Marvel Studios has a “no assh*le policy” on its movies, coming after the studio recast one of its earliest Avengers following a creative clash. Shortly after the MCU launched with Iron Man, the franchise debuted its next Avenger: The Incredible Hulk, played by Edward Norton in the 2008 film. Until The Marvels, it was the lowest-grossing movie in the series, and it wasn’t exactly well-loved upon release either; it has a 67% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes , plus a 69% audience rating.
Four years later, Bruce Banner returned in The Avengers...
portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, a book chronicling the studio’s journey through the Infinity Saga, details the “chaotic battle” behind the scenes of The Incredible Hulk. “A movie that seemed like a guaranteed smash almost fell apart, threatening not just the box office receipts of one summer movie, but the fate of a studio attempting to establish itself,” it reads .
“It’s the movie that newcomers to the MCU are encouraged to skip. But it also taught Marvel Studios a valuable early lesson about the limits of collaboration.” To put that into context, Norton constantly tinkered with Zak Penn’s script and lobbied for a Dark Knight-esque path for the character.
“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,” he told The New York Times. Related: “And they were like, ‘That’s what we want!’ As it turned o.