Edward Norton walked away from the role of the Hulk because he didn’t want to commit to ‘The Avengers’ franchise.
The actor starred as Bruce Banner in the 2008 movie ‘The Incredible Hulk’, but subsequently left the Marvel films as he feared for his work-life balance.
Norton, 45, told National Public Radio: "My feeling was that I experimented and experienced what I wanted to. I really, really enjoyed it.
"And yet I looked at the balance of time in life that one spends not only making those sorts of films, but then especially putting them out and obligations that rightly come with that. And there were just a lot of things that… I wanted more diversity. I sort of chose to continue on my path of having a diversity of experiences."
Norton – who’s also starred in ‘American History X’ and ‘Fight Club’ – admitted he was concerned about being too strongly associated with the Marvel character.
He continued: "Maybe on some unconscious level, I didn’t want to have an association with one thing in any way degrade my effectiveness as an actor in characters. I think you can sort of do anything once, but if you do it too many times it can become a suit that’s hard to take off in other people’s eyes."
Norton has been replaced in the role of Banner/Hulk by Mark Ruffalo, 46.
Edward Norton explains Hulk decision
