Edward Norton might not officially be credited as a writer on “The Incredible Hulk,” but he had the power to rewrite the work of Zak Penn — the only credited screenwriter on the project. Penn said in “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” most of the changes he made didn’t really impact the plot but were minor: “I had him walking east down the street wearing a blue hat and now he’s walking west down the street wearing a red hat,” Penn says. “And I had named his downstairs neighbor Lorina, and he changed it to Malina or something.”
Despite the small changes, Penn seemed to have little problem with them, as scripts are rewritten all the time — even if Norton’s deal with Marvel was somewhat unorthodox. Ultimately, the film came out featuring Norton’s desired tweaks. However, he never returned to the role and was replaced by Mark Ruffalo in “The Avengers” due to alleged conflicts regarding his difficult nature while filming “The Incredible Hulk.”
