Villain Actor From Marvel’s Most Controversial Film Honored To Return
For as popular as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, fans are often quick to forget about its red-headed stepchild film: The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton.
Between the fact that Norton eventually got replaced by Mark Ruffalo and that we’ve never gotten another solo Hulk film, it has often felt like Disney wants fans to forget about the second MCU movie altogether.
However, Tim Blake Nelson is reprising his minor role from that movie for Captain America: Brave New World, and he recently declared that coming back to the Marvel cinematic universe “has been a great honor.”
Tim Blake Nelson Returning
Understandably, the actor was bummed when it seemed like he would never get to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk. In that movie, Tim Blake Nelson plays a somewhat reckless scientist destined to become one of Marvel’s greatest villains.
That earlier film sets up his eventual transformation into The Leader, and the actor described the emotional rollercoaster he experienced when it seemed like he wouldn’t come back.
He said, “I was heartbroken when it seemed I wasn’t going to come back as The Leader, but now I’m glad it took 16 years because it’s made the character more interesting.”
Captain America: Brave New World
So far, Disney has kept the specific plot beats of Captain America: Brave New World under wraps, so we don’t know much about what Tim Blake Nelson’s character will be up to in this latest Marvel film.
We do know that he is going to have some powerful company, though. The other main villain of the film is Giancarlo Esposito, who has headlined a number of awesome genre roles but is still best known for playing Gus Fring, the most chilling antagonist of Breaking Bad.
Drawing From Other Experience
Tim Blake Nelson has similarly kept the details under wraps (which helps keep Marvel bigwigs like Kevin Feige happy), but he has offered some tantalizing hints that this performance may blow his earlier Hulk performance out of the water.
At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the actor expressed gratitude for his delayed return because this recent performance “demands my own life experience over the past 18 years.”
He claims that “there’s a real depth and rage and pathos to this guy, and I needed 18 more years of life experience to try and pull that off.”
Still The Leader?
Reading between the lines here, it sounds like Tim Blake Nelson’s character will have a few experiences under his belt that make him someone who would oppose Marvel hero Captain America (played this time by Anthony Mackie) rather than Hulk.
The character in the comics has always had plans for world domination (as you do), but most of his fascination and animus have been centered on the Hulk, a character he alternately tries to manipulate and exploit.
At any rate, the comic incarnation of The Leader is responsible for creating both the Red Hulk and the Red She-Hulk out of some very familiar characters.
Red Hulk Coming Too
It’s barely a spoiler at this point, but the Red Hulk is actually General Ross, and the Red She-Hulk is Bruce Banner’s old squeeze Betty Ross.
Both of those characters are returning in Captain America: Brave New World, though Ross is now played by Star Wars legend Harrison Ford after the tragic death of previous actor William Hurt.
His exact plot details remain under wraps, but it’s a safe bet that Tim Blake Nelson’s Marvel villain is going to be responsible for unleashing more (ahem) Hulkamania on this cinematic universe.
Marvel Coming Back To Form?
If nothing else, we’re hyped for this actor’s MCU return because he was such a great, quirky addition to The Incredible Hulk. He played a maverick scientist who wasn’t afraid to leap into the unknown with genuine gusto, taking major risks in the name of science.
As for Tim Blake Nelson himself, his Marvel return isn’t a major risk…it may, in fact, be a sign that Marvel is getting back to form after a couple of years of flailing film failures.
Source: SuperheroHype
