Over a decade after its original release, The Incredible Hulk, the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has at last been made available to stream -- only not on the platform many fans might have expected.
While nearly every other MCU movie has found a streaming home on Disney+, HBO Max recently announced that The Incredible Hulk starring Ed Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth will start streaming on its service beginning April 8. The Incredible Hulk now joins Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home as the only MCU films not currently available on Disney+.
Actor Mark Ruffalo replaced Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk, but the 2008 film has still been managed to be incorporated into the modern MCU through the appearance of Roth's character, Emil Blonsky/Abomination, in last year's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But Shang-Chi writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton explained why Abomination fighting Wong in the 2021 film was not a random decision. "Abomination was just a result of twenty-to-thirty what-ifs," Cretton said. "And then we landed on a pairing that felt really great, but it was also a pairing that made sense to what's happening in the MCU around the time of our movie. So there are definite links happening that you will pick up on if you're involved with everything else that's happening in the MCU."
With Cretton confirming Roth lent his voice to Abomination's most recent appearance, the decision to not have The Incredible Hulk streaming alongside other MCU films on Disney+ becomes slightly more confusing. Although there has been no official explanation, it's possible the decision could have been influenced by Marvel Studios sharing the Hulk's film rights with Universal Pictures. That didn't stop Cretton from praising Abomination's new look in Shang-Chi, however, with the director saying, "I think Abomination got a bit of an upgrade… or we might call it an evolution going through time. I do really love the design that we landed on for that character."
Due to the upcoming She-Hulk series not being a standalone Hulk project, fans can catch Ruffalo's Green Goliath as well as Roth's Abomination when the series premieres on Disney+ later this year. Ruffalo shared his excitement for passing the "banner" to Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk actor Tatiana Maslany, who Ruffalo confirmed he'll be sharing the screen with across a number of scenes. "Tatiana Maslany is frickin' legendary as the She-Hulk," Ruffalo said. "I'm passing the banner onto her... There's some really good, funny, cool, long, long scenes between Professor and her. We've never really seen the Hulk interact with people the way he does in that show. It'll be really interesting."
Source: HBO Max