This isn’t too much of an update, but it definitely follows that path of Ed Norton that we’ve become accustomed to in reference to his future with Marvel Studios as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

Capone at Ain’t It Cool News had a chance to interview the talented and hands-on actor/producer for his work on the documentary, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, where he was specifically asked to talk only about that project. However, Capone was able to get in a few questions for the fans and that meant a question or two about The Incredible Hulk 2 and The Avengers.

Like I said above, we seemingly get an update from Ed Norton every few weeks about his involvement with Marvel’s future films, alternating between positive and hopeful, to negative and unlikely. This week’s update fall under the latter.

Norton and The Hulk made quite a few headlines in August and September when rumors surfaced that Norton as Banner as well as their green alter-ego would make a guest appearance in Iron Man 2, repaying the favor for Robert Downey Jr. appearing as Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk and referencing The Avengers.

In response, Norton shot down the Iron Man 2 rumors stating that he knew nothing about it, but later discussed how he thinks having Hulk be some sort of villain in The Avengers would be fun. Following that, he said that The Hulk’s return is only “a function of time” which seemingly hinted that he may be back in 2012 for a role in the most epic movie of all time.

With all this back and forth and absolutely no confirmation either way, it’s hard to gauge what The Hulk’s status is or more importantly, why it’s being kept so secret. On that note, here’s the latest from Norton in response to a question from Capone:

“I don’t… Knowing you guys, you will probably have updates on that quicker than I will, so if you find out, call me! [Laughs] I actually don’t know. I’m not even sure deep inside the minds of Marvel how they are planning to string that stuff out, but I don’t think there is any if it is imminent, I don’t know.”

Following that, Capone asked if he’s at least still interested in Marvel’s plans or coming back to play Bruce Banner again.

“Things like that to me are always completely dependent on what they make of it. You know what I mean? It’s like anything can be the crappy version of itself or the great version of itself and if it’s the great version of itself, then that’s one thing. If they don’t get it right, then I don’t know, then I think… A lot of it depends on what they come up with.”

In my mind, everything out of Marvel Studios has been so positive and on the up-and-up. Their first two movies were awesome and Iron Man 2 promises more of the same. On top of that, fans including myself couldn’t be more excited with everything coming out of director Kenneth Branagh’s camp for the Thor movie and we’re all waiting in anticipation for updates on Joe Johnston’s The First Avenger: Captain America.

With the studio intentionally crossing over characters, notably the Tony Stark appearance in Hulk’s latest movie, how can they drop the ball and not have Norton involved in The Avengers? I can’t even imagine how disappointing that would be. Even if he’s in a lesser role than the other three, to me it is imperative that Banner/Hulk is a part of that.

I’m holding on to my hopes of Norton actually appearing in Iron Man 2 and fans going absolutely nuts at that revelation which would confirm the four mainstays of The Avengers roster.

What do you think?

The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.

Source: AICN

• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?

Edward Norton sure knows how to keep fans guessing and anticipating. Now he’s saying his involvement in The Avengers just boils down to scheduling…

Ever since Mr. Norton played the part of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk,  a film that featured and marketed a cameo by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, fans have been eagerly anticipating the moment when they will share screen time together as part of The Avengers team.

Rumors surfaced at the beginning of August that both Norton’s Bruce Banner and his large green counterpart, Hulk, would appear in a cameo role in Iron Man 2, repaying the favor for RDJ doing the same in his solo affair.

This was all confusing because of the conflicting reports on Norton’s future with Marvel Studios President of Production, Kevin Feige, not giving direct answers on the topic and Norton’s back and forth between being seemingly disinterested and interested in playing the role again.

On that note, two weeks ago Norton was asked at the Toronto International Film Festival about the truth to the rumors and his response confirmed that there’s nothing to them, Hulk-smashing the Iron Man 2 rumors. That’s assuming he’s not misleading fans which may not be too hard to believe, looking back at some things that have been said before by those involved with the first Iron Man.

“I heard that. I don’t know where that’s coming from… I am not in ‘Iron Man 2′ to my knowledge.”

Then, keeping on track with his flip-flopping, Norton seemed all positive and interested again about the Hulk’s future, revealing his thoughts on the idea of Hulk playing a villain in The Avengers, or at least some source of conflict as we’ve seen from the history of Marvel Universe in the comics.

“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”

It was partially hope-inspiring for those wanting to see Norton reprise the role of Banner to hear him say that. He wasn’t shying away from the topic or shooting down the question. Although, we had still yet to have any official word on Norton’s future one way or another with his future in the franchise and the deserved role in The Avengers.

Anyway, back on topic – from that interview MTV conducted with Norton where they discussed the Hulk-villain idea, they just put up an interview segment where they directly asked him whether he’ll be playing Bruce Banner when The Avengers movie or Iron Man 2 come out.

“It’s purely a function of time… It’s always about just working things out on the schedule.”

“I get very busy. You have to deal with the demands of your moment… I tend to keep my head in the thing I’m doing and I don’t speculate or worry too much about what two or three blocks down the thing is going to be. I know all these things will reveal themselves and work themselves out.”

Here we go again…

Click to continue reading Edward Norton and The Hulk’s future with The Avengers…

• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?

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…

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…

Click to continue reading about Hulk in Iron Man 2, The Avengers and what villains may be in The Avengers…

• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?

In a move the reeks of opportunism and greed, Jack Kirby’s Estate (a.k.a. his family) have hired Intellectual Property Lawyer Marc Toberoff to sue Disney/Marvel, Sony, Universal, 20^th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures in an attempt to reclaim copyright ownership of the characters their late father Jacob Kurtzberg created. You may know his name better as Jack Kirby and you are most familiar with his iconic and highly popular comic book creations, The Fantastic Four, Captain America, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk and The Silver Surfer.

Thanks to the guys over /Film for sharing this with us and to Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool and Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywod who seem to have gotten the drop on this breaking news. This is not the first lawsuit we’ve seen involving a comic book creator’s estate vs. the current owner and publisher; Just recently we reported and discussed WB/DC’s fight with the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Jerry Schuster over the rights to Superman.

The Siegel/Shuster heirs have been successful in their legal pursuit to some degree; they now have full access to Superman’s origins with many thanks going to their superstar lawyer (you guessed it) Marc Toberoff. What they are going to do with the just the origins of Superman remains a mystery to me, because after the countless retellings of Superman’s beginnings, I’m pretty sure we weren’t going to see that story again anytime soon.

Back to Jack Kirby: His Estate is currently suing and sending termination of copyrights notifications to each of the big studios that have involvement with any of characters Kirby created. The rest of this article is background information on Jack Kirby and my own observations and opinions. I am not a copyright lawyer, nor do I claim to have extensive background knowledge on U.S. Copyright Laws; so if you see something I misinterpreted, please enlighten me.

This isn’t the first time Kirby and Marvel haven’t seen eye to eye on things. In a very detailed account over at The Comic Journal, Marvel was in a major dispute with Kirby during much of the 80s, regarding his  work from the 60s and 70s. At the end of the day (and after Will Eisner got involved), Marvel reluctantly agreed to give Kirby back 1900 pages of his work. That seems like a lot, but it’s actually less than 25% of what Kirby had done.

Kirby was the first illustrator hired when Jerry Iger and Will Eisner formed Eisner & Iger Studios in the 1930s.  Until 1978, when the copyright laws were changed, most if not all of the comic creators hired artists under a “work-for-hire arrangement”. In other words: artists didn’t own the rights to whatever they were paid to draw. The same thing is still done today in other business models – electronics and programming are two of the biggest examples.

When a programmer working for Microsoft writes a new program and it turns into the major code behind a new piece of Microsoft software, that programmer doesn’t own the rights to his code. He was paid by Microsoft to write it and has already been fairly compensated for his time and effort. He doesn’t have the right to sue once that program starts making millions of dollars, just because he is jealous.

I don’t claim to know the copyright laws inside and out, but to me it would seem pretty simple: If Jack Kirby was hired under those aforementioned circumstances, then any characters he created should not be his to own. Sure, he will always get “creative credit” for coming up with them in the first place, but it’s not like he thought them up in his garage and then Marvel came along and stole them in the night. From what I understand, Kirby was paid fairly to create those Marvel characters and without the company publishing his work, he would not have gotten them off the ground. Of course the reverse could be (and likely will be) argued – that Kirby created the most iconic characters in Marvel’s repertoire and without him they would have died a slow comic death.

(Head to pg. 2 to help answer the question, “Why Now?”)

• Superman To Get New Owners – What About a New Movie?
• Warner Bros. Loses Superman’s Past
• No Superman Movie Plans For DC Entertainment
• What If Disney-Marvel Buys Superman?
• James McTeigue Reveals His Superman Reboot Idea
• James McTeigue Talks Superman & Magneto

At the beginning of August, rumors surfaced about Ed Norton that said he might be making one wish of many Marvel fans come true in having an appearance in Iron Man 2 as Bruce Banner and possibly The Hulk.

This would have confirmed Norton’s involvement in Marvel’s upcoming slate of films and Hulk’s position on the roster of heroes in The Avengers.

Unfortunately, Norton doesn’t seem to know much about that nor does he have that much to say about it…

MTV News caught up with Ed Norton at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and asked him about the rumor and if he’ll be in Iron Man 2.

“I heard that. I don’t know where that’s coming from… I am not in ‘Iron Man 2′ to my knowledge.”

Maybe he just doesn’t know yet…

Damn. That sounds like a big “no” but if he was, I doubt he’d be allowed to talk about it yet. Every time I think about this, I wonder how he couldn’t be in The Avengers or have a cameo in IM2. Robert Downey Jr. had a cameo in his Hulk movie after all – He’s gotta repay the favor!

On that note, we will get to see at least one hero make a cameo and that’s likely Chris Hemsworth who’s of course playing Thor. He and Downey have screentested together and all the upcoming movies will likely have the other main characters make an appearance, building toward their epic team-up.

On the other hand, I wonder if Mr. Norton really wants to be a part of Marvel’s future after the little issues surrounding the production of The Incredible Hulk. He didn’t seem to enthused about the idea of The Avengers when asked about it last summer (actuallly, a year ago yesterday). Here’s what he said back then on the topic:

“The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque,”

“I won’t say [they're] obtuse, but I don’t have any idea what they want to do.”

“They’ve got this notion of collecting the Marvel characters”

“Who knows where they’ll go?”

That didn’t sound promising at all, at the time, but since then, things haven’t sounded so gloom with all the speculation about a Hulk sequel and his possible appearances in the other Marvel films.

Click to continue reading about Ed Norton Hulk and their involvement in The Avengers & Iron Man 2…

• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?

Today has been a big day for Marvel.

If you haven’t already heard, Marvel was acquired by Disney this morning in a massive $4 Billion agreement.

Looking at this optimistically, what that may simply mean for Marvel Studios, is more financial support and marketing resources to (hopefully) push into development more feature film projects. Perhaps, this could even fast-track some projects that are being considered for years down the road… perhaps a sequel to The Incredible Hulk?

The last we heard from Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier was his idea for an Avengers quadrilogy of films – something he wants to be a part of along with the directors of each of the other Marvel Studios solo films. Part of his idea is to have each director helm a chapter of the series of Avengers movies and they could all release within a relatively short window.

At the time, Leterrier also reflected on how much a challenge it was making The Incredible Hulk and hinted that he’d rather work with a different superhero next time around.

“Hulk was such a challenge. It was to reboot something and follow [the Ang Lee-directed 2003 “Hulk”] movie that was absolutely adored by part of the fan population and then absolutely hated by another part. It was complicated for me. I wasn’t sure what to do with that history. I did my Hulk but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Lee thing, and my first one … if I come back I’d love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on.”

Now it seems that he’s much more open to working on The Incredible Hulk 2, perhaps knowing that he’s likely not going to get another different Marvel gig before it. He did a great job with the Hulk reboot and fit it nicely into the shared Marvel film universe.

In speaking with Moviehole the other day (prior to the Disney acquisition announcement), Leterrier had great things to say about his leading actor and about the potential of his involvement in a sequel.

“Yeah, he’s a great actor and a great Hulk… Sure. I’d return to it. I have some ideas. So many ideas for so many things.”

I really enjoyed The Incredible Hulk and Leterrier made a solid film on a character that’s not as appealing in live-action to movie-going audiences compared to other notable comic book heroes. It deserves a sequel in my mind and if they could cut down on the budget requirements for it, I think it’s an easy money-maker for Disney/Marvel.

What I really want to see though, as I’ve noted time and time again, is for Ed Norton to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers. Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were the first two films produced by Marvel Studios as an independent production house and they crossed-over very well, both leading into future solo films and the Avengers team-up. To not bring in Mr. Norton would be such a disappointment and a waste.

• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Marvel’s Avengers According to Louis Leterrier

Louis Leterrier, the director behind last year’s The Incredible Hulk, made a lot of headlines in and around the time of its release by hinting at a Captain America cameo in the film as an “easter egg” that never really met our expectations. Now he’s at it again, this time talking about the major upcoming Marvel films, what he knows about them, what he’d like to work on, and what he’d like to do with The Avengers, given the chance.

In a Clash of the Titans set interview, LA Times journalist, Geoff Boucher, sat down with Letterier who wasn’t shy about revealing some of his ideas and thoughts on the upcoming slate of films in development at Marvel Studios. We’ve taken the best bits to discuss and share with you, and then we share what we think could be done with the eagerly anticipated Marvel team-up adventure.

Besides bringing the big Green man back to the silver screen, Leterrier also directed Transporter 2 and is currently working on the Clash of the Titans remake, which stars Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, James Cameron’s Avatar). On set for the production of this movie, the cast and director conducted the usual interviews for the press where interview, Geoff Boucher extracted some great tidbits from the Paris-born director.

Only a part of the complete interview has been made available for the moment and luckily, it’s the segment that we’re most interested with: The superhero movie stuff! It begins with talk about the Hulk franchise where Leterrier was asked about his interest in working on the sequel to The Incredible Hulk that Marvel may be interested in developing in the future.

His answer was surprisingly “no.” He explained that he’s contracted to do another film with Marvel and says that when he’s done with Clash of the Titans, he’ll go to Marvel and say “Guys you need me? Is there something I can do?”

From Marvel’s perspective, I’d imagine they’d want him to do the sequel since he already started the rebooted franchise and did a solid job of it. From Leterrier’s perspective though, the movie was surrounded by controversy about Norton’s creative differences with the studio as well as challenges during production. And while it performed decently at the box-office, it wasn’t what some expected and it barely beat out Ang Lee’s version in terms of financial results.

“Hulk was such a challenge. It was to reboot something and follow [the Ang Lee-directed 2003 “Hulk”] movie that was absolutely adored by part of the fan population and then absolutely hated by another part. It was complicated for me. I wasn’t sure what to do with that history. I did my Hulk but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Lee thing, and my first one … if I come back I’d love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on.”

So, if Leterrier does direct another Marvel flick, and if it’s not a Hulk sequel… then what could it be?

Of course, The Avengers is brought up next. And of course Leterrier says he’d love to do it.

Here’s where it gets interesting. After explaining some of the films he would and would not like to do (he would have liked to do Iron Man, Captain America and a different Fantastic Four movie but didn’t want to do Thor, even though he’s a fan of the latest Thor comics), he went on to talk about the Captain America movie and his ultimate dream project…

Click to Continue Reading ‘Marvel’s Avengers According to Louis Leterrier’

• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Zak Penn Loves Marvel Interconnectivity… But His ‘Avengers’ May Suck
• Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• How Iron Man & Thor Can Play Together In The Avengers

In one of last summer’s Marvel movies, The Incredible Hulk, we got to see the Hulk fight a worthy supervillain in the form of The Abomination whose alter ego, Emil Blonsky, was played by the talented Tim Roth.

SCI FI Wire was in attendance for the Television Critics Association summer press tour this past week and participated in a group interview with Tim Roth who was there for his TV series, Lie to Me. In the interview, Roth could not escape being questioned about his future with Marvel.

In the interview, Roth was asked about his contract with Marvel Studios and if they’ve approached him about doing more movies with them.

“They have, but in a very different way… I don’t want to get into it, but they signed me up for three [films].”

Not surprising considering all of the latest Marvel Studios contracts have included options for multiple films. We saw Samuel L. Jackson sign a whopping 9-picture contract which will undoubtedly see him have roles in every upcoming Marvel film for the next few years. We also know that Scarlett Johansson has a multi-picture deal and will likely have an appearance in the Avengers film after her Black Widow makes her debut next summer in Iron Man 2.

Roth was then asked for more detail on whether his talks with Marvel were for future Hulk installments and/or for a role in Avengers, and he responded only by saying, “It could be anything.”

Well, he’s sure keeping in tune with his co-star from The Incredible Hulk, Edward Norton, who’s been tight-lipped about his future with Marvel as well. No confirmations or denials from either which makes me hopeful to see them both return.

Could the Abomination be one of the villains to appear in The Avengers? Or could the talks just be for a future Hulk movie? If Tim Roth were in recent discussions with Marvel, the timing’s a little weird to talk about The Incredible Hulk 2 with all of focus being spent on the many confirmed films currently in development, and since we know it won’t happen till after The Avengers (if it happens at all).

Roth is a talented actor and he played his role perfectly in The Incredible Hulk, helping make it the solid film it was. If he is to come back for more, the character will probably differ from the comics so, like the Hulk, he could transform back to his alter ego, Emil Blonsky.

There’s a ton of questions surrounding the villain of the Avengers team-up film, let alone the roster of heroes which has still yet to be confirmed. Here’s hoping to see Hulk be a part of that.

Where do you think Roth could appear next and are you excited to see him back or is this news just an Abomination?

The Avengers is scheduled for a May 4, 2012 release.

Source: SCI FI Wire

• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time

The other day, Screen Rant covered some updates on the future films in planning at Marvel Studios. This news touched on the future of Ed Norton’s Incredible Hulk, the Avengers movie and more. Today we have a bit of an update on that front for you.

NukeTheFridge is exclusively reporting that Ed Norton is set to have a cameo as both Bruce Banner and Hulk in Iron Man 2. Apparently, they have an inside source feeding them this bit of info, the same source that found out for them a while ago about Stan Lee’s cameo appearance as Larry King in the Iron Man sequel.

At this point, we should take this rumor with a grain of salt. But I will say that this is a pretty awesome rumor.

I made it very clear in our last Avengers discussion how important I believe it is for Marvel to have the Hulk in an appropriate role in the Avengers movie and the fan-reaction was pretty one-sided in their agreement as well on the subject.

From the round table interviews with Marvel President of Production, Kevin Feige, at San Diego Comic-Con, he said there’s a “chance” that we’ll see Hulk in the Avengers film but he didn’t give any confirmation.

Very shortly after this, Ed Norton was present at an HBO panel presentation for By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, produced by the actor and he wasn’t able to escape any questions on his future with Marvel and his involvement with the Avengers. He said the following in response to questions on the Hulk:

“I won’t comment on that, just because they keep a pretty tight reign on what they are letting out. I’ll let them say.”

Maybe I’m just excited at the idea of his return or overly hopeful, but in my mind, all this avoidance of confirmation one way or another means something is brewing. If he wasn’t involved and if they didn’t want him back, that would of been cleared up already, no? Does that mean they’re working out a contract for him, or could it mean they already know he’s a part of it?

Either way, Screen Rant readers seemed pretty uniform in their desire to see Norton back and rightfully so because The Incredible Hulk was a solid movie, Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner was excellent, the movie was made by Marvel Studios with a tie-in to Iron Man and the studio’s shared continuity. And we can’t forget to mention the obvious importance of a flagship character such as the Hulk.

Follow through to Page 2 for what this means for the Avengers movie, and more!

Click to continue reading ‘Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?’

• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies

Marvel Studios had a big presence at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday by providing fans with one of the most entertaining panels of the event. That presentation was of course, for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, which he delivered to the loyal Hall H residents in full force.

Screen Rant master Vic and I attended the Iron Man 2 panel and were treated to something amazing. But we’ve already talked about that and while you wait for the trailer we saw to eventually come online, you may be wondering what updates there have been for the other more distant films in Marvel’s production queue.

Find the latest on the Avengers team-up film and other Marvel films in development after the jump.

After the panel, more Marvel movie goodies were revealed in some roundtable interviews where Vic was involved. Participating in the interviews were key cast members Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson, as well as director Jon Favreau and Marvel President of Production, Kevin Feige.

Feige had the most interesting things to say about the Iron Man sequel and the Avengers movie.

According to Feige, Iron Man 2 is not about cramming in too many characters, the cardinal sin of a sequel. He emphasizes that it’s totally Tony Stark’s story and that it’s going to weave into Thor’s story and Steve Rogers’ story and that it already is in Nick Fury’s and SHIELD. This is about Tony Stark glibly declaring “I am Iron Man” and what that means for him and those around him.

Any character franchise that launches must stand on its own two feet. They have to do the same thing with Thor and Captain America so that when the Avengers movie comes, it’s not just a team movie but has characters that you already care about, understand and empathize with.

If a sequel to The Incredible Hulk is ever made, Feige says it will be after the Avengers. I hope by then Marvel is able to increase their feature film financing capacity to be able to produce four big-budget blockbusters a year. Until that happens, I think Hulk is lower priority than other characters who are more worthy of sequels or origins movies.

On that note, later in the roundtable, Feige explained that after the writers strike, Marvel is back on schedule for two films a year (having none this year and only one next year in Iron Man 2). Feige re-iterated that the less the films cost, the more profit they make and the more films they can make.

As for Ed Norton playing Bruce Banner in Avengers, there’s a “chance” according to Feige, but he didn’t sound very positive. For continuity reasons and to really strengthen Marvel’s impact with this film, I personally find it important the Norton have a role in the movie. The Hulk along with Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are key to me and I think those four should comprise the core of the film and its title roster.

In planning Iron Man 2, Feige explained that they were interested in the villains that would enhance Tony’s character. Justin Hammer is who Stark was before he was ambushed in Afghanistan, the other side of his personality is the inventor/grease monkey side and that is represented by Whiplash. Feige says that it’s fun taking a character no one thinks much of and making him cool (Whiplash).

Feige reveals that at the start of the film, Stark is quite pleased with himself, but over the course of the film the stresses of being Iron Man will be demonstrated and become a crucial part of the story.

What other characters could we see in the future? Well, Kevin’s favorites are Dr Strange, Ant-Man, Black Panther and Iron Fist. All of which, without coincidence, have long been speculated as future Marvel movies in development. He also says that he’d like to break into the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe more (Thor will touch on this).

What kind of Thor can we expect? The Kirby/Stan Lee/Simonson Thor. In the Thor film, it’s based in the scientific, not fantasy – it’s simply science we just don’t yet understand or know about.

Head to the following page for more info and updates on the characters we’re likely to see in the Avengers.

Click to continue reading ‘Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies’

• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Marvel Updates: Nick Fury’s Role In Iron Man 2 & Avengers
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?

Short Version: I really enjoy the Marvel Studios/Lionsgate animated films, and the latest is fun, but it begs the question: can there be too much Hulk vs. action?

The latest animated offering from Marvel and Lionsgate is actually a “two-fer,” Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor.  The films clocks in at 37 minutes (Wolverine) and 45 minutes (Thor), and they’re enjoyable for the most part.  But after a while, I got sick of Hulk just smashing everything.

The “Hulk smashfest” lasted for the first few minutes of Hulk vs. Wolverine, but thankfully, eventually a story began to take shape.  In the film, Logan is brought in to hunt down the Hulk, who is on a rampage in Canada.  Pretty soon, Wolverine learns there’s more going on when the Weapon X folks show up hunting Hulk, too. They include Deadpool (they did a great job here), Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, Sabretooth and the mysterious Professor, all in costume and very faithful to their comic book roots.  Wolverine is captured again, as is Bruce Banner, and insidious plots are exposed.  I don’t want to ruin too much here.  Clearly, part of the plot was inspired by the Hulk comic book, number 181 which was Wolverine’s first appearance.

The animation style is different here than it is in the vs. Thor mini-movie – it’s closer to anime.  There are some cool flashbacks of Logan being kidnapped and turned into Weapon X (with shades of Barry Windsor-Smith’s iconic comic book), which I really liked.  There are also plenty of “Easter Eggs” to look for, including some cloned Wolverine embryos, such as X-23.  There’s even a moment when Wolverine is slashing at Hulk, and you see the green guy’s reflection, which is reminiscent of Hulk comic book, number 340 with an outstanding cover by Todd McFarlane.

I have to say the fight scenes are incredible but as I said earlier, it’s really just a lot of fighting, and it can get old after a while.  I’m really glad it’s only 37 minutes long.  It’s fun for a little while to watch the action, but right when I was dreading yet another fight scene, the movie ended.  Enjoyable, but not as good as Thor.

For Hulk vs. Thor, the animation style is more traditional, and the plot is revealed early on.  When Odin sleeps for the winter, the bad guys attack Asgard, the mythical realm of the Norse Gods.  Thor and his team must protect the land, and always win.

Because of the bad guys’ constant failure when Odin’s napping, Loki (Thor’s stepbrother and the God of Mischief) devises a new, nefarious plot: he’ll kidnap Banner and separate him from the Hulk.  Amora, Thor’s jilted ex-lover, then helps Loki take over Hulk’s mind, and it’s time for a lot of destruction.  But when Loki’s enchantment is broken, everyone must team up to take on the Hulk.  Bruce somewhat manages to keep the Hulk at bay at a subconscious level.  By the way, in one or two shots, Bruce looked like Edward Norton, which I thought was cool.

The fight scenes are cool here and there’s a lot more emotion involved, especially when we see what Bruce wants most in life (not just to stop turning into the Hulk).  There’s a great moment early on with Thor and Hulk – very cool “Thor action and dialogue.”  I don’t want to ruin it, but it made me smile and I watched it again.

The story is more refined than Wolverine, and I enjoyed it much more.  But like Wolverine, the fight scenes start to get old, Hulk can’t be stopped, etc.  Fortunately, it’s not that long (45 minutes), and ends well.  You ultimately get a sense that Bruce is a great man, but is ultimately alone in this world (and other worlds, too).

Special features include audio commentary for both films, documentaries (making of Hulk vs. Wolverine and … Thor) which I enjoyed, but it’s the usual “making of” stuff you come to expect on DVDs; a really fun look at the Wolverine film at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con; a preview of the new animated show Wolverine and the X-Men, a “Jack Kirby and Thor” documentary that was terrific, lots of great stuff there; and a preview of the next movie, Thor: Tales of Asgard.  The special features are good, and when compared to other DVDs, they match up well.  I especially liked the Kirby/Thor documentary.

I watched the film in Blu-ray, and it looks great.  I haven’t seen too many animated films on Blu-ray yet, but these movies looked and sounded great.  If you haven’t bought a Blu-ray player, do yourself a favor and get one.  Nothing like watching Hulk, Wolverine and Thor in 1080p animation.

• Stan Lee Talks Iron Man 2 & Thor Cameos
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• Brian Blessed Cast as Thor’s Father?
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

[UPDATE: Marvel was kind enough to provide additional information about their animated projects.]

The Marvel Animation Group panel at this year’s New York Comic Con was a rally for support– Cort Lane, director of development for Marvel Animation repeatedly asked for fans to $upport Marvel Animated projects, so that the company could continue to grow and provide fans with animated shows and features they want to see.

Reading between the lines I got somewhat of an impression that this is an important juncture for Marvel Animation. Personally, I’ve always been more of a DC Animation fan, though this panel did give me one or two reasons to consider making a switch.

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN

Wolverine and the X-Men was the first show covered on the panel. The show has been NickToons’ biggest premiere ever, increasing the channel’s viewership by 808% with its first episode and 1055% with the second. Not a bad start. A trailer of upcoming episodes was screened for fans, which included the mutant-occupied nation of Genosha being attacked by Sentinels, Magneto seizing control of the Sentinel armada to strike back at mankind and previews of new characters to the show like Jean Grey, Archangel and other familiar faces.

While I disliked the wannabe-anime style of Wolverine and the X-Men, the actual plot-points seemed very cool and very much in line with X-Men comics of more recent years. I might have to check it out.

HULK VS.

Next the panel discussed the Hulk Vs. direct-to-DVD feature. The two-for-one release, which contains both Hulk Vs. Wolverine and Hulk Vs. Thor has become something of a fan favorite since it hit stores at the end of January. Eric Rollman, head of Marvel Animation Studios, [half] joked that if we hadn’t bought a copy of Hulk Vs. yet we were required to leave the room. Jim McCann, Marvel’s marketing wonder-guy, asked if fans wanted to see more installments of the Vs. series down the line, to which the crowd responded with a resounding “Yes!”

Marvel may have found its niche in the animated feature market.

BLACK PANTHER

Black Panther is going through something of a resurgence right now: the comic book was re-launched this past week and sold out its first issue, and Marvel Animation and BET are collaborating on an animated series which will feature the voice work of Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Push) in the titular role, along with Kerry Washington (Last King of Scotland) and Alfre Woodard (Desparate Housewives).

“[Djimon] was a powerful presence in the booth,” said Reggie Hudlin, who is both the writer of the new Black Panther comic, the President of Entertainment over at BET, and the man primarily responsible for much of the renewed popularity the character is enjoying right now.

Ironically, the first story arch in the new Black Panther comic is about how the original Black Panther, King T’Challa, is in a coma, leaving a woman to fill the role as protector of the African nation of Wakanda.

Black Panther will premiere on BET in the first quarter of 2009.

MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD

If you’ve ever seen the “baby-versions” of your favorite comic book superheroes then you know what’s in store for you with the upcoming Marvel Super Hero Squad. Concept art from the show (which is still in development) was shown during the panel, with Rollman mostly describing how the creators are attempting to fit just about every character in the known Marvel Universe into the series at one point or another.

A core team will be made up of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, and Falcon, with Silver Surfer dropping in to help out now and again. A new character, Reptile, was introduced and pics of other Marvel Universe characters (Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Heroes for Hire and even The Defenders) were previewed for the crowd.

Marvel Super Hero Squad will also feature a hell of a lot of classic villains (banded together in a “Lethal Legion”), including Loki, Abomination, Mole Man, Fin Fang Foom, Screaming Mimi, Dormammu, Claw, and the Wrecking Crew. Dr. Doom will be leading the Lethal Legion and a small animated clip featuring a pint-sized Doom blowing his stack was shown. It was actually kinda funny.

Marvel Super Hero Squad should be fun for kids and adults who love pint-sized heroes. An accompanying video game from THQ and toy line are already being developed to coincide with the show.

IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES

The panel ended with a screening of an episode from the upcoming Iron Man: Armored Adventures. The animation style is much like that of the Spider-Man cartoon MTV ran a few years ago, mostly CGI animated characters and f/x. The series focuses on a teenage Tony Stark, who fights teenage versions of Iron Man’s rogue gallery.

Sorry to be a downer, but Iron Man: Armored Adventures was lame. It doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen before and is chock-full of cheese. It really is just for the young’ns; I’ll be passing on this show.

If you would like to check it out, Iron Man: Armored Adventures will be premiering on April 24th, 2009 on NickToons.

THE Q&A

After the panel wrapped there was a brief Q&A session the managed to reveal a lot of info about upcoming plans and projects fans can expect from Marvel Animation. Here’s a quick recap list:

• Thor: Tales of Asgard. Will be released in the late 3rd quarter or early 4th quarter of 2009.
• Wolverine and the X-Men has already been given a second season. The entire cast and crew will be back and new characters will be introduced. Colossus may return before season 1 is over.
• Spectacular Spider-man is going to have a new season on a new channel, Toon Disney. DVD’s of the past season with extended episodes are in the pipeline. No plans to kill Gwen Stacy on that show.
• More direct-to-DVD features after Thor and Planet Hulk are possible depending on sales.
• Projects like “Marvel Zombies” or more Vs. features were suggested by the crowd. Rollman and Lane said they’d consider it, if we would be willing to shill out for it.
• Method Animation is the company animating Iron Man: Armored Adventures, using Maya animation software. An Internet videogame based on the show is also in development.
• The Toon Disney syndication of Marvel cartoons from the 90’s will continue; those shows will also soon be available on Marvel.com.
• The Avengers and Thor animated series are currently in production.
• “Marvel Music” has been launched and will handle things like the theme songs to their animated shows and features.
• A number of fans would like to see Wolverine and the X-Men air on Nickelodeon, in addition to it being on NickToons.
• Nick Fury will figure into a lot of upcoming animated projects, but will not have his own series.

That’s about it for the New York Comic Con Marvel Animation panel. There’s a lot of info there, but once you’ve had a chance to digest it all, let us know which project is shaping up to be your favorite.

Source: New York Comic Con

• Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies
• ‘Hulk vs’ Blu-ray Review
• Marvel Movie Updates: Black Widow’s Future
• Mickey Rourke’s Iron Man 2 Armor?
• Marvel Pushes Back Release Dates, Spider-Man 4 Date Announced
• SR Picks [Video]: Fan-Made Avengers Trailer

There was much joy and celebration when Marvel Comics formed its own studio for the purpose of producing films based on their extensive library of characters. They would have creative control over how their cadre of superheroes would be portrayed on the big screen – as opposed to handing the rights over to Sony Pictures or Fox Studios.

While Sony did all right with the first two Spider-Man movies, the third was pretty much reviled by hard core fans – and Fox, while they didn’t do badly on the first two X-Men films, the third was a disappointment. And of course let’s not forget Electra and Daredevil which where underwhelming to say the least.

And indeed it seemed like an awesome thing when the first-born film from the studio was the mega-hit Iron Man. Not only did it gross half a billion dollars in theaters, but it set (at the time) records for Blu-ray sales in addition to tons o’ cash from DVD and other merchandise.

Then came The Incredible Hulk, which while not a huge box office success, did (as far as I know) turn a profit for Marvel. For icing on the cake, they made clear they wanted to create an interconnected movie universe, with characters from films appearing in other characters’ movies – all leading up to the penultimate event: The Avengers movie.

Add to this inspired casting choices: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and even Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It looked to continue with casting newly-hot-again Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2.

All was right in the world (for comic book geeks, anyway).

But then, cracks began to appear in the house of Marvel Studios. First we learned that Terrence Howard would not be returning to reprise his role as James Rhodes in the sequel. Truth be known, I didn’t shed a tear over that – while Howard is a great actor, he didn’t work for me as “Rhodey.” Then a few days ago came word that Sam Jackson would NOT return as Nick Fury in subsequent Marvel films. We know that Jackson hoped for a larger role in Iron Man 2, but it seems that it is not likely to happen.

The reason behind these two changes? Money.

Now comes word that Marvel has offered Mickey Rourke $250,000 to appear in the sequel. From the unofficial announcent, it seemed that Rourke would play a significant part in the film.

From Variety:

“Then there is comeback kid Mickey Rourke, who is poised to follow his Golden Globe-winning performance in ‘The Wrestler’ with an offer to play the main villain in ‘Iron Man 2′ – but at a lowball opening offer of $250,000 from Marvel; Marvel’s tactics have already prompted Samuel L. Jackson to swear off playing Nick Fury because of a similarly low offer.”

So the knee-jerk reaction is to flail on Marvel, calling them cheapskates, yadda yadda yadda. Now that may very well be the right reaction, but what about the other side of the coin (so to speak)?

What we don’t know (apart from Rourke) is just how much money these actors were offered to reprise these roles. My understanding of the Terrence Howard situation is that he was the first actor hired for Iron Man when the studio was trying to lure in some big time talent – and thus he was paid very highly for the role. More than even Robert Downey Jr. Apparently Marvel wanted to adjust that to a more realistic number which was far lower than his initial pay day and he balked.

Then we have Sam Jackson – I have NO idea how much the man makes, but lets take a look at the last few movies he’s done:

• The Spirit
• Soul Men
• Lakeview Terrace
• Jumper
• Cleaner
• 1408
• Resurrecting the Champ
• Home of the Brave
• Black Snake Moan
• Snakes on a Plane

The man gets a lot of work, but is he really that big a box office draw? Personally I like him on screen (although I really need to erase his performance in The Spirit from my brain), but who knows what he might be asking for a very small role in the film?

Yes, I know – the studio made a bazillion dollars off Iron Man. But could it be at least a possibility that Marvel is trying to be realistic in pay for these big name stars? I know this will open a can of worms, but for example $10 million for three or four months work on a movie set? Please.

“Oh, but look at how much money the studio makes” I hear you cry… Well yes, you are correct. But when you risk hundreds of millions of dollars aren’t you entitled to a huge reward for all that risk?

Don’t buy that argument? Well then do you think maybe anyone else involved in the film might have contributed to its success? The director, perhaps? Producers who do all the logistics? Computer artists who sit in dark rooms making fantasy photo-realistic?

It’s funny, people talk about how exhorbitant the pay of CEOs is compared to “regular” office workers, but it doesn’t occur to anyone to apply that to the movie industry.

Now I could be totally off base here, and Marvel Studios is just being a cheap tightwad – especially given the fact that you can pretty much guarantee another half billion at the box office.

So what do YOU think? Is Marvel being cheap… or realistic?

• Has The Recession Impacted Hollywood?
• Sam Jackson To Return As Nick Fury – Over & Over Again
• Marvel Updates: Nick Fury’s Role In Iron Man 2 & Avengers
• Terrence Howard Says Marvel Made A Very Bad Choice
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• The New Marvel Movie Logos!

It’s Wednesday so it’s time for our weekly open discussion, but as it happens this one is hitting on the last day of 2008! Can you believe this year is over already?

And what an incredible year it’s been for movies… 2008 was a banner year for superhero movie fans with the likes of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and yes – even Hancock and Punisher: War Zone.

Other great genre films included Rambo, Cloverfield (do you even remember that opened this year?!), Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda and more.

Of course we’ve had our share of not so hot movies this year like The Happening, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Meet Dave, Meet the Spartans, X-Files, etc. Then there those we were looking forward to that left some of us disappointed like Indy 4 and Quantum of Solace.

I think this would be a great place to post your comments regarding your faves and not so favorite movies of this year… Hits, misses, surprises – whatever floats your boat (within our usual guidelines of course).

All of us here at Screen Rant wish you a very Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2009 turns out to be as great a year for movie fans as 2008 was!

• Open Discussion – August 12, 2009
• First Day Of Shooting On Iron Man 2
• District 9 Spoilers Discussion
• Quantum Of Solace Blu-ray Review
• David Duchovny Talks X-Files 3
• Daniel Craig Says Bond 23 To Start Shooting Late 2010

MTV recently caught up with writer/director/actor Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou?) and picked his gamma-contaminated brain about reprising his role as Dr. Samuel Sterns in the rumored-to-be-happening sequel to this summer’s moderately successful Marvel reboot, The Incredible Hulk.

NOTE: The interview with Nelson was a follow-up to an interview MTV did with super-producer Gale Ann Hurd (The Terminator Trilogy, Hulk, Punisher: War Zone), in which Hurd made it clear that it is her intention to see Incredible Hulk 2 make it into theaters, ideally with all of the original cast in tow.

So what do Hurd’s words mean for Tim Blake Nelson’s future?  Last we saw Dr. Samuel Stern, he was seeing green after a beaker of Bruce Banner’s gamma-radiated blood spilled on his noggin. So if everything goes according to Hurd’s plan, expect Doc Stern to become the the next baddie in line to take on the Hulk, as the gamma-brained evil mastermind known as The Leader.

“I know Gale Ann was talking to you guys about that recently, and I liked hearing it,” beamed an enthusiastic Tim Blake Nelson when MTV spoke with him recently…”I already did [research into The Leader] when I was doing [Dr. Samuel] Sterns, because I felt that it would be helpful to lay in stuff as Sterns for what The Leader would be… So, that was all part of doing Sterns.”

Wow the man has been preparing for his moment in the darklight. And who wouldn’t be excited to step up from a supporting role onto center stage as the main villain in popular comic book franchise?

Tim Blake Nelson would play the twistedly brilliant Leader

Now that we know that Nelson is already prepared for a second outing as Hulk’s most iconic arch-foe, the question is where does that leave his nemesis-to-be Bruce Banner, who was played by actor Edward Norton?

Coincidentally, Nelson is currently at work doing post-production on a film called Leaves of Grass which he directed, and which stars… Edward Norton, in a dual role. Since the pair have been spending so much time together, Nelson had this bit of insight to offer:

“We talked about [‘Hulk’] a little bit, yeah; we made some jokes about it,” Nelson remembered. “It’s all good, and I really do hope [the sequel] happens, for all sorts of reasons.

…I feel Edward and I are well-suited for one another. It’s really fun collaborating with him, and he made these characters [in ‘Hulk’ and ‘Leaves’] better,” explained Nelson… I’m signed on to do ‘Hulk 2’ and ‘3’ whether Edward’s there or not, so it’s not even up to me,” he explained. “When I agreed to do ‘Hulk,’ I signed off for two sequels, so it’s a moot question. I certainly hope Edward is on the sequel – but that’s up to Marvel and Edward.”

So really we’re getting the same answer everyone has given about Edward Norton reprising his role as Bruce Banner: Hope he does, not sure if he will.

Regardless of Norton’s involvement, it looks like The Incredible Hulk 2 is gaining steam and that it will have The Leader as its main villain. Guess that’s all fans can ask for at this point.

Do you think The Leader will make a more intriguing villain than the Abomination? Or are you a person who has to have Ed Norton back on board before you can support The Incredible Hulk 2? Let us know how you feel about this one.

Source: Latino Review via MTV and you can read Gale Ann Hurd’s full interview here

• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?

Kevin Feige, President of Production for Marvel Studios spoke with MTV News earlier this week about the success of this summer’s The Incredible Hulk.

Feige discussed the risks in doing another Hulk-centered film and how it paid off financially and critically compared to Ang Lee’s Hulk of 2003. Although, not even close to the success or critical acclaim of The Dark Knight or Iron Man, Feige says they now have a Hulk they are proud of and that fans can enjoy going forward. He details the two objectives Marvel had with the new adaptation of Bruce Banner’s alter-ego:

“One was to make even a dollar more than the first one did, so we could justify that we had done it from a financial aspect, and the other one was to bring a Hulk to the screen that a broader fanbase could enjoy. The good news is, we accomplished both.”

I agree with that. I really enjoyed the Incredible Hulk while I hated Ang Lee’s version. I thought the movie did everything right and was very story-driven. I also liked how they turned Hulk into more of a hero and focused on Bruce Banner learning to control his inner demon to use it for good.

Feige also discussed the increased revenues from this new Hulk and the future of the character:

“We made more [than the first 'Hulk']…. We made 3 or maybe 4 million more domestically, and I think 10 or 12 million more internationally. That was one feather and a big deal! Now we have a Hulk that we can be proud of and that is a better match and fits more with the tone of what had been in our comics and what we want him to be in our films going forward.”

The thing is, they’ve made no plans or announcements on a Hulk sequel while making as much noise as they can about Iron Man followups and films for Thor, Captain America and the Avengers. Why is there no Hulk sequel in there? Screen Rant reported last month that Edward Norton had not been contacted at all or been part of any dicussion about him or the Hulk being featured in a sequel or the Avengers film.

Well, it’s pretty clear that the profits for Hulk don’t even come close to Iron Man or what’s expected of Thor or Cap. Since Marvel can only self-finance two films per year at the moment, why waste that opportunity on a film that doesn’t seem to have room to grow significantly? Feige explained that Hulk has had two films in the last five years and that it’s time to give other characters their chance. He did clarify however, that characters could be popping up in other characters’ stories much like in the comics. Feige concludes:

“I would expect that people may see the Hulk again soon before he is again carrying his own film,”

hinting at the possibility of Hulk appearing in the Avengers.

If Marvel has officially confirmed the Avengers film, in my mind they should have contacted Mr. Norton immediately. I really dug him as Bruce Banner and I think he would be a cool element of the team. Just over a week ago, we discussed the possibility of the Hulk being the villain in the Avengers movie. Personally, I don’t like that idea and if that is some way of not including Ed Norton, then it’s even worse an idea in my opinion.

My ideal Avengers team would have Hulk as a good guy with Banner played by Norton. His intellect and reluctance of transforming into the Hulk would be a really cool aspect and addition to the team. I would also like to see the film focus on a true villain and not take away from what was developed in The Incredible Hulk with Banner learning self-control.

What do you think? Should Marvel be signing Norton to play Banner in the Avengers? Does Hulk deserve another solo film?

Source: MTV

• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?

Marvel Studios has us already talking about a movie not set to be released until 2011: The Avengers. That film will no doubt be of epic proportions.

Director Louis Leterrier, who brought us The Incredible Hulk, suggested to MTV News (back in June) that they couldn’t find a villain that could challenge the teaming of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor and Captain America.

And his solution was for them to use his.

Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the writers of Iron Man, couldn’t agree more.  They’re rumored to be writing another Marvel movie in the near future – one that has not been announced.  Here’s the excerpt from MTV News:

“I hope ‘The Avengers’ embraces that,” Fergus said of having the Hulk as misunderstood baddie. “You don’t want like 10 super-badass good guys fighting together. Where’s the fun in that? Let’s break it off a little. Friends or colleagues who become enemies is always an interesting thing because you know it’s based on love and friendship and that’s always the worst thing to have turn bad — is someone you actually care about and someone you actually believe in.”

Now the Hulk has ripped through nearly every Marvel comic book series, so I couldn’t be happier with this news.  In Ultimates, Vol. 1, Nick Fury recruits Giant-Man (read as: Ant-Man), the Wasp (that Eva Longoria rumor), Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, to take down a rampaging Hulk.  Marvel’s big green monster has always been out of control, so when they said he was a part of the Avengers team in the movie it rubbed me the wrong way. And although Hulk was part of the first Avengers team in the comics, I think this movie is going to be about assembling said team and he’ll be the last piece in the puzzle.

The good guys always win, but to protect our borders and secure the homeland, they’ll have to go through little ol’ Bruce Banner to do it.  Can they trust one another?  They are working for the government, after all.

Source: MTV Spash Page

• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Sam Jackson To Return As Nick Fury – Over & Over Again
• Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?
• Marvel Updates: Branagh’s Thor, & Iron Man 2 Script Is Awesome

Looks like Ed Norton and Marvel are still not playing nice. In an interview with MTV News, the star of this summer’s The Incredible Hulk film said that Marvel hasn’t communicated with him at all about reprising the Bruce Banner role in the planned Avengers team-up film or another solo feature.

Openly sharing his thoughts, Mr. Norton says this:

“The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque,”

“I won’t say [they're] obtuse, but I don’t have any idea what they want to do.”

The Avengers team is expected to feature the big name originals: Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and possibly Wasp. I would also assume Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym (Antman) would have to be in this film as well.

It seems that Mr. Norton isn’t too happy or excited about the idea of The Avengers, or even knows much about what it is.

“They’ve got this notion of collecting the Marvel characters”

“Who knows where they’ll go?”

It doesn’t sound like he has much faith in this idea, or maybe he simply doesn’t want to be a team member and would rather be the lead. If that’s the case, I can see his problem as most of the action scenes wouldn’t even include him, it would instead be his giant green CGI counterpart.

Either way, I feel it’s extremely important to have him play Bruce Banner in The Avengers film. I would also love to see an Incredible Hulk sequel.

How would they do this without him? Re-cast? Not include Hulk? Both bad moves in my opinion. Since Marvel has made their film schedule publicly known, they should be signing these stars immediately. I for one, thought Ed played an excellent Banner, despite his off-screen manners and attitude.

What do you guys think? Is Norton as Banner crucial? Or is re-casting him okay?

Source: MTV

• Could Edward Norton’s Hulk appear in Iron Man 2?
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time
• Louis Leterrier Would Do Hulk Sequel – More Likely To Happen Now?
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Ed Norton Not Too Enthusiastic About The Avengers?

As we all know, Hollywood is the epicenter of not only fads, but also ripping off copying what works from other studios. We’ve all seen this before many times. One studio puts out a successful movie in some genre and within 6-9 months we see a bunch of movies coming out trying to capitalize on the popularity of the first one.

This phenomenon really took off in the early 1980s, with movies like Star Wars launching a new era in Sci-Fi films (yes, I know Star Wars was released prior to 1980), Superman starting the superhero movie trend, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street giving us the wonderful teen horror genre (at least they were rated R back then). Rambo started the lone hero with enemies that were lousy shots and couldn’t kill him even with machine guns and Porky’s gave us the start of the raunchy high school comedy.

So I suppose it was only appropriate, and a matter of time before Hollywood, bereft of new ideas, decided to re-visit those old gold mines to search for a fresh vein to tap. But now we’re not doing remakes any more… oh no – now the big buzzword is: Reboot.

The first recent film to tackle this concept (and succeed) was Batman Begins in 2005. Warner Bros. took a once successful franchise that had been ruined utterly and completely by descending into tongue in cheek, replete with nipples on the Bat-Suit. As we all know, director Chris Nolan exceeded everyone’s expectations and cleansed our palates of the abomination that was foisted upon us by Joel Schumacher.

Warner Bros. followed this success with Superman Returns, which while it was profitable, was a disappointment to many, and didn’t really “reboot” the franchise. It seems like the next Superman film may actually try to do that (again). We also had the rejuvenation of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale, which gave us Daniel Craig as the closest thing to the early days of the series and Sean Connery.

The Incredible Hulk reboot didn’t go as well as planned for a variety of reasons including poor marketing and internal conflicts.

So now that the studios have seen that it’s possible to do a reboot well (as opposed to recent failures like Planet of the Apes and The Pink Panther), the reboot trend is moving full steam ahead. Interestingly, the main target for source material seems to the very same era I mentioned above: the 1980s (give or take a couple of years).

Now technically some of the projects haven’t been reboots – a similar trend that’s emerging is to create an additional sequel to a movie franchise that ended 20 years ago. An example of this was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – which while successful, was not as huge a hit as Paramount had been hoping for. The fact that the term “Nuke the fridge” has entered the vernacular has more than a little to do with it, I’m quite sure.

On the “delayed” sequel front we also had Bruce Willis returning as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4). While that was controversial due to dropping the rating from the usual R to a PG-13, it did well at the box office and was fairly well-received. We also had not one but two Sylvester Stallone sequels: Rambo and Rocky Balboa, both of which kicked butt IMHO.

Projects ready to hit the screen next year include J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and McG’s Terminator 4. Other “dust off the concept” movies that are in the works include Child’s Play, Hellraiser, Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop 4.

So this got me thinking… what movie reboots/delayed sequel possibilities are out there that haven’t been tapped yet? Now I’m not saying this is a good idea – I’m just saying that I’m betting there are “scriptments” floating around Hollywood for these well-known franchises.

Whether they get made before this trend runs out, I don’t know – but if they DO, you heard it here first.

Here’s the list, in no particular order:

1. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Here’s the movie that made both Burt Reynolds and Sally Field stars and beloved by the public. Just a fun, against the establishment, redneck fun movie.

Logic: Are you kidding me? With Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-Presidential pick and the whole Liberal vs Conservative angst, the timing for a new version of this couldn’t be better!

2. Crocodile Dundee (1986)

This is the movie that made Aussie Paul Hogan a star. With his low key charm and self-confidence, he became and instant audience favorite. It spawned a sequel which wasn’t bad, but in 2001 they did a third movie which was a stinker.

Logic: Someone needs to make a casting trip to Australia to find a new Dundee – shouldn’t be too difficult… Australia seems to have a good supply of “manly men.”

3. Home Alone (1990)

The original starring Macaulay Culkin and directed by Chris Columbus is a classic. There was one sequel and a failed attempt at a reboot back in 1997.

Logic: It’s been 11 years since the last one, so you know that someone out there thinks “if we could only find the right child actor” they could make a go of this one again.

4. Back to the Future (1985)

Another beloved series, which starred Michael J. Fox and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. While the first two were great, the third left a bit to be desired.

Logic: Yes, this one should remain untouched, but it’s got a brand name, was a big hit for its time and I can just see some new spin on this (no doubt with characters that are annoying instead of endearing).

5. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Having been pretty nerdy myself at the time this originally came out, I thought it was hysterical. As usual, the sequels got progressively weaker.

Logic: You could almost argue that with the unending string of teen comedies, this is unnecessary. Well, yeah, it IS unnecessary – but remember we have a known title plus lazy screenwriters (no, not ALL of them, but we know they’re out there).

6. Rambo (1982)

Logic: Considering the fact that we just had a sequel, maybe some bright-eyed exec will think it’s time to re-cast this with a younger actor. Instead of a Vietnam vet I’m sure they’d be happy to use a black-ops Iraq war veteran as the hero.

7. Porky’s (1982)

If memory serves, this was the first really raunchy high school comedy (yeah, we had Animal House but that was college, big difference, right? RIGHT?).

Logic: See #5.

8. Mad Max (1980)

Mad Max was a little film that gave us the first big screen appearance of Mel Gibson (dubbed horribly with an American voice). Immediate cult classic -spawned two sequels, one good, one not so much.

Logic: You could almost argue that a reboot has been attempted already with this year’s clunker Doomsday. But it’s not really a reboot unless they use the original title.

9. Rocky (1976)

Logic: Similar to #6, Rambo and the same logic applies.

10. Lethal Weapon (1987)

The original team-up of Mel Gibson as the manic cop and Danny Glover was awesome. Again, each subsequent film was not as good as the one before.

Logic: While there have been many “buddy cop” movies since this one, again we have the “Lethal Weapon” brand name. Definitely reboot material – PLEASE do not bring Glover and Gibson back for this.

So what do you think – do you have any that should be added to the list, or ideas for how any of these should play out?

Thanks to DenOfGeek for sparking some ideas.

• Chris Nolan On Batman 3: Worth the Wait?
• It’s Official: No Lethal Weapon 5
• Remakes And Sequels: Have We Reached Overload Yet?
• Star Trek Sequel Talk & Some Awesome Concept Art
• Will Star Trek 2 Go Where No One Has Gone Before?
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?

I know that people have asked why we don’t have a regular podcast here at Screen Rant. I made an attempt about a year ago to do a weekly podcast before we had a great stable of writers, and I found it extremely difficult to do alone.

So what about now, you ask? Now it’s an issue of time, or rather not enough of it, plus trying to coordinate a time that most of us can get together when we are located across the country (with Niall in the UK!).

However this week Cinemablend was nice enough to invite me to join their regular weekly podcast “The Weekly Blend” and it was a lot of fun. Rafe, Margaret and Tim over there are all very cool and fun to chat with about our favorite topic: movies.

I thought it went pretty well and it actually gave me a little kick in the pants as far as thinking more seriously about doing a regular podcast here at Screen Rant (don’t hold your breath, though). My next podcast appearance will probably be over at /Film some time in the next few weeks.

This week’s discussion included movies that opened this week (including Babylon A.D., Disaster Movie, Traitor and College) but the main topic was the 2008 Summer movie season. What we liked or disliked, surprises and disappointments. How did The Dark Knight compare to Iron Man, why didn’t The Incredible Hulk do any better, Kung Fu Panda vs Wall-E, and more.

You can listen to it right here, and I’d love to hear what you think!

Click here to listen to the podcast.

• Screen Rant on The Movie Blog Podcast
• Hulk Smash Iron Man 2 Rumors!
• Screen Rant Featured on the JoBlo Podcast
• Could The Abomination be an Avengers Villain?
• Ed Norton Thinks Hulk As Avengers Villain Would Be “Fun”
• The Hulk’s Return Is Only A Matter Of Time