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Big news: Edward Norton will no longer play Bruce Banner a.k.a. the Hulk in 2012’s The Avengers. Dun dun dun. According to Mavel Studios, the reason is not financial. Instead Kevin Fergie, Marvel’s president of production, says Norton doesn’t play well with others. That didn’t make anyone at Team Edward particularly happy.

A rep for Norton immediately responded claiming Fergie’s comments as blasphemy. He claimed that Norton met with director Joss Whedon to return as the Hulk and things seemed to have gone well. However, last Friday, they told Mr. Norton that they were going in a different direction and began slandering the actor’s reputation.

In 2008, there was some talk over Norton and the studio’s disagreements over the final product of The Incredible Hulk, which leads me to believe that there may still be some built up anger toward the actor.

I’ve heard Norton likes a heavy hand in most of his pictures, but look at the results. Not only has he had career defining roles in Fight Club, American History X, and 25th Hour, but he also saved the Hulk name taking it away from Eric Bana and Ang Lee. (Wow 2003’s Hulk was awful.) And while Marvel may still have some hurt feelings, Norton made 2008’s version much easier on the eyes, with a good story to boot.

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I would love for Norton to be a part of The Avengers. There are two reasons for this. One, I think he is an exceptional actor who tends to pick and chose his roles with integrity. The fact that he did The Incredible Hulk was a very welcomed surprise for me, and he did it justice. Two, it’s unfair to the audience to switch out an actor out in the middle of a series. (Was it really necessary to replace Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dark Knight?) Marvel has been trying to create their own universe by hinting at external characters and plot lines within each of their movies., but balking at one seems like a betrayal to the investment we all made. This Marvel universe was a great idea, but if I’m going to keep my end of the bargain by seeing all the films, I want them to keep theirs too by delivering the same characters/actors throughout this whole ordeal.

Norton may like control, but having seen him play opposite Deniro, Wahlberg, and Pitt, I’m pretty sure he would have been able to do the studio, the rest of the cast, and most importantly the film, justice.