Mark Ruffalo is the new Hulk on the block, replacing Edward Norton in the upcoming Avengers film, and Entertainment Weekly has spoken with him about this new role – revealing a surprising connection in the process.

“I’m a friend of Ed’s, and yeah, that wasn’t a great way for all that to go down,” Ruffalo said of the sudden replacement of Norton. “But the way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me. I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet.”

He says shooting may start in the Winter. In playing the role of Bruce Banner, Ruffalo sees the character as a “guy struggling with two sides of himself — the dark and the light.” “Everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control. I grew up on the Bill Bixby TV series, which I thought was a really nuanced and real human way to look at The Hulk. I like that the part has those qualities,” he says.

You can read the entire EW piece on their website. Thanks to Jason for the tip.

Concerning the entire Hulk-in-Avengers thing, Edward Norton has now posted the following statement on Facebook.

Click to see it in full.

Now following recent reports that Edward Norton will not be playing Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the upcoming team movie The Avengers, Norton’s agent has responded to Hitfix.com with an exclusive statement.

You can read the agent’s statement at their site.

Following their initial article about the possibility of a Edward Norton-less Avengers, now Marvel has confirmed directly to Hitfix that Norton will, indeed, be replaced. Here’s what they said:

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”

You can read the full report at Hitfix here.

Here’s some potentially surprising news courtesy of Drew McWeeny at HitFix.com.

McWeeny posts a scenario suggesting that the cast of The Avengers will be introduced at Comic-Con. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, and… an unknown as The Hulk.

Why? Norton says he wants to reprise the role he played in The Incredible Hulk, but Marvel might want someone more affordable.

You can read the full piece, including some of the potential reasoning behind this rumor, at Hitfix.

MTV’s Splash Page recently spoke to actor Edward Norton and asked about the possibility of him returning as the Hulk’s alter-ego Bruce Banner for the in-development Avengers movie.

“Well, if people want it all to come together, they’ve got to email Marvel and say, ‘This is what I want,’” Norton hesitantly responded to the site.

There you have it. Sounds like a negotiation tactic, but one we wholeheartedly approve of. Norton brought a great feeling to a live-action Banner that was only matched by the late Bill Bixby.

Did you catch the Incredible Hulk reference in Iron Man 2? What about the nod to Wakanda, home of the Black Panther?

Fortunately for us, the Geek Tyrant website did, catching those references as well as Easter eggs referencing the Mandarin, Nick Fury’s long life, and more. Find the full column here.

MovieWeb caught up with Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige last week and asked about The Hulk’s future in the Marvel movie universe.

“Not before The Avengers,” he told the site. “He was there in The Avengers #1 and in The Ultimates #1 so certainly the Hulk is a key part of these films leading up to The Avengers. Iron Man 2 has some clues to where these timelines take place as they relate to each other. So I certainly think Hulk will be a player on that team.”

As for whether or not Edward Norton would be returning to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk, Fiege says a lot of it depends on the story, among other things. “A lot of it depends on the story, a lot of it depends on the schedule and a lot of it depends on the lofty ideas that we have,” he says. “You also have to work with the realties of people’s schedules as to when they are available and stuff like that. So we reserve the right to say Hulk will be in it for sure, we’ll see about Banner.”

Read the entire interview at MovieWeb.

Deadline: Hollywood is now reporting that Buffy: The Vampire Slayer’s Joss Whedon may be directing the big screen team-up film The Avengers.

Here’s what Deadline’s Nikki Finke had to say:

"I’m told Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer series architect Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. That’s thefast-tracked film that would amount to an all-star team of Marvel superheros, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Other signature superheros will likely be involved, but I’ve listed the actors in active superhero duty. Whedon has been  rumored for this job for awhile, and is high on the fanboy wish-list. He’s an interesting choice: despite his writing/producing TV series resume, his lone feature directing effort, Serenity, was not a hit. After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon has written installments of the latter, so he knows how to make those superheros fly. Marvel has considered all of the individual superhero movies to  be an intro to The Avengers, so the wanna-see on this one will be huge. The film will be released in the first weekend of May, 2012."

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