We’re now onto film #2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe! As Nick Fury said in the end of Iron Man, Tony wasn’t the only superhero in the world, and this week we take a look at The Incredible Hulk!
Plot
After a lab accident involving gamma radiation, Bruce Banner (played by Edward Norton) has a monster living inside of him; a being of limitless power known as the Hulk. After the accident, Bruce flees the country and goes into hiding from the military that wants nothing more than to turn the Hulk into a weapon. While in hiding, Bruce collaborates with a scientist dubbed Mr. Blue in search of a way to rid himself of the Hulk for good.
Villain
There are two main villains in The Incredible Hulk. The primary villain that Hulk faces off against is a military soldier by the name of Emil Blonsky (played by Tim Roth). Blonsky isn’t getting any younger but still has that fighting instinct in him. Refusing to rank up and “leave the trenches,” Blonsky takes part in an old “super soldier” experiment (more on that in Captain America). That with a mix of the radiation that turned Banner into Hulk, Blonsky becomes Abomination. This makes the “villain is just an evil version of the hero” count to two! Abomination is a somewhat bland villain at first glance but if you dig deeper he’s actually a pretty relatable character. He’s someone that’s scared of his own mortality. He wasn’t really evil until he poisoned his mind with radiation.
The secondary antagonist is General “Thunder” Ross (played by William Hurt) who is partially responsible for the Hulk’s creation. He’s also the one leading the charge in the military’s attempts to bring Bruce in and turn the Hulk into a weapon against their enemies. He doesn’t have any big flashy fight scenes like Abomination does, but he is integral to Hulk’s origin.
Best Scene
The best scene in The Incredible Hulk is undoubtedly the final fight between Hulk and Abomination in New York. Hulk gets to do what he does best: smash, and it is glorious. The fight just gets progressively more intense and its considerably more violent than any of the action in Iron Man. It’s also the best showcase of Hulk’s abilities. He falls thousands of feet smashing into cement and brushes it off like it’s nothing. He manages to extinguish a massive explosion by CLAPPING. Then finally, he yells his iconic line “HULK SMASH!!!” and causes a massive tremor that ultimately leads to Abomination’s defeat. You expect the final showdown in a movie to be its best and The Incredible Hulk definitely doesn’t disappoint in that regard.
Stan Lee Cameo
This cameo happens very early in the film. While hiding in Brazil, Bruce works at a soda factory. Bruce cuts his finger and unknowingly spills a drop of his gamma radiated blood into one of the bottles that’s about to be shipped. A few scenes later we hear from one of General Ross’s soldiers that someone died from gamma poisoning via a soda he had consumed. The victim? None other than poor Stan Lee of course!
BONUS CAMEO
It would be wrong of me to write about cameos and not mention Lou Ferrigno’s cameo! Bruce disguises himself as a pizza man and tries to sneak into his old lab and obtain his gamma experiment data, but he’s stopped by the hulking security guard played by Lou Ferrigno. Ferrigno stops Bruce, but Bruce is able to win Ferrigno over with free pizza. It’s an amusing scene for anyone that knows of or was a fan of the old Hulk TV show.
Post Credits Scene
This is actually the first MCU post credits scene I saw and that’s mostly because this played almost immediately after the actual movie was over. General Ross is at a bar drinking his sorrows away after Bruce managed to escape yet again. After downing his drinks like they’re water, none other than Tony Stark himself walks in basically saying “I told you so” about using the super soldier serum in the military. Tony says he’s able to help Ross with his Hulk problem because he’s “putting a team together.” Step by step we are getting closer to the Avengers assembling!
Final Thoughts
For whatever reason when people rank the MCU movies, The Incredible Hulk almost always ends up being considered one of the worst. I just don’t understand the reasoning why. It’s definitely not the best MCU movie but in no way is it one of the worst. I appreciate how The Incredible Hulk essentially skips the part in all origin movies where the hero gets their powers. The Incredible Hulk shows the origination of Bruce’s powers throughout the intro credits. Short and sweet, and it gives the film more freedom to differentiate itself from every other origin movie. The film has great action sequences and gives good fan service to those that grew up loving the Hulk. If anything, I think we can all agree that The Incredible Hulk was infinitely better than that abomination of a film that was Ang Lee’s “Hulk.”
The Magical World of Dids 