The upcoming Marvel Studios superhero crossover movie The Avengers will feature a whole host of superheroes from Captain America and Nick Fury, through to Iron Man, War Machine, Thor, Black Widow, and The Incredible Hulk, with numerous big-name actors reprising their roles from individual superhero pictures in order to appear in the movie; Chris Evans (The Fantastic Four) will be playing Captain America in both next years movie and The Avengers, Scarlett Johansson will reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow from Iron Man 2, and Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle will also reprise their roles from that movies (Tony Stark/Iron Man and War Machine respectively), as will Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Chris Hemsworth (Ca$h) will play Thor in both next year’s film and the Avengers; Edward Norton however, does not make that list, as Marvel have very publicly decided not to ask him back to fulfill his former role as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk.
The announcement came on Saturday, when Marvel issued a statement that basically said their ‘decision is definitely not based on monetary factors’ but they didn’t want the American History X star back, because he doesn’t work well with others (something they noted after he and Marvel previously battled during the post-production of the 2008 Hulk film) and, as such, is not wanted in the role.
It’s a statement that has been strongly contested by Norton’s agent; Brian Swardstrom; who said that Ed was open to the idea of reprising the role, and was negotiating with people at Marvel (who all seemed to want him back) in good faith, before receiving a phone call from Marvel informing him that they were going in a different direction, ‘for what seemed to be financial reasons.’
But whatever the real reason may be, it’s clear from both sides that Norton shall not be appearing in The Avengers (or any other Marvel picture in a hurry); which is to be directed by Joss Whedon (who’s best known as the man behind TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also penned the upcoming Captain America movie), and due to be released in 2012.
There’s still no official word on who will be replacing Ed Norton as The Hulk (although Lou Ferringo, who played him in the TV series, is rumoured to be voicing the CGI beast), and so all eyes are now fixed on Marvel’s July 24th Comic-Con panel; as that’s not only the most likely place for an announcement, but guaranteed to be an eventful Q&A session.
