Ok we are real late on this one but it’s still huge news and is the beginning of something that the comic book movie industry has been threatening and talking about for so long but never, until now actually executed.

AICN were running the rumor earlier this week that Robert Downey Jr. will have a scene in THE INCREDIBLE HULK this Summer. No, he’s not specifically been cast for that movie… it will actually be a cameo as Tony Stark, a.k.a IRON MAN.

Yes that’s right, IRON MAN will be turning up in the HULK movie and will have a scene opposite William Hurt’s General “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Apparently this is to be the start of the Marvel Universe branching out through our cinema screens over the next few years as Marvel characters for the first time will exist between several movies. For example, the expected cameo of Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) and Hilary Swank (we think) in IRON MAN… will set the seeds for their own standalone movie somewhere down the line.

Now that Marvel are funding all their movies 100% on their own they now have the exclusive rights to their characters and are allowed to cross them between the different movies. This is something that Marvel made a mistake with (though to be fair, they didn’t have the resources back then) in the early days with their big three X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR and SPIDER-MAN. These characters are instead owned by their respected studio’s and no matter how much fanboy interest might exist in seeing Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine face off against Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man… it just ain’t ever gonna happen.

But things are different now with the rest of the Marvel characters not yet seen on film. If Marvel are smart… they could even find a way of using THOR (Matthew Vaughn’s directing that baby!), IRON MAN, HULK, CAPTAIN AMERICA (Goyer?), LUKE CAGE, DOCTOR STRANGE, NICK FURY, ANT-MAN (Edgar Wright?) and more as part of one massive universe, just as it is in the comics.

IRON MAN director Jon Favreau this week has even spoke of his interest in directing THE AVENGERS movie, which would without doubt contain the majority of the above characters.

I mean isn’t that why we all love Marvel so much in the first place? Because these characters all exist in the same world, and can you just imagine if every Marvel character had an actor attached to the part?

It could make for some extremely exciting happenings in the future. Conflict between heroes, villains from other franchises turning up, character inter-relationships, etc.

This is something that DC could have easily done with their partnership with Warner Brothers, but after SUPERMAN RETURNS they absolutely panicked and went ahead with this not so interesting JLA movie without establishing the characters and without using Bale, Routh, etc.

The idea of Bale’s BATMAN fighting against Routh’s SUPERMAN has been replaced with Armie Hammer and Scott Porter. Or some other high school actors whoever they end up being.

And I know I keep saying it, but with things like HANCOCK, THE SPIRIT and fucking WATCHMEN (who would have thought it?) coming soon, the whole comic book film industry is moving into a whole new zone well into the next decade. Maybe it’s not just the fad we all thought it was six years ago and is actually going to have longevity other fanboy genres have never seen.