Edward Norton pushed for a more serious and grounded Hulk movie.
He was so into The Incredible Hulk that he rewrote and reworked many parts of the script.
He basically made Hulk what he was all along: badass and powerful.
Marvel didn’t like how much control he wanted.
Norton said:
“I laid out a two-film thing: The origin and then the idea of Hulk as the conscious dreamer, the guy who can handle the trip.
“And they were like, ‘That’s what we want!’ As it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted. But I had a great time doing it."