12 Least Successful Recastings Of Iconic Film Characters

10. Edward Norton - Bruce Banner/ Hulk

Film: The Incredible Hulk (2008) Replacing: Eric Bana Marvel fans will be all too familiar with the problems surrounding the casting of the Incredible Hulk. With both previous attempts at a 21st-century portrayal both coming up short for different reasons, Marvel finally struck lucky by giving Mark Ruffalo the gig in The Avengers. But whatever gripes there might have been about Eric Bana's portrayal (which I singled out for criticism in this article), there doesn't remain a great deal of love for Edward Norton's interpretation which arrived five years later. Ironically, Norton was in the running to play Bruce Banner the first time around; he eventually refused to be a part of Ang Lee's project, claiming to be disappointed with the script. Lee's film was an equal disappointment commercially, bringing in $245m on a budget of $137m; nowadays, big films have to bring in two-and-a-half times their budgets to be considered successful. Once the rights ceded back to Marvel from Universal, Norton was signed and rewrote Zak Penn's script, distancing himself from Lee and Bana's film by changing the origin story. Ultimately The Incredible Hulk wasn't the world-beater that was expected; it pulled in $263m on a budget of $150m. Both films are heavily flawed, particularly in the CG effects department, but at least with Bana's interpretation there was an attempt to focus on character development and the internal struggles of Bruce and Betty. Norton's portrayal is hammier and more needlessly aggresive, reflecting the pumped-up, adolescent feel that director Louis LeTerrier wanted. Like Cheadle before him, Norton is a fine actor whose collaborations with Marvel bring out the worst in him.