Ed Norton in talks to play the villain in The Bourne Legacy

Questions continue to swirl around The Bourne Legacy, the first film in the franchise to not star Matt Damon or feature Jason Bourne in any way, shape, or form. Where exactly is writer/director Tony Gilroy taking the story this time? What we know is that it'll be in the same world as Bourne, but feature a different character played by Jeremy Renner. It's a big gamble, but if Damon and director Paul Greengrass return in the future(as some think), it could lead to a pair of highly lucrative spy thrillers or a pretty kickass crossover.

Even though Renner appears to be everywhere lately, he's still an unproven commodity at the box office, so it makes sense that he'd be surrounded by those who absolutely are. Rachel Weisz is already on board as the love interest(lets hope she fares better than Franka Potente), and now Variety reports that Ed Norton is in talks for the villain. 

Wow. For Norton, who was replaced by Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk in The Avengers(starring Renner), this is probably more up his alley. Norton makes a hell of a bad guy, as we saw in The Italian Job. He doesn't do too many mainstream movies, but the Bourne series has always sorta stood apart from the usual action stuff.  Without knowing the story or the rest of the cast, The Bourne Legacy is already looking like the espionage flick to beat in 2012.