady love, so is it so hard to believe that he may want to bring her along for a party at the Avengers tower? The woman does happen to be standing directly behind Chris Hemsworth, and having her actually be in the movie would probably be better than just off-handedly mentioning her again, like what was done in The Avengers.
Until we get a higher resolution version of Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer or another angle from the same scene in the footage, the identity of the third woman will remain a mystery with many possible answers. Who do you think it is? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, and give the trailer another watch!
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters on May 1, 2015.
