Black Widow Will Be in IRON MAN 3

It looks like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow wont be killed off in The Avengers, as a casting sheet has revealed that she will be back in action and kicking ass in Iron Man 3. Joss Whedon has a history of killing main characters, and I've heard some speculation that she might get knocked off. But you can now scratch Black Widow off the death list.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black will be taking on the directing duties for Iron Man 3. I've enjoyed Black's past work, and I have a feeling he's going to give us something awesomely epic. We've heard that the third film in the franchise will follow the Extremis storyline from the comics, which would be amazing.

Here's what was revealed in the casting announcement:

Two-time Academy Award nominated Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his roles as as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Scarlett Johansson will return from “Iron Man 2? playing Natasha Romanoff aka “The Black Widow”, and Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark’s closest friend, love interest, and business partner Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle, who replaced Terrence Howard after the first “Iron Man”, returns as Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes – Stark’s personal pilot, chief aviation engineer for Stark International, and one of Stark’s closest friends.

Multi talented actor, screenwriter and film director Shane Black is taking over the directing duties from Jon Favreau, who directed the first two films in the “Iron Man” series. Black also is writing the screenplay for “iron Man 3? with Drew Pierce and Robert Downey Jr’s creative input. He recently said not to expect “Iron Man 3? to feature any other heroes from Marvel’s universe saying that after “The Avengers” the plan is to go back to self-contained single-character stories. Shane Black has directed Robert Downey Jr. before – in Black’s last feature film directing job “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” in 2005.

Shooting will take place in the Wilmington, NC area and other locations in North Carolina from May 21, 2012 through September 7, 2012. The film’s main stars are being cast out of Los Angeles, however many supporting and day player acting roles will be cast in North Carolina. All of the extras, photo-doubles and stand-ins for the films stars will be cast in North Carolina. The production will create 550 “high-quality, well-paying jobs” and 1,000 talent opportunities in N.C.

So the big news here is that Black Widow will be back. But lets be honest with ourselves... I think we all knew that was going to happen, as everyone loved her in Iron Man 2, and it looks like she's going to get even crazier in The Avengers.

Are you excited that Black Widow will be back for some more Iron Man action?