If I mis-read or misunderstood your previous comment, I apologize. However, what I felt you were saying is that Mark Ruffalo was cast already for Avengers and therefore it invalidated the need to cast him for Iron Man 3. And I was disagreeing saying that when RDJ offered the position to Ruffalo and he accepted, to me that was when he was cast for Iron Man 3 and that he then began filming 10 days later. However, while I responded to you it should have been directed more at Dony since he seems to be adamant we will hear something in the next 2 weeks and I was saying nothing is a given. Although, for all of our sakes I really hope he's right because I think with all of us, our patience has reached it's end.
Surfer
I think you're using the word "cast" in a slightly different sense, which is where the confusion arises.
When an actor is cast in a role, that is a one-time thing. Mark Ruffalo was only cast as Banner once, which was prior to the Avengers. In other words, there existed a time in 2010 (after Norton was removed) where no-one occupied that part, and Marvel had to search for a new actor. Once Marvel found him in the person of Ruffalo, he was offered the part and was cast in that role. Prior to that, Ruffalo too, existed in a state where, at one point, he didn't have the part, and then later on, from about July 2010, he did.
Now when it came to Iron Man 3, he simply
reprised the role. He wasn't "cast" in the part. It's not like RDJ or Feige thought to themselves "Hmm, who should we have as Banner this time round? I know, how about Mark Ruffalo? Let's invite him to audition and see what he's like, but if not, we'll get another actor." Yes, he signed another contract to appear again as Banner, but he wasn't cast as Banner a second time - not in the sense that one normally means when they someone has been cast in a role.
Being cast in a role is a once-off event, unless you vacate the role and someone else takes your place, and then you come back later on, like Sean Connery did with Bond after leaving, and then being replaced by George Lazenby, and then coming back again in 1971.
So when you say "Well I heard Mark Ruffolo was cast only right before filming his after credit scene", that confuses people. Mark Ruffalo was cast only once, prior to the Avengers, back in 2010. He occupied that role from that point onwards, until he was told otherwise by Marvel or he chose to leave it himself. Since neither of those things happened, he still had the part. RDJ simply invited Ruffalo to reprise the role and make a cameo appearance in Iron Man 3 shortly before production began on that film.
And also, because you used the phrase "cast in the role" in conjunction with "after credit scene", I'm pretty sure people then started thinking that you meant Ruffalo was in another after credit scene prior to the Avengers, rather than the after credit scene in IM3, which everyone knows about, by which time he already had the part since 2010.
