Earlier this month news broke that Collateral and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind star Mark Ruffalo was in deep talks to take on the role of the Incredible Hulk in Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. According to Deadline, this is now etched-in-stone confirmed.
The reports indicate that Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Marvel have reached an official deal and that Ruffalo is signed and sealed. This would set up a potentially exciting reveal tomorrow during the Marvel panel when the entire cast of The Avengers is expected to appear together.
For those who aren’t aware, Edward Norton played the pre-Hulk Bruce Banner character in The Incredible Hulk, and many wanted him to return to the role again. Marvel, being aware of Norton’s reputation as sometimes being difficult to work with, decided to go in another direction and bring someone new in. This didn’t sit well with fans, but as a business it was a decision that had to be made. Norton is an immense talent, but he does have a history, so they either jumped in blindly with him and hoped for the best or cast a new name a la Don Cheadle to Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2.
Surprisingly, many seemed to think Ruffalo was a terrible choice and I’m not sure why. He’s always been solid in what he’s done, and he could definitely pull off the unassuming and sometimes paranoid Banner. For those who loathe the casting, I think they may find themselves surprised.
What do you think of the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner in The Avengers?
They replaced a good actor with another good actor. It’s like Terrance Howard; hate the the he acts so it’s interesting to see that Don Cheadelle was picked to play war machine.
I think it would be very interesting to see Mark as Bruce Banner. Mark always has great line delivery.
Comment by phil — July 24, 2010 @ 8:53 am
I like Ruffalo but I think this is a terrible choice for Bruce Banner! Once they got the casting right (Norton), its going to be really hard for them to produce another convincing Banner for us. At least Ruffalo is a likeable guy, unlike Cheadle, who I hated as War Machine.
I wish they would have just done their casting right in the first place. They need to learn to pick actors who they can live with for more than one installment, especially since they all know going in that there are going to be more movies. It just pisses fans off when there is a new actor for every flick.
Comment by catch — July 24, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Catch, I suppose it’s kind of like getting into a new relationship. At first it’s all fine and dandy, and then you start realizing all their flaws and faults. I’m sure Marvel Studios had every intention of sticking with Norton initially. But sometimes situations change.
Whether it was Norton’s (alleged) meddling in the script for Incredible Hulk that caused tension, or the amount of money the studio was willing to pay Norton was less than satisfactory. Perhaps Whedon wanted more control of casting, or Norton simply didn’t want to share the spotlight with Downey Jr.
Trust me, I’m frustrated with this situation as well. A fellow poster commented that major casting changes cause the audience to disconnect with the character. I wholeheartedly agree with that. Marvel knows this. People don’t really care anymore who plays Hulk. I certainly don’t. But hopefully Whedon and Ruffalo have a chance to focus a little on Banner/Hulk and pull off something exciting with the character in the Avengers movie.
Comment by Jeffrey B — July 25, 2010 @ 7:41 pm