Greetings, everyone, and don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.

Yes, it’s time for the second MCU review, which was the highly-anticipated remake:

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Now this movie came out the same year as Iron-Man in 2008, and I’m pretty sure that some fans and moviegoers still had the displeasing taste of the Eric Bana Hulk that came out two years prior, myself included. Heck, I had that DVD for a while, and I couldn’t sell it, so finally I threw it away. Sometimes you just can’t get rid of a DVD. When I first saw trailers for this, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that thought it was gonna be a sequel to the first Hulk, right? Then when I saw ComiCon footage, and the people said that this wasn’t a sequel, well it made me more cautiously optimistic. Plus, another thing they said wasn’t gonna happen anymore was that Hulk wasn’t gonna grow bigger and bigger the more he got angry. Seriously, he’s stretched those pants enough already. THAT’S why he’s angry; he keeps messing up good clothes.

As I mentioned in the thoughts about Marvel Studios journal, I mentioned that the reason why Edward Norton left, or was rather let go, was because he was incredibly difficult to work with and studios complained about that, and he was pretty much a control freak; claiming that he had written Incredible Hulk. Whatever happened, it happened, and I really don’t see any point in delving any further about crap that happened years ago, but from all that’s happened, I’m glad Mark Ruffalo was brought on. But, I don’t hate this movie, not at all. Like I said, this was a breath of fresh air compared to Bana Hulk.

Now I’ve only bits of the Bill Bixby Hulk series that came out in the 80s, particularly the opening where instead of Bruce Banner testing out the gamma bomb out in the desert, it’s in a lab and he’s testing it out in a chair. That’s exactly what we see here in the opening credit montage of the movie; showing how Banner becomes Hulk, trashes everything and everyone, including accidentally injuring his love Betty Banner, and his father, General Thunderbolt Ross, and he goes off on the lamb and he’s missing for 5 years. During the title sequence, we see clips where S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry is shown.
Ol’ Bruce has taken refuge in the shanty town of Rio, and is studying under a Ju-Jitsu teacher to help him breath and control his anger. See the movie, you’ll how this dude just contorts the organs in his body in his breathing. Oh, and Brucy’s wearing a specialized heart-rate monitor watch so he can keep track of himself so he doesn’t Hulk out, which according to a little narrative bar ‘24’-style, he hasn’t had an incident for 158 days. With all the meditating techniques he’s been doing, I think that’s helping him.
Bruce is also working at a soda-manufacturing plant, and I gotta tell ya, I drink soda, but what they’re making looks pretty good… considering they DO use real sugar. Anyhoo, Bruce accidentally cuts his finger and some of his blood goes into the bottles. The thought he got it all, buuuuuut… his blood got mixed in with soda in the bottle and is a shipment to somewhere in America, where someone gets gamma poisoning from drinking one of them. Who you might ask:

STAN LEE CAMEO! Bet that soda’s got one hell of a kick.

Nonetheless, this catches the attention of General Ross, and assembles a team together to track down and capture Banner. Leader of this outfit Ross gets is Emil Blonksy, and as Phase 1 villains go, he’s my 3rd favorite apart from Red Skull and Loki.
Back with Banner, for some time now he’s been sending emails back and forth along with his blood samples with a scientist simply named for now ‘Mr. Blue,’ while his email alias is ‘Mr. Green.’… cute. Bruce has been trying desperately to find a cure for himself, but in his last session, certain data had to be acquired from a lab back home, so Bruce has to go back.
And that have come at a better time, cuz Blonsky and his group tracks Banner down, but he escapes, leading into chase through the slums and back to that soda-processing factory. During of which, he bumps into a group of bozos that we see in the factory that harass him and a girl that would’ve made a great potential love interest for Bruce. They chase him in the factory and Blonksy and his group are also there. Since that chase began, Bruce has been trying to contain his excitement and anger levels, but to no avail.
So, crap hits the fan and Bruce Hulks out, injuring the leader of that group of jerks. (Food for thought, when you look at the scene where Hulk throws that guy through some glass, you think he’s dead. But no, he’s still alive, you hear him groaning.)
Hulk is quickly dispatching Blonsky’s goons as well, and Blonksy gets a good look at ol’ Hulk. What I really love about this scene is they keep him mostly in the dark, not revealing the whole package like what they did in ‘Jaws’ and ‘Alien.’ Like this was meant to be the definitive Hulk movie all this time. That’s my opinion.
So, Hulk escapes and winds up all the way in Mexico, where he hitch-hikes and walks all the way back home.
Blonsky and his men regroup. Blonsky forces Ross to give him better equipment if that ‘thing’ comes back, and Ross tells him that ‘thing’ is Banner.
This where we first learn, or if you saw Captain America: The First Avenger first, re-learn, about the Super Soldier serum that was developed back in World War II. The serum was put on ice since then… and for a good reason. We learn in the Avengers movie, lots of guys tried to recreate the serum but unsuccessful. Ross dusted it off, trying to get it working again, and took to Banner’s team and not telling him it was for the military, Banner thought it was for radiation resistance. So, Banner tested it on himself thinking he was sure that what he was working on would work, and low and behold, we got Hulk. So this movie, Hulk was another Super Soldier attempt gone wrong, which I liked about this movie, and someone told me that’s what they did in the Ultimates comics. And so, Ross, being S.M.A.R.T., offers Blonsky a change to use the serum, and he accepts, and he gets injections.
Banner returns to Culver City, Virginia, where he sees his one true love Betty, who’s got a new boyfriend, the father in ‘Modern Family’ XD Bruce goes to an old friend who runs a pizza shop, to get him to make a pizza to take over to the university so he can sneak in and get the data he needs to send it to Mr. Blue.

LOU FERIGNO CAMEO! Once of my favorite scenes in the movie where Bruce has to get past a security guard, played by the original Hulk himself, Lou Ferigno, and he gives him a pizza. Now I’ve actually met him in real life. Yeah, he’s THAT big, but he’s a real nice guy ^^

Anyhoo, Bruce gets there but finds out all his data’s gone, and contacts Mr. Blue. Bruce can’t stay, and in his attempt to leave, Betty spots him leaving the pizza shop and stops him. She takes him back to her place where she gives him a thrumbdrive that has certain data that Burce needs; she saved it before Ross took it all away, and he doesn’t show her daughter had it. Betty tries to reason with Bruce that they can both talk to him, but now Ross told him he wishes to dissect him and use his powers as a weapon.
Next day in an attempt for Betty offering to help Bruce get out of the city, Ross and his team finds them, leading into a chase through the university, where Bruce gets trapped in the hallway bridge and gets flooded with knockout gas right before he’s forced to swallow the thrumbdrive that has all his data just in case, since, you know, clothes get ripped asunder when he changes… which he does!
All hell breaks loose, and the Hulk gets flanked by Ross and his goons, trying to contain and capture him. Ross, being S.M.A.R.T., tries everything from tranqs to sonic emitters but that does nothing but piss Hulk off more. Blonsky with the new serum enhancements fights too, showing signs of Captain America agility and speed, but that’s not enough. One kick from Hulk’s fat foot sends Blonsky flying.
Betty tires to console Hulk, but a arrant helicopter flying nearly kills Betty if it hadn’t been for Hulk to protect her even when he hurls something at it that made it crash. Betty’s safe but knocked out, and he gets away, carrying Betty.
There’s a really good scene where we see Betty’s boyfriend confronting Ross, saying that the Hulk protected her, but Ross isn’t having any of it. The boyfriend tells him that he now knows why Betty never talks about him.
Hulk takes Betty to safety, and Hulk shows signs of Bruce’s behavior, so he’s still in there somewhere. Blonksy meanwhile heals up very very fast from his injuries thanks to the serum, but we see that… he’s not really all that all there.
Bruce, back to normal, and Betty decide to go to New York City to finally meet Mr. Blue, while trying to stay hidden from Ross’s tracking systems. We learn that Bruce does remember bits and pieces when he Hulks out, and maybe he could control it somehow, but Bruce wants to get rid of it.
They reach New York City and finally meet Mr. Blue, a college science teacher by the name of Samuel Sterns. Now for those who know the comics, Sterns was a janitor and his head was doused with gamma radiation, turning him into The Leader, a Hulk villain with a very big brain.
Sterns tells Bruce and Betty the dangers of the procedure there about to do which will either; get rid of the Hulk, suppress it, or just flat-out kill him. Bruce decides to bite the bullet and go through with it, and accepts the antidote in a very impressive scene where Sterns sees Bruce change into the Hulk then back thanks to Betty.
They don’t know if it’s a long-lasting cure, and Sterns is euphoric about what he just saw, spilling the beans that he had animal test subjects that went through this, but died. Yeah, all those blood samples Bruce sent Sterns over those years emailing him back and forth with each other, Sterns replicated it and did his own experiments with it. Bruce states they had to get rid of it all immediately, but low and behold, Blonsky and his men find them, and capture them.
Ross is pissed that Banner (probably?) cured himself, and his greatest weapon is lost, and he takes Bruce and Betty away in a chopper.
Blonsky and his team are left to gather all the blood samples in Sterns’ lab, when Blonsky takes matters into his own hands and threatens Sterns to give him more power, power like the Hulk. At this point, Blonsky has been getting increasingly unstable and the serum he took is messing with his body; a scene where his spinal column is spiking up and protruding horribly through his back. But Sterns gives him the same gamma treatment that Bruce went through and that makes the Abomination.
With his new-found power, Abomination breaks out and wreaks havoc, hurling Sterns out the way, where a blood sample drips down onto his head… and is swelling his brain while he smiles!
Abomination is tearing up the streets of New York, killing people in his wake, wanting to fight Hulk.
Ross gets the radio in for help and the chopper turns back, he, Bruce and Betty see what’s happening. Bruce has to get down there, thinking he can control his anger and his transformation.
So, Bruce makes a freefall out the chopper… and doesn’t change and splatters right through the pavement… but comes right back out as the Hulk.
We’re ready to rumble, Hulk fights the Abomination, and things aren’t looking that good in Hulk’s favor. Ross has the chopper hover down to give Hulk an assist. Abomination tries to get at the chopper but Hulk stops him and they end up crashing near an abandoned church in Harlem.
Abomination is going to kill Ross and Betty but Hulk stops him and nearly chokes him to death, but Betty stops him. Hulk just knocks him out. Yeah, Hulk doesn’t have to kill him, HULK IS THE STRONGEST THERE IS!
Hulk flees after looking at Betty one last time.
Sometime has passed, Betty is looking at a picture she took of Bruce on her phone, and Bruce is somewhere in British Columbia in Canada in a cabin, where… we think he might have control over his transformation. We see him smirk while his eyes flash green.

Well, that’s my review of The Incredible Hulk, and I really like it. It IS the definitive version of a Hulk movie that I wanted. That being said, in my opinion I think the weakest of the Phase 1 films of the MCU for the same reason I think some Hulk stories have become sorta stale to me; you can only have a number of times Ross behaves like an idiot and tries to catch the Hulk but to no avail and endangering civilians in the process.
Another reason to me personally, after re-watching it sometime ago, I just don’t think that Norton wasn’t the right actor to portray Bruce Banner, he just didn’t have the right look for it.
But there are some Edward Norton movies I really like, and this Hulk movie definitely had heart, so I deemed it worthy of getting on DVD.

Now where did they take Abomination after he was knocked out? Well he’s mentioned in a little short Marvel Studios did and in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where we hear that Blonsky’s prison is somewhere cold, so probably in Antarctica.

Now people have complained about the CG for Hulk in this. Eeeehhh, not the best, I do admit. Hulk in Avengers looked much better. But I don’t mind this one, cuz Hulk in the Bana version looked like a frickin’ baby.
And it was just so good to hear him say his famous “HULK SMASH!” ^^

There was a deleted scene that was meant to be for the opening sequence, which was mentioned by Bruce in the Avengers movie where he put a gun in his mouth his turning into the Hulk stops himself and spits the bullet out.

End credit scene: Or rather mid-credit scene, we General Ross boozing it up and who comes rolling in, why none other than Tony Stark himself, telling him that they were putting a team together. And scene.

That was another thing that really made me excited for an Avengers movie, but it wouldn’t a whole year and a half until we got our 3rd instalment for the MCU phase 1, Iron-Man 2.

Man, it’s been 7 years since this movie came out. Why hasn’t there been any other more Hulk movies? Well, mainly I think it was because Norton’s falling out with Marvel Studios for the reasons I mentioned above, but I also think that Universal Studios still owns the movie rights to Hulk, but they’re nice enough to let Marvel Studios use Hulk for the Avengers movies. I don’t know if that’s totally accurate, I’m just going by certain knowledge I learned at the time that I found bits and pieces of. But this movie left off so much for a very potential sequel; Sterns turning into The Leader like I mentioned above.

And raise your hand, cuz I know I’m not the only one here. WHO WANTS TO SEE SHE-HULK?!
We’re getting a Captain Marvel movie soon, and I really think She-Hulk along with another Hulk movie needs to happen. Wishful thinking, yeah. If they did, they’d really have to avoid the idiocy that Ross loves to throw out on the Hulk; to bring in and fire more and more guns and having no effect on him.

Aw well, next is gonna be Iron-Man 2, a polarizing film to most fans… most of the time for the stupidest of reasons. I’m sure I’ve mentioned them in my thoughts on Marvel Studios journal, but next time I’ll share why.

Till next time, live the dream and draw it.
Thanks for your time.