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'Avengers' Line-Up Confirmed, Hulk to Appear - News in Film
‘Avengers’ Line-Up Confirmed, Hulk to Appear
Published by Jeff Leins on: January 27th, 2010
In May 2008, just after Iron Man dominated the first summer weekend, Marvel announced an aggressive schedule to introduce stand-alone movies for their recognizable heroes that would culminate in the May 2012 movie The Avengers.
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (???) were the obvious three. Plus Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) were probable options.
However, the Hulk’s membership was always questionable due to more than just its two lackluster box office attempts. Marvel Studio chief Kevin Feige has been playful about hinting that the “Hulk universe” would factor in, but not necessarily the angry green giant.
Luckily, Feige opened up a bit more to SFX Magazine (via SuperHeroHype). Here’s the juiciest quote from the interview, “Everyone loved [Iron Man]. It’s our job to do the same with Thor and Captain America two years from now, so by the time The Avengers comes in 2012 its not just a team super hero movie with a bunch of characters with powers, its three people, four including Hulk, five including Nick Fury-who you have seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”
Does that mean Edward Norton would reprise his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk, or would Marvel go for a third Banner inside a decade? Norton and the studio had a public falling out over the cut of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk that even led to the actor doing very little press for the summer release and releasing an official statement on the matter. There was also a bit of a writing credit dispute between Norton, who claims to have contributed to the script, and Zak Penn, who wrote the newest Hulk origin story and is writing the Avengers adventure.
Feige was asked directly if Norton would return and he responded, “I think there’s a chance, its certainly our intention to use the same actors from film to film where we can.”
Apart from continuity, I’d love to see him return to play the Hulk and I think most would agree. He’s an excellent actor and it’s not his fault the CGI green monster looked strange, or that the film was forgettable outside of a few action set pieces. It would make for one hell of an Avengers cast, and hopefully translate into a truly great movie. Though I especially liked fan speculation that the Hulk becomes the uncontrollable villain. Now that would be awesome.