Mark Ruffalo is The Hulk.

Speaking with New York Vulture Blog, Mark Ruffalo revealed that for the first time in his cinematic appearance, The Hulk will not be produced solely in the realm of CGI. Ruffalo, will don the ping-pong covered jumpsuit to produce a motion capture incarnation for his next outing in The Avengers.

"I'm really excited. No one's ever played the Hulk exactly, they've always done CGI... They're going to do the Avatar stop-action, stop-motion capture. So I'lll actually play the Hulk. That'll be fun."

Ruffalo, continued to divulge the possible direction for his characterisation of split duo, Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

"I really love the first TV version of it, the Bill Bixby one. I'm gonna shoot for that a little bit. He was an everyman in it. He's always on the run and trying to find love. It's really a sympathetic character, before he turns into the Hulk and fucks everything up."

This seems an interesting direction to take by Ruffalo, Comic Book Adaptations have in evolved into the exploration of light/dark psychologies of it's titular stars. Yet, sympathetic, love seeking everyman? Will The Avenger's interpretation of Hulk score with audiences or will Ruffalo join Eric Bana and Edward Norton in failing to do the big man justice.

The Avengers: May 4, 2012

Marvel to Unleash Black Widow

With Iron Man 2 set for release on DVD and BluRay over in the United States (October 25 UK), Marvel Head Kevin Feige has been talking up the possibility of a stand-alone Black Widow feature film starring Scarlett Johansson, but without fully endorsing it as discussions are ongoing.

Feige on the promotional warpath to drum up sales, announced: "We've already started discussions with Scarlett about the idea of a solo movie and have begun putting together concepts", before clarifying, "The Avengers comes first."

At this years Comic-Con, Johansson was confirmed as part of the ridiculously large ensemble cast for the Avengers project. It will all broil down to the success of The Avengers and importantly whether a solo Black Widow project can form a tight script, remember the last heroine to don a all-in-one for comic book adaptation, call Halle Berry's agent and see if she is over Cat-Woman yet, we aren't.

Edward Norton 'Avengers' snub was 'Business'

Thanks to the public cat fight between Marvel and Edward Norton's agent it is common knowledge that Edward Norton will not reprise his role as the Incredible Hulk, this honor now belongs to Mark Ruffalo. Yet, Norton speaking with MTV news has shed more light on the matter revealing that it was merely a business level disagreement and that his relationship with Marvel should not be affected.

"I didn't want to be negative. I had a great time doing [the movie]. I was really happy to be part of it all," Norton told MTV when he was questioned about top Marvel head Kevin Feige's remarks that Norton was not returning because "he need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members." It was at this point that Norton's agentg lept out of the depths to snap back that the studio was, "unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory" with it remarks towards his client.

Norton explains "The thing that was very disingenuous about some of the stuff… it was a very professional and very respectful business decision. We really couldn't work it out on a business level. I know that's a disappointment to some people, but it's nobody's fault. I don't have any disrespect for anyone's decision in the business framework… do what you need to do on both sides. I have no idea why anyone tried to characterize it as anything else."

Obviously this appears to be is a damage limitation exercise by Norton, an olive branch extended to Marvel. After all, any allegation that an actor believes in his own hype and standing on a film set will be considered a risk when it comes to casting the next blockbuster; something Norton will be keen to avoid.

Edgar Wright's Ant Man Crawls Forward.

Marvel continue to strike while the iron is hot within their back catalogue characters with their hopes to bring Ant Man to big screen being pursued with Edgar Wright [Scott Pilgrim]. Despite Iron Man 2 taking up their focus with it immienent due date, Marvel's Kevin Feige has revealed some news about Wright's Ant Man.

Wright himself is very bust applying the polish to Scott Pilgrim Versus The World in post production with the film set for an August release. Of course once finished he will have the worldwide press junket to take up the rest of the year. But Marvel Studio's have been snatching time to have Wright in their California offices to strike out a proposed time-scale on the project.

Via Superhero Hype, Feige reveals: "Edgar was in LA last week, we sat down, and we started working on a calender of when to get him back into it once he finishes promoting Scott Pilgrim, so i think towards the end of this year, early next year we'd start looking at early prep for that, but certainly for a release date after The Avengers."


The information that we can take from this is that Ant Man at least will not hit the screens until after The Avengers 2012, side note this film currently has no officially signed director even with al the talk of Joss Whedon attached, this not concrete? Is our man Wright in contention? Secondly, and most frustrating, we must assume that any collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for the final of the Cornetto trilogy [Shaun of the Dead and Hott Fuzz] is going to have to wait.

MATT RICHARDSON