Former Incredible Hulk Actor Edward Norton Open To Return To MCU As Villain

Edward Norton’s history with Marvel continues to be an absolute roller coaster. First, he was the lead actor in The Incredible Hulk, a movie canon to the largest cinematic franchise in history now known as the MCU. He was then recast before The Avengers brought Marvel heroes together for the first time and would go on to appear a bit bitter towards comic book movies in the years which followed. Jabs from Norton would come and go then be somewhat walked back. He would also star in Birdman, a movie essentially about an actor who hates big franchise movies starring in a big franchise movie, alongside several cast members who had appeared in big franchise movies based on comic book characters. Now, Norton is saying he is open to a return to a Marvel movie, in the odd event that the studio would have him back to play a different character in the same universe.

“Maybe as a baddie? Maybe I’ll write my own,” Norton told TotalFilm magazine (via GamesRadar). “I don’t know, I’m open to everything. I mean, I did Ask the StoryBots on Netflix.”

The notion is perplexing, considering Norton does seem to have his own quarrels with 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. “The Hulk was… I felt sad that what [director] Louis [Leterrier] and I set out to do, in terms of taking more of a Chris Nolan approach to making something that was a little more dark and serious, they ended up sort of neutering,” Norton said. “I wanted to make a big CGI movie and learn and see stuff. I grew up on the Hulk, I loved it. And actually people really liked the movie. You know, kids love the movie. It’s another one of those things: the amount of noise that people whip up around it. It’s so silly. I couldn’t be more happy to have been part of that whole tradition.”

Norton, however, believes that exiting the role of the Hulk opened other doors for him — which might be why he is interested in a villain role as it could be another one-time character in his career. “When it was like, ‘OK, that’s not what you guys are into doing?’ To me, it just becomes a pure thing of time and life,” Norton said. “You can’t do everything, and I wouldn’t have made Birdman and Grand Budapest, and I definitely wouldn’t have made [Motherless Brooklyn] if that [franchise] was filling up my time. It’s silly to manufacture negativity when it isn’t there. You know, I loved being a part of it, and I think [Marvel] achieved everything they wanted to achieve. So God bless.”

Do you think there is a way to bring Edward Norton back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Would you want to see him play a part there after he was the Hulk? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram or Twitter.