*UPDATED BELOW*

The recent drama involving Edward Norton and Marvel came out of nowhere and escalated quickly.

The comic book movie-making studio decided that their all-important baby, The Avengers, was too crucial to bring the actor back to play the Hulk considering his potential for becoming a loose-cannon on the set. Despite his reputation, Norton’s work on The Incredible Hulk was popular enough to see quite the backlash come of this decision, but what’s done is done and a new actor was needed to make us all happy again.

According to reports from Deadline, Marvel Studios may just have found their Hulk replacement, and you might not hate the choice. According to a source, the studio is currently in “late-stage” talks with Mark Ruffalo. If true, this means that not only is he a top choice but that they’ve settled on him and are trying to work out a deal. And assuming that Mr. Ruffalo is as he seems to us, you have to imagine it would get done.

The actor doesn’t at all seem like someone who would be difficult to negotiate with, nor is he someone that would waste your time and lead you on. If he’s interested enough to to be in deep talks with Marvel, and if this source’s information is in fact accurate of course, Ruffalo is likely the man you’ll see.

Ruffalo has appeared in numerous films over the years and would be worlds better than the “unknown” it sounded like we might get at first. He was recently in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and has also been seen in titles like Collateral, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, and many others.

Being unfamiliar with most comic books, I can’t say if he’s perfect or not, but I personally like the choice. Ruffalo has that “guy you’d like to have a beer with” appeal to him and that’s always welcome when it comes to actors.

UPDATE: After writing this, I saw another report from The Hollywood Reporter’ Heat Vision Blog claiming that the Deadline scoop is off and that the talks between Ruffalo and Marvel are still in early stages. These two reporters of news seem to be going at each other lately, so who knows what’s what. To make things simple, we’ll just say that the job seems to be Mark Ruffalo’s if he wishes it…he just needs to accept the offer and sign the paperwork.