She-Hulk’s Abomination credits scene makes Incredible Hulk key to Marvel - Polygon

It’s been a chaotic 18 months for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not lone has the multi-billion-dollar franchise expanded into TV, but it’s started to usage the mean to recontextualize the films that built its empire successful the archetypal place. And nary bid has done much enactment successful that respect than She-Hulk: Attorney astatine Law, which sets 1 of the oldest MCU supervillains backmost connected the board.

It’s a wide motion that Louis Leterrier’s overmuch maligned 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk is backmost successful the forefront of the MCU.

[Ed. note: This portion contains spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney astatine Law occurrence 9.]

Image: Marvel Studios

She-Hulk’s finale occurrence whitethorn person poked amusive astatine a batch of Marvel tradition, but it kept 1 going: a mid-credits scene, 1 successful which Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, freed Emil Blonsky, the Abomination, from jailhouse and created 1 much dangling crippled enactment that immoderate aboriginal Marvel task could prime up.

And Emil Blonsky isn’t the lone villain from The Incredible Hulk whose revival has go a portion of the modern MCU — weaving a movie that was hardly considered a portion of Marvel’s multiverse firmly into the tapestry.

The Incredible Hulk who?

Image: Marvel Studios/Universal Pictures

Released successful the shadiness of the game-changing Iron Man, it’s not hard to recognize why The Incredible Hulk has agelong been mislaid successful the doldrums of the MCU’s Phase One. Though it aligned the MCU’s mentation of the Hulk person to the comics than Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie, it besides played it comparatively safe. The movie introduces Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) already hulked, and already connected the run. He faces disconnected against classical Hulk antagonists Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) and the Abomination (Tim Roth), and we conscionable his lifelong comic publication love, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), who drives Bruce to power the monster within.

With the 20-plus MCU movies that person travel since, and Mark Ruffalo’s acold much fashionable iteration of the character, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk seemed to beryllium destined to beryllium forgotten. Then came Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

That frantic and amusive household saga featured Wong (Benedict Wong) battling with The Incredible Hulk’s villain the Abomination successful an underground warring ring. The prime amazed immoderate MCU fans who had assumed that The Incredible Hulk was each but a memory. That reconsideration has continued with the accomplishment of She-Hulk, 1 of Marvel’s astir iconic bequest characters, successful her ain self-titled Disney Plus series. In that context, revisiting The Incredible Hulk makes a batch of sense, arsenic Jennifer Walters’ (Tatiana Maslany) root is straight connected to that of her superpowered cousin. The latest Disney Plus bid was anxious to amusement that this was much than conscionable a cameo arsenic Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth, returning to the role) became a large portion of Jen’s story and gave Bruce the closure helium needed, arsenic good arsenic treating the assemblage to a meta-nod to Ruffalo’s recasting.

While each of that could beryllium explained distant arsenic Hulk concern acceptable for a Hulk story, during D23 it became wide that the MCU wasn’t finished with The Incredible Hulk. In 1 of the astir astonishing pieces of quality from that sprawling weekend, it was revealed that Tim Blake Nelson would beryllium returning to the MCU arsenic the infamous Incredible Hulk villain the Leader successful Captain America: New World Order. Though it mightiness look similar an unexpected diversion, erstwhile we look backmost astatine The Incredible Hulk it’s really astonishing that the MCU hasn’t returned to its sophomore introduction sooner.

The MCU was built connected the backs of heroes who were, successful 2008, by nary means A-list. Iron Man, Nick Fury, Captain America, and Thor were acold from the taste icons they are today. If we look astatine that roster arsenic it was then, it’s wide that the Hulk was the astir well-known leader Marvel Studios had entree to. Thanks to decades of comics and his titular — and precise fashionable — TV series, Bruce Banner and his change ego should person been the large MCU smash.

Image: Marvel Studios/Universal Pictures

But years of licensing issues meant Universal held the rights to the character, which led to Marvel Studios collaborating with Universal to marque The Incredible Hulk happen. And if we’re looking astatine important precedent and the interaction of The Incredible Hulk, that’s a firm woody arsenic immense the Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures collaboration that brought Peter Parker to the MCU successful Spider-Man: Homecoming.

It wasn’t conscionable a trailblazer successful a behind-the-scenes sense, though; The Incredible Hulk besides reimagined Bruce Banner’s root successful a mode that would go cardinal to the aboriginal of the MCU. In the classical comics, Bruce’s powers travel from experiments with gamma radiation. But successful The Incredible Hulk, the movie repositions his root arsenic 1 with a acold wider context. Here Bruce was trying to re-create the archetypal Super Soldier Serum — a recurring taxable and mistake that would beryllium repeated passim the MCU — and to bash truthful helium replaced the archetypal formula’s vita radiation with gamma radiation. The Incredible Hulk is the archetypal spot that the Super Soldier Serum was introduced, and it’s the crushed that the MCU has a Hulk astatine all. And soon, Emil Blonsky joined him.

And past determination was The Incredible Hulk’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. One of the superior antagonists successful the Hulk comics, Ross became a subject mainstay successful the MCU adjacent arsenic his way diverged from his would-be son-in-law. In fact, Ross became specified a large subordinate that it would person been casual — particularly without the beingness of Tyler’s Betty — to hide that helium was connected to Bruce astatine all. With She-Hulk finally acknowledging the existent Hulk’s narration to the movie wherever the Ross household debuted, that could perchance change. Although the tragic decease of Hurt means we apt won’t spot Thaddeus again, we could spot the instrumentality of Betty — technically we already have, successful an occurrence of What If…? She’s conscionable different captious portion of Hulk lore that was established successful the movie… similar the Leader.

Samuel Sterns was introduced in The Incredible Hulk arsenic a person to Bruce Banner — who yet betrayed him and played a portion successful creating the Abomination — that we past saw transforming into the Leader aft gamma radiation recovered its mode into his bloodstream. As The Incredible Hulk ne'er got a nonstop sequel, fans ne'er recovered retired his fate. But that stands to alteration successful 2024, erstwhile Captain America: New World Order hits theaters. And wherefore not? The Incredible Hulk is ripe for revisiting. The movie introduced truthful galore cardinal parts of Bruce’s lore. Why not reintroduce them successful the modern day?

Aside from the information that Marvel Studios is improbable to fto immoderate portion of its cinematic oeuvre gaffe retired of canon, the instrumentality to The Incredible Hulk actually takes from 1 of the champion things astir comic publication storytelling. A creator tin bring thing to beingness that tin past laic dormant for years earlier idiosyncratic other rediscovers it and gives it meaning erstwhile again. As the MCU grows, we tin expect much of this benignant of reconsideration and excavation, and that’s beauteous great.