In Episode 2, Jennifer is conflicted about accepting the position at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway Law Firm because she's given an ultimatum. She'll have a job with them if she agrees to take on the parole hearing of Emily Blonsky, but if she refuses, she's back on the job hunt that's already proved fruitless. Since Abomination tried to kill the Hulk, Jen has feelings about representing Blonsky. She calls Bruce to get his blessing (despite already making up her mind), and he tells her it's totally fine. Blonsky wrote Bruce a letter and a haiku many years ago, and the two men have since put their past behind them. "That fight was so many years ago; I'm a completely different person now ... literally," Bruce says to Jen. The joke is low-hanging fruit, but it works.
The one-liner is the only nod to the Ruffalo-Norton actor swap in the MCU, but it's not the first time a re-casting joke was snuck into the dialogue of a Marvel Studios film. Terrence Howard initially portrays James Rhodes in the first "Iron Man," but in "Iron Man 2" Don Cheadle plays Tony Stark's best friend. In "The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Kevin Feige revealed Cheadle's first line in the MCU was ad-libbed, with Rhodes joking in court, "Look, it's me. I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."
Fandral from the "Thor" films was also re-cast with Zachary Levi initially playing the warrior in the 2011 origin movie, to Josh Dallas portraying him in "Thor: The Dark World." Red Skull also underwent a swap as Hugo Weaving played the villain in "Captain America: The First Avenger" and Ross Marquand took over the duties in "Avengers: Endgame."
