Director Ang Lee had quite the unfortunate flop with his 2003 adaptation of Marvel’s Hulk featuring Eric Bana in the lead role, and while director Louis Leterrier fared better with his adaptation of The Incredible Hulk, there was apparently some irreconcilable differences between Marvel Studios and the film’s star Edward Norton afterward.
Marvel and director Joss Whedon then moved toward a new actor to become Bruce Banner on the big screen for The Avengers… enter Mark Ruffalo. Even though many thought that Norton did a fantastic job and were sad to see him go, Norton exited gracefully and gave the thumbs-up to Ruffalo.
With The Avengers scoring $178.4 million overseas and Ruffalo already receiving critical accolades for his portrayal of Banner in the film, along with word that The Hulk steals the show, many have been wondering if the big-green-machine might get a new solo outing with Ruffalo in the lead.
Back in October of 2010, we brought you an interview with Ruffalo where he said:
“They set up several pictures over a couple of years and possibly there will be another The Incredible Hulk movie. There’ll probably be a couple more Avengers too, which would be fun. The way I see it, Edward Norton has bequeathed this role to me. I reckon the part is my generation’s Hamlet, and there’s still some room for interpreting who The Incredible Hulk is.”
Forbes recently spoke with Marvel’s director of consumer products, Paul Gitter, who revealed that some hero’s products sell more merchandise than others, and The Hulk is set to smash them all.
“Marvel executives have been “pleasantly surprised by the phenomenal response” to this green superhero, and expect this fan affinity to further strengthen once the movie opens. “His sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner,” says Gitter. If Hulk’s successful turnaround continues, Gitter says Marvel “will spin him off to a stand-alone program next year,” supported by a big budget franchise movie in 2015.”
Ruffalo has previously indicated that he signed with Marvel Studios for six films, with The Avengers being the first. Even though that doesn’t guarantee that he will make six films, Marvel does reserve the option to make him very angry five more times post-Avengers.
The Avengers directed by Joss Whedon and starring Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Clark Gregg and Tom Hiddleston is in U.K. theaters now, and hits U.S. theaters on May 4th, 2012.
