Edward Norton recently opened up about his time playing Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying that Marvel liked the idea of, but ultimately abandoned, a darker and more serious sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk

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"Well, no. I loved the “Hulk” comics. I believed they were very mythic," Norton explained. "And what Chris Nolan had done with Batman was going down a path that I aligned with: long, dark and serious. If there was ever a thing that I thought had that in it, it was the Hulk. It’s literally the Promethean myth. 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. And they were like, “That’s what we want!” As it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted. But I had a great time doing it. I got on great with Kevin Feige."

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"Yeah, which was cheap. It was brand defensiveness or something," Norton answered. "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. 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. I went and did all the other things I wanted to do, and what Kevin Feige has done is probably one of the best executions of a business plan in the history of the entertainment industry. As a Disney shareholder, you should be on your feet for what they pulled off."

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"I’m not going to comment on that," Norton stated. "I’m saying that Kevin had an idea of a thing that you could do, and it was remarkable. Now it didn’t happen to be on a tonal, thematic level what I wanted to spend my time doing. Conflating that into a fight or a judgement is grotesque. Picking fights between other people for clickbait is grotesque. I’m not being hyperbolic. It’s part of what’s problematic in our country. We are letting ourselves be polluted by fake fights manufactured by other people for other agendas. Whether it’s Russians manipulating us into intense arguments with one another over fabricated [expletive] or stupid entertainment journalism trying to get clicks. It’s like, I did Bruce Willis’s Comedy Central roast, and I made a joke at my expense. I talked about how I tried to do what Bruce did and make a big movie but I was an idiot because I tried to make the script better. This is a joke making fun of myself but they’ll turn it into, like, “Edward takes a dig at Marvel.” No, I’m taking a dig at myself at a roast. People have to grow up."

A Visual History of Hulk 36 IMAGES

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In an interview with The New York Times, Norton began by discussing his thoughts on why he appreciates films like 'Forrest Gump' or 'Rain Man', those that "create an emotional alignment between the audience and an underdog whom you root for not despite their affliction but because of it. There’s a positivity in that."This, Norton continues, is in opposition to "now when at a mass-market level so much of heroism is being defined by this high-fructose corn syrup IV line that’s about sitting back and people coming in and saving us."His comments made NYT's David Marchese wonder "if [Norton] starring in 'The Incredible Hulk' was bound to involve some friction with Marvel."Norton obviously never got the chance to see his version of a sequel happened, as he departed the MCU and Mark Ruffalo stepped in as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Marchese followed up on this, asking "Didn't [Feige] put out that statement about you?" Marchese finished the Marvel talk by saying it "may have had a good business plan, but what about its films? I want to like them more than I do." However, Norton would not dive into those murky waters.It was unfortunate that Norton didn't get another chance at the hulk, as we recently ranked his film 23/23 in our The Infinity Saga Ranked feature. However, there are those who believe it is an underrated film that deserves more love. Even though Norton left the MCU early on, he will always be part of one of the most ambitious and successful entertainment projects, one that saw Avengers: Endgame taking the record from James Cameron's Avatar for the highest-grossing movie ever. For more on The Incredible Hulk until we see him again in the MCU, be sure to check out some great comics including Marvel's Immortal Hulk, see who Marvel says is stronger between Hulk and The Thing, read on how Professor Hulk's Avengers: Endgame transformation was a comics callback, and see The Hulk in action in Marvel's The Avengers for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who could probably take The Hulk in a fight. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.