Edward Norton spoke exclusively with MTV at the Toronto International Film Festival where the actor is promoting his film, Leaves of Grass, and without surprise the topic of Hulk came up yet again.
The last we heard from Norton was a few days ago when he Hulk-Smashed the Iron Man 2 rumors about him appearing in the film in a cameo role to much disappointment of fans. Now he’s back on the positive band-wagon discussing the role of Hulk in The Avengers and what that may entail…
Will he appear in The Avengers? Will Hulk be a villain or hero? Read on for the details…
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In the interview, Norton was flat-out asked if he could see Hulk appear in The Avengers to duke it out with Thor, Cap and Iron Man.
“In the comics, there was always a tension between the rest of the superhero community and he was always this problem… They treated him as this problem”
“I think that’s a fun way to go with it”
He knows the comics and he’s passionate about the work he does. We can easily see that with his history and some of the issues surrounding the production of The Incredible Hulk involving different perspectives on how the movie should play out. Either way, the movie was great and Norton was perfect as Banner.
I want to see him play the character again in The Avengers and also in The Incredible Hulk 2 down the road, although I’ve never been a fan of the Hulk-as-a-villain idea and it seems like a big waste to me. The abomination almost took him down, why do they need The Avengers to? How is Captain America going to fight one-on-one with The Hulk on screen?
The conflict surrounding the character which Norton points out could play an interesting factor of the story, but him as the central villain is a weak idea – let Banner be a hero as part of the team. I’d love to see Norton on screen with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and [insert Captain America actor here].
The villain has to be someone (or something) bigger – not physically, I mean in terms of the story.
Why can’t we get some confirmation on the future of Hulk? No one will ever let this go and will continue to ask Norton at every single press event until we get some info…
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28 Comments
I still find it a bit strange that the Abomination wasn’t [spoiler?] killed by Hulk. It didn’t feel right to let him live. But Tim Roth was great, so was Norton, and I have no idea how they’re gonna pull The Avengers of, with or without Hulk and Abom. It seems people expect too much of it already, like it should be twice as good as – let’s say – Iron Man. How can they possibly meet those high expectations?
I think they could use Thor, Cap and Iron Man to help Bruce control Hulk, therefor making him a villianesque, but for only for part of the film. Then this is where the Avengers start. Loki/Mandarin/Abomination whomever Marvel chooses comes out from hiding and beats the crap out of the Avengers who are still sort of not working together and they have to work on their teamwork skills to take them out. Then boom a shart storm of heroes and bad guys come out foreshadowing the Civil War, then Invasion.
Hell yeah Norton! It would be fun and it would be a disgrace if he wasn’t back as Banner. I would be very disappointed. He made the Hulk movie respectable even if he did want all control. so many times we see bad movies because of what studios want. they don’t let the director do it his way and we hear that so often. If a guy wants control to make a movie the right away he should be given that control and use the source material.
To echo Ed Norton’s words, it would indeed be FUN to have the Hulk in the Avengers film as a villain type. But perhaps, as in the comics, after a bruising battle which Hulk’d most likely win, (although not easily), he could wind up partnering up with the team to combat a bigger threat. now that’d be cool!
Perhaps it could be kind of a hybrid of the ultimate Avengers/Hulk story and the original earth 616 Avengers Hulk storyline. Could you imagine the sfx on such a film? Hulk and thor going at it, one on one, giantman and Hulk throwing down! It’d be grand! It’s just a shame that other Marvel characters (Spidey, Daredevil, etc.), aren’t involved, yet…due to being owned by various other film companies. But who knows/ That could all be changing soon.
But I’ve digressed; Yeah, it’d be cool for the Hulk to be in the Avengers film. Hell, it’d be a blast for him to be in the upcoming Ironman 2 movie! hulk sluggin’ it out with shellhead! very cool! Who knows what’s gonna happen? Let’s just wait and see!
Wow, this sounds like some of the most promising news I’ve heard on this in awhile.
We need another dose of info on all the films from Kevin Feige. I’m jonesing, man!
Rhaemye
Emil Blonski (Abomination) was kept alive because he will be one of the villains in the Avengers movie. Tim Roth already signed a three movie contract so it’s kinda obvious that he’ll be a villain. There’s also rumors that the Skrull will be in it.
Ed Norton is not someone that should be listened to. He says a lot of things. He said that he didnt know anything about a cameo in Iron Man 2. I mean, he said that he didnt know if he’ll be in it, yet he’s talking about the hulk in the Avengers as if he was already casted.
Take what this guy says with a grain of salt, hes not exactly Tim Pocock.
He basically said If they did it as it was portrayed in the comics it would be fun,
But he provided no new information .
Its like the verbal equilvalent of a Rubiks Cube!
The answers are there if you jut put the pieces together!
Contextually he’s just commenting about the story idea nothing more. Provisionally though, he may be saying, I could be enticed!! Last year I wrote a short scene for a Avenger’s vs Hulk showdown. You can make an awesome battle Royall with just the basic idea. I good writer with a single extra villain could make a rockin story, add another mixed right. Well, you might come out of the theater thinking I got to buy another ticket because I passed out from GeekCiteMenT and missed the very end.
GeekCiteMenT= known from now on as GCMT
Evil Guy tricks Hulk into atking the Avengers…
Avengers are outmatched with Evil Guy and Hulk smacking on them.
Last minutes of the Film: Hulk realizes that Evil Guy is bad and goes Hulk Smash on Bad Guy!!!
See waht I did there?
I am sure Marvels President and Stan Lee will have input for a awesome Story / Avengers Movie !!! Everybody can be creative if you have a above talented artist!!!!!!! Then Story Script Writer!!!!!!! Do not Forget Captain Marvel a strong force of his own fighting a long with Thor and Iron Man and alongside Avengers Vs Thanos Now that would be Exciting !!!!!!!! Then possibly Black Panther on a Mission Observing Galactuses Activity!!!!! Wonder Man and Vision On Hand to assist the team!!!!!! Hopeful Wishes !!!!! There doing things right by doing Iron Man 2 Captain America Then Thor !!!!!!!! Avengers Major followup !!!! We all know Iron 519 Million Highest grossing Summer Movie for 2008!!!!!! Avengers needs to break all Records!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Disneys On Board!!!!!!! More Momentum for the Future !!!!!!! I Cannot Wait !!!!!! I wished I could have my artist and myself to submit Ideas !!!!!! I wish them great success and look forward to It!!!!!!!! Best of Success!!!!!!!!
this seems similar to when everyone was denying the NICK FURY cameo in iron man1
As I said before- if Norton say no to play in avengers, we have the avengers chasing the hulk, and ends with hulk face down in the dirt- there you have your beginning.
If he is on board, like it seems for now, you need banner- proberbly trying to fix his hulk problem, goes wrong- bigger bader hulk(grey) and the avengers fight him- or if smart evil grey hulk, could join up with rest of the supervillans..
Anyway- it is sad he does not have a cameo in Iron man 2, I would like more corssovers plz…
Just because he won’t have a cameo in IM2 doesn’t mean we won’t see a crossover. At the end, we may see some blond haired doctor with a cane, or Stark hearing a voice but can’t see him until he looks down at the table (Antman), or some black guy with an African accent (Black Panther), or we may see Norton. I’m sure Marvel will not disappoint.
@ James,
LOL: “hes not exactly Tim Pocock.”
By that, you’re saying what was twittered on Pocock’s account was true?
… The first part about First Class start next year I mean… Not the retraction, heh
The Hulk issue.
Solution: Gray intelligent Hulk.
And… one storyline that invaded all of marveldom, that could be utilized is ACTS OF VENGENCE.
Years down the road, when movie budgets are in the billions, perhaps a Movie trilogy inspired by a marvel cross-over (that didn’t work the best in comics, but would be great cinematically)and all the villains would switch opponents in order to take the heroes off guard, they almost defeated their foes. (I think Spidey had Capt. Universe powers.)
Thor fought Juggernaut, it was decent to say the least.
I would like to see Hulk team up with the Avengers in the Avengers film, but I think if they were to do it correctly, they would need to incorporate how the Hulk, no matter how he tries, always ends up causing destruction and problems for those around him, even when he’s trying to help. This internal conflict between Bruce Banner, one of the world’s most brilliant minds, and his angry, primitive Hulk side which “only wants to be left alone” is such an integral part of the Hulk’s psyche and character, I don’t see how they could do it justice without that. The World War Hulk story would be a great one to see….
Rob Keyes
I think it is, and heres why…so he tweeted that there would be an X-MEN first class movie and hed be in it, right?
Well- as soon as he re-tweeted and changed hs status to ‘Cruel prank, scratch what i just said about X-Men” it told me that as soon as he tweeted his first XMEN status, 20th Century Fox (or someone) called him and told him
‘Hey, genius, DONT TWEET ABOUT THIS, its not supposed to be public yet! make another tweet and this is what we want you to say….”
He obviously has an inside on this, and his knowledge combined with his young carelessness….the result was, the famous tweet.
I think it would be the Tweet of the month if Obama wouldn’t have called Kanye a jackass on his Twitter
And by saying that hes not Tim Pocock i meant
Ed Norton is careful on never ever spilling stuff he shouldnt say, youll never catch him saying
“Hey im going to be playing the Hulk in the Avengers sequel”
Hes very carefull about this and very professional, probably because hes close to directors and he’s used to being in charge when hes in a movie.
Tim Pocock on the other hand, im 100% sure Tweeted the x-men message AS SOON as his agent (or someone) told him the First Class movie is a go. As SOON as he heard about it.
@ James,
I thought the same on the topic. Did you read my post on the First Class thing and his tweet?:
http://screenrant.com/plan-xmen-class-rob-26365/
I had written my post on it and published just as he posted his retraction so I immediately updated it when it happened.
Hey Rob,
Sorry, I’m pretty new to this site and dont remember coming across that post xD
But i read it and 100% agree
“Is this damage control from his agent or Fox because he spoke too soon?”
Yes, that is exactly what it was, no doubt about it. It fits.
I also posted this, but I didnt update it after the second tweet because I knew it was a forced fake message that really isnt coming from Pocock, but from 20th century Fox
And I have to make one small minuscule observation about your current post:
Part of Nortons quote was:
“In the comics, there was always-” STOP RIGHT THERE.
Okay, I dont see Edward Norton reading comic books. The guy went to Yale and hes always since college been 100% dedicated to acting and now hes a screenwriter, director and producer. Im not saying that these factors mean that he doesnt read comic books….its just…I don’t see Ed Norton picking up a comic book. Not even after being casted as the Hulk do I see him doing that, he read the script, and helped producing it, but I dont see him obsessng over the Avengers.
Measly observation #2
He was asked about the Hulk being a bad guy, and Edward said what he “read in the comics” about it, and then followed it with:
“I think that’s a fun way to go with it”
I can translate that quote with what it TRULLY meant
“Yeah…that’d be nice, but its not going to happen”
I read in an interview with Norton that he took in hundreds and hundreds of pages of Hulk comics to get different feels for the character. When Norton gets control of a script he makes sure he does it justice. He does his research and put Mickey Rourke in the same class for when it comes to researching roles.
seeing as it will be the “origin of the avengers” story, perhpas SHIELD will think banner/hulk would come in handy in his new super team so he enlists banner- who thinks he has the hulk under control… so for half of the movie he is working with them then he loses control of the hulk and the avengers must band together to take him down
also: do we think the big bad for the move will be ultron, hydra or a mix of the solo movie villians (abomination/red skull, justin hammer, loki etc)
@ the Pitt Man
Yes! The gray intelligent Hulk! Now I’m getting excited!
The Hulk as a “villain” is workable only in so far as we are led to believe that he is the real villain, only to be surprised with a possible introduction into the story of the Skrull, or perhaps an amalgamation of nasty characters like The Mandarin, Fing Fang Foom, and the Leader. Its important to have a villain(s) who not only pose a challenge to the unified power of the Avengers, but who also pose a threat to global civilization! A single villain(s) like the Abomination, or the Red Skull, or Loki: I don’t know?
In the end, if I were to call the shots, its the Skrull all the way. Maybe Thanos? But he/it has to be HUGE, and a real threat to life on earth!
I should add that I could see the Leader and the Mandarin posing a serious threat. We know what the Mandarin is capable of, and remember in the Incredible Hulk (film) Sterns had been producing and collecting countless samples of Banner’s tainted blood. He could easily create an army of some sorts that could do some real damage.
Food for thought fellow geeks.
as long as ed norton comes back i’ll be happy
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