Black Widow to be lone female Avenger

Joss Whedon has revealed that Black Widow will serve as the only female member in his Avengers lineup.

Speaking to the Sunday Herald Sun, the helmer quashed rumours that the Wasp and other Marvel heroines are to appear in the film.

However, Whedon added that Scarlett Johansson's Russian spy will not be the only female character in the movie. "It is true that the movie is only going to have one female Avenger," he said. "But she will not be the only female character."

The director's comments have sparked rumours that Pepper Potts (Iron Man), Betty Ross (Hulk) or Jane Foster (Thor) could appear in the comic book adaptation.

He went on to tease details of the film's storyline. "It will be a new story that has many things from different arcs of the comics in it," he explained.

"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."

Avengers arrives in theatres on May 4, 2012.