Main cast: Edward Norton (Dr Bruce Banner), Liv Tyler (Betty Ross), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky), Tim Blake Nelson (Samuel Sterns), Ty Burrell (Leonard), Cabot Christina Cabot (Major Kathleen Sparr), and William Hurt (General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross)
Director: Louis Leterrier
Long before Disney got its Mickey Mouse-shaped gloves on Marvel Studios and smoothed the MCU into a glossy, quippy money-printing machine, there was The Incredible Hulk, a film that technically launched the franchise but got left behind like an awkward first pancake.
Why the Hulk, one may ask. After all, folks that would care about that character would still have vivid nightmares about Hulk, that 2003 film that somehow thought comic-book panel editing and existential daddy issues were what people wanted in such a movie.
Given the similar title and the mere four-year gap, many would assume that The Incredible Hulk was just Hulk 2: Angrier and Still Awful and stayed far, far away.
To its credit, this one is an improvement although, admittedly, that’s a low bar.
It tells the tragic tale of Bruce Banner, who, in classic “scientists should know better” fashion, volunteers for a super-soldier experiment that goes horribly wrong. Instead of becoming Captain America 0.5, he gets a permanent rage-induced makeover, wrecks a lab, and sends a small army of scientists (including the man spearheading the research, General Thaddeus Ross and his daughter Betty) to the hospital. Oops.
Now a fugitive, Banner flees to Brazil, where he takes up factory work and studies meditation like a broody wellness influencer trying to manifest inner peace. He also exchanges emails with a mysterious “Mister Blue” in the hopes of curing himself.
But just as he’s perfecting his Zen, his cover is blown. General Ross decides to send a team—led by Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, a character whose villainy is as obvious as the fact that he’s played by Tim Roth—to bring Banner in. Predictably, things escalate, and Banner is once again on the run, with the only person he can trust being Ross’s daughter, Betty, because dramatic irony.
One of the more interesting things about this version of Hulk is that Banner is played as a tormented loner on the run, giving The Incredible Hulk a vibe closer to the old TV series. This is the same interpretation that carries into the early MCU… until Disney decided Hulk was better off as a wisecracking green sidekick who smashes things and delivers punchlines. Revisiting this movie is almost nostalgic for a time when Bruce Banner actually felt like a scientist instead of a walking gag reel.
However, let’s not get carried away with nostalgia, because The Incredible Hulk is, at best, a serviceable action flick. The CGI looked dodgy even back then, and today, well, let’s just say Hulk could use a glow-up.
Worse, the pacing is all over the place: long, sluggish stretches of Banner brooding punctuated by brief, chaotic bursts of destruction. And the villain is forgettable. Tim Roth is oddly subdued here, making you wonder if Marvel should have just called in Willem Dafoe to chew some scenery and send everyone running for their lives.
Then there’s Liv Tyler. Yes, she’s in this movie. Barely. Betty Ross is supposed to be the grounding force to Banner’s chaos, but Tyler plays her so forgettably that it’s no surprise Marvel eventually just said, “You know what? Let’s give Hulk a different forced romance” and threw Black Widow into the mix. Sure, that came out of nowhere, but at least Scarlett Johansson did have on-screen presence.
Despite its flaws, this movie still delivers some decent action. If you’re in the mood for loud noises, property destruction, and a green rage monster throwing things around, you’ll have a good time. The final showdown between Hulk and Abomination is reasonably fun, even if it feels like watching two Shrek knockoffs wrestle in the dark.
Of course, the real legacy of this movie isn’t in its plot or characters—it’s in the behind-the-scenes drama. Edward Norton, always the method actor, allegedly clashed with Marvel over rewrites and control, earning himself a one-way ticket out of the franchise. Mark Ruffalo’s version of Banner would later step in and become the definitive MCU Hulk, while this film got quietly shoved into a corner like an embarrassing childhood photo.
Still, with Marvel dusting off the Abomination for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and bringing back some of these characters for Captain America: Brave New World, maybe The Incredible Hulk deserves a rewatch. Just don’t expect it to hold a candle to what came next because let’s be real, the MCU’s sophomore efforts blew this one out of the water in every possible way.
