7. Dr. Bruce Banner
When We First Saw Him...The Incredible Hulk (2008) There have been lots of different interpretations regarding the character of Bruce Banner/The Hulk, who has perhaps proven to be the hardest Marvel character to get right on the big screen - in the realms of Marvel's Cinematic Universe, it was Edward Norton who originally signed on for the part and portrayed him in
The Incredible Hulk. Banner is a scientist, of course, and - having been exposed to gamma rays that curse him with the ability to transform into the Hulk when he gets angry - is quietly broody and - as a result - rather unlikable. It's all sitting in dark corners and brooding in this movie. Getting angry and snapping at people. And a whole lot of brooding. This guy is a serious brooder, is what I'm saying.
When We Next Saw Him...The Avengers (2012) Norton was replaced by actor Mark Ruffalo by the time
The Avengers came around in 2012, but you still have to remember that these two are supposed to be the same character. They both inhabit the same movie universe, right? Which means that, ideally, Ruffalo would have tried to infuse some of Norton's style into his performance - that quiet broodiness I referred to about sixteen times in the paragraph above. Nah. Ruffalo plays the character
completely differently - so much so, that we actually like Bruce Banner from the very first frame, which never happened at all in the first movie. Joss Whedon apparently didn't even take the time to try and write a character that felt connected to the Norton version: this guy is suddenly rife with an amusing, self-deprecating sense of humour. What happened between movies for his personality to shift so far the other way?