Some Love and Defense for "The Incredible Hulk"

It's an unfortunate truth, one that you can't really deny when you think about it: The Incredible Hulk feels like the "adopted stepchild" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

(Note: If you happen to be an adopted stepchild, your family loves you!)

There's nothing inherently wrong with the film. It's a good flick, and the Hulk came to life in a believable way. So why is it often left out of our minds when we think of CA: TFA, Thor, and the Iron Man Trilogy surrounding the Avengers?

I think there are a few main reasons. Some are more obvious than others, so let's get into those.

1. Ed Norton was recast

This is the most obvious reason that it feels so removed from The Avengers. Other movies have had characters recast, but this movie had the star of the film recast. And, to top it off, they completely changed how they animated the Hulk as well. So not only did Bruce Banner look completely different, the Hulk was completely different as well.

(Sidenote: I was originally upset when I heard they were changing the method of animating the Hulk. I liked TIH version and thought, "why fix what's not broken?" When I saw the Avengers, I accepted it because it looked so good. But it wasn't until re-watching TIH after seeing The Avengers that I realized that TIH looks silly in hindsight compared to The Avengers version.)

2. No supporting Hulk characters appear in The Avengers

From the Iron Man films, you've got Stark, Potts, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson.

From Thor, you've got Thor, Loki, Coulson, and Selvig. Jane Foster appears in a photo and is mentioned.

Captain America didn't have any of his supporting cast, but that was because he's supposed to feel out of place, and obviously the 70 years would kill a lot of them. Even so, there was a deleted scene where he is going through files of his old acquaintances and sees that Peggy Carter is still alive.

Still, without any of his cast back, you've still got the Stark connection. Cap knew Howard and Tony is Howard's son, so Stark and Cap sort of already have this odd relationship established, and Stark is comparing him to how Howard described him.

Aside from cast, you've got the Tesseract playing a major role in The Avengers, after being introduced and focused on in CA:TFA.

With the Hulk, however, no supporting cast is seen or mentioned. General Ross isn't around. Betty Ross isn't acknowledged (if you include Cap's deleted scene, she is the only love interest left out). Samuel Sterns/The Leader and Dr. Leonard Samson/Doc Samson are both left behind and get no more development. Rick Jones, who was teased in TIH has yet to be seen on screen.

Now, if you're trying to find a fault with this argument, you will say that Stark appeared in TIH in the last scene, and he was teased throughout the film with his sonic cannons, and SHIELD was teased throughout as well, and the super soldier serum was a direct reference to Captain America, but those things didn't have any great focus, and were so small and unnoticed by so many that it's just not enough.

Fun Fact: The university that Betty Ross works at featured in TIH, Culver University, is the same university that Jane Foster comes from in Thor. Most people miss that connection.

3. The 2003 Hulk film

When The Incredible Hulk came out in 2008, it was officially a "reboot" of the 2003 film. However, the studios recognized that many people had already seen the 2003 film, so they didn't feel the need to re-tell the origin (aside from a brief montage at the beginning of the film). They started a few years into his life as the Hulk. This made it feel more like an unofficial sequel than a reboot, even though Marvel tried distancing itself from the previous movie.

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe developed, and many people mentioned The Incredible Hulk as one of the first films, lots of questions were asked like "wasn't there another Hulk movie before that?" which led into explaining about reboots, studios, blah blah blah. Point is, people still mentally connect the 2008 film with the 2003 film because many of the characters are the same. Bruce Banner/Hulk, Betty Ross, General Ross, the vague concept of "the military." It feels much more connected to that than The Avengers.

4.The Bill Bixby TV Series

In contrast of trying to distance itself from the 2003 film, the 2008 film embraces the old TV series from the 70s like a long lost son, and tries to reach out to viewers of that generation by referencing the show throughout the whole movie. I didn't watch much of the show, but even I caught plenty of them.

Bill Bixby's post-humous cameo, Lou Ferrigno's appearance and voicing of Hulk (also similar to the 2003 film), the musical theme of the show playing as part of the score, the use of the name "David Banner," the machine/experiment that caused the initial transformation, the green eyes signaling the start of the transformation. This movie tries so hard to connect back to the old TV shows, and the other movies in the MCU don't put nearly as much effort into doing the same for this movie.

5. The lack of a sequel

Iron Man just completed his trilogy. Thor has a sequel coming out later this year. Captain America will have his sequel next year, and Black Widow will be accompanying him, in her third film of the franchise.

After that, Guardians of the Galaxy starts the wave of new heroes and characters coming to the universe. That is, of course, aside from the TV show that starts this fall.

Then, in 2015, we get the Avengers sequel, and the Ant-Man starts Phase 3.

Where's the Hulk in all of this? He's got no sequel on the way, and the new TV show that was being planned for him has gone nowhere. It's assumed that he'll return for Avengers 2, but the focus has definitely been taken off of him and is raining down on the other heroes.

In Conclusion

The Incredible Hulk may not tie in as nicely to The Avengers as the rest of the MCU films do, but it's still a really good movie. You believe Banner's genius, you get to see him fight Abomination, you get a funny Stan Lee cameo, and its just fun to watch. I hate Liv Tyler's performance, Doc Samson is a complete wasted, and Sterns gets cheated out of becoming the Leader, but overall its a really good movie. And if you haven't seen it yet, or haven't seen it since The Avengers, give it a chance.

And don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

20,486 views!