Ferrous Hominid Redux

Yesterday was a fun day.

My daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, came over for bruch which consisted of biscuits & gravy, roasted potatoes and sausage patties.

While we feasted on this delicious repast, we watched the first Iron Man.

All of this was the lead up to seeing Iron Man 2 in IMAX at the AMC Independence Commons where we were joined by our friends Average Jane and The Saders.

For me, the movie certainly lived up to the hype. It has me really looking forward to Thor, Captain America in 2011 and The Avengers in 2012.

It's looking more and more like the impetus for the Avengers coming together will be to battle The Hulk who is being controlled by Thor's arch nemisis Loki.

My biggest concern about The Avengers movie is that they are going to have to shoehorn a lot big name stars playing bigger than life, pivotal roles into a story that gives everyone enough screen time without compromising the plot and keep the whole package under 3 hours.

The idea of The Hulk being the main "villain" conjurs the spectre of Edward Norton returning to the Marvel franchise. Internet rumors from 2008 indicated that Norton and the studio were in such conflict over the movie that it almost didn't get released.

There are those that would argue that that wouldn't have been such a bad thing, but I'm not in that camp. I liked The Incredible Hulk. It was certainly an improvement over Ang Lee's Hulk.

But I digress.

After rewatching The Incredible Hulk last night I realized that just because The Hulk will be in The Avengers, that doesn't mean anyone will have to deal with that-very-talented-but-pain-in-the-ass Edward Norton.

Edward Norton played Bruce Banner, not The Hulk. The Hulk was complete CGI. I don't think Norton even did any motion capture work as The Hulk.

So as long as The Hulk stays angry and doesn't go back to Bruce Banner, the creative oyster that needs to produce the pearl called The Avengers should be able do so without the terminally abrasive grain of sand that is Edward Norton.