As you've likely heard by now, Mark Ruffalo is the alleged front runner to replace Edward Norton in "The Avengers" as Bruce Banner, the brilliant scientist who inadvertently transforms into the Incredible Hulk.
But even if "The Avengers" works out for Ruffalo, it won't be his first time flirting with the comic book genre. In 2008, MTV News spoke with Ruffalo while the actor was promoting his appearance alongside Julianne Moore in "Blindness." During the interview, Ruffalo revealed to MTV that he had auditioned for another big comic book property — none other than "The Dark Knight."
"I met for ['The Dark Knight'], for Harvey Dent," said Ruffalo, who added that while he believed "The Dark Knight" turned out to be "a very nice film," he didn't believe it to be "a great film" in the same sense as movies such as "The Godfather."
"I wouldn't say it was a great film," he said. "It's a pretty great film, but if it's 'The Godfather' [versus] 'The Dark Knight' ... there are few great films. They're great because they're great, you know?"
Ruffalo's words weren't necessarily a knock against the comic book genre so much as an appraisal of the art of filmmaking overall — that only a handful of movies achieve true greatness. To that end, Ruffalo did say that "The Dark Knight" was one of those movies that "raises the bar on everything, nothing could really touch it in that genre." That said, he also didn't believe that he would ever wind up in a comic book movie.
"I don't know if I'll ever end up in that world," he said at the time, going on to discuss his own history as a comic book reader earlier in his life. "I was a big Frank Miller fan [growing] up, the 'Wolverine' and 'X-Men' series was cool, but as I've gotten older, I sort of haven't been so much into it. My kid's getting into that stuff."
Assuming that the actor really is Marvel's new Hulk, it would seem that Ruffalo has ended up in the comic book world — and hopefully, for his sake and ours, Ruffalo will find greatness in "The Avengers."
Tell us what you think of Ruffalo's thoughts on comic books and comic book movies in the comments section and on Twitter!