10 Ridiculous Comic Book Castings (That Actually Totally Worked)

6. Edward Norton - Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk)

Why It Was Ridiculous: Edward Norton as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk? As much as I love Norton as an actor, this one just didn't sit well with me at all. Though he's a wiry, kinda nerdy-looking guy that would suit Banner fine, the thought of his face being transplanted onto the gigantic, green Hulk just filled me with so many mixed emotions. It was great that Marvel had such an awesome actor on-side, but I wasn't convinced that Norton could capture the simmering intensity of Eric Bana's underrated performance in the previous film. The Result: Norton and the film itself were both surprisingly good, making Marvel fans hopeful that they had found a dependable Bruce Banner who would see them through to The Avengers. However, what didn't work was Norton's dictatorial attitude towards the whole production, trying to wrangle creative control away from the filmmakers, which soured his relationship with Marvel enough that they decided to recast the part with Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers (which also turned out to be an incredibly savvy choice).