It appears that the big green guy’s alter ego will get a new face for the upcoming Avengers multi-superhero movie. Marvel has announced that Ed Norton will not return to the role of Bruce Banner that he himself took over from Eric Bana for The Incredible Hulk, with the producers opting to recast the role, alluding to wanting someone who might work better in an ensemble. Norton’s agent issued his own statement calling Marvel’s statement “offensive” and saying that Norton was “enthusiastic at the prospect of being a part of the ensemble cast.”

After Spider-Man 4 slipped in its release schedule due to an apparent impasse over the script and characters, Sony/Columbia have decided to jettison plans, along with Raimi and the cast, and instead go with a reboot of the franchise based on a script by James Vanderbilt, and getting back to the superpowers vs. teen angst angle. But if they already have the script, how long has the studio been planning this?