But now, plans might be changing. According to Feige, there may be a third Hulk standalone film for audiences to ignore, but it won’t happen any time soon.

“Do I think Hulk can carry a movie and be as entertaining as he was inAvengers? I do believe that. I do believe he absolutely could. We certainly are not even going to attempt that until Avengers 2,” he told MTV. “So there’s a lot of time to think about it.”

But Marvel wants to double and triple check that you guys will go see this movie and enjoy it. Because it takes a lot to make a film like this. You’ve gotta rent all kinds of equipment and blow things up and print posters and it’s just a lot. So can we all promise just to go see these Hulk pictures from now on?

In case you were wondering exactly how the characters from The Avengers were all assembled so as not to look like a superhero version of the Miami Heat, here’s your answer. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) assembled a team of elite superheroes (Is there any other kind?) to tackle the type of costumed ne’er-do-wells that could only populate a Marvel universe.

While I’m sure the origin story of The Avengers is somewhat carefully crafted, it’s pretty hard to get past seeing Captain America next to Thor next to Iron Man. It looks like a parody of itself, but that probably won’t stop it from being fun.

While the first sentence works of this article works nicely as an opener, Ruffalo is actually in talks to play an FBI agent on the trail of the illusionists (wayyyyyyy more logical), and Seyfried would play the mastermind behind all the illusions and contraptions (somewhat less logical).

I can only assume Eisenberg will play some sort of ventriloquist dummy come to life.

So what do you think? Should the X-Men be suing for likeness rights here?

The Avengers, which is a glorious, glorious amalgam of Marvel superheroes, hits theaters on May 4 of next year. It will star Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Clark Gregg, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth. Evildoers best watch their asses. I’ve had Robert Downey Jr. mad at me and it’s NOT pleasant.

More Avengers news as the week and weekend progress, I’m sure.

Not sure if I can ever buy Ruffalo as anything other than a dude in a flannel shirt that I want to grab a beer with, but if anything can change that perception, it’s the character he will be playing in the J.J. Abrams-produced Infinity Polar Bear. As a bipolar depressive, Ruffalo will lose his wife (played by Zoe Saldana), child, and job.

In case the subject matter sounds a little, I dunno, “sad” for your tastes, there is an X factor here: Megan Ellison. The bisexual billionaire financier behind The Master, True Grit, and The Wettest County in the West found this film to be goodly enough for her efforts. Granted she won’t be on screen of anything, but it’s nice to know that you’re somehow connected to a bisexual heiress with really good taste in movies.

So if you’re not going to do it for Ruffalo, do it for Megan Ellison. It’s not like she needs the money, but she sounds damn cool.

After receiving an Oscar nod for Best Original Screenplay for The Kids Are All Right, Stuart Blumberg has decided to make the leap to directing, taking with him Kids star Mark Ruffalo. Thanks for Sharing, a comedy about recovering sex addicts in NYC, will see Blumberg serve as writer-director for the first time in his career, which thus far has only had him serving as writer and producer.

Thanks for Sharing has also cast Tim Robbins in at unknown role, and will see Blumberg’s buddy Edward Norton serve as executive producer after Norton directed and starred in Keeping the Faith, based on Blumberg’s screenplay.

Both Robbins and Ruffalo seem to be good fits for Blumberg’s “comedy with heart”-type stories. While visualizing Mark Ruffalo as a sex addict is just sort of depressing, I’m pretty sure I would pay $14 just to hear Tim Robbins sit in front of the camera and discuss disgusting liaisons in graphic details, though it would help if he was portraying the ponytailed douchebag from High Fidelity. (THR)

“[T]two thirty-something New Yorkers who go to Amsterdam to rekindle their friendship and get away from the serious dramas in their lives (break-ups and illnesses), but a run-in with a Red Light district prostitute, alters their lives forever.”

Sounds like a pretty intriguing premise, so it’s no wonder that Ruffalo is interested in the part:

“Yes. I want to do it. They’re still putting that movie together, it’s based on a play, I think it was nominated for a Tony a couple of years ago, on Broadway.”

Well, there you have it. So will it be too long before you’re reading about Mark Ruffalo getting confirmed for Red Light Winter? That’s up to him – if he can pay the price. Either way, there’ll definitely be more pimp jokes! (The Playlist)

“We have to get the script,” Ruffalo said. “We’ve been working on the script which has been fun. I’ve lost 15 pounds. They don’t want me all ripped up but they want me to be lean and mean. Trying to get the psychology of somebody who knows at any moment they could literally tear the roof off of wherever they are. Trying to bring his, I don’t know, something real to that and totally fantastic. Like I said, I’ve been working with Joss Whedon on the script with the rest of the cast and we start rehearsals soon. Hopefully we’ll have the mother of all comic book movies for you soon.”

He’ll be the third Hulk in 10 years. Don’t think that doesn’t give Ruffalo pause. “Yeah, man, are you kidding me? I’ve got some big shoes to fill. I kind of look at it as my generation’s Hamlet. We’re all going to get a shot at it.”

Ruffalo said he begins shooting The Avengers the first week in May.

Ruffalo helms this movie about a DJ who gets paralyzed. Okay. Then the DJ suddenly develops the power to heal people, but not himself. Uhm… okay? And did I mention the movie’s called Sympathy For Delicious? It’s hard to get over the plot and name to see the great cast in this trailer, which includes Orlando Bloom (as a character named “The Stain,” ho boy), Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis and some guy named Mark Ruffalo. Who’d he have to blow to get a lead role?

Written by and starring Christopher Thornton as DJ Delicious (repeat “blow” joke here, too – thank you), Sympathy For Delicious premiered at Sundance in January.

Low Down will feature Ruffalo as jazz pianist Joe Albany, a strung-out musician in Los Angeles during the 60′s and 70′s. The story will be told from the point of view of his 11 year-old daughter, who will watch him achieve legend status playing with the likes of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, only to see him struggle with heroin addiction in later years.

Filming is expected to start at year’s end with Ruffalo himself as a producer. The film will be helmed by Jeff Preiss, who has only worked in commercials until now.

C’mon, Mark. If you really wanna seal that Oscar deal, you need Arnofsky or higher in that director’s chair. Oh well. It still sounds pretty great. (Variety)

“Liotta will play Mark ‘Markie’ Trattman, the unfortunate hustler who runs the game in a motel room and finds things only going downhill from there.”

Between Henry Hill and Tony Soprano, this is shaping up to be a new gangster classic. Maybe they can get some Vanilla Ice on the soundtrack! (via The Hollywood Reporter)

And that someone else is Brandon Molale. He recently tweeted (picked up by Collider) that he had auditioned to do motion capture work as the Hulk, which is curious, but mostly because I would like to see what kind of audition that is. Does the actor just run around the room smashing things? Because I could do that. So could Mark Ruffalo for that matter. Sure, he plays unflappably cool characters, but look at those eyes. Deep down, he’s a smasher.

What does this mean for theatergoers? Virtually nothing. It would be nice to know that one actor was portraying both iterations of the character, but I don’t foresee anyone leaning over to their date during a Hulk rampage and mumbling, “This is bullshit. That’s not Ruffalo.” My advice is to forget everything you just read and enjoy the movie.

Blumberg will make his directorial debut with Thanks For Sharing, a film in which Ruffalo is in talks to play one of three sex addicts in a recovery clinic. We’re not sure who Ruffalo’s oversexed co-stars will be at this point but you can insert your own Charlie Sheen joke here. I’m gonna go get a bagel. (Daily Mail)

^Shrek?

When mumbly actor Mark Ruffalo was hired to take over the Hulk reins from Edward Norton in Marvel Studio’s The Avengers, it was assumed he’d only appear as a drowsy-looking Bruce Banner. Now he’s let it slip that the Hulk will appear like he just woke from a catnap as well. Ruffalo tells Vulture:

“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’ll actually play the Hulk. That’ll be fun.”

Stop-motion capture? Is that like taking a photo?

This should be interesting to see. Ruffalo seems too laidback to pull off the Hulk’s rage, but I think he could surprise us. Then again, he’s never performed in such an effects-heavy film before, and has no experience acting against nothing. Unless, of course, you count Jennifer Aniston.

_{Yeah YOU, dude.}

Mark Ruffalo is in late-stage talks to smash things as The Hulk in The Avengers. Marvel told Edward Norton to eff off and has been on a search to find his replacement. The name Joaquin Phoenix was even floating around in Stupid Rumor Land.

Mark Ruffalo is one actor who never came to mind when I spent last night brainstorming possible Hulk replacements. I don’t remember Bruce Banner laughing nervously and growing spotty facial hair in the comics. Perhaps casting agents should turn their attention to a certain phone call Mel Gibson made not too long ago. If that wasn’t a expemplary audition and lesson in transformation from human to beast, then I’ll eat my hat. My cake hat. (Deadline)