Marvel Studios just missed its perfect opportunity to address storylines and mysteries set up in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, right at the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most of the MCU’s core heroes have been given sequel after sequel following their debuts in the early days of the franchise, but the same cannot be said for Bruce Banner’s Hulk. Edward Norton’s version of the gamma-irradiated monster-turned-hero burst onto our screens 17 years ago, only to be replaced by Mark Ruffalo from The Avengers onward, but the more successful Hulk hasn’t really addressed his Phase 1 predecessor.
The Hulk’s distribution rights still seemingly reside with Universal Pictures, which makes producing a solo movie for Bruce Banner in the MCU, without Universal’s oversight, practically impossible. This doesn’t quite explain why Marvel has taken so many steps to ignore the events of The Incredible Hulk, however, with only brief references to characters and plot threads popping up in the years since. Captain America: Brave New World had the opportunity to finally fix this huge omission, but the Phase 5 movie went about this in all the wrong ways.
The Incredible Hulk Has Been Forgotten in the MCU
For many years after Mark Ruffalo took over the role of Bruce Banner from Edward Norton, the events of The Incredible Hulk were completely ignored. The Phase 1 movie introduced us to Banner five years after the experiment that transformed him into the Hulk. In search of a cure and under threat of being captured by General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) and Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), Banner traveled to the United States and reunited with his former scientific and romantic partner, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). None of these characters were mentioned for eight years after The Incredible Hulk’s release.
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It was Thaddeus Ross who first returned to the MCU, with Hurt reprising his role in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, where he was reintroduced as the Secretary of State, introducing the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers. Roth then had a key role in 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as Emil Blonsky’s Abomination, but Marvel has still never quite followed up on the storyline of The Incredible Hulk properly. Some crucial characters, including Ty Burrell’s Leonard Samson, have been entirely removed from the MCU. Samson’s omission is particularly unusual, as he becomes the gamma-empowered superhero Doc Samson in Marvel Comics.
Captain America: Brave New World Could Have Addressed The Incredible Hulk (But Failed)
Interestingly, it was Anthony Mackie’s first theatrical adventure as Sam Wilson’s Captain America that had the best chance of continuing The Incredible Hulk’s story. Many aspects of The Incredible Hulk were addressed in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, which saw Thaddeus Ross become President of the United States, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) return as the mutated Leader, Betty Ross make a cameo appearance, and a new Hulk appear in the form of Thaddeus Ross’s Red Hulk. There was one key character that could have brought all these disparate threads together, however, who didn’t appear.
It’s a shame that Bruce Banner himself did not appear alongside Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World. Banner hasn’t been seen in the MCU since She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s surprising and confusing ending, while Marvel’s What If…? Season 3 even made an effort to set up a friendship between Banner and Wilson. Brave New World should have followed up on this, but Banner was nowhere to be seen, even when his old lover returned, and his former archenemy transformed into a new Hulk. The Incredible Hulk remains an abstract part of the MCU’s history.
How Marvel Studios Can Still Follow Up The Incredible Hulk in the Current MCU Timeline
Even though several aspects of The Incredible Hulk’s story have still gone unresolved, there is still a chance that Marvel Studios can redeem the Phase 1 movie’s story and characters. Captain America: Brave New World may have laid the foundations for Marvel to continue its exploration of The Incredible Hulk’s place in MCU history, and upcoming projects and rumored stories can continue it. Mark Ruffalo hasn’t yet been confirmed to be returning in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but it seems inevitable that he will be, creating the perfect chance for the Hulk’s story to develop further.
In recent years, there has been speculation that the Hulk’s film rights could be returning to Disney, which would allow for the development of a new solo Hulk movie in the MCU. Whether this explores a rumored storyline, such as Marvel Comics’s World War Hulk or something else, it would be fantastic to see an honest-to-goodness sequel to The Incredible Hulk be developed. Mark Ruffalo’s iconic Avenger deserves a lot more attention in the MCU, and continuing The Incredible Hulk’s storyline is the best way to make this happen.
When do you want Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk to return to the MCU? Let us know in the comments!
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