by Joseph McCabe

Perhaps to relieve the concerns of those worried The Incredible Hulk might be in some kind of trouble, given the recent rumors, and then denied rumors, about Edward Norton?s dissatisfaction with the film, Marvel Films turned out in full force with a Hulk panel on Saturday at the New York Comic Con, on which sat the film?s director Louis Leterrier, its producers Gale Anne Hurd and Kevin Feige, and its lead villain, Tim Roth, a.k.a. Emil Blonsky or...The Abomination.

Note: Before reading the following coverage, be sure to watch our exclusive video interviews with Tim Roth, Louis Leterrier, Gale Anne Hurd and Kevin Feige.

?I just arrived this morning,? said a beaming Leterrier. ?I was in Seattle scoring; the score is amazing. Craig Armstrong is doing it. It?s Star Wars good. We?re still editing, we?re now doing the visual effects. This is like inviting six-thousand of my friends to the editing room. Because you?re going to see some rough stuff, some good-looking stuff, and some really good-looking stuff. But you guys are pros, so you know what I mean.?

Before running some footage of the film?s Hulk 2.0 trashing a military unit firing upon him, Feige commented on the difference between this film and its disappointing predecessor. ?One thing that?s different,? he said, ?is we have a kick-ass villain. That nine-foot Hulk you see in the Marvel booth, they?re going to be spread around the country, in movie theaters all over the place. So when you?re standing next to that thing, in order to go against it you need a really big villain. And we have an amazing actor, but I want to show you a clip before we bring him out.?

Footage was then screened of Roth?s character receiving the ?first of many injections? from a team of scientists, which lead to his transformation into the Hulk?s rival monster, the Abomination. ?He?s in pursuit of what the Hulk is, said Roth, ?and this is a way to get that in him, that power, and it?s the beginning of that journey.?

Roth continued to explain his reasons for taking the role. ?If you?re on a lunchbox, you know kids are gonna live with that, and you want that to happen. I ran it past [my kids], and they went, ?Do it, do it.? It was the coolest thing. Every time we did a scene I immediately ran it past my kids to see if they thought it was cool, because these films have got to be very, very cool. Dark and twisted and fun.?

Producer Gale Ann Hurd commented on Roth?s casting: ?The great thing I think is that all of the Marvel movies, they have the most incredible casts. I?ve been a fan of Tim?and Louis and Kevin?for a long time. He was the first person we approached, and we kept our fingers crossed.?

?I didn?t know the Abomination,? said Roth. ?I mean, The Hulk was one of those comic books I had when I was a kid. I loved them, and I loved the characters. But I didn?t know the Abomination, or Emil Blonsky. He?s a fascinating character. I hope we see more of him. I looked at the comic books?you always had to stay true to him. It?s not Marlon Brando or something, but it has a certain flavor to it, comic-book dialogue, which is hard at first to get around.?

Feige explained how the Abomination was added to the storyline??We needed a big-ass fight in this movie. It was a no-brainer, that was what we wanted to do. Because we wanted the Hulk to be the hero of the film, and to be a hero you need a villain, and frankly, up against this guy, the Hulk becomes an underdog. Because the Abomination is infinitely bigger. If you?ve seen the teaser, you?ve seen the size difference. You?re about to see billboards around the country of the two of them about to square off as well. What Louis has put together is one hell of a fight.?

?Obviously I?d done two action movies,? said Leterrier, ?but when they pushed me to do Hulk, they had really thought about it. I had done Transporter and stuff, to make a human look like a superhero. So this time I wanted to do something that actually portrayed the strength of the Hulk, the physical strength that we need in the right place. That?s why, in designing the fights, and there are many in it, and long, we looked at all the archives and everything, and looked at places where Hulk was fighting and the enemy that it had. So obviously you?ll have Hulk versus the Army, for lots of destruction, and then Hulk versus a formidable enemy, to give a mission.?

?When we embark on these kinds of movies,? said Feige, ?the directors always pull panels from the comics, and behind their desks they always have key images and stuff that inspire them, and when you get to this point in the process, about three or four weeks out from finishing, usually you look and you go, ?Man, you know, we didn?t get to do that.? ?Yeah, well next time we should go and do this.? The other day, Louis s and I were looking at the image behind his desk, and we had every single one of them in the movie. Every single one.?

Amidst much applause from the appreciate Comic Con crowd, Leterrier said, ?It came full circle. Three years ago when I met them I had done some comic book research, and I had presented them with storyboards of stuff that hadn?t been seen before. We got together at one point, and we thought that the budget wouldn?t allow us to do it. So we went in other ways, other directions. And then I was in the movie working, and I didn?t pay much attention to the stuff I had done, the comic books, anymore. In the editing I put some stuff on the wall, and we got Hulk: Grey in it, we got some Bruce Jones Hulk, some original Hulk, some of the stuff I had done. He?s running, he?s fighting. He?s fighting this guy in many different ways.?

Regarding his character?s motivation, Roth said, ?I think he?s having fun. I think he really likes this stuff. He?s a combat man, he?s not a desk man; and he loves it. The problem is his body?s running out. He?s done. Then he figures out a way of extending his shelf life.?

On the possibility of another much anticipated Marvel film, Nick Fury, with Samuel Jackson, finally being announced. Feige said, ?You know, I like when people are surprised by movies, and it doesn?t happen very often anymore. The truth is there are some rumors that you break out online that are not true. There are some rumors that are closer to true, and you?ll find out soon enough.?

But is Ed Norton disappointed with the way things are going on the Hulk? ?We did an ADR session with Edward on Monday,? said Hurd, ?and if there was a problem, I don?t think he would have shown up. He is a hundred-percent behind this movie.?

Leterrier then brought out special guest and Hulk TV show veteran Lou Ferigno, who he claimed would be providing the voice of the jade giant in the film. ?Growing up in France,? said the director, ?the Marvel comics weren?t that popular. I mean, I knew the comic books, and I grew up reading Tin Tin. But the TV show was very popular, because I guess we were getting stuff, three, four, five years after you guys. So I grew up watching the TV show. Bill Bixby was absolutely amazing in it, and there was a guy called Lou Ferigno in it.?

Leterrier then introduced a new Hulk trailer, at the end of which played a few notes of the TV show?s familiar sad theme. He followed this with a short clip of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (a.k.a Iron Man) meeting William Hurt (The Incredible Hulk?s General Thunderbolt Ross) in a bar, ending, amidst more booming applause, ending months of speculation as to whether Downey?s Iron Man film would cross over into the new Hulk?s universe.

Note: For exclusive images of the film's cast and crew, be sure to check out our gallery of photos from Saturday at the Con.