The Incredible Hulk (2008) vs Man of Steel (2013)

[Spider-Aziz]

Here's another contribution in the 'Superhero Film' vs 'Superhero Movie' anthology of threads added to this section

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Man of Steel (2013)​

Both are early world building steps about a super powerful super strong character that is capable of doing a lot of damage, and does so, and both movies cause more shrugs and blahs than excitement.

You decide which movie is better/worse or more/less enjoyable in the long run.
Added bonus; which movie would improve with more Nicolas Cage face maniped in gifs.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I enjoyed Man of Steel more.

 

[Batmannerism]

Here's another contribution in the 'Superhero Film' vs 'Superhero Movie' anthology of threads added to this section

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Man of Steel (2013)​

Both are early world building steps about a super powerful super strong character that is capable of doing a lot of damage, and does so, and both movies cause more shrugs and blahs than excitement.

You decide which movie is better/worse or more/less enjoyable in the long run.
Added bonus; which movie would improve with more Nicolas Cage face maniped in gifs.

Well for me Incredible Hulk was just kind of meh.

Man of Steel, other than a few moments relating to Pa Kent and the neck snap..... I loved it.

Soooo not even close for me.

 

[Detective Conan]

Well…Man Of Steel didn’t nearly put me to sleep. So that wins for me.

 

[fan4stic]

The Incredible Hulk, to me, I like more.

 

[Bayne]

I have a few issues with Man of Steel, but on the whole I've enjoyed it more every single time I watched it. It's basically one of my favorite dc movies at this point.

Granted, I prefer Marvel to DC in general and there's nothing I particularly dislike about TIH. But there's nothing I particularly like about it, either. It's far from my favorite marvel film. And I honestly haven't even bothered to watch it since I first bought all the phase 1 dvds in 2013.

So MOS wins easily.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I went with MOS. I liked TIH when I saw it but have never had any desire to rewatch it. I don’t really have any desire to rewatch MOS either now but I definitely did a few years ago at least, so that’s something. It’s a deeply flawed movie that misunderstands some key elements of the character but TIH is just kinda bland and forgettable and barely feels like it’s connected to the MCU.

 

[Herofan]

Really not much in common other than I do think being more ambitious and pretty atypical compared to many other hero movies (while obviously having influences they did try to follow) but in pretty different ways.

I do think The Incredible Hulk was quite a bit better overall and in most ways, solidly good while Man of Steel was just OK, The Incredible Hulk having better protagonist and conflicts, themes, story and action (though Man of Steel had at least decent protagonist and story elements and was particularly close with action) and also just pacing which made most of the rest better also.

 

[Herofan]

Points for both for having more haunted heroes but I thought Edward Norton really effectively conveyed the sense that Bruce Banner had been and was an outcast, on the run and also quite self-doubting, Cavill kind of conveyed some of that at times but less well and with the writing it too often felt like the self-doubting portrayal was underplayed but overwritten.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I don’t dislike TIH but I enjoy MOS a lot more and grown to like it even more over the years so that gets my vote.

 

[Elayis]

There was a time that I enjoyed Man of Steel quite a bit, but each subsequent rewatch has only further diminished my opinion of it, to the point now that I regard it as a truly terrible film. It has great visual design and some nice, offbeat cinematography for the genre, but the writing and directing's a mess, and what a waste of a stellar cast.

Incredible Hulk on the other hand I haven't seen in years, but I always liked the intimate, grounded approach to Banner and his condition. I still prefer Ang Lee's Hulk, a film that I unironically really like, but TIH is a solid movie and easily in my top 10 MCU flicks.

 

[Mandon Knight]

MOS is WAY better, for me.

 

[Babillygunn]

People think I’m crazy, but Incredible Hulk in one of my favorite Marvel films. MOS is serviceable, but I cannot help but be reminded during the Metropolis battle that that entire scene is essentially everything that Kingdom Come criticizes. Zod and Clark basically have a “rumble” with no regard for collateral damage. The Ross/Waid Superman would be appalled. I wanted so badly to like that film and I even advocated for and defended it for a long time. But it simply lacks any respect for the character of Superman.

 

[Deck Rickard]

People think I’m crazy, but Incredible Hulk in one of my favorite Marvel films. MOS is serviceable, but I cannot help but be reminded during the Metropolis battle that that entire scene is essentially everything that Kingdom Come criticizes. Zod and Clark basically have a “rumble” with no regard for collateral damage. The Ross/Waid Superman would be appalled. I wanted so badly to like that film and I even advocated for and defended it for a long time. But it simply lacks any respect for the character of Superman.

Yeah, Mark Waid himself claimed to have stormed out of the theater when Supes snapped Zod’s neck. He wasn’t a fan of the movie.

 

[Herofan]

MOS is serviceable, but I cannot help but be reminded during the Metropolis battle that that entire scene is essentially everything that Kingdom Come criticizes. Zod and Clark basically have a “rumble” with no regard for collateral damage. The Ross/Waid Superman would be appalled.

How is the battle that different from the Superman/Doomsday battle?
Example

Yeah, Mark Waid himself claimed to have stormed out of the theater when Supes snapped Zod’s neck. He wasn’t a fan of the movie.

Yes. That's not surprising and I'm not a fan of him for, at minimum, wanting to break up Clark and Lois 3 or 4 years after they got married and more generally being too Silver Age-only.

 

[Captain Tired]

Similar to Deck Rickard, I have never felt any need to revisit The Incredible Hulk. Last time I saw that film in full was probably the year it came out lol. I've caught bits and pieces of it on TV in the years since, and it's honestly never sustained my interest enough for me to want to stick with it and watch the rest. So yeah, MOS wins this one for me.

 

[Babillygunn]

Yes. That's not surprising and I'm not a fan of him for, at minimum, wanting to break up Clark and Lois 3 or 4 years after they got married and more generally being too Silver Age-only.

How is the battle that different from the Superman/Doomsday battle?
Example

I didn’t like the Death of Superman comic either. It was a gimmick and it only served to appeal to base emotions and was devoid of thought. (The animated movie oth, is another matter. That’s my favorite Superman film and it’s full of heart.)

 

[mclay18]

Man of Steel is better IMO but saddled with filler and questionable Snyder story choices (the neck snap and Pa Kent bits). TIH is tighter, better focused and better photographed, but Edward Norton didn't do anything for me as Bruce Banner.

MOS would benefit from TIH's pacing and compression of origin story.

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

TIH is solid but isn't one of the stronger MCU films. I think MoS is quite bad though where lots of things make little sense, and it comes off as a character assassination piece of the Kent family, so TIH still comes out way ahead.

 

[Erzengel]

How is the battle that different from the Superman/Doomsday battle?
Example

Yes. That's not surprising and I'm not a fan of him for, at minimum, wanting to break up Clark and Lois 3 or 4 years after they got married and more generally being too Silver Age-only.

I think that Superman actually saves Lois and Jimmy during that rampage? Which I know falls into the whole, Superman has only been Superman for a few days response.

 

[MasterBoss]

Man of Steel has many more problems, but I've seen the movie several times, and there's certain scenes/moments I'd watch on youtube.

The Incredible Hulk is a movie I have no desire to ever watch, and I don't really like Edward Norton as Banner.

 

[Herofan]

I think MoS is quite bad though where lots of things make little sense, and it comes off as a character assassination piece of the Kent family

I don't see how presenting them as fallible and having doubts is character assassination

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

I don't see how presenting them as fallible and having doubts is character assassination

They do things like lower the impact the Kents have on Clark being good and heroic and instead have Jonathan talk about letting kids die, etc. Superman becomes more completely Kryptonian and less the best of both worlds.

Clark is, for example, shown to not even bother to try to help his father when he's in danger and about to die. His human mother wants to run to help but Clark just stands there, either not caring enough to use his x-ray vision or using it and lying to Martha that Jonathan is OK. Instead he could have run over like a normal person and fixed it without exposing anything. Then when Jonathan basically sacrifices himself so Clark won't have to expose his power we see how little Clark cares later in life when he risks exposure for such a petty thing as to supernaturally destroy a jerk's truck during the day, out in the open.

There's more to talk about but these are good examples of how I feel they are written with some very unlikable (or worse) traits and the film is getting old so no point in deep diving too much.

 

[noob]

Man of Steel is much better. The Incredible Hulk isn't bad but it is among the weakest MCU movies. It's just not very memorable.

 

[mclay18]

The Incredible Hulk is a movie I have no desire to ever watch, and I don't really like Edward Norton as Banner.

It’s not a bad movie. I actually rewatched part of it yesterday and William Hurt and Liv Tyler are pretty good in it. The film needed a better Bruce Banner than Edward Norton though.

And the cinematography in TIH is actually quite nice for the most part. MOS overdoes the handheld and desaturated look when something closer to TIH would’ve been better.