Editorial Staff
After a long, long wait, Universal’s The Incredible Hulk* (2008) is back in the Disney fold.
The rights to the Louis Letterier directed superhero blockbuster, one of Marvel’s first biggies out of the gate, have reverted to the house of mouse – who will add the title to Disney+ from Friday.
The film starred Edward Norton in his one and only performance of Bruce Banner before being replaced by Mark Ruffalo.
A few years ago, Norton reflected on the role and how he actually pitched Marvel Studios a darker version of the character for a potential sequel.
“I laid out a two-film thing: The origin and then the idea of Hulk as the conscious dreamer, the guy who can handle the trip,” Norton told The New York Times. “And they were like, ‘That’s what we want!’ As it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted”.
Up until Kevin Feige released a statement claiming they wanted an actor “who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members” – in turn bringing in Mark Ruffalo to take over as Bruce Banner for The Avengers – Norton said he had a good relationship with the Marvel bigwig.
“Yeah, which was cheap,” Norton said. “It was brand defensiveness or something. Ultimately they weren’t going for long, dark and serious. But it doesn’t matter.”
“We had positive discussions about going on with the films, and we looked at the amount of time that would’ve taken, and I wasn’t going to do that,” the actor continued. “I honestly would’ve wanted more money than they’d have wanted to pay me. But that’s not why I would’ve wanted to do another Hulk movie anyway.”
* The rights only pertain to this particular film not the Hulk character and source material as a whole.
