Why was Incredible Hulk ignored for so long?

[Vader's Fist]

Up until the reappearance of Ross in Captain America: Civil War, The Incredible Hulk received absolutely no acknowledgement whatsoever. No reference to the Abomination, no footage of the Harlem Incident, no reference to Bruce's history with Betty. Outside of the opening minutes of Avengers, I don't think there's even been any reference to the fact that Bruce is powered by the same serum as Steve. There's also the matter of the Leader tease, which was just left hanging.

So what I'm wondering is, why did Marvel ignore it? Was there some problem with Universal or was it something to do with recasting Banner? Do Marvel just consider the Incredible Hulk a failure (it scored 67% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned 263.4 million worldwide. Nothing to sneeze at in my eyes, anyway)? Can anyone give any insight into this?

 

[StormC]

Bruce mentioned wrecking Harlem in the Avengers, and the Netflix shows have mentioned it several times.

It was a movie that flew under the radar for most of the general public and since Hulk movie rights are tied up at Universal there's probably not a lot of incentive to dig into that well. Couple it with the recasting and Marvel probably felt it was better to just move on.

 

[dax]

The Avengers acknowledged the Incredible Hulk. First, they showed footage of the Hulk's rampage of Culver university when Tony was looking at profiles on Cap, Thor, and Hulk. Next, Bruce mentioned that he made a mess of Brooklyn (referencing his fight with Abomination) and finally, he told everyone that he tried to shoot himself in the mouth but "the other guy" spit the bullet out (referencing the deleted scene of Bruce in the Arctic).

 

[OcStat]

I don't think the film was regarded as a failure upon release...

But it was a contested project in it's final days, with Edward Norton getting involved beyond the capacity of his role as lead actor. I can't recall the specifics but remember seeing a panel at SDCC in '08 on the MCU (hard to imagine it was one of the smaller panels at the time) and the writer of the film discussed being somewhat sidelined as suggestions from others kept coming in. I'm sure another fellow user can provide more annotated information. This is partly why Norton wasn't brought back. The recast has something to do with it I imagine, along with the film being partially tied to another studio.

 

[NotNickFury]

Bruce mentioned wrecking Harlem in the Avengers, and the Netflix shows have mentioned it several times.

They mentioned Harlem? Because I don't recall any point in Luke Cage where someone brought up that the 'big green guy' completely wrecked that neighborhood.

 

[OcStat]

Tony Stark: You should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top 10 floors all R&D, you'd love it... it's candyland.

Bruce Banner: Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke... Harlem.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

Also: Abomination was referenced in AoS

 

[StormC]

They mentioned Harlem? Because I don't recall any point in Luke Cage where someone brought up that the 'big green guy' completely wrecked that neighborhood.

Daredevil had a newspaper clipping of it. Feel like another show referenced it too, but I'm not sure.

 

[NotNickFury]

Oh right, the newspaper. Forgot about that. Was thinking mostly conversations, but you're right, the Harlem and Battle of NY did have headlines.

 

[TheVileOne]

The Leader tease was for future movies. But the movie didn't do that well, so they never revisited it.

 

[metaphysician]

They also showed footage of the Culver University rampage during Iron Man 2.

They don't reference TIH a lot because:
1. The Hulk hasn't had any more solo movies
2. It wasn't very good

Simple as that.

 

[Iron_Stark]

They also showed footage of the Culver University rampage during Iron Man 2.

They don't reference TIH a lot because:
1. The Hulk hasn't had any more solo movies
2. It wasn't very good

Simple as that.

2. It was good but Universal still has the rights for his solo outings, not team ups.

And yes they showed the news footage in Iron Man 2.

 

[metaphysician]

It made the least of any MCU film, and tied for second lowest reviews in the "just barely fresh" range. No, it wasn't good.

 

[Random490]

2. It was good but Universal still has the rights for his solo outings, not team ups.

And yes they showed the news footage in Iron Man 2.

Also they were a lot of talks about sequels but with the success of Thor and Cap they decided to focus more on rights they had full control of rather than partial (more bang for Marvel's buck that way) It was also referenced in AoS a bunch. And they were originally planning on Abomination being in the opening action sequence of AoU, but cut him since he didn't fit the story.

It was never ignored, the idea that it ever was is ridiculous. I mean how many times do you think they have to reference it? Iron Man 2, Avengers, Marvel One shot, AoS, Daredevil, Civil War all acknowledge it. It has been a steady and fairly consistent reinforcing of TIH since it came out.

The only argument that it was "ignored" the dropping of the leader plot line (which just means it's open and they can still revisit it whenever they want)

 

[Darepool]

I think the Universal and Norton factors are certainly an element more then the rating, but it hasn't been outright ignored.

I desperately want a Hulk franchise up and running. The Leader is one of my favorite villains bar none. So much great stuff to mine from David's run in particular. Comic book writing at it's absolute finest.

 

[Best]

The Russos/Markus & McFeely seem to be sticking to their word when they say they're putting everyone in Infinity War. General Ross in CW was the first sign of hope that they're still watching TIH, and are open to what they could potentially pull from there. I mean all I want, and maybe all there is to pull is Betty and Abomination, but those are pretty big in my book.

 

[Malfurion]

It made the least of any MCU film, and tied for second lowest reviews in the "just barely fresh" range. No, it wasn't good.

Yes, it was good. A fresh film is a solid film. That's what the fresh rating signifies. I also has 72% on audiences which is also solid.

 

[Roose Bolton]

It's not retconned or anything, but I think Marvel are very much aware that it's one of their weaker films and its production was not a pleasant one, so they're being selective with how much of it they reference.

 

[Panacea]

It's not retconned or anything, but I think Marvel are very much aware that it's one of their weaker films and its production was not a pleasant one, so they're being selective with how much of it they reference.

I think that's probably got more to do with not wanting to remind the audience that Norton used to play Hulk. That said, early reporting on Infinity War did suggest that Liv Tyler was coming back for the movie.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

early reporting on Infinity War did suggest that Liv Tyler was coming back for the movie.

I hope she took acting lessons this time

 

[Lantern Venom]

They mentioned Harlem? Because I don't recall any point in Luke Cage where someone brought up that the 'big green guy' completely wrecked that neighborhood.

Jessica Jones mentioned it on the episode "AKA 99 Friends." I don't remember the exact quote, but when a woman named Audrey Eastman (who lost her mother in the Chitauri invasion) tries to hurt Jessica, Jessica says something like, "Then go after the big, green guy or the flag-waver."

Yes, it was good. A fresh film is a solid film. That's what the fresh rating signifies. I also has 72% on audiences which is also solid.

It's criminally underrated. It has the most epic final fight scene of any of the Avengers origin films, and I rank the film slightly higher than Iron Man or Thor.

While I think that the difficult production of the film might be part of the reason that it's not referenced as much, Marvel Studios might have felt that they really didn't need a sequel since we saw in Avengers that Bruce was doing everything to live a life away from the public eye.

 

[NealKenneth]

The major problem TIH has was that it just felt like it was seperate from the MCU. These were their three missed oppurtunities IMO:

1) Nick Fury in the film. If you put Fury in as General Ross's character, he'd have an arc that would setup his attitude towards The Avengers Intiative and give Phase 1 more interconnectivety in a natural way.

2) Casting Ruffalo as Hulk. Norton is fine, but Ruffalo is exceptional. He was also their first choice...it was Universal who insisted on Norton.

3) Underusing Samuel Sterns. Tim Blake Nelson rocked this role. The coolest thing they could have done is bring him back as the "scientist guy" in Thor or The Avengers. More interconnectivity.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I never get threads like these where the answers are all in the films themselves. Two words: PAY ATTENTION.

 

[Stark Bauer]

I feel like it would be difficult for Hulk to carry his own film sequel and be a great success. Someone mentioned the only reason to do another Hulk movie is if they introduce She Hulk. I agree. However a Hulk vs Thing vs Rhino vs. Venom vs Wolverine match or any combination would be worthy of a sequel.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I feel like it would be difficult for Hulk to carry his own film sequel and be a great success. Someone mentioned the only reason to do another Hulk movie is if they introduce She Hulk. I agree. However a Hulk vs Thing vs Rhino vs. Venom vs Wolverine match or any combination would be worthy of a sequel.

I think there's more than enough character based and thematically interesting material to be mined from the comics to do all sorts of Hulk films, raging from simple monster showdown stories to psychological thrillers to very personal and artistic character studies.