Earlier today it was reported that Jessica Chastain had opted not to take on the “sexy scientist” role she was said to be up for in Iron Man 3. Not wasting any time, it looks like director Shane Black and company had another actress on stand by.

According to sources, Rebecca Hall is now in negotiations to play the character Chastain was lined up for. Apart from the brief description indicating that the character would be an attractive scientist type who’s just as smart as Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark character, all that’s known is that this will be a supporting role. Gwyneth Paltrow‘s Pepper Potts character is the movie’s female lead.

With the recent Iron Man 3 casting announcements of Guy Pearce as a villain, Jessica Chastain as a sexy scientist, and Sir Ben Kingsley as another villain, it was thought that they would be joining returning cast members Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Scarlett Johansson.

Now it appears that Johansson and her Black Widow character will not be appearing in the trilogy-maker after all. In an interview with Screen Rant for upcoming Marvel superhero epic, The Avengers, the actress shared that she would not be part of that particular project. But she also made sure to clarify that this might not be the end of her run as the character; Johansson stated that she saw a Bourne Identity-style Black Widow movie in there somewhere that she’d love to do eventually.

Actress Jessica Chastain fired to stardom over the course of the past year with roles in Oscar winner The Help, Oscar nominee The Tree of Life, The Debt, and Take Shelter.

Now the actress is busier than ever having just completed work on Lawless with Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, Tom Hardy, and Shia LaBeouf, Tar with James Franco, Mila Kunis, Zach Braff, and Bruce Campbell, another Terrence Malick film with Rachel McAdams, Benn Affleck, Michael Sheen, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Amanda Peet, and Barry Pepper, and a voice acting role in Madagascar 3.

She’s piling up more projects as well, with The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama Bin Laden project, titled Zero Dark Thirty, currently filming, and now it appears she could be joining Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 3.

Almost two weeks ago we brought you the news that Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley had been cast as the yet-to-be-named villain in next summer’s mighty Marvel superhero sequel Iron Man 3. Today another high-caliber acting talent has joined the movie’s increasingly impressive cast as Guy Pearce, most recently seen kicking interstellar ass in the sci-fi action flick Lockout, has signed on to play geneticist Dr. Aldrich Killian.

Killian was an integral character in “Extremis,” the six-issue Iron Man comic arc penned by Warren Ellis that is said to be the inspiration for Iron Man 3.

The long-gestating film adaptation of Orson Scott Card‘s classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game is in full swing with a solid director in Gavin Hood (Tstosi) and a stellar cast. Producer Roberto Orci has been providing regular updates on the progress of the film through his Tumblr production blog.

Yesterday Orci posted a picture of the film’s young hero Ender Wiggins with a monitoring chip implanted on the back on his neck. Check out the image here below.