Quoted By:
Norton = Better Banner.
Ruffalo = Better Hulk.
People forget, but Norton’s casting was the thing that actually got people excited about another Hulk film. His movie very much took inspiration from the old tv show, and it felt like he was a modern evolution of Bill Bixby’s Banner. Determined, level headed, kind, but emotionally drained. There was a vulnerability to him that really made you feel like he had the weight of a monster on his shoulders, and the sort of frustration that comes from wanting to lose your temper but not being able to.
Ruffalo, while sweet and likable, felt more pathetic and weak. He was skittish and it sometimes seemed like he let everyone push him around. The only time I ever felt like he had a pulse was in the Hellicarrier argument scene in Avengers 1, where he raises his voice and the whole room goes on edge. Every other appearance after that he just moped about having to be a vessel for Hulk, and then in Endgame they skipped right over his inward journey and he was just a giant green version of his same nebbish self.
