It's not secret that I'm a fan of Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk. While certainly not a perfect movie, it did a fine job handling the character and featured strong performances from Edward Norton, Tim Roth and William Hurt. After making only $134 million domestically on a $150 million budget and recasting the lead for The Avengers, however, it's unlikely that we will ever see a continuation of the film's storyline, which would have involved Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, turning into The Leader, one of Hulk's greatest foes. But that doesn't mean that Nelson has stopped hoping.
The Playlist recently spoke with the actor/director who confirmed that he does have a contract to make more movies under the Marvel banner and would love the chance to play the villain. "It’s a question as to whether they’ll make more movies, which was the [original] intention, or whether they’ll take a fresh start with the villains," Nelson said. Another hurdle is the fact that Mark Ruffalo has replaced Norton in the role of Bruce Banner, meaning that any future movies would likely continue with a new story and abandon Nelson. Ruffalo recently suggested that there could be another solo film for the character in the works, but wasn't pressed as to how Leterrier's film would fit in.
Because the next Hulk film would come out after Joss Whedon's The Avengers, it's hard to imagine that they would reboot the character entirely (though I suppose they could get away with it by calling it a prequel). On that note, should they decide to give Hulk another shot at a lone effort, they should continue on with the established path and give Nelson a chance to show off what he can do.
