In the immortal words of Stan Lee, the old order changeth!
Two days ago, Avengers actor Samuel L. Jackson spoke with The Wall Street Journal about The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the 2015 sequel by Joss Whedon to last summer's Marvel superhero blockbuster The Avengers. In the article, Jackson apparently confirms that actress Elizabeth Olsen has been cast as Wanda Maximoff, the mutant Avenger known as the Scarlet Witch.
"I don’t think we begin shooting before March of next year," said Jackson. "I know we’re shooting in London, that James Spader is Ultron and going to be the bad guy, and that we added Ms. [Elizabeth] Olsen [as the Scarlet Witch], but I don’t know what she’s doing, if she’s on the inside or the outside. I haven’t seen a script."
Meanwhile, Latino Review posted an article yesterday claiming that Kick-Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been confirmed as Pietro Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch's brother Quicksilver. They also quoted a Total Film article from August in which Taylor-Johnson discusses the character.
"There's years -- over fifty years -- of backstory on him all there to use, and I like doing that. Him and his sister [Scarlet Witch] have been abandoned by their parents and their father, and they grew up in Eastern Europe defending and looking out for themselves and each other. His sister really is his guidance. Emotionally she's the one who looks after him, and vice versa. He's very overprotective physically. He doesn't want anyone touching her. He has real anger frustration. I like that. I always thought it'd be quite funny if you saw him eating loads and people asked him why and he'd explain it's because he's burning so much energy all the time. Or ideas that you'd see him come back round, but he's already nipped out and got his lunch somewhere else. He just got bored. His attention span is so fucking quick."
On the subject of his depiction of Quicksilver, Taylor-Johnson added, "That's what we're in talks about really, right now -- how I could become that character and not feel forced. I might not look right with white hair, and the accent may be wrong...It just doesn't work like that."
The Avengers: Age of Ultron is slated for release in theaters on May 1, 2015.