Variety is reporting that actress Emily Blunt has emerged as the front runner to play Natasha Romanoff, aka the high-tech black-clad super spy heroine known as the Black Widow, in “Iron Man 2”, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the playboy industrialist with the alter ego of the mechanized hero known as Iron Man. This is the third speculative rumor about casting for new faces in the sequel to 2008’s “Iron Man” after Mickey Rourke as the armored Russian villain The Crimson Dynamo, and Sam Rockwell as the evil industrialist Justin Hammer.

Blunt, who will be appearing with Benicio Del Toro in the Joe Johnston-directed “The Wolf Man” for Universal in November of 2009, has previously appeared in “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Jane Austen Book Club” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”.

The Black Widow, created by Stan Lee, Don Rico and Don Heck, first appeared in “Tales of Suspense” #52, in 1964. Since then has been established in the Marvel Comics universe as a former Russian spy equipped with high-tech equipment who is now an ally of the US and the American superhero community, having served as a member of both SHIELD and various incarnations of the classic Marvel team the Avengers.

“Iron Man 2” has a tentative release date of summer 2010.

Stay tuned to Shockya for more Iron Man 2 news.

By Costa Koutsoutis, (Source: Variety)