Why the MCU shouldn’t have discarded Edward Norton’s version of the Hulk

2008 The incredible Hulk was by no means a failure. It more than covered its budgetand it scored a Metacritical Review That puts it comfortably in the “not great, but not bad” category. However, it was quickly scrapped from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Edward Norton’s version of Marvel’s Green Mean Machine was relinked, Mark Ruffalo replaced him and recorded a very different version of Hulk. Most of them The incredible Hulk was reduced to a not-to-be-missed cameo in 2012 The Avengers.

However, around 2021, the Norton film regained prominence as Disney began reintegrating elements from the film into the MCU continuity, beginning with the return of Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, aka Abomination, in a cameo Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and later as a guest star She-Hulk: Lawyer.

Creating stronger connections between earlier and later versions of the MCU Hulk was particularly important to us she hulk, a series that seemed to bring Bruce Banner’s story to an end so he could pass the torch to his cousin. Following a series of films in which Ruffalo’s character rampaged as just Banner, just Hulk, and a hybrid of both in the form of Professor Hulk (Bruce’s mind in Hulk’s body, a hybrid that debuted in ). Avengers: Endgame), it really felt like this character’s potential had been fully realized. So it made sense to clear the stage for a whole new Hulk. Not just a female take on the character, but a more comedic one too: The Comic Book She Hulk was basically the original Deadpool, complete with fourth-wall-breaking jokes.

But the potential for the MCU Hulk is far from exhausted. There are still so many things the writers of Marvel blockbusters haven’t done with him. And the foundation stone has already been laid The incredible Hulk.

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Marvel Enterprises

There are two notable things that later Marvel films have not been able to take from the Ed Norton film. The first is Tim Blake Nelson, who transforms into classic Hulk villain The Leader at the end of the film. When the MCU scrapped that idea, viewers were missing out on a cool character with limitless intelligence and vanity, as well as telekinesis and the inability to die. Also, it should be a crime to tease more about Tim Blake Nelson in a franchise without actually doing so. The second thing we’ve lost is a feral, animalistic, no-talk, no-control Hulk – a scarier, more exciting version of the character that’s much closer to the comics’ original version of him as something of a radioactive werewolf .

The stakes for Hulk are higher from the first few seconds The incredible Hulk, There we see Norton as Bruce Banner testing a cure for gamma radiation poisoning, which triggers his transformation. From his POV perspective, we watch as he hurts those around him, including his girlfriend Betty (Liv Tyler), who sees him as a terrifying monster with no connection to Bruce.

Director Louis Leterrier does it all without dialogue, just through visuals. This increases the intensity and helps the scene go straight into the lizard part of the audience’s gray matter, where it is processed in much the same way as in a horror film. That’s really at the core of what matters The incredible Hulk So great. While it’s not actually a horror film, many parts of it, including the portrayal of the title character, are horror or horror-like.

In that way, Leterrier did some particularly memorable things with Hulk that add more depth to the character. For example, when this version of Bruce returns to human form, Norton depicts him as obviously exhausted, terrified, and traumatized. After the fight at Culver University, when Betty checks herself and Bruce into a motel, this character is t he bullets in the size of thermos flasks, is reduced to a trembling mass wrapped in a blanket. He can’t speak, he can barely move, and when he somehow manages to get into the shower, he begins reliving the trauma of the fight where he had no control over himself and was shot at. After so many Marvel movies that have pitted superheroes against space demons, the goddess of death, and an alien imbued with the great forces of the cosmos, a character scared of guns seems almost quaint. But it’s not quaint – it’s human. Ed Norton’s Hulk is refreshingly human.

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Marvel Enterprises

Compare this scene to the first scene where Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk The Avengers, falls to the ground, turns back into a human and immediately starts joking with a security guard. It’s not that focusing on the trauma is any better than the comics’ relief – both are valid interpretations of Hulk that can be backed up by a comics iteration. And there’s no denying that Mark Ruffalo’s performance with audiences was a huge hit and made Hulk an A-list superhero. But as much as Ruffalos Bruce talks about being scared of “the other guy,” his version of the Hulk is still a hero, someone who suddenly seems in the kind of control he needs to be whenever the action is happening -Beats require it. Ed Norton’s Hulk isn’t.

The 2008 film makes this point again and again, especially right after the fight at Culver University where Hulk takes the unconscious Betty away and hides them both under a ledge from the rain. When she wakes up, she screams at the sight of him. Later we see Hulk yelling at the storm and hurling rocks at it. This Hulk is not a superhero, he is a powerful beast. He’s essentially a giant ape with a degree of sentience, but ultimately comes from an animalistic instinct. Because of this, Norton’s Banner has no plans to change when it comes to the final showdown between this character and Abomination, hoping Hulk chooses to be classy and save the day. Instead, he hopes to “target” the green monster at the other monster and prays like hell he doesn’t hurt any innocent people along the way.

The strange thing is The Avengers At first it looked like it would bring us this Hulk, with a Ruffalo Hulk that’s wild, dangerous, and unable to tell friend from foe. However, later in the same film, co-writers Joss Whedon and Zak Penn curb his savagery and transform him into the Marketable Hulk, who understands human speech, awaits instructions from Captain America to smash things, and rescues Iron Man when he the sky falls down. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that shot – but there’s a clear discrepancy between the Hulk at the beginning and the end of the film, with no clear reason for the change.

Credit: Universal Pictures/Marvel Enterprises

So why not fix that? What if the MCU returned to this version of the character? We see glimpses of it in Avengers: Age of Ultron, if Scarlet Witch messes with Hulk’s mind, but there’s so much more story potential for a more dangerous, less urban Hulk, a Hulk who can’t really be called an Avenger because he doesn’t have enough sanity to agree to his participation in a team. A Hulk that would likely need to be “contained” and aimed at enemies the Avengers can’t deal with, raising huge ethical questions that the MCU could occasionally grapple with.

All of that would still be possible. Professor Hulk doesn’t have to be the last word on the character in the MCU. A hundred different things can happen to further explore Hulk as a wild killing machine. If only Marvel and Disney really wanted to. Probably not because he’s more marketable as a superhero. But the option is still on the table, just waiting for someone to pick it up and move on The incredible Hulk started 15 years ago.