Scarlett’s reps have confirmed to E! Online that she is indeed joining the sequel to Iron Man which the first grossed over $500 million worldwide. The deal was signed this afternoon. The second chapter is scheduled for a May 2010 release. Furthermore, long rumored Mickey Rourke is officially confirmed too. The rest of the cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, and Sam Rockwell.

“Scarlett is thrilled to be a part of Iron Man.” – her rep, Marcel Pariseau

Scarlett will be playing Black Widow. There is a lot of mythology surrounding her character and several variations so we’ll just have to await how the movie’s version will feature her and of course how Scarlett Johansson adapts her. You can learn about Black Widow on Wikipedia.

The details of the plot are highly guarded at this time but it’s known that in the sequel, Mickey Rourke will play Whiplash, a character that includes elements from that comic book villain and Crimson Dynamo, another Russian baddie.

Sam Rockwell will play Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, being played by a returning Robert Downey Jr.

Source: E! Online

Some more Ironman 2 gossip from DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com:

I’ve already posted my scoop that Mickey Rourke will play the Russian villain in Iron Man 2 in a Marvel Studios deal that started out lowball and went up a lot. Now I’m told that Emily Blunt won’t be in the sequel and Black Widow will now be played by Scarlett Johannson. (Interesting because Scarlett actually screen-tested for the role and didn’t get it.) But I hear that, unlike Mickey’s money, the deal for her is “just the opposite, a terrible deal made by CAA,” one of my insiders says. “It’s as bad as any deal that I’ve heard. It’s lowball money. And it ties her to countless movies, including that ensemble The Avengers, which is what makes this brutal for a lot of actors.” As for Blunt, I’m told she fell out not by choice but only because Fox exercised an option that the studio had from The Devil Wears Prada to make her do the upcoming film starring Jack Black, Gullivers Travels.