In the tender beginnings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Edward Norton embodied the incredible Hulk for one film. To this day, the flopped Hulk solo film is the unloved stepchild of the MCU family. All other appearances of the green giant were taken over by Mark Ruffalo. the Recruitment was never an issue within the film series. This could change soon.
The new Marvel series She-Hulk: The Lawyer Who Killed The Incredible Hulk Villains Abomination starts August 17th on Disney+ after a cameo in Shang-Chi back into canon brings. But how will the MCU handle the possibility of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) meeting a Bruce Banner who looks completely different from the last encounter?
The MCU spent 14 years trying to forget The Incredible Hulk
Granted: the Hulk certainly is not the first recast within the MCU. So far we’ve seen two versions of Rhodey and the Asgard warrior Fandral. And Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie will soon be played by the third actress. But aside from the cast reshuffle, the first Hulk movie presented other difficulties for Marvel.
Watch the first trailer for the new Marvel series She-Hulk:
She-Hulk: The Lawyer – S01 Trailer (German) HD
The relationship status between The Incredible Hulk and the MCU is “It’s Complicated”. Since 14 years Marvel doesn’t make a big effort to integrate the film organically into the otherwise homogeneous Marvel Cinematic Universe. To this day, the film seems alien and even its post-credits scene (Iron Man wants to assemble a team) didn’t make much sense in hindsight.
Aside from minor MCU appearances by William Hurt’s character General Ross and a brief mention of the Harlem incident, the Hulk film played no part in the MCU. The surprise was all the greater in the past year. Emil Blonsky aka Abomination returned in Shang-Chi. What’s more, even Hulk’s ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (but not voiced by Liv Tyler) made a comeback in the animated series What If…?.
the Incredible Hulk Renaissance seems within reach. And the She-Hulk series is the best place for it. After all, the new Marvel lawyer comedy is said to play a lot with meta-humor and could our Hulk confusion finally come to an end after 14 years in a creative way put. And the timing couldn’t be better.
Why now is the perfect time to settle the Hulk issue once and for all
The MCU is currently in a particularly exciting phase phase of ultimate networking of film worlds thanks to the multiverse. A frantic subsequent integration of the Edward Norton Hulk adventure into the MCU canon is therefore not necessary. The Incredible Hulk could just be from a parallel world of the multiverse and all logic problems would be solved.
© Concorde Film Distribution / Disney
Two Hulks, one movie universe
Using the multiverse have already been previously strictly separate film universes (of other studios) linked together. Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Tom Holland meet his predecessors Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. And Doctor Strange 2 connected the narrative worlds of MCU, Fantastic Four and X-Men in passing.
So why doesn’t Marvel use this tool for The Incredible Hulk? The slightly modified design of the new MCU subscription and the confirmation that Betty Ross also exists in another universe (in What If) already paves the way after 14 years complete with the Edward Norton chapter and to get all open questions out of the way.
Whether the MCU really addresses its most prominent new cast or how, for example, the Fantastic Beasts franchise continues to choose the path of absolute ignorance will be from August 17th find out when She-Hulk launches on Disney+. And who knows: maybe the MCU will surprise us with one more multiversal cameo by Edward Norton.
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Do you think the MCU will make peace with The Incredible Hulk yet?