14 DAY TRIAL // After a rather too public spat between Marvel and Edward Norton, the actor was dropped from his part as The Hulk for the new “Avengers” movie, which will come out in 2012. At this year’s Comic-Con, a replacement for Norton was announced in the person of Mark Ruffalo, who is now telling Entertainment Weekly that he sees the part as Norton’s legacy to him.
Perhaps realizing the mistake Marvel made when going out after Norton in the press, the movie studio chose to announce his replacement in a more subtle manner, by simply bringing Ruffalo to Comic-Con, the Mecca of comic books fans. This was Ruffalo’s first time at the convention and, given the way Norton’s departure was handled, he certainly was feeling a bit unsure about himself, he admits for the aforementioned e-zine.
“I was very, very nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. That’s as close you’re going to get to being a rock star as an actor. The fans – they have very strong feelings toward their comic book heroes,” the actor says. Speaking of fans, they took the news that he’ll be replacing Ed pretty well. Mark, on the other hand, is still having some trouble coming to terms with it. “I’m a friend of Ed’s, and yeah, that wasn’t a great way for all that to go down. But the way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me. I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet,” Mark jokes.
Speaking of The Hulk, the actor promises he’ll do his best to render the duality that makes him such a loved character with fans. “He’s a guy struggling with two sides of himself – the dark and the light – and 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,” Ruffalo says of Bruce Banner, The Hulk’s human alter-ego.
As fans must already know, “The Avengers” will be directed by Joss Whedon and will see many of the world’s most beloved comic book superheroes come together and fight evil. Other members of the cast include Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. As per Ruffalo’s own words, shooting should begin sometime this fall.
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