The Incredible Sulk

If you've been hiding yourself under a proverbial rock for the last 48 hours (or watching the football like most normal people), you'll be blissfully unaware that trouble is brewing at Marvel studios over the casting of the new The Avengers movie. If you don't know by now, Marvel studios is using several superhero characters from their brand of comic books (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Captain America to name but a few) to feature in one big superhero movie, which is sure to make like a gazillion bucks.

Only trouble is keeping the continuity from the previous films, which is proving more difficult than expected. It all started on Saturday when it was officially announced that Edward Norton would no longer be playing the role of Bruce Banner, after his previous outing in 2008's underwhelming The Incredible Hulk. Marvel Studios President of Production, Kevin Feige, released a statement featuring sly little digs at the actor such as "The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble" and "need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members". Basically saying Norton's not a team player.

No, not this Avengers. But probably going to be just as shit.

This was not greeted well by Norton's agent, Brian Swardstrom, who within 24 hours released a statement responding to Feige's accusatory comments, which suggested Norton and Marvel were both very keen on him being part of the project. "This offensive statement from Kevin Feige at Marvel is a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light... Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with Joss [Whedon] and the other actors in the Avengers cast... Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton talent, tireless work ethic and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans."

Oooo. This is now officially more interesting than the World Cup final.

The latest update is that Joaquin Phoenix has reportedly been approached for the role, and is now "mulling it over". Seems an odd choice considering the whole decision over Norton was more than likely to do with money, whilst Phoenix won't exactly be a cheap option. Marvel seem to be in rush to announce their new Bruce Banner in time for Comic-Con in 2 weeks time, so lets hope they don't start throwing offers around to just anyone.

In their hastiness, Marvel will probably cast someone awful like *gulp* Orlando Bloom.

Personally I think the whole The Avengers movie premise is absurd. Spiderman 3 fell into the trap of having too many characters, and that was only 4 superheroes. Imagine 10! As much as I trust and respect Joss Whedon, It'll be a fucking mess.