There's still over a year to go before we can finally see the highly anticipated superhero team-up sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron in theaters, but even with minimal footage to go on the hype train is chugging heartily along. Filming began about a month ago in South Africa and the cast and crew will visit multiple locations around the world as production continues - including, London, Seoul and Italy's Aosta Valley.

The movie's title is something of a giveaway for the new antagonist, and The Avengers: Age of Ultron will also feature many new characters including sibling superheroes Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision and Thomas Kretschmann as Baron von Strucker.

Concrete information regarding The Avengers: Age of Ultron's plot has been understandably difficult to come by, but with filming already underway a new cast member has just been announced. Korean actress Kim Soo-hyun (not to be confused with the other Kim Soo-hyun), who also goes by the name Claudia Kim, confirmed her entry into the Marvel cinematic universe this week on Twitter (translation courtesy of CBM):

"After a long wait, I'm happy to be back with great news. I have a lot to do ahead of me, but for now, the words ‘Welcome to the Marvel Universe’ are amazing and kind of overwhelming. I was a fan of Marvel Comics, and if you really like something, looks like fate can make it happen.”

Kim Soo-hyun with Marvel comics

Obviously the Marvel Universe is a pretty big place and with a number of Marvel movies in the pipeline Kim could have been referring to any of several upcoming films. Things were cleared up, however, when a Marvel official confirmed in a phone call to OSEN that Kim has been cast in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, though revealing the role she's playing would give away too much about the plot:

"It would be a spoiler, so we can’t tell you which character Kim Soo-hyun will play. Marvel always prohibits telling too much about the story. Her character is already decided and the scene is already written so we cast Kim Soo-hyun, but we can’t let you know about her character. We only can say that her character is a substantial supporting role."

"Substantial" suggests that Kim will be more than just a background character and that The Avengers: Age of Ultron may even be setting her up for a bigger role in future Marvel features. Her involvement in the film has been rumored for a while, and according to those rumors she may be playing a doctor with connections to Ultron, who is tasked with Tony Stark's medical care. There's not too much to go on right now, but feel free to speculate on Kim's character in the comments.

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The Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives in theaters on May 1, 2015.

Source: Claudia Kim, OSEN (via CBM)