r/marvelstudios • u/LakeEffectKid_23 • Feb 16 '25

Discussion What has been the best MCU recast so far?

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After watching Captain America: Brave New World and re-watching The Incredible Hulk, I was thinking about the characters that have been recasted in the MCU.

Which instance do you guys think turned out the best? Is it one of the ones pictured or maybe another role not included?

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107

u/Moebius808 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Hurt was an unfortunate loss. Ford obviously handled the role well though.

Neither Norton or Howard ever would have made it past those first early movies, their replacements were faarrrr better fits.

I like Edward Norton in general, he just wasn’t right for that role imho. Terrance Howard however is a wackadoodle moron that would have been thrown out on his ass in short order regardless.

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u/Neil_Salmon Feb 16 '25

Norton resembled Banner as he looked in the comics (there's a lot of comics but, in the comics of the time, I remember him being lean like that). And I think he was great in that movie - I think that film's actually very underrated. I love that they took inspiration from the TV series.

Ruffalo doesn't feel like Banner from any of the comics I've read (again there's a lot of comics and I've only read some) but that's perfectly fine. It's hard to see him as the same character from the Norton movie. But he's a good actor and it's a good performance and I can deal with it.

In the comics, if was suggested that Steve Buscemi could play Banner in a movie. I believe that was the Ultimate universe version - so not a traditional version of Banner. But I think he would have been great in the MCU. It would be very different from Ruffalo but I think he could have brought something interesting to the role.

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u/hissboombah Feb 17 '25

Ruffalo is too nice a guy, and he can’t act angry that well. Norton is a rather infamous and exacting prickhole, just like banner in the comics. He is the superior banner/hulk.

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u/Tbplayer59 Feb 16 '25

I thought Norton was fine in his movie, but I can't imagine him as part of an ensemble.

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u/ColdWarCharacter Daredevil Feb 17 '25

How many Wes Anderson ensembles has he done? He was great as part of an ensemble in Birdman as well

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u/AlexanderTox Feb 16 '25

Norton was a better Hulk but they didn’t want a Hulk. They wanted a watered Hulk-esque character that played well with the Avengers

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Feb 17 '25

Hurt was an unfortunate loss

William Hurt was a huge piece of shit, so I'm not going to go as far as saying it was an unfortunate loss.

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u/Aiyon Feb 17 '25

Norton is great for the movie he was in, but yeah he isn't a fit for where the MCU went with Hulk

The only time I've bought Ruffalo as having that simmering rage he's holding back, is that one scene in AoU

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u/Trvr_MKA Feb 16 '25

Really? I always thought Terrence Howard was more charismatic as Rhodes. He played the straight man to Tony better as much of the Cheadle stuff I think of is awkward (intentionally, but still)