Zoe Saldana is in Talks to Play Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy

Zoe Saldana, of the Star Trek and Avatar soon-to-be-franchises, is looking to make a geeky hat trick by slotting a third major scifi series into her… bandolier? I guess? This mixed metaphor got away from me. What I’m trying to say is that according to the Hollywood Reporter, the actress is in talks to play the female lead in Guardians of the Galaxy, which, incidentally, would make her the first woman of color to play a major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If Saldana and Marvel manage to work out an agreement, and I would be head over heels excited if they do, she’d come onto the project for the role of Gamora, an alien woman and the last of her race, raised by the Mad Titan Thanos as his deadliest assassin and adopted daughter, known as “the deadliest woman in the galaxy.” In comics, the character eventually realigns herself with the Guardians of the Galaxy (who generally find themselves at odds with the fickle Thanos). Gamora is basically humanoid (with one of those costumes that will have to be seriously reconsidered before it debuts on the big screen) but with green skin, the cynically obvious role to court an actress of color for if you’re trying to inject some racial diversity into an adaptation of a medium without a lot of racial diversity. I’m not here to (so to speak) look a gift horse in the mouth, but I feel it bears pointing out. I’m actually glad Marvel is taking the obvious opportunity for racial diversity here, especially since they declined to take the obvious step towards better gender diversity for their universe in Guardians by including only one of the team’s long running female members instead of two. Production on the movie is set to start in June, with a release late next summer, so hopefully we’ll see an official announcement about Saldana’s involvement in the next few weeks. (via The Hollywood Reporter.)