Kate Mara, Jessica Biel & Charlotte Riley Testing For Dark Knight Rises

It looks like that Dark Knight Rises casting information from Collider isn't as solid as first thought. HeatVision has a new shortlist of actresses who are testing for the two lead female roles. The list includes previously reported names like Keria Knighley and Anne Hathaway but now lists Kate Mara (127 Hours, Iron Man 2), Jessica Biel and newcomer Charlotte Riley who is engaged to Tom Hardy. While this report doesn't include Eva Green or Naomi Watts they however confirm previous reports of Talia al Ghul as being one of the roles.

Gemma Arterton was also a hopeful but could be out of the running with her signing on to star alongside Jeremy Renner in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Has A New Actress Already Been Cast In Avengers?

The HollwoodReporter just came out with some interesting news that Marvel is looking to add another female character to The Avengers. While I've gone over what this role could be. There just might be an actress already locked in. During the casting process for Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America many high profiled actresses tested for the films and didn't end up roles. I assume Marvel Studios might have found actresses to fill roles in other films like Avengers.

Emily Blunt was originally hired for the role of Black Widow. She then had to leave as 20th Century Fox used their contract with the actress to cast her in Gulliver's Travels which conflicted with Iron Man 2. Blunt would later do testings for Captain America reportedly for Peggy Carter. Haley Atwell would eventually be cast in the role. Others who tested for Peggy included Kiera Knighley and Alice Eve. It's expected that Emily was looking for a role that would be continued in future films. Since the young Peggy would only be used in the first film.

After not getting the role in Captain America Alice landed the role of Emma Frost in X-Men First Class. After reading the script and noticing how small the part was she left. Later it was rumored that Eve had left First Class for Avengers the possible role included Sharon Carter, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) and Enchantress.

For some reason Gemma Arterton went under my radar for being involved with both Iron Man 2 and Thor. She had been rumored to be considered for Black Widow and Jane Foster in Thor. The only problem is that she's beginning production on Wrath of The Titans soon and could also be involved with Ridley Scott's Alien Prequel. Gemma is better sounding than other ladies who also tested for Widow including Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel.

Now why didn't Marvel announce this person during the big Comic-Con promo? Well there could be a few reasons mainly that they never locked down which female role was going to join the lineup. Whedon hadn't completed the script at that point and was still gestating with the writer/director. Another reason is that they didn't have that actress fully committed to the project at the time. Lastly Marvel loves their secrets and surprises keeping news like this sort of close to their chests until production actually begins.