10 Ways MCU Movies Nearly Turned Out Completely Different
3. A Sequel With Edward Norton - The Incredible Hulk
With 23 movies to its name, it would be unreasonable to expect every single MCU entry to be of the same quality as the likes of Iron Man, Infinity War, or Endgame. But while some are, of course, better than others, The Incredible Hulk is without question the black sheep of the franchise.
Since its release in 2008, the lead character has been recast, it took eight years for anyone other than Banner to appear elsewhere in the MCU, and it is so far the only property under the franchise umbrella with no released or announced sequel. This wasn't always the plan, however.
Way back when, Edward Norton had a plan to bring to life his Hulk story across two separate movies. While it ultimately took Banner until Avengers: Endgame to come to terms with balancing the brains and the brawn of his "gift", Norton's iteration would have concluded this arc in just two solo entries.
Norton would have taken a lot of inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, but thanks to complicated rights and creative differences, the sequel was never made. Mark Ruffalo is certainly fans' favourite Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days, had Norton not fallen out with Marvel, he may have never gotten the chance to play the character.