The last time Tim Roth was seen on screen as Emil Blonsky the actor was appearing in The Incredible Hulk alongside Edward Norton in the titular role. Having made a brief return in the guise of the Abomination in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Roth is now about to play an integral part in the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and that means he is appearing alongside Norton’s Hulk replacement in the MCU, Mark Ruffalo, for the first time. In an interview with Forbes, Roth talked about what it was like appearing with Ruffalo this time around.
In 2008, The Incredible Hulk was the third movie of what would become the MCU, and it still stands as the singularly most disjointed of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe entries for a number of reasons. As well as the Hulk rights being owned by Paramount Studios, similar to how Sony hold the rights of Spider-Man, up until now only one actor has continued to make appearances as a character that first appeared in the movie: William Hurt’s Thaddeus Ross. While Hurt passed away earlier this year, he appeared in a number of MCU movies including Captain America: Civil War and, in his final appearance, Black Widow.
Now Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky is the second to return to the MCU to give The Incredible Hulk more of a connection to the franchise, even if his Abomination has had a bit of a design change since his first appearance. When it comes to acting alongside Ruffalo this time, Roth said:
"Yeah, I was like, 'You've changed.' It's kind of fun. We used to hang around and muck about between takes, and we had a nice time. I very much respect Mark as an actor, so even under those bizarre and wonderful circumstances, that one was a treasure. Coming back, I didn't know what to expect. Once I started shooting on it, I didn't know how to go about my business, and it was a bit disconcerting. Tatiana Maslany is incredible, and She-Hulk is a comedy, and she's bloody good at comedy but, to be fair, she's pretty, pretty good at everything. When Mark Ruffalo showed up to do his stuff that I was involved in and saw the two of them interacting, it was a penny drop moment for me, and I went, 'Oh, that's what we're doing. Oh, okay,' and then I knew what to do. Basically, on the first segment I was involved in, I got some serious direction from them about we go about our business there, and then it was all playtime. It was a lot of fun."
She-Hulk Will Feature Another Returning Character; Daredevil
Tim Roth will not be the only returning character to appear in She-Hulk, as Charlie Cox will be making his first MCU appearance as Daredevil following his run as the character in Netflix’s Defenders Saga. While Cox appeared as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk has many fans buzzing right now, as it will deliver the first look of the actor in his new Daredevil costume for the first time before his own Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again hits the platform as part of Phase 5 of the MCU.
In addition to Cox and Roth, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will also feature Benedict Wong as Wong, and has hinted at the appearance of a number of new obscure characters from Marvel Comics. There are also a number of rumors about She-Hulk being one of the shows that will add a few new pieces of groundwork to the introduction of mutants to the MCU, as well as a possible link to the Secret Invasion series, which is coming early in 2023.