Barely two weeks after the surprise announcement that "American Horror Story" star Evan Peters will appear as Quicksilver in Fox's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," reports indicate Marvel may be closing in on an actor to play the role in "The Avengers 2."

TheWrap was the first out of the gate with word that "Kick-Ass" star Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the frontrunner to portray the speedster in writer/director Joss Whedon's sequel, although Deadline suggests scheduling issues could prevent a deal. But he's apparently the one the studio wants for the twin brother of the Scarlet Witch.

Because Marvel and Fox share the rights to the two characters -- they were introduced in May 1964 as X-Men villains but joined the Avengers within a year -- the studios reportedly are in chilly "legally negotiated stand-off" regarding the mutant children of Magneto.

Whedon thrilled many Marvel comics fans in late April when he teased "a brother-sister act" appears in his recently completed draft for "The Avengers" sequel. Their identities were soon confirmed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who cautioned "the draft could change six months from now," and then by Whedon himself. "You know, they had a rough beginning," he said of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. "They're interesting to me because they sort of represent the part of the world that wouldn't necessarily agree with the Avengers. So they're not there to make things easier. I'm not putting any characters in the movie that will make things easier."

But mere days after that confirmation, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" director Bryan Singer made his Quicksilver, leading to speculation that Marvel might scrap its plans. Whedon, however, soon made it clear he was intent on keeping the brother-sister act, which he describes as "two of my favorite characters from the comic book."

"Besides the fact that I grew up reading them, their powers are very visually interesting," he said during an appearance last week on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." "One of the problems I had on the first one was everybody basically had punchy powers: 'I can hit!' 'I can also hit!' [...] Coming into the second one, he's got super-speed, she can weave spells, a little telekinesis, get inside your head - there's good stuff that they can do that'll help sort of keep it fresh."

The 22-year-old Taylor-Johnson, who was last seen in Oliver Stone's "Savages" and Joe Wright's adaptation of "Anna Karenina," next appears in "Kick-Ass 2."

"The Avengers 2" opens May 1, 2015.