AJ Caulfield of Looper probably doesn’t mean to but this matter is definitely enough to make a person more pro-Edward Norton than Mark Ruffalo, especially when you look at the vast difference between their two Hulks. It might not be in line with a lot of other people’s ideas about the jade giant but the Hulk from Edward Norton’s movie was a heckuva a lot more accurate than the one we got from Ruffalo that looked as though he’d had the edge shaved off of him. Yes, he did serve the purpose of the Avengers, and he did give them a real powerhouse that managed to give them an edge in battle, but as a lot of us have seen throughout the years, the edge-killer, Kevin Feige, has been doing the bidding of his Disney overlords and stripping a lot of Marvel characters of the unique characteristics, not to mention power, that have made them true powerhouses in the comics. Norton’s movie, for all the mistakes it might have had, was still a little more enjoyable since it was IT’S OWN MOVIE, something that the MCU hasn’t yet decided Mark Ruffalo is worth somehow. Had Norton been given a second Hulk movie there’s a big chance that he might have been able to flesh out the character a bit more and really go into some depth with it, thereby making the character of the Hulk something even better than was already there.
Does Disney or Feige even read the comics that are responsible for giving them such great material? If he had paid close attention he might notice the Hulk is by design a character that likes his solitude and doesn’t seem inclined to stick with the team as he seems to think the rest of the Avengers do. In fact despite the fact that they can exhibit teamwork, the Avengers is made up of a lot of individual characters that have had a great deal of success in solo ventures. It might seem childish to say that Thor got his movies, Captain America got his movies, Iron Man got pretty much everyone’s movies at one point, and Spider-Man got his movies, and even Black Widow will be getting a movie, but the Hulk has yet to see another standalone movie come out. If Marvel was going to be smart they’d have another Hulk movie, ditch Ruffalo, and invite Norton back in with a HUGE apology letter stating that they were wrong and that he did the part of Bruce Banner a lot more justice than Mark ‘get in touch with your inner Hulk’ Ruffalo. People have accepted Ruffalo for the most part since he was the person that was selected for the MCU, but honestly Norton turned in a much better role as Bruce Banner, a man that was on his own and wanted to stay that way since he recognized the danger he posed. Ruffalo seemed more like a representative of UNICEF during his recruitment to the Avengers, and has been kind of a whiner throughout the entire franchise thus far.
Hulk has plenty of enemies apart from General Ross, the Abomination, and even the Leader, who was hinted at in the Norton movie. With Fox having been absorbed into the Mouse House they could now bring up the famed Wolverine vs. Hulk fight that’s been so great in the Marvel universe, or have Hulk take on Asgard under the influence of the Enchantress or a similar story line. But that would mean bringing back the dark, moody, and ultimately more dangerous Hulk, and it’s obvious that Feige doesn’t want to do this since he didn’t feel that the darker lean to the character was needed. Anyone else think that Disney is really starting to neuter the heroes and villains we came to love so much as comic book fans? It’d almost be better if Sony and Fox had teamed up and brought the Marvel universe to bear against the Mouse House to remind Disney that an edge is what’s necessary sometimes to really stay competitive, though of course the box office numbers are going to disagree since people are going to keep watching whatever Disney is peddling simply because it’s what’s there and it’s what we’ve grown used to.
it’s regrettable but it doesn’t change much unless Feige and Disney are willing to listen to reason and possibly restore the Marvel greats to the reputation that we’ve come to expect, but again, with Chris Evans, RDJ, and Chris Hemsworth either stepping down or in the process of doing so the ball has already been rolling too long and the return of Edward Norton is something that likely won’t ever happen. This is the MCU we have, and for better or worse it might actually be nice to see the Hulk disappear for a while if they’re not going to do anything worthwhile with him.
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