You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Hungry

 

I think that The Hulk is one of the more underrated movies in the MCU. Case in point, it got itself a spiritual sequel in the recent Captain America Brave New World. We found out what happens with Blonsky and Ross and their toxic symbiotic relationship in the years since Hulk. I go into detail at the end of this post. I’m not even going to discuss the fact that Edward Norton had a negative relationship with Marvel Studios, trying to take control of the movie. He does a great job in this movie, but I think Mark Ruffallo is better.

 

• Opening credits are some of the best in the early MCU. Tells everything you need to know how Banner became Hulk and everything he’s done since then
  
  
  
  
  
  
• William Hurt as General Ross. How he managed politically and militarily to survive this whole fiasco and still fail upwards is beyond me (more on that later)
  
  
• Rochina Favelas. Honestly, this movie and Fast 5 (and one episode of CSI: Miami) taught me everything I need to know about the Favelas
  
  
  
  
  
• Eating meat and watching Sesame Street (Honestly, it’s how some of my great aunts from Czechoslovakia learned English ). Plus Bill Bixby cameo
  
  
• Freaky Yoga breathing guy. Complete bodily control
  
  
• Pingo Doce Factory, Guaraná soda. Still being used in the MCU
  
  
• Isn’t this guy kinda old to be a factory bully with an entourage, hitting on younger women? But, in true Hulk fashion, there’s gotta be at least one guy who sets him off
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of women, that actress is gorgeous. She’s Débora Nascimento, a Brazilian actress. I can't see somebody that beautiful working a crap job. I hope she gets a better job after this
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bleeding all over the bottles is disgusting. But the super glue in a cut does work in the sports world
  
  
• We are introduced to Mr. Blue (more on him later). The flower Bruce got actually broke the microscope when introduced to Bruce’s gamma blood
  
  
•  So we see Stan Lee drink the bloody soda. The voice-over says gamma sickness, that it’s got a kick. So what happens to Stan? Did he get a jolt of energy or die?
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Emil Blonsky – Russian\English\American Special Forces. You know he’s a jerk when he shoots Bruce’s dog with a tranquilizer dart
  
  
  
  
  
• She just happens to be showering at that exact moment?
  
  
• General Ross’ command authority is absolute but really irks me
  
  
• Our bully gets kicked through several walls and windows. If he’s not dead, he’s gonna be in traction for the next year. Same with his buddies. Given the strength of Hulk, he’s not holding back and the bad men hurting him are gonna get killed. Bullies and soldiers!
  
  
• Blonsky is obviously not a team player. In Special Forces, I thought you were supposed to rely on your teammate
  
  
• Now the owner really does need a new factory
  
  
• The “lonely” Hulk music from the TV show
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• First mention in the MCU: Super-soldier Serum from WWII. Bio-tech Force Enhancement. Ross does not respect Bruce at all because he’s not a soldier
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bruce made it to Culver University in Virginia and saw his former girlfriend Betty Ross. They helped create the process that created the Hulk. She’s going out with another guy, Dr. Sampson (played by Modern Family’s Ty Burrell) although if this series went any further, I can’t see Ty with a green ponytail and super strength
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Several cameos here in the computer lab. Lou Ferrigno, the original Hulk, is a security guard (he’s one in Ang Lee’s Hulk too). We don’t know it for another 10 years, but the kid with the long hair (that Lou doesn't know is there) will eventually play Mr. Harrington, a New York-based teacher at Midtown High who is a teacher to Peter Parker. Same actor, same role. In the Brand New Day footage, Ned thinks Mr. Harrington may be Spider-Man
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The school’s motto is Fortuna Audaces Iuvat, which is Fortune Favors the Bold
  
  
• Ross gets a frozen sample of super-soldier serum. The container says “Cryosync – Stark Industries” then “Dr. Reinstein” and “Vita Ray.” In the comics, Dr Reinstein is the codename for Dr. Erskine, who invented the super-soldier serum used on Steve Rogers. The injections given to Blonsky look painful
  
  
• Assault Force on campus! Blonsky already feeling the effects - he’s faster and more acrobatic
  
  
• One thing I noticed is that Hulk is somewhat smart. He uses tools in battle like a caveman. Once Blonsky stops following Ross’ orders, he gets slammed into a tree face first. I honestly thought that was the end of him
  
  
• The Stark Industries sonic cannon from the opening credit blueprints. Stark later perfects the design and puts it into War Machine during Civil War. It’s used to take down Scarlett Witch
  
  
  
  
  
  
• There’s thunder in the background after the battle, maybe from Thor? According to Fury’s Big Week comic, this all takes place in the same week. When he’s a bit calmer, Hulk’s face kinda looks like a baby’s
  
  
• I had forgotten it was Ty Burrell’s character who called in the military to Culver to capture Banner. They destroy the quad. That’s gotta be bad publicity for the military and government. Also, the student reporter is named Jack McGee – that’s the same reporter from the ‘70’s hunting down Hulk sightings from the series (and was the most 70's looking guy around
  
  
  
  
  
  
• To NYC and Mr. Blue. He turns out to be Professor Samuel Sterns. This particular storyline doesn’t get resolved until Captain America Brave New World
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sterns is all intellectual curiosity and no ethics
  
  
• Blonsky has recovered from his tree but looks like shit. He now has a spine thing with pale skin, something that you see in his Abomination form
  
  
• Sterns has shitty equipment that he has to kick in order for it to work. He has a lot of Hulk’s blood. It doesn’t get destroyed in the final battle, so does that mean Ross has it?
  
  
• I love the line “I don’t know what you’ve been ladling into yourself.” And Blonsky becomes the Abomination!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And gamma blood drips into the open wound in Stern’s head, making him into the Leader. However, we won’t know what happens to him until Captain America Brave New World. The comic Fury’s Big Week shows that Black Widow captured Sterns and that SHIELD had him. We know now that’s incorrect
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
• Banner yeets himself out of the helicopter and doesn’t turn into the Hulk until he hits the ground
• We see The Wire’s Michael K. Williams for half a second as a car lands behind him
  
  
• Abomination and Hulk destroys Harlem. We know it’s Harlem because there’s the world famous Apollo Theater!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Why is Blonsky mad at General Ross? All of a sudden he wants to kill him and Betty? Is it because he’s an authority figure?
  
  
• All the stuff Hulk and Abomination destroy for military equipment is all US Air Force vehicles
  
  
• Blonksy stabs Hulk with one of his spikes, a wound you can still see on Mark Ruffallo’s Hulk
  
  
• The Hulk Super-Clap. Perhaps Ross saw this now and his Red Hulk mind told him he could do this too years later. “HULK SMASH!!!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hulk defeats Blonsky and kicks his body to Ross like a cat and a mouse
  
  
• When a helicopter reappears, you can just see the look of resignation on Hulk’s face that he’s gotta run…again
  
  
• Hulk runs away to Bella Coola, British Columbia for 31 days. On the interwebs, it’s listed as a remote, unincorporated wilderness: https://bellacoola.ca/
  
  
• The ending shows Banner getting a hold of “The Other Guy” as he calls him in Avengers. I guess the serum Sterns cooked up worked a little bit. By the time of Avengers, he seems to have Hulk under control by admitting he’s angry all the time
  
  
• There’s also a deleted scene that shows Banner climbing to the top of a remote mountain and trying to kill himself with a gun. Oddly enough, the scene also shows him accidentally uncovering Captain America’s shield. While The Avengers ignored the Cap part, Mark Ruffallo did reference this scene, saying the “Other Guy” spit out the bullet. There’s another deleted scene where another General discusses Ross’ failed super soldier experiments, apparently with live test subjects. Wonder what happened with them?
  
  
• Post Credit (kinda, it happens before the credits roll) scene: Ross is apparently at an Officers Club on a base, based on the other camouflaged individuals there. His annoying need to say “reload” after every shot shows he’s a pure military guy! Tony Stark shows up and makes a quip about hardware being the way to go militarily. He also mentions putting together a team with Nick Fury
  
  
  
  
  
  ** A final word about Blonsky: While I did enjoy She-Hulk, I don’t think turning a hardened military Special Forces guy who shoots dogs into a lovey dovey guru was the best idea. He should have remained a cage fighter. Through Agents of SHIELD and The Consultant, we kinda found out his journey: after the battle, his name was put in for the Avengers initiative but was sandbagged by Coulson and Stillwell (traitor!). He was then put in cryogenic sleep, then following the end of SHIELD, was apparently placed in a super prison. We later found out that Wong was helping him temporarily escape and fight in cage matches with other super beings. That would have been awesome. Then with She-Hulk, he became peaceful and a cult guru. Making the whole fighting storyline obsolete. One thing I never understood: so She-Hulk shows that Blonsky can change back and forth at will. What about the original super-soldier serum? Is he still like Captain America when he's in human form? He obviously can control the anger that goes along with it. Anyways, I also think Hot Toys missed a big one: they could have made various incarnations of Blonsky as a Hot Toy soldier: Brazil battle, Culver University and New York tactical gear. Finally, an Abomination that looks like Tim Roth complete with tattoos.
  
  
  ** Final Word about General Ross: OK, I can understand Ross and the military covering up a disaster like the Hulk busting out for the first time and killing a bunch of people. But then framing Banner as a guy who escaped with military secrets! Ross then screws the pooch in a foreign country, allowing civilians, Special Forces personnel get killed along with destroying a private factory. He further messes up by destroying the quad (and part of a library) of a major university and letting that fact get on TV. More military personnel are killed and equipment destroyed. Finally, one of his own men (Blonsky) is experimented on with a classified serum, stops following orders and is turned into another monster. Oh, and they destroy historic parts of Harlem, a major neighborhood in New York. Flash forward years later to Civil War: following a major heart attack and surgery, Ross now somehow becomes Secretary of State and implements the Sovokia Accords (a disaster by the way) and still can’t stop talking about Banner. Oh, and during this time, he’s keeping an American citizen and scientist, Samuel Sterns, under arrest illegally and using his gamma-induced genius to benefit his career. Oh, and he’s possibly experimenting with more gamma blood to increase Stern’s intelligence more. Finally, by the time Cap 4 comes out, he’s President of the United States! And is Harrison Ford...