Early reports led us to believe that Mark Ruffalo would be the man to bring to life the rage of The Incredible Hulk via motion capture, as well as the green menace's Jekyll-like alter ego, scientist Bruce Banner. But now this may not be the case, with Ruffalo possibly only playing Banner in THE AVENGERS with another actor's performance in place for the motion capture role of Hulk.

This new news come from two tweets by actor/stuntman Brandon Molale - who previously played The Hulk on Ultradome in their "Hulk vs. Wolverine" episode:

"My life: Just auditioned to play the Hulk (motion capture) in the new Avengers movie. Pretty damn cool job!...very flattered but it was just an audition. I do know my experience as an actor/stuntman would do this character justice!"

This contradicts earlier reports that Ruffalo would be playing both Bruce Banner and The Hulk. Back in November, the actor told IGN:

"I’m actually going to be physically playing the Hulk. No other actor’s ever done that. So I’ve been getting into Tai Chi and Pilates and doing a lot of movement stuff. I don’t know what I want to do with it exactly, but I’ve been working physically to bring the leviathan alive.

If what Molale says is believed to be true, then Joss Whedon and co. may have changed their mind since then, giving us two actors playing the two sides to the character in THE AVENGERS. Which personally, I can understand and get behind that decision. I definitely think Ruffalo has the chops to play Banner but I'm not sure he could give the physical performance that Hulk requires. Not to put into question his ability as an actor, but rather to say that a mo-cap Hulk would be hard to pull off by any actor of his caliber. Thus, bringing in a more physical actor for the heavy lifting so to speak would allow both actors to focus one their respective sides.

Source ComicBookMovie