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.