Given how quickly (and thoroughly) the Marvel Cinematic Universe dispensed with Edward Norton’s take on tortured scientist-turned-big-green-rage-monster Bruce Banner, it probably behooves us to do the same as we make our way through the franchise’s past. So instead, let’s focus on the real contribution Louis Leterrier’s modest 2008 also-ran (and MCU sophomore effort) Incredible Hulk made to the overall structure of its parent universe: the codification of the vaunted post-credits scene as a way to say “Enough about those jerks; let’s build up hype for the next big thing coming down the line.”
Iron Man had, of course, already indulged in this particular tactic a month earlier. (Though it’s a little weird that Nick Fury refers to the “Avenger” initiative, singular, in his ominous little ending speech, right?) But it’s Tony Stark’s layover in Hulk town that sets the bladder-straining pattern for the next 19 movies to come, each ending with one—and sometimes even two—bits of ominous foreshadowing or character comedy, there to delight anybody willing to stick it out in their seats (or wait for the inevitable YouTube rip).
Hulk’s scene has all the hallmarks of post-credits success: a slow-burn introduction, a sudden appearance by a fancy guest star who hadn’t showed up in the movie until that point, and a whole bunch of pointedly vague dialogue about “teams” and “suits.” (It’s still too early for there to be any heavy-handed conversations about brightly colored, implausibly omnipotent rocks, but hey, give ’em a minute: We’re only two movies in at this point.) On paper, it’s almost painfully simple: The film’s secondary antagonist, General Ross (William Hurt), is drinking his sorrows away in a bar. Tony Stark shows up. They banter. That’s really it.
What’s fascinating about the Hulk scene, then, is how thoroughly it accomplishes its goals, despite the fact that nothing that happens in it actually matters, or even makes a lick of sense. Despite Stark’s offer of implied recruitment, Thunderbolt Ross wouldn’t show up in the MCU again until Captain America: Civil War, eight years and 11 films later—by which point Hurt was essentially playing an entirely different character, far removed from the cartoonish Javert chasing Norton’s Hulk around. Even Tony’s status as an ostensible Avenger(s?) recruiter is mostly baffling, in light of his distance from the project at the start of Iron Man 2.
But none of that matters because, well, Iron Man was in the Hulk movie, damn it! Way back in 2008, a shared cinematic universe was still an ambitious, weird, and above-all-else risky prospect for a major studio to embark upon. By talking Robert Downey Jr.—effortlessly cool, as ever—into spending an afternoon filming in some fake bar set opposite William Hurt, Marvel Studios suddenly made the long-imagined dream of creating a big cinematic playground for all its character to run around in a reality. And the MCU post-credits sequences would continue to serve this same function for a decade-plus to come, acting as the connective tissue for an entire expanded universe, and never letting audiences forget that they were only viewing a zoomed-in part of a bigger, much wider whole. In 2019, these now-mandatory little mini-films are de rigueur, even a little hokey. But they also put the “universe” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something that started all the way back here with Hulk. Its star might have been discarded, its plot beats ignored. But this one small part of the MCU’s mostly forgotten second son lives on.
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Maybe the real Hulk is the post-credits sequence we made along the way……
Comically oversized hand prints in the sand
When you see one set of footprintsThat is where puny human had to walk while Hulk jump 3 miles ahead.
It turns out the Hulk was inside of us all along.Hot.
“If you can’t handle me as the Hulk, you don’t deserve me as Tony Stark.”
14 year old girls:
Is General Ross drinking double shots of Chartreuse?
I like to think it’s an apple-tini on the rocks
Nah it’s that Hulk blood infected soda from the beginning of the movie which is actually changing Ross’s DNA setting us up for Red Hulk in Phase 4.
I would very much like that
That’s a court martial-able offense for Army brass.
Easy on the ‘tini.
Creme de Menthe and soda. It’s what all the military brass drink.
He’s actually drinking a cocktail CALLED “the Incredible Hulk.”2 ounces Hpnotiq original 2 ounces cognac Ice InstructionsFill a lowball glass with ice and add cognac. Pour Hpnotiq over ice, and the color will transform to green.
I love William Hurt, but man is he chewing the scenery here
I really wish they had kept Sam Elliot around. He was perfect as Thunderbolt Ross.
Is it bad that I read your comment with Chris Elliot, and then really wanted to see that movie?
Agreed. He nailed the moustache.
Thunderbolt is one of those characters like J. Jonah Jameson – sometimes a stand-up guy, but usually a villainous buffoon (or buffoonish villain). Elliot was perfect for the principled military man; Hurt was good as the hypocritical shitty dad.
I think that was the direction he was given all throughout that film. “Bill, we need less from you. You’re still coming across as a recognisable human being.”
“Bill it’s a COMIC BOOK MOVIE. More teeth-gnashing! More scenery chewing. More MORE, if you will!”
Wow. I actually like these films. I even call them films, that’s how much I like them. But I’ve never seen that scene before. Huh.Neat. This is a solid moment, AV Club.
I know the official line ‘The TV shows aren’t part of the MCU’ even if the MCU is part of the TV universe) but I think of them as an expansion pack which you can take or leave. I definitely vote for take as they do flesh out a lot of connective tissue during the films and also add on a lot of very worthwhile admissions.For starters, I’m still staggered as to how good Agents of SHIELD ended up being. Just finished watching 4722 Hours again for the first time since I saw it (Season 3 episode 5) and it’s probably one of the best hours of TV I’ve ever seen. Also, the overall additions to the Hydra mythos were really, really good.Sure, the Red Skull being the founder of Hydra is fine – and made all the more poignant by a much older wiser one on Vormir (also Loki’s final meeting with Thanos where he realises that all his schemes have lead to this) are some great character work and I think Agents of SHIELD did a comparable thing with Hive – whose arc was my favourite villain arc out of all of the Marvel films and shows – and that final ending on the Quinjet was definitely my favourite cap to any character out of them all as in his own strange way, he really was trying to make the world a better place and he sincerely believed that. I guess it’s the same with Thanos.I guess the TL;DR is that the TV shows did add to the connections between the movies – if you want them too.I also like that while Captain America 3: Civil War was basically the Avengers fighting among themselves over an administrative matter, at the same time the Agents of SHIELD were fighting to save the world from an existential threat to life on Earth itself.
I hear Ed Norton and Terrence Howard are setting up their own superhero cinematic universe, with blackjack and hookers.
In fact, forget the superhero cinematic universe!
Ill make my own comment, but with blackjack and hookers! Ya know what, forget the blackjack!
Add a one and 2 zeros to that, and you’ve got yourself a deal.
You know what, screw the whole thing.
I know Don Cheadle is a straight upgrade to Terrence Howard, but I rewatched Iron Man last night and I definitely buy Terrence Howard more in the role of “guy who would be friends with Tony Stark and put up with his shit.”
That is a really good point. Howard was passive enough to take Tony’s arrogance waiting for the brilliance.On the other hand, I buy Cheadle as someone Tony would see as an equal and listen to. Howard had to eat a lot of shit in IM1. Cheadle took no shit in IM2, and hasn’t since.It could be they just made the character less passive when they recast him. Or they gave him a backbone (too soon?) after Bridges was done.
“Yes! Yes, this is Tony Stank. You’re in the right place. Thank you for that!” My favorite Cheadle scene. “Never dropping that, by the way. Table for one, mister Stank!”
My favorite one isn’t really happy at all, but probably the most frighting and incredible for being so raw.
That whole scene in Civil War where he’s just falling to the earth, suddenly that invincible Iron Suit is just a metallic coffin and you can hear the fear in his breaths….that part was haunting.
All the other actors got their roles by acting heroic and powerful, Cheadle won his by showing fragility in such a fantastic universe.
I respect your choice and you are not wrong. I also like how it mirrors Tony’s fall after icing up in the first Iron Man movie, and also the scene at the end of Captain Marvel where she’s falling before she realizes she can fly. That struggling in the air as you fall is something that strikes some instinctive fear in each of us.
Is that why they keep coming back to that moment? That’s pretty cool, a scene that’s symbolizing these mortal men falling from the heavens like a god about to embrace their guardianship role, but also relating their vulnerability to the audience to make the moment relateable.
I can dig it.
Damnit. Now I’m going to have two write a syllabus and make a recommendation to the department head for a new survey class.
Now that I think about it, there’s a lot of falling in the MCU, isn’t there? And Tony Stark is the only one that worked out. Vision accidentally shooting down War Machine. Loki dropping away from Thor’s grasp. Spider-Man falling back toward earth. Gamora pushed off a cliff. Bucky losing his grasp on the side of a moving train. I’m sure there are others.
I don’t get the backbone joke/reference. Anyone care to enlighten this poor soul?
When Vision shot Iron Patriot out of the sky in Civil War.
Ha, yeah, that’s my take as well.
They should have just kept Howard as War Machine and brought in Cheadle as Captain Planet.
He was going to be War Machine and make money for 10 years but then he got greedy and fired.
He would have gotten a War Machine movie made for sure, Don Cheadle doesn’t have the same charisma even if he’s 100x better actor.
If I recall, Howard was paid as much (or more?) than RDJ for Iron Man, since he was hot off his Oscar win and Downey was hot off…uh, a few arrests and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And he was a nightmare on set and asked for more money for IM2.
More money AND he demanded to do the music for Iron Man 2. Likewise, for The Avengers, Norton was demanding higher pay than Downey AND demanding to write the script.
Well, Norton was within his right at the time to demand higher pay but I think writing the script pushed it over the edge. Barring the CGI effects, I thought ‘The Incredible Hulk’ was good character driven film and a charming homage to the Bill Bixby TV series but Mark Ruffalo’s grown on me.
It’s the same thing that just got Ezra Miller kicked out of the DCEU, after all.
Wait, what? Last I read (and admittedly I’m not a DC guy) he was writing the script or something?
Within his rights, yes.
A good idea, no.
Incredible Hulk barely made back its budget & faced mixed reviews, while Iron Man slayed both critically & commercially. Norton was making a power play from a position where he really didn’t have any power.
I’m just saying Ed Norton was far more bankable than RDJ and thus had more bargaining leverage for salary at the time before the studios realized that RDJ was essentially the face of the MCU.
Howard wasn’t asking for more money, he refused a pay cut. He was the highest paid actor in IM1 and they wanted to take his pay down to be in line with being a supporting character and he refused.Norton wasn’t demanding to write the entire script. He rewrote the original script for Incredible Hulk and wanted to be able to have input into how the script would go for Avengers in a similar vein. He was refused.
As I understand it, Norton is notorious for insisting on script control…hence why you don’t see Ed Norton in a lot of things these days.
It is interesting that he’s been giving terrific, relaxed performances in hyper-controlled Wes Anderson films. Game recognize game, I guess.
Donto get me wrong, I like Cheadle better too overall, but I TOO thought Howard was a much better and believable (as you stated) character to put up with Tony!
I don’t know about that one. At the time I feel like Don didn’t fit. He definitely didn’t have the look of comic book Rhodes like Howard did. as for the demands seems a bit questionable that every character change was due to someone supposedly being a prick and asking for more money (seems to be the Hollywood cop out to me).
Completely disagree. Cheedle gets that across much better, plus he seems more like the kind of guy who’d hang our with Tony to begin with. Howard’s Rhodey was way too uptight to be friends with someone like Tony.
That does jibe with Terrence Howard’s acting technique of “always look like you are on the verge of crying.” Tony hurt his feelings! Also handy for Marvel that Howard’s financial demands meant they kicked him to the curb long ago, it would have been a lot messier trying to replace him if we were a couple movies deep and they started catching shit for employing a wife-beater.
I know what you mean, but keep in mind that Howard went through the process of auditioning for that role.
My problem with Cheadle was that his demeanor was just so much different that him being the replacement showed.
I’m glad he changed it up to make it his own, he’s far more comfortable and not just sounding like he was reading off a prompter.
So do I, Cheese.
I know Terrance Howard can be something of an asshole, and there are rumors he and Downey didn’t get on off-camera – which would have turned into a serious issue given Robert Downey, Jr. has been essentially the glue that holds the MCU together so far(!). So the studio claimed “He wants too much money” and replaced him with Don Cheadle.Sounds a bit like what happened on NYPD BLUE – Caruso’s agent asked for a raise (not inconceivable given the first season’s popularity) and Caruso was promptly told he was leaving six episodes into the next season! What it seems later came out was the salary demand was only a pretext for David Milch and Dennis Franz finding him hard to work with – while Franz wouldn’t throw his weight around and cost another actor a job, Milch had no such qualms.
Cheadle is really too small and puny to play the character, IMHO.
Yeah, their superhero names team up will be Hustle & Flow.
Hard out here for a gimp.
I heard that Orville/Trek reference you nerd.
Marvel has announced that Ed Norton and Terrence Howard are being recast as The GIANT Ego & The Prowler-Mayne.
On a related note, I do find it funny that two can’t seem to catch a break.
I haven’t seen Norton do anything major since the Roast of Bruce Willis.
And Howard has a Smollet thing at the moment.
Is that the one where Deadpool finally forms a successful X-Force? One that doesn’t mostly die horribly on their way to their first mission…?
You need to see the Marvel One-Shot “The Consultant” in order for the Hulk end credits scene to make sense. Specifically, Stark was there in his role as consultant (which isn’t codified until the end of Iron Man 2) to negotiate for The Abomination to become an Avenger. Or, that’s what he thinks he’s doing. He’s actually sent to escalate the situation and unknowingly sabotage the deal into impossibility.
The post credits scene is honestly the only part of this movie that anyone needs to see. Especially since Mark Ruffalo absolutely blows both previous hulk iterations out of the water
They should’ve just casted him in the first place.
Yup. Same with Don Cheadle and War Machine.
For a guy who says he’s “always angry” he never really seems that mad.
Well thats all the pot
My head-canon has been that Ruffalo took over for Bill Bixby, and there were no Hulk movies. Trust me, it’s the best take. For starters, the hair is more consistent.
Personally I thought Norton did a better job, even though I didn’t care for the movies overall. But I think Ruffalo has had amazing chemistry with the rest of the cast and don’t know if Norton would have fit in as well.
Tim Roth. Tim. Fucking. Roth.Sorry that you’re wrong. But you’re wrong.
Tim Roth never played the Hulk?
“the only part of this movie anyone needs to see”Roth as Blonsky is crazy good fun and deserves to be seen.
Oh yea. NM. I agree.
And of course, they ruined the surprise in the TV ads because why let it actually have the effect it was intended to have?A bit later they actually went to the trouble of creating a short that smoothed over the continuity issues: Tony was actually being sent in to fail to get Ross’ help recruiting Abomination, who the WSC wanted rather than Hulk so Fury screwed them over like this.It’s kind of hilariously poignant how between this film and Fan4stic, Tim Blake Nelson has been screwed out of a recurring Marvel villain role twice.
I have hope they’ll bring him back. I could see The Leader and Armin Zola stuck in the Internet secretly pulling some strings to make a supervillain version of the Avengers.
That would be awesome. Tim Blake Nelson is too good to piss away, and The Leader is right in that crazy ass wheelhouse Marvel likes to play in.
I was hoping AoS would be able to use the Leader. That would have been intriguing.
Well, he has the Watchmen TV show now.
Poor Hulk. It’s a shame he’s become the green headed stepchild of the MCU. Mark Ruffalo deserves his own Hulk movie.
AFAIK, Hulk is owned by Universal. He can appear in everyone else’s movies, but MCU can’t do a Hulk movie.
Hulk’s distribution rights are owned by Universal.
Hulk’s distribution rights are still owned by Universal. So if Marvel Studios make a Hulk movie they would be forced to have Universal as their distributors.That is why they’d rather just put Hulk in other people’s movies.
idk. Thought it was for the parks.
idk. Thought it was for the parks.
Technically the MCU could produce a Hulk movie whenever they wanted. They’d just have to offer Universal first-look rights in regard to distributing it.
Its true. They use the Hulk solely to show how big a threat the villain is. He really hasn’t done much heroing since leaving around in the first Avengers. He beat up a dog is the next thing that comes to mind.On the actor front: I can see that Norton wouldn’t want to stick around. You are playing second fiddle to a computer generation. Norton is notoriously far too actor-y and intense to enjoy that. Ruffalo is a great actor and very charming…. But Norton is the better actor. I like that they sort of leaned into the “second fiddle” issue with Ruffalo occasionally griping about just being around because of the Other Guy
They got rid of Norton because he was a pain in the ass to work with.
“…but when do I ever get what I want?”
You’re forgetting Age of Ultron.
Norton was let go because he was a total pain in the ass to work with. To quote Tony Stark, “a full-tilt diva”. And he may or may not be the better actor, but Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner blows Norton’s to smithereens.
There’s also Norton’s well-known penchant for wanting his hands in the script and vision of any movie he’s in. Another amazing part of the MCU is that besides a few outliers (Howard, Norton), everyone checked their egos at the door and let this whole plan play out.
MARVEL were the ones to drop Norton…It had nothing to do with Norton not wanting to stick around…..its been massively widely talked about how Marvel and Norton were fighting over the final cut of the film and Marvel made the decision not to work with him after that….
I just watched a report on that very incident and characterizes the situation the exact opposite.
Ed Norton has too much of an ego to really work in an ensemble cast.
If you want to see Norton as an actor, go watch “Birdman.” He’s the balls in that one.
Hold on there skipper, I like Norton as an actor, and I like many of his movies. However, calling him the better actor for that role is just being delusional. He had the same top billing opportunity as RDJ to convince people he was Bruce Banner, and regardless of behind the scene issues and concerns, people were not falling for him like they did for Tony Stark, and you never heard any praise for his performance other than average or “meh”.
But Ruffalo? Everyone agreed that in his premiere, he nearly stole the movie and people were gushing at his performance.
If in fifteen minutes of screen time you accomplished more than the egotistical control freak that had over an hour, you are the better Bruce Banner.
What are you talking about? We’ve had two great Ruffalo Hulk movies: Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok.
I believe the original title for the Avengers was The Incredible Hulk and his puny friends.
BUT, Ruffalo wasnt on his own!
“He’s a friend from work!”
The problem is Universal holds the rights to solo Hulk movies, so it makes sense for Marvel to just use him as a supporting character to take 100% of the cut, which is also I feel the perfect way to use him. I feel both Hulk movies OD’d on too much moping (Lee’s film) or too much non-stirring Hulk Smash (this one).
Just to be specific: Universal holds the distribution rights to a potential solo Hulk film. Marvel has the production rights. Marvel could make a Hulk film all on their own, but Universal would get to distribute the film rather than Disney, and that’s where Disney would need to give Universal a cut. But, by having the production rights, Marvel can make any movie it wants with the Hulk as long as it’s not an actual Hulk movie and not need Universal for distribution.(You’re basically correct, but it’s kind of an important distinction; if Universal held all rights to a Hulk film – production and distribution – Marvel would still have needed to cut them in just to make the Avengers films and Ragnarok.)
Co-signed on this. I think maybe the top brass at Marvel was thinking about how to do a Hulk movie until they saw how perfectly Whedon used him in Avengers – which is to say, sparingly, and to greater effect for that.
Always best in small doses. To make a wrestling analogy, Hulk is best as the big guy in a tag team who gets the hot tag at the end of the match and cleans house
Plus, typically any fight is over the second the Hulk shows up, which is pretty tricky to build a whole movie around.
“Bullshit.” – Thanos
Maybe, but a small % of something is better than 0% of nothing
Yes it makes so much sense for Marvel not to make solo Hulk films because they wouldn’t get 100% of the billion dollars it would make…..Universal only has the DISTRIBUTION rights OPTION….If Universal said no we don’t want to distribute that Disney could do it on their own…..Marvel made ZERO dollars on Spider-man Homecoming and is going to make ZERO dollars on Spider-man Far From Home, yet has ZERO problems working with Sony
Universal does not hold the rights to make Hulk movies. They have right of first refusal to distribute. Disney can make a Hulk movie at any time with no permission needed, but they would have to use Universal as distributor which would cut into their profits, and they don’t want to share.
It’s hard to make a Hulk movie; it’s one of the few characters where the entire goal of the main character is to NOT become the superhero version.
I know, which is ironic because that’s what makes the character so interesting.
Right but it’s hard to make a compelling movie off that premise, which is a major reason it hasn’t been done well yet, period.
“Mark Ruffalo deserves his own Hulk movie.”Yes but they need to make it a genre film in the same way Logan did. Green Hulk and Banner just aren’t great as standalone characters, they need someone like Thor to play off of so something needs to change there.
I say they should do a Detective Noir movie starring Mr. Fixit taking place in either Chicago or Vegas. This would allow them to scale back Hulk’s power so they won’t have to use other Gamma beasts or Thanos level antagonists and can give him better dialogue options than the two word standard of “Hulk SMASH!” or “Puny god” and Mr. Fixit has enough personality to carry a two hour film unlike Banner/Green Hulk who has yet to do so.
If you’ve been paying attention He’s had a very interesting Character arc across the movies since Avengers. The problem is The Hulk has a similar Superman problem, which ends up with him being too strong and punching things in movies, but if you’ve been keeping up he goes from a guy who was at the lowest point, paranoid and separate from society, to a guy with a support group, perhaps for the first time since the accident, to having to remove himself willingly from that for fear of hurting them. The Hulk himself has been dealing with stuff since Ragnarok, becoming more of an entity beyond just anger and showing fear of Thanos in IW.I read somewhere a while back that in lieu of giving Ruffalo a standalone movie, they pitched a story arc that they’ve been playing since Ragnarok that undoubtedly ends with Banner coexisting with The Hulk peacefully.
No offense to Mark, but I just dont think hes a strong enough character to do a movie on his own.
I started reading The Immortal Hulk and now MCU Hulk is even sadder. I never knew the Hulk could be cool.
Great cameo. The incredible hulk also works in another great cameo. Not just Stan Lee, but Bill Bixby! The movie gets a bad wrap because the third act is weak. It is. But up til then it’s really pretty solid.
Yeah it’s like a 2.5 out of 5. Not great by any means, but not embarrassingly bad. There are some cool scenes sprinkled throughout the movie, and some decent performances as well. And I honestly think the third act would have been better if they’d just cut Abomination’s lines. That character did not need to speak.
I really liked the sly origin of the leader and I liked Tim Blake Nelson in that role. I hold out hope he’ll still turn up in the MCU.
I haven’t seen The Incredible Hulk in a while, so I don’t remember exactly what Abomination’s dialogue was, but in the comics IIRC his deal was that he was the smarter version of the Hulk.
In the early days when Abomination was created, the Hulk was a mindless beast whereas the Abomination retained his intelligence — thus making him a real threat the Hulk, since he could match him with strength and outmatch him in wits. Since Abomination couldn’t change back, it also made him a more tragic figure than Hulk since he was aware of what he was and the life he used to have and had no hope of getting it back.
That’s a character that can use some speaking lines to flesh out that story.
I honestly don’t remember a single effin thing about TIH except for some loose imagery of the final boss fight at the end. There was a lot of destruction, and a monster, with a lot of teeth, or spines, or both. Shit, I don’t recall.It was utterly forgettable IMO and I’ve seen all Marvel movies so far.Well, ok, I skipped Deadpool 2 because juvenile dudebro “humor” just isn’t my thing.
Deadpool 2 isn’t part of the MCU, no? I lose track…
I went back and watched the entire MCU in order and Incredible Hulk was by and far the absolute worst movie that they have made.Liv Tyler cant act. The story is boring and just plain bad. Even the editing of the thing is just garbage. At one point it goes from being a partly cloudy day to a complete downpour because Hulk Sad. The ending fight was done better at the beginning of Lego Marvel Heroes. Its my opinion that one of the best possible things that the MCU has done is recasting and resuscitating the Hulk. Every other movie in the MCU is fine. You can watch it and be entertained. Even movies like Thor, Iron Man 2, AMaTW are all fine movies to watch on a boring Saturday. The Incredible Hulk is not something that I ever want to watch again.
I think it’s a much better movie than it gets credit for. It’s like a B?
Nah. I just watched it. It is so much worse than I remember. At the time I first watched I was still looking at any Marvel movie with rosy glasses because Yay!AnActualMarvelMovie!But there is just a fundamental lack of understanding of the characters, bad casting, too many wink-wink references to the tv series (particularly since a good chunk of the audience wouldn’t get them) and the plot makes little to no sense.Ang Lee’s Hulk movie actually held up better and I’m not a big fan of it.
I’ll admit there’s a few too many nods to the tv show, but I’m willing to cut them some slack on that, just given that super hero movies were still figuring out what they were.
Bill Bixby died 15 years before this film was released. Was there a photographic homage of Bixby, or do you mean the Lou Ferrigno cameo where he’s the security guard and also the Hulk’s voice?As for the film itself, I don’t even mind the 3rd act. This wasn’t that bad a movie for me, it’s not great but it’s doing a decent job being what it’s being.
Nah, Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee cameo’d in the Ang Lee Hulk. (I don’t think Lou shows up in Incredible Hulk but I could be wrong.) In this, we catch a glimpse of Bixby in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father when Norton is flipping channels. We also get another great nod to the Bixby show when Norton (who’s still learning spanish) says “You won’t like me when I’m hungry.”
Lou Ferrigno was the security guard and the school who Norton delivered the pizza to…….
Holy shit, I gotta watch it again then. So Ferrigno REPRISED his role as a security guard??
Ferrigno cameos in Norton’s Hulk too, again as a security guard. Banner bribes him with a pizza.
He does he is the security guard that takes the pizza to let him into the college lab.
Heres a refresher for your memory: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000000000800080/Lou Ferrigno did show up as in a cameo in the Ed Norton Hulk. He’s listed in the cast. He also used to play the Hulk to Bill Bixby’s Bruce Banner in the tv series.
G
Portuguese, right? It’s in Brazil?
Yes, you’re right. Beautiful location.
Ferrigno is in The Incredible Hulk, he’s credited pretty high up, no less.I forgot about that TV episode cameo, it’s archive footage but why not.
IIRC Ferrigno’s security guard is watching The Courtship of Eddie’s Father when Banner drops in.
I don’t think you recall correctly.
That’s certainly a possibility.
Well, I didn’t think Ferrigno wasn’t in Incredible Hulk and he was. But I’m pretty sure we see Courtship when Edward Norton is watching TV in hiding in the beginning.
Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it and me conflating two different scenes is certainly on the table.
There was a scene with “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” playing at some point in the movie I think.
At the beginning of the film, where Banner is hiding out in Brazil, he’s learning the language by watching an episode of Sesame Street where Bixby was a guest.
I think there was a few tinkles of the TV theme thrown in when we saw Banner walking down a road….
There’S a scene where Bruce Banner is watching TV and a rerun of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father is on, which starred Bill Bixby.
At one point there is a TV onscreen showing a scene from Courtship of Eddie’s Father on it.
I just watched this movie for the first time last night, and I have to agree. I really enjoyed Norton’s take on the big green guy. He is so scrawny that I totally buy him as a nebbishy science guy who got in way over his head. And he and Liv Tyler have a nice, lived-in intimacy in their scenes. I also love Tim Roth and William Hurt as actors, so enjoyed their performances before, yes, that really atrocious third act. The big CGI monster fight was just. So. Boring. I kept hoping it would be over, and then it kept on going, and going, and going.
And yeah, there’s pretty much no more plot at that point, just the fight itself. Hallow spectacle. But I really liked how determined and tenacious Norton was in looking for a cure. A very active protagonist. I really liked how he was staying one step ahead of the government hunting him like Jason Bourne. Very cool stuff. (That said it’s my least favorite Hulk design of the movies so far.)
I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I think I’ve watched it three times total. Which is odd, because I turned off the Ang Lee one in the middle, and normally I would watch the hell out of anything he directed. Maybe ‘cuz Edward Norton and Liv Tyler are very engrossing.
I remember when the Ang Lee was announced, all my friends were doubtful. I defended the choice since I was a big fan of the Ice Storm. Well I was proven wrong. It didn’t work out. I expected that if anything, the human drama would be great and the CGI action would be weak. To my surprise, it was completely the other way around. I loved the Hulk smash and hated the abusive father bullshit.
It’s funny, because I had the exact opposite reaction. Wasn’t a fan of Ang Lee (At the time), and I only really saw Hulk as a brute, so had no interest in a movie of him running around for two hours, smashing things.
However, I watched the film because of several early reviews talking about it being more of an art piece about abuse and repressed memories. And I LOVED it. I get why most people don’t, but it really spoke to me. In all honesty, it’s one of my favorite superhero movies, *specifically* because it’s about the psyche of the character over the spectacle.
I’m not against the idea in theory, I just thought it was slow and uninteresting. Bana was wooden and Nick Notle was over-the-top to the point of parody. Especially toward the end.
I liked it for the most part too, I didn’t mind the long build-up. The only thing I didn’t like we’re the Hulked-out dogs. ‘felt too much like “hey, we need some action here. ‘Unt know, dogs maybe?” (shrug)
On first glance, they can certainly appear unnecessary (or even goofy), but I always took it as an indication of the madness in Nolte. I mean, who mutates a poodle? A wolf, sure! Or maybe a wild cat! But a poodle???? I also liked that there designs were actually offputting (which I felt was intentional).
When Tim Roth tries to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk… that was our preview of Captain America. It was pretty awesome.
The third act is still miles ahead of Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’.
Yeah, but, Jennifer Connelly.
I don’t remember how it played in the theater, but at least on my first issue DVD edition, that scene comes before the credits roll (where it feels entirely out of place).
Anti-fun fact: This is not a post-credit scene! It takes place after the main movie but before the credits. So it’s a ‘pre-credit’ scene, or to use a literary term, an epilogue.
Or ‘last scene in the film’
The final shot of Banner really reads as a ‘cut to credits’ moment, so I think they moved Tony’s cameo earlier after the success of Iron Man.
Although, seeing as it comes after the more appropriate code/epilogue, and doesn’t work with the flow the ending, I’ve always assumed it was intended to be a pre-credits scene, then moved into the body of the picture for… reasons(?).
It was originally intended tobe but Marvel panicked and worried people would miss it (the audience having not yet been properly trained) and so moved it up before the credits. And then, as someone mentioned above, threw it into the TV ads so everyone really knew they could see more Tony Stark.
The Incredible Hulk is like the MCU’s Titus Andronicus, an early effort that scholars of the form have been trying to push out of the canon ever since.
I was thinking it’s like the MCU’s A Bug’s Life, a relatively forgotten 2nd entry in a franchise that was followed by a sequel to the 1st.
I read Titus Andromedon, and was way too confused about what you meant.
He’s like Iron Man ish sometimes.
Except Titus Andronicus is awesome and it was only prudish 19th century killjoys who tried to push it out of the canon
I heard at the time it was actually first performed after Shakespeare wrote it, Titus Andronicus was like the Pulp Fiction of its days and one of his most popular if not the most popular with the masses. My university put on a production and knowing none of the story beforehand apart from the broadest of strokes, I thought it was pretty awesome, actually.
Just sitting over here with Incredible Hulk as one of my favorite Marvel movies, thoroughly enjoying it every time I watch it, don’t mind me.
IIRC, the scene wasn’t actually post-credits, though. It was right after the final shot of Banner, but before the credits rolled.
IIRC, the scene wasn’t actually post-credits, though. It was right after the final shot of Banner, but before the credits rolled.
They made an entire (terrible!) Marvel “One Shot” short starring Coulson and Sitwell that exists entirely to explain the inconsistency with Stark being not a member of the Avengers in Iron Man 2, while seemingly being all aboard in this cameo. It was…terrible.
And even with them willing to go to all that trouble for one continuity glitch, the one they still refuse to touch remains Iron Man portraying SHIELD as a brand new organization that hasn’t even worked out its name.
Nah, that one is easy to explain. In their early interactions Coulson was trying to be as forgettable as possible (which is why we and Pepper kept forgetting about him). Once it’s clear that Coulson will be a part of Stark’s ongoing life, he instantly gets more personality and uses the easy to remember acronym.
That’s all there in the text of the film.
Can also easily be explained as “Our name is already S.H.I.E.L.D., but since that name sucks we feel like we’re still working on it.”
It was never implied that SHIELD was new. Especially considering Coulson told Stark that this wasn’t his first rodeo.Also the whole SHIELD name thing was clearly meant as a joke back then. It doesn’t take a super genius to figure out the first letters of your organization’s name spells a word(shield).
Was it brand new or could you just read it as if they were trying out a new name?
I am in complete DISagreement with this sentiment. I love that one-shot, and I am linking to it here, in order to encourage all to check it out for themselves.
It was pure garbage.
Where is that from? I’ve never seen it before.
Thank you for posting this and saving me the trouble of looking it up. I hadn’t seen it…and it’s fantastic! That other guy needs to lighten up
Terrible? I thought it was fun and rad.
It was embarrassingly bad.
guys. just finished watching age of ultron and it was SOOOO bad. How did joss whedon fuck up so badly after he made the first avengers film? like how? It felt like a television episode. IT was so horrible! You need to make an article about how fucked up and dumb aou is and how it got to that point. It’s like if George Lucas made episode iv and then phantom menace 2 years later. how???????
Incredible Hulk takes place mostly during Iron Man 2, and Thor.So that scene with Tony Stark meeting Ross takes place after Iron Man 2, and Tony’s reluctance. He met Ross as the “Consultant”
(Though it’s a little weird that Nick Fury refers to the “Avenger”
initiative, singular, in his ominous little ending speech, right?)
This doesn’t seem weird to me. “Avengers” isn’t one of those nouns that’s always plural, where there’s no such word as “Avenger.” We now know he was naming it after someone whose nickname was “Avenger,” singular. Even without knowing that, by the time of Iron Man he had been searching for the first superpowered person for well over a decade, so the plural would have been pretty unreasonably optimistic anyway.
Fury named the initiative after Carol “Avenger” Danvers, as seen in the Captain Marvel mid-credits scene.
Next: RDJ shows up in the next Deadpool movie after credits scene
Given how quickly (and thoroughly) the Marvel Cinematic Universe dispensed with Edward Norton’s take…I was under the impression that Norton’s departure from the role was due to scheduling conflicts. Or is “scheduling conflict” just Hollywood for “dude got recast for issue X, Y, or Z”?It’s a shame. I mean, I’ve enjoyed Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, but Norton excels at the sort of quiet menace a character like Bruce Banner demands.
Scheduling conflicts = he was a dickish control freak
I remember hearing that Norton wanted more story control than Marvel wanted to give him.
Yup. He demanded casting changes, scene relocations, script rewrites, you name it. Kind of surprising Marvel didn’t just fire his ass and recast the role, but I guess Marvel wasn’t yet the juggernaut it would become.
He also brought in Micheal K. Williams to play a role cause he liked him on The Wire. But it got cut in editing and now there’s just one scene of him exiting a building during the harlem fight.
Yeah, he wanted a slower and more thoughtful Hulk movie. To which Marvel replied, we just tried that dummy why do you think we’re re-booting it??
Nothing more thoughtful than Hulk poodles.
I still think about them everyday.
They did fire him, at SDCC that year
He was effectively given all that control for the Incredible Hulk movie. He rewrote the script. Marvel let him go because he wanted that for Avengers as well.
Edward Norton was fired. He literally did not know this until the very last moment when at the SDCC that year, He was waiting to do a panel that year for the Avengers and the deal signing Mark was actually signed in another suite at the con. Apparently Norton was brought down just in time to hear the panelist’s intros including Mark Ruffalo as the new Hulk
No. It was because Norton is a demanding, narcissistic, prickish control freak.
I’m just going to say it. Edwards Norton made a far more believable Bruce Banner….he looks like a smart guy. Ruffalo has a lot of good qualities, but looking and acting like a genius is not one of them.
Wat does a genius look like?
My problem is I don’t buy Ruffalo as a wimp. He’s too beefy and Italian to be the Bruce Banner I grew up reading and watching.
I like his performance a lot, but it’s almost Michael Keaton-as-Batman off-model to me…
Even Tony’s status as an ostensible Avenger(s?) recruiter is mostly baffling, in light of his distance from the project at the start of Iron Man .Marvel did a One-Shot called The Consultant (back when they still did those) – which is in the Thor DVD extras – that explains they sent Stark to meet Ross specifically counting on him being so unbearable that he’d turn Thunderbolt off of the Avengers initiative, and in turn keep The Abomination out of the World Security Council’s hands.
That’s a tad bit wrong. He wasn’t sent to turn Thunderbolt off the Avengers initiative in general. He was sent to annoy Thunderbolt enough that they wouldn’t get permission to have Abomination.The World Security Council wanted Abomination on the team but Fury didn’t so he sent Tony to ask because he knew Tony would get a no.
I believe we’re saying the same thing, just in different ways.
And it worked so well that Ross still hated the Avengers 8 years later!
“Even Tony’s status as an ostensible Avenger(s?) recruiter is mostly baffling, in light of his distance from the project at the start of Iron Man .”Fury said at the end of Iron Man 2 that they only wanted Tony on as an advisor. That seemed to be all the explanation needed for why he was sent to see Ross. I’ve seen The Consultant but it seemed a bit unnecessary to me.
It should also be noted that at the time these two characters were under the control of two entirely different studios (neither of which was Disney!). It was simultaneously exhilarating and dubious, like it seemed too good to be true.
So can we make predictions for each upcoming movie? Because I would take a guess that the Marvel Moment for Iron Man 2 would be Black Widow going Hammer Time on the hallway of guards while Happy expends every bit of energy taking down one guy. It was the first time in the MCU that a woman had been shown to be anything other than window dressing for the heroes (to be fair, this was the film where Pepper Potts is promoted to CEO, but that was D or E plot that really just gave her a reason to say, “Tony, you’re killing me!” 57 different ways.
I thought this was gonna be about him being in some rom-com or something.The hulk? Really? THIS deserves an article? I know it’s a slow day, but jeez. Sometimes you just gotta put your foot down, look the boss in the eye and tell him there’s nothing to do.
Read the first paragraph: They a doing one for literally every MCU film.
I stand by my original statement.
It’s okay, I sometimes write stupid things without reading the entire article too.
It’s a shame Norton didn’t stay on as Banner. I love Ruffalo but as a 70s kid growing up watching the quintessential Banner, Bill Bixby, Norton is the closest to Bixby’s portrayal, imo. My heart used to break for Banner every damn episode in Bixby’s run, and Norton had a similar affect on me in this film. It’s hard to sympathize with Ruffalo when he has Scarlett Johansson to soothe his furrowed brow 😀
Although, I prefer Mark Ruffalo’s take on Bruce, I will agree that Edward Norton’s Bruce is very reminiscent of Bill Bixby. Also, if it’s hard to sympathize with Ruffalo because of Scarlett Johansson, then the same could be said about Norton considering Liv Tyler!
Yeah good point about Liv, poor Bixby couldn’t catch a break!
Also, if it’s hard to sympathize with Ruffalo because of Scarlett
Johansson, then the same could be said about Norton considering Liv
Tyler!
I’m old enough to remember being a young 8 year old with a crush on Susan Sullivan. It made it strange to watch Castle where she was the (still quite attractive) Grandma. 🙂
It’s funny that you should mention Susan Sullivan! I watched some of the old IH episodes last year on Hulu, and during this discussion was like hey, Bill Bixby’s Banner had love affairs with Sullivan AND Kim Cattrall! Although, considering what happens, I suppose he’s the one Banner who does get sympathy!
I agree. I like Ruffalo’s performance a lot, but Norton was more like Bixby’s and the comic’s Banner to me. I would like to peek into the alternate universe where we got to see him acting with Downey in the Helicarrier. . .
Uhm dude… The recruitment scene had nothing to do with Ross, it had to do with Abomination. Tony was there to recruit Abomination by way of Ross who had him in custody.
Okay, so, the comments seem to think TIH is a solid movie but weak at points. For comic book movies, on the scale of Batman v Superman to Avengers: Infinity War, where do you place The Incredible Hulk?
A little bit above Thor: The Dark World.
Well, I might actually prefer Incredible Hulk to Infinity War (which is an impressive feat of juggling characters but a boring film), but it’s definitely one of the lesser entries in the MCU. Better than Ultron and IM2 (and presumably Thor 2, the only Marvel movie I haven’t seen), somewhere a bit below the first Thor and Doctor Strange?
I was actually surprised to learn that it was an MCU movie. I must have forgotten. That’s how “non-MCU” it feels. Kinda like any of the various Fantastic Four movies that have been made over the years or that other Hulk movie.
I think that’s also largely down to how much influence Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favreau had on the overall feel of the MCU. Leterrier wasn’t bound by that since there was only one preceding film. There wasn’t a “franchise” to speak of. After another Iron Man film the cinematography, fx, and editing all took on a more unified, recognizable feel.
So you know this ‘post-credits scene” the article keeps referencing was actually BEFORE the credits?The Incredible Hulk is unique among Marvel films in that there is no post-credit stinger.
Do you think if Incredible Hulk had been a bigger box office hit, we’d get more of these sequel stingers before the 15 minute credit sequence?
“despite the fact that nothing that happens in it actually matters, or even makes a lick of sense.”Watch “The Consultant” and you’ll understand Agent Coulson was using Tony to make sure Ross isn’t part of the Avengers Initiative. It’s obvious at the end of Tony’s visit that Ross won’t ever be on the team.
Wasn’t there another subtle MCU connection in Incredible Hulk? I want to say that at the film mid point, Emil Bronsksy was initially given a weaker version of a super soldier serum —a nod to Captain America without mentioning him by name. Also, I sort of love the fight scene he has with Hulk at that point. I mean sure, he idiotically keeps shooting Hulk with a rifle, then a pistol when he just saw how tanks and rockets were useless. But still, gotta hand it to a guy willing to fight hand to hand against the Hulk and holding his own for a little while.
Yeah, I always took that as a nod to Captain America, too. But more that they were trying to recreate the serum that made Cap.I always liked The Incredible Hulk. I always ranked Thor 2 at the bottom of my list with Thor 1 above that and maybe TIH a notch or two higher.
What’s fascinating about the Hulk scene, then, is how thoroughly it accomplishes its goals, despite the fact that nothing that happens in it actually matters, or even makes a lick of sense. Despite Stark’s offer of implied recruitment, Thunderbolt Ross wouldn’t show up in the MCU again until Captain America: Civil War, eight years and 11 films later—by which point Hurt was essentially playing an entirely different character, far removed from the cartoonish Javert chasing Norton’s Hulk around. Even Tony’s status as an ostensible Avenger(s?) recruiter is mostly baffling, in light of his distance from the project at the start of Iron .For folks at home skimming the comments: They later clarified via a DVD extra on another movie that what was going on there was that the folks at the World Security Council wanted Fury to bring in the Abomination for the Avengers Initiative (which, given how thoroughly Hydra had infiltrated things, makes a lot of sense in retrospect), but they needed to get Ross on board to authorize that.So Fury talked Tony into going out there, knowing that Tony would pick such a nasty fight with Ross over the course of the conversation (which happened, basically after the cameras stopped rolling) that Ross would never agree to work with him. As a result, Blonsky is still locked up somewhere (I think they said Alaska or something at the time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they transferred him to the Raft).
And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!
Imagine if Marvel TV and Marvel movies were actually partners and the Agents of SHIELD got attacked by the Abomination, let loose on them by Hydra. That would have been a series best adventure, assuming they could contrive a way for them to not die in 5 seconds and that the TV division could handle the special effect necessary (they did a decent Ghost Rider, so it seems like they could?)
That would have been a much more effective tie-in than the Thor 2 one, which was “we spend three minutes acknowledging that Thor 2 happened and then deal with something unrelated but still Asgardian.”
It took Edward Norton many years to get back to form, when he was revealed as the final boss at the end of Battle Angel Alita.
Truth be told, I never bought Norton as Banner. He had no edge and only turned into the Hulk when he was in danger. I never got the feeling that he had emotional problems while Ruffalo does a great job of playing a guy who’s only *just* holding it together.
This flick would have been far more warmly received had Ang Lee not poisoned the well beforehand.
The worst part of TIH is Ed Norton.Even in a movie where we’re simply waiting around to see a not-particularly-well-done CGI monster go apeshit for five minutes at a time, Norton has a range of actor-y shit that can best be described as “worried.” He has not one compelling quality, nothing that suggests he’s smart, lonely, fragile, driven – mainly just sweaty. In a movie that couldn’t figure what to do with Liv Freaking Tyler, this is the worst aspect by far.I’m glad they went with Ruffalo. Can you imagine the poor PA who has to tell Norton that they’re not going to be able to do three extra months of reshoots on Infinity War because he wants to be sure he conveyed the correct amount of brooding isolation necessary for the Battle of Wakanda?
If you watched Captain Marvel, you’d know why it’s singular for the “Avenger Initiative”.