In directing The Avengers, Joss Whedon is the third director to take on Bruce Banner and the Hulk. In recent years, both Ang Lee and Louis Leterrier have attempted to tell his story, and their visions of the raging Hulk were met with mixed reactions from fans. This was a hard character for Whedon to tackle, but in a recent interview with SFX, he talked about how he approached the character to make him work in The Avengers. Here he talks about what he needed to get right:

So much. A Bruce Banner who’s not obsessed with his own problems. A Hulk who not only feels flesh and blood, but is clearly an extension of Banner himself and not just a CGI thing that roars. A Hulk who feels dangerous, who might actually hurt someone we care about, who belongs in a classic horror film. And much more. He’s the hardest character by far, and ended up being the most fun.

I have a feeling that Whedon may actually be bringing us the best onscreen version of the Hulk so far. Mark Ruffalo is playing the character this time around, and I think he'll do a great job! Here's what Whedon had to say about what Ruffalo brings to the character:

Mark is such a delightful mensch it’s stupid. His Banner is a bunch of contradictions: graceful and awkward, meek and confident, erudite and working class, funny and sad. And contradictions are what the Banner/Hulk dynamic are all about. Also, Mark kinda looks like the Hulk. So we got to build our Hulk from him.

It's going to be a real treat seeing this vision of the Hulk blowing up on screen and kicking Loki ass. There are a lot of characters missing from The Avengers in the film and when asked about who else he would have liked to bring to the big screen he said,

A boatload. Pretty much everyone but Wonder Man. I never did figure out what he was for.

Wonder Man is obviously his least favorite of the bunch. I'm so excited about The Avengers it's ridiculous. It's shot up to my number one most anticipated film of 2012, and the awesome thing is, I'm 100% convinced that it will exceed my already high expectations.

What do you all think about how Whedon is approaching The Hulk in The Avengers? Do you think it will end up being the best movie Hulk so far?