Robert Downey Jr. brought a tumultuous day at Comic-Con to a close by announcing that Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright; pictured left) will play Bruce Banner (a.k.a. The Hulk) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker; pictured right) will play Hawkeye in director Joss Whedon’s feature film version of the Marvel Comics superhero team The Avengers. The Iron Man star — who was brought to the stage during Marvel’s Comic-Con panel by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Nick Fury in the Marvel movies — appeared with the other actors who will play the other Avengers, including Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow). The cast announcement was greeted with a standing ovation by the attendees. The movie is slated for a 2012 release.
Ruffalo replaces Edward Norton, who was dropped from the film by Marvel Studios, reportedly due to a contract dispute. In announcing Ruffalo, Downey made like a politican and declared that he “approved of this message.”
Invoking the current box office sensation Inception, Downey — looking like a mod rock star in shaggy hair and tinted glasses — vowed that The Avengers will be even more ambitious than Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed sci-fi puzzle box drama. Marvel’s panel — which also included sneak peeks at the Captain America and Thor movies slated for release next summer — began about an hour late following an assault during a previous panel inside Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center in which one attendee stabbed another in a dispute over seating. Downey joking referenced the attack, saying, “Nobody stab anyone” until he was finished with his announcement.
No comments:
Post a Comment