**Slight spoilers for the end credit scenes of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings within.**
Tim Roth is technically in the Marvel Cinematic Universe already. He played Emil Blonsky (a.k.a. the Abomination) in the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton as Bruce Banner. It’s the movie that many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe skip over, since very few aspects of it play into the larger world of the MCU, and since Norton left the franchise for Mark Ruffalo to take over as our Bruce Banner.
That doesn’t mean the movie isn’t important. It’s just that people don’t really include it in their major films from the MCU. Now though, Tim Roth’s Blonsky is heading back to the Marvel world in Disney+’s She-Hulk series, and the actor is excited to come back. Talking with The Hollywood Reporter, Roth shared why he joined the original film in the first place back in 2008 and his upcoming journey into the Tatiana Maslany-led series.
I did The Incredible Hulk [playing Emil Blonsky, aka Abomination] years ago, just because I thought my kids would be embarrassed by it. I did it for them and I really enjoyed making it. So when they came to me and said: “We’re adapting the She-Hulk thing. Can you come back as that character again?” I was like, sure. It should be fun. I was very surprised though because it was difficult at first. It was only when Mark Ruffalo came in to shoot his stuff [reprising his role as Bruce Banner] that I went: “Oh, that’s how you do it! With a sense of humor!”
It is interesting that he brought up Ruffalo filming. With the end-credits scene of Shang-Chi giving us a look at Bruce Banner seemingly back to his human self, I am interested in what Ruffalo was filming with a “sense of humor” that would make Roth feel better. Was it just his approach to Banner, or was Ruffalo doing motion capture work again as either just the regular Hulk or a bit of the Professor Hulk stuff again?
Having Tim Roth back as the Abomination is fun because we already had William Hurt’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross show up throughout the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with that being one of the only real connections in the MCU to that movie, I’m happy for them to weave more of those characters into the universe.
Does this mean we could see Liv Tyler show back up as Betty Ross at some point? Or is She-Hulk the end to the Bruce Banner storyline? Who knows? I’m just excited to see what Tim Roth will bring to Emil Blonsky after all these years. He was a fun antagonist back in 2008, but pairing him with both Ruffalo and Maslany’s Jennifer Walters is a whole new ball game, and I can’t wait.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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Published: Sep 14, 2021 05:22 pm