Mark Ruffalo in Discussions to Play the Hulk in The Avengers« FirstShowing.net

After the debacle that tookEdward Nortonaway from his role asHulkfor the superhero ensembleThe Avengers, aside from the back and forth between Marvel, Norton's agent, andfinally Norton himself, there were rumors swirling about potential replacements.Hero Complexmentions names like Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, David Tennant and Joss Whedon favorite Nathan Fillion, butDeadlinehas a report out of left field that pegsMark Ruffaloas being in"late-stage discussions"between Marvel and his agency to become the new Incredible Hulk. As crappy as Norton's situation was, Ruffalo is one hell of an amazing replacement.

Just yesterday I was in the middle of a discussion about Norton's potential replacement, andMark Ruffalowas at the top of my list. He's a great actor that a lot of people probably know by his looks the most, but not necessarily his name. Not only is he currently getting great reviews for his role inThe Kids Are All Right, but he's had great turns in films likeShutter Island,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,We Don't Live Here Anymoreand of course,The Brothers Bloom. I've sung his praises plenty before, and I'm really glad to see a big role like this coming his way. But I'll tell you who is not going to be happy with this revelation:Marvel.

No doubt, this casting announcement was going to be their big opportunity for a bit of damage control and hopefully the start of a new hype machine atComic-Connext week, but this kind of leaves them out in the wind (even though it's not official). That's what they get for doingpost-production 3-D conversionforThorandCaptain America.So what do you think of Mark Ruffalo as the new Hulk inThe Avengers?

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