It sounds like the only “green” we’ll see Edward Norton dealing with in the near future will be for his upcoming film Leaves of Grass.  Speaking at SXSW, Norton was asked about whether he would be doing a sequel to The Incredible Hulk.  For fans of his take on the Hulk, his answer is somewhat disappointing:

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it has got more to do with what Marvel is doing. I get the sense they have this grand vision of unspooling a lot of their characters and then starting to put them together. I think they can only do so many at a time. Obviously, they are doing Iron Man 2 and then getting some of the new ones out.”

I’ll be the first to admit The Incredible Hulk was by no means awesome, but it was pretty good entertainment.  If nothing else, Norton’s portrayal of Bruce Banner was great, so it’s unfortunate he may not return.  So, if he’s not on board for another Hulk film what about the other Marvel tie-in films like Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America?

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There’s a lot of interesting stuff on the radar this week. An Avatar alumni could face off against Conan, Modern Warfare developers bring a fight to Activision, and director Guy Ritchie may be breathing new life into the heroes of Camelot.

Fox finds its shadow for $1 million and David Slade may be the man

Fans of the comic book series The Shadow rejoice as it seems the reboot continues to move forward.  While it was thought Sony and director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Army of Darkness) would bring a new version of the character to the big screen things have changed somewhat.

After Raimi began shopping the property around Fox decided to purchase the rights. Sadly, it sounds like Raimi may no longer direct, possibly replaced by David Slade.  Slade directed the vampire film Thirty Days of Night which, unfortunately, felt just that long in the theater. Here’s hoping he can put a little more adrenaline into The Shadow.

How I Met your…Smurf?

Neil Patrick Harris will be venturing to the land of blue, three apples tall creatures in Smurfs: The Movie.  The How I Met Your Mother star won’t be playing a Smurf though.  As this film will be a mix of live action and animation, Harris will be playing the lead live action character.  Too bad, I would have liked to know just which Smurf he’d play.  ”Awesome” Smurf maybe?  Let us know your picks in the comments.

‘Wolverine 2′ starts shooting next January

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty good, but it was missing one thing: ninjas!  Hopefully that will be rectified in the sequel which is set to begin shooting next January.  Delving into Wolvie’s Japanese mythos the script follows stories penned by two pretty big names:

“Based on a story cycle by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, Wolverine’s adventures in martial arts will be a love story featuring a Japanese actress, I am told. ‘It’s a beautiful story,’ says a source, ‘and will be very different than the first film.’”

Okay, I’m not really sold on the “love story” angle but considering the number of women that went to see Wolverine (pretty much for mutant hunk, Hugh Jackman) at least this will be one you can take your girlfriends to.

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As soon as Iron Man hit the movie screen comic book fans began speculating as to whether Tony Stark would turn to booze.  This, of course, comes from the highly praised Demon in a Bottle storyline in which Stark falls into a depression, forsakes his Iron Man alter ego, and becomes an alcohalic.  With Marvel Studios casting Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, someone who has battled similar demons, it only bolstered the idea that this story had to be addressed at some point.

Neither Marvel nor Downey Jr. have said much about Demon in a Bottle.  The party line thus far has been little more then acknowledging they know the story exists, but have never committed to its inclusion in the films.  Now, thanks to comic book artist Bob Layton, we’re beginning to hear more about how Demon in a Bottle may play out in the films to come:

“I think they’ve come up with a terrific segue to the third film, which I think is going to be fairly powerful,” he said. “My understanding is that the third film could very well be the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ story mixed in there with everything and I’m kind of looking forward to that, if that’s where they wind up going.”

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Change, as they say, is inevitable. So it is with most things, including super powered suits worn by members of The Avengers. Case in point this new, improved armor design for one of our favorite flawed heroes: Iron Man.

The new suit, according to our friends at Marvel:

” . . . signals a new era for Tony Stark and the Marvel Universe! From the minds of Eisner Award-winning series writer Matt Fraction and Ryan Meinerding, designer on the Iron Man and Thor films, comes the most bleeding edge, out of this world armor you’ve ever seen!

Following the sold-out “Stark Disassembled” storyline, the Marvel Universe still needs its armored champion and a new mission requires a new kind of armor! But when you see just what Iron Man has planned for the Marvel Universe, your jaw will be on the floor! There’s never been a super hero like the new Iron Man!”

The all-new Iron Man makes his debut in Invincible Iron Man #25, which hits stores on April 25. In the meantime, click through to check out a larger pic of the new armor.

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As casting news about the upcoming Thor film continues to heat up there’s a little film called The Avengers we’re all really interested in too. The comic book mega-film will bring together some of the biggest Marvel heroes ever.  So, it comes with some excitement to be reporting on potential casting news for The Avengers.

Word is Jeremy Renner, star of war drama The Hurt Locker, may be set to play bow and arrow hero, Hawkeye.  When asked about the role, Renner said:

“Hawkeye could be interesting. They’re going to send me some stuff on it, see what it is. But I think they’re pretty awesome, trying to make superhero movies almost plausible and not just some fantasy thing.”

The simple fact that Renner is being sent “stuff” bodes well for his inclusion in the film.  Another advantage is that Renner has a cameo in Thor which means he’s already on the Marvel bandwagon.  While I can’t imagine Hawkeye having a huge role in The Avengers it’s great to find out Marvel recruiting top talent to fill the hero roster.

The Avengers is set to hit theaters on May 4, 2012.

Since the official announcement came out that Marvel Studios was going to make The Avengers movie, I’ve maintained this would be the biggest comic book film ever. Coordinating the efforts to bring so many Marvel characters together, specifically Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, is something that just hasn’t been done before. It’s a massive endeavor and while we know who the heroes will be, the film’s antagonist still remains a mystery.

Speaking with MTV, Hulk star (and The Hulk himself) Edward Norton gave his thoughts on the matter,  “In the comics, there was always a tension between the rest of the superhero community and he was always this problem… They treated him as this problem.”. Further, “Norton said he could definitely see the Hulk character becoming something that the rest of Marvel’s superheroes joined forces to battle.”

I agree making the Hulk a “problem” in the upcoming film is necessary as he was the anti-hero of the group; causing as many problems as his alter ego Bruce Banner solved. Perhaps more importantly he was technically a founding member of the team so his inclusion cannot be overlooked. That said, is the Hulk enough to be The Avenger’s sole antagonist? In my opinion, no.

While we have only seen Iron Man and the Hulk on the big screen so far it’s already apparent these heroes are powerful. Very powerful. Once you add Captain American and Thor to the roster you’re going to end up with an incredibly strong team who needs a villain that can equally that might. Also, with Thor dealing with actual Gods like Loki as enemies in his upcoming film, The Avengers will need something major to oppose them. Hulk just isn’t it.

At this point, even I’m still guessing as to who, or what that enemy could be. Have an ideas? Let us know in the comments.

Top Cow has provided us with a preview of their super-cool comic Fusion #2, their continuing mini-series crossover with Marvel. We’re big fans of this comic here at The Flickcast and can’t wait for the next issue to hit stands. The comic, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with art by Tyler Kirkham and covers by Stjepan Sejic is, according to the official press release from the company:

The mother of all Top Cow/Marvel crossovers thunders on in June! Battle lines are being drawn between Cyberforce, The Avengers, Hunter-Killer, and The Thunderbolts; but who is siding with who? Ripclaw has been detained but neither Cyberforce nor The Avengers are happy about The Thunderbolts being in control.

A crossover event too massive to be contained in a single issue and brought to you by the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova) and Top Cow favorite artist Tyler Kirkham (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Broken Trinity: Aftermath).

Be sure to check out all the great preview pages after the jump.

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On the heels of the poster and release date released for Spider-Man 4 earlier this week, more pictures have come from the Marvel booth at the Licensing Expo 2009 in Las Vegas. This time, the spotlight is on the rest of the Marvel universe, with a quad poster revealed for Iron Man 2, The First Avenger: Captain America, Thor, and all of them together in The Avengers.

The best part of the posters being released is the projected release dates that come along with them. The first, which wasn’t a huge surprise is that Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 will be released May 7 of 2010. According to director Favreau’s tweets, they are about halfway through principle photography, and yes, Sam Jackson will be back.

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