It's pretty annoying that Edward Norton had to turn around and be a massive diva, withdrawing from the MCU before we even got a chance to see him Assemble. His departure made The Incredible Hulk feel incredibly disconnected from the rest of Marvel's catalog, even with later attempts to link it in - like Ruffalo's "I kinda broke... Harlem" line in The Avengers, or General Ross' (William Hurt) upcoming appearance in Captain America: Civil War. Norton is infamous for being a bit of a control freak, wanting to make changes to scripts and giving unwanted "tips" to directors. When it came to The Avengers, he once again wanted to stick his craw in, which Marvel apparently weren't comfortable with. They can't be blamed, considering how many spinning plates they had up in the air at the time - one more cook in the kitchen would not have helped. In the end, it was easier to just replace him with Mark Ruffalo - who actually turned out to be a damn good Bruce Banner, to the extent that he's being shoehorned into next year's Thor: Ragnarok. At this point Marvel are most likely wishing they could've just cast Ruffalo from the outset, which would validate all the time and money they spent on The Incredible Hulk. And which would have given Ruffalo's Hulk the stand-alone film he deserves.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
