Rumor: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Tops Contenders For Female Lead In 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'

The usual caveats are in place -- take it with a grain of salt, don't have heart palpitations and just chill. It's a rumor, but nontheless an intriguing one, so here we are, so let's toss the old ball around and see what to make of it.

Remember last week when it was reported that "Game of Thrones" stars Emilia Clarke, Jessica Brown-Findlay of "Downton Abbey" fame, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots and Alison Brie were all in the running to be Steve Rogers' gal in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"? Well, according to Latino Review the role is actually for Sharon Carter (niece of Peggy Carter played by Hayley Atwell in "Captain America: The First Avenger"), and that while those names are indeed on the list, it's actually Mary Elizabeth Winstead who "has the most traction" with Marvel.

The actress is currently riding a huge wave of buzz for her performance in "Smashed," and as she recently told us, she's getting a lot more interesting scripts coming her way. But joining a franchise could be a way to have her cake and eat it too -- a decent semi-regular paying gig in a big movie universe that will let her keep on doing smaller stuff like "Smashed" and a keep a roof over her head. Anyway, it's one to ponder but it should be noted that the role will have those with a British accent testing in their native tongue. Hence the Sharon Carter speculation.

Meanwhile, Josh Holloway and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will apparently be screentesting for the two available, and very physical, male roles with Kevin Durand also kicking around as a possibility. So keep that under your hat. Anyway, head over to Latino Review for more, including three characters who may or may not be in "Guardians of the Galaxy."