There may be a few MCU movies that fans would like to forget, but one that many of us actually did forget is now on Disney+. The Incredible Hulk made its Disney+ debut on Friday, June 16th, bringing one of the oldest MCU movies to the streaming service.
There are several reasons that The Incredible Hulk is the black sheep of the MCU, but the most notable is that the title character was recast before his next appearance. Edward Norton played the role of Bruce Banner in the original movie, but Mark Ruffalo took his place in The Avengers and every subsequent Marvel Studios project.
But the real reason that The Incredible Hulk has finally made its way to Disney+ is that Universal Pictures held the distribution rights to the film for 15 years. The Incredible Hulk came to theaters on June 13, 2008, which means that the 15-year period is over.
You might be wondering what this means for the future of the Hulk in the MCU.
So are we! Presumably, Marvel could make its own live-action Hulk movie or TV show. But that doesn’t mean it will. Based on the ending of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it’s clear that Marvel still has plans for the character going forward, but Mark Ruffalo has already been doing this for over a decade. Does he have a feature-length Hulk movie in him?
Notably, the last episode of She-Hulk introduced us to Hulk’s son, Skaar, played by Wil Deusner. If Ruffalo isn’t interested in leading a Hulk movie, or if Marvel just wants to go in a new direction, there’s a chance that the son of Hulk could step up to the plate.
There have been rumors about a World War Hulk movie for years, drawing from the comic book storyline in which the Hulk returns to Earth after being banished by the Illuminati and proceeds to beat the crap out of virtually every Marvel hero you’ve ever heard of.
Whether or not this ever comes to fruition remains to be seen, but now that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars have been pushed back, there are plenty of holes to fill throughout Phase 5 and Phase 6. Perhaps we’ll hear more at Comic-Con.
