Edward Norton not in 'The Avengers'?

Friday, 09 July 2010 07:39 Written by Eric Walkuski

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Hitfix is running an article claiming that Marvel is looking in another direction for Bruce Banner in The Avengers, which is due to hit theaters May 2012. While Edward Norton tackled the role in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, the company is supposedly trying to get an unknown to turn into the big green guy for Joss Whedon's epic comic book adaptation.

If it pans out, it won't exactly be a shocking development, at least not to me. Norton is known as being very "hands on" (he wrote a draft of The Incredible Hulk), and The Avengers is Marvel's crown jewel right now, not to mention the fact that it's going to be an ensemble piece with many established and burgeoning stars on board. They'd want it to go as smoothly as possible. Add to that, comic book movies are seemingly always looking for that special "unknown", some young diamond in the

rough that will blow everyone away. (Hell, they're hoping that happens with Chris Hemsworth in Thor.) And the Hulk, when it's all said and done, doesn't need to be a big actor's part. Hitfix assumes his ouster will ultimately due to money issues - because Avengers will be such a money-crunching project. I'm going with the theory they don't want a potential hassle with a head-strong artist.

Thing of it is, Norton was, and reportedly still is, willing to be a team player. He even apparently met with Whedon to discuss the script... For now, no one really knows.

The real question is, will the fanboy community really care if Norton doesn't come back? The Incredible Hulk was popular, and is actually a good movie, but it's not a classic, not beloved. Replacing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark would be one thing... is this really on the same level?

Source: Hitfix