Ed Norton Cautiously Doesn’t Say That He Won’t Appear in The Avengers

It’s fairly unfortunate that when there’s a chance to sit down with Ed Norton, who has turned in some of the more immersive performances of a popular actor in his generation, and is currently impressing many with dual roles in Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, the conversation is eventually going to derail into baseless, speculative talk about his future as the Hulk. (And here I am perpetuating the trend, so shake your head at me, too.) Last week was all about Norton’s admission that seeing the Hulk as the villain in The Avengers would be fun. This week, the theme is time.

Speaking to MTV at Toronto recently, Norton said that scheduling an appearance in another Marvel movie is a matter of time. Not as in “it will happen eventually,” but “we all need to find the time.” Asked about whether he’s more reluctant than other actors to go back to the Marvel fold, the actor said:

I get very busy. You have to deal with the demands of your moment. I tend to keep my head in the thing I’m doing and I don’t speculate or worry too much about what two or three blocks down the thing is going to be. I know all these things will reveal themselves and work out or not.

All of which is a really polite, roundabout way of saying “I don’t know if I’m going to do it, and if I did I probably wouldn’t tell you. Hey, have you heard that I play dual roles in this current movie?”

I liked Norton’s Hulk. A lot. I enjoyed the direct, energetic nature of the script and the movie it became. I’d like to see Norton back as Bruce Banner, and would love to see him playing off Robert Downey Jr. But let’s agree to let this one lie for a while. Is Norton really going to drop an “I’m going back to Marvel” bomb anywhere but in an official press release or larger press event? Doubt it.