Edward Norton will NOT reprise his role in THE AVENGERS!

by:  Sam (The Horror Man)     source:HitFix.com

Norton MAD!!!

Now this news just blows. Edward Norton will not be reprising his role as Dr. Bruce Banner, reports HitFix. Believe it or not this is not Edward Norton’s decision. According to the article it’s Marvel Studios that have decided to cast an unknown in the part. This seems especially strange since the last few times Norton has been interviewed he was showing more enthusiasm towards returning to the dual role of Dr. Bruce Banner/ the Hulk.

Thing is, according to these same sources, Whedon’s been meeting the cast, laying out his plans for the film, and so far everyone seems incredibly excited by what they’re hearing.  Hell, James Gunn and Nathon Fillion were Tweeting recently about how they hung out with Joss and what they heard convinced them that “The Avengers” is going to be insane.

One of the people who Whedon met with was Norton, and I’d love to know what they talked about.  What I do know is that both Whedon and Norton reported their enthusiasm back to Marvel, and according to some calls I made today, it even sounds like Norton was making serious plans with his agency to keep his dates clear.  And then…

… nothing.  Marvel made a decision to hire an unknown, and they informed Norton that they won’t be using him in the film.  And that is evidently that.

The article goes on to theorize that a deal could not be made for monetary rea$ons, despite Edward Norton wanting to join the ensemble cast that will include Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Chris Evans as Captain America.

This is not really a suprise to me since there was so much bad blood during the filming of The Incredible Hulk.

You can read the original article here.