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Article: The Incredible Hulk will forever be the strange odd-child of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the film's characters, storylines, and even its star (Ed Norton) were all left out of subsequent MCU films, with Mark Ruffalo bringing a new take on Bruce Banner/The Hulk to the first Avengers movie.
However, The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier is now explaining, there were some extensive plans in place for The Incredible Hulk 2, at one point.
"Yeah there was like a whole sequel," Leterrier told ComicBook.com's Chris Killian during interviews for his latest film, Fast X.
The filmmaker went into more detail, explaining that The Incredible Hulk 2 would've seen various versions of Hulk introduced into the MCU: "There was like Grey Hulk, Red Hulks – there was a lot of good stuff that we were planning."
It's wild to hear Louis Leterrier describe The Incredible Hulk 2 as having both Bruce Banner's alternate "Grey Hulk" persona and not one but seemingly multiple Red Hulks. The MCU didn't venture much deeper into Hulk lore after The Incredible Hulk (2008) – not until She-Hulk debuted in 2022. Now rumors are swirling that the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World will debut Harrison Ford as Red Hulk, with Liv Tyler possibly making a return to the franchise to play Red She-Hulk. Grey Hulk seems to have been sidelined in favor of Mark Ruffalo's "Smart Hulk" evolution, much to the chagrin of some diehard Marvel Comics fans.
"Hulk is a complex character within the Marvel Universe," Leterrier admitted. "You want the primeval Hulk... the rage Hulk. And then when you go Grey Hulk and Smart Hulk you lose that a little bit and you get a little bit more kiddish with it."
Leterrier was careful to conclude by saying the Hulk we see now is very far away from the Hulk he was trying to build:
"But that was the fun of where I was in my movie, with the access to consciousness and all that stuff. That was really fun. And that's what I was aiming to do. But take my time with it. Because there's so many characters they want it all fast [laughs]. I like She-Hulk, but then you know, yoga between Hulk and... I was like 'Okay! yeah, we're very far from my Hulk.'"
I've been wanting a new Hulk movie for years. I don't even like Smart Hulk, to be honest.
We need more of this:
And less of this:
Hulk's fight with Grimace also could have been better. Way too short and unfortunately the same thing will probably happen when they introduce Red Hulk where you barely get a minute or two of action before Red Hulk is like, "Well, Sam, it looks like I need your help afterall to take on this brave new world together!"
