The Marvel Cinematic Universe has landed one of Hollywood’s biggest fish, it has been revealed, after reports suggested Angelina Jolie is closing a deal to star in a superhero movie based on The Eternals.

No official announcement has been made, but it is understood that Marvel is moving ahead with the project after studio president Kevin Feige confirmed its development last April, as part of Marvel’s so-called “Phase 4”.

The Wrap suggested the central character of The Eternals film – whom Jolie is presumably playing – is called Sersi, one of a group of near-immortal humans given superpowers by aliens. (An online Marvel character profile identifies her with Circe, the witch from Greek myth who appears in Homer’s Odyssey.)

The Eternals is to be written by cousins Matthew and Ryan Firpo, and directed by Chloé Zhao, who made waves with her award-winning rodeo drama The Rider.

Jolie is currently working on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the sequel to the successful Sleeping Beauty spin-off from 2014. While The Eternals would be Jolie’s first Marvel film, she is no stranger to fantasy-action film-making: she has previously appeared in comic-book adaptation Wanted in 2008, the sword-and-sorcery epic Beowulf in 2007, and two Lara Croft films, in 2001 and 2003.