“Captain America: Brave New World” should be an exciting film in the MCU canon for a lot of reasons but one of the biggest is that it serves as a spiritual sequel to one of the first films in the series.
The latest entry ties many threads back to 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” – the second entry in the entire MCU and one of its biggest black sheep. The only standalone canon Hulk film has been largely maligned for years with it’s lead actor recast from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo in later appearances. “Captain America: Brave New World” looks to remedy that and bring a number of benched characters from the 2008 flick back into the limelight.
With such a disconnected feeling, it’s likely many fans skipped over “The Incredible Hulk” on rewatches so if that’s the case here is what you should remember before tuning into the latest Captain America movie.
Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross
Bruce Banner might have gotten recast from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo, and for a while it seem the rest of the cast, aside from William Hurt’s General Ross, seemed to be shuffled off to nonexistence. However, that’s no longer the case because Liv Tyler is making her MCU return as Betty Ross in “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Betty appeared in “The Incredible Hulk” as General Ross’s daughter and the love interest to Bruce Banner. The two were college sweethearts and she was in attendance the day Bruce got dosed with enough Gamma rays to Hulk him out. The two obviously split when Bruce went on the run but when he pops back up during the movie, Betty is quick to help him.
Betty opposes her dad in the climax of the film to help Bruce. The two manage to put a stop to Abomination’s havoc but at the end Bruce goes back on the run and Betty became absent from the MCU ever since. “Captain America: Brave New World” has been tight-lipped on what her involvement in the film will be but since her dad is both the president and the latest recipient of Hulk-like powers it isn’t hard to guess.
Samuel Sterns Got His Powers in ‘The Incredible Hulk’
The other triumphant return, after over a decade of dormancy, is Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns. Sterns appeared in “The Incredible Hulk” as a science friend of Bruce who wanted to help cure his condition. His desire to help is rooted more in earning himself notoriety rather than helping Bruce fix himself, which leads Banner to regret letting Sterns have access to his gamma-infused blood.
In the film’s climax, Sterns helps Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) turn into Abomination and in the process of that painful transformation, the scientist is flung across the room. The last we see of Sterns is some of Bruce’s gamma-filled blood dripping into one of his open wounds and his head beginning to grow.
This is the beginning of Sterns’ transformation to The Leader. Where Hulk is gamma-powered brawn, The Leader is gamma-powered brains. He’s one of the smartest individuals in the Marvel Universe and he seems to have his eyes set on the Adamantium husk of the Celestial body in “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Thunderbolt Ross’s First Appearance
General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross has been the most consistent aspect of “The Incredible Hulk” films in the larger MCU. In his first outing he was just a man trying to stop his daughter’s ex-boyfriend from constantly turning into a green monster and wreaking havoc on the city. His initial involvement with Bruce was pushing his research further in development hoping that Gamma-infused powers would be an answer to the Super Soldier Serum that made Captain America back in WWII.
After letting Banner go after stopping Abomination tear through Harlem at the end of “The Incredible Hulk,” he is approached by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the post-credit scene about joining the Avengers Initiative. He turns the role down and we don’t see Ross again until “Captain America: Civil War” where he shows up to let the Avengers know about the Sokovia Accords meant to hold heroes more accountable.
From there Ross appears off and on until his big glow-up in “Captain America: Brave New World” where his title changes from General to President of the United States – also he was recast to Harrison Ford for the film after Hurt died in 2022.
Tampering with Super Soldier Serum
The pursuit to replicate the Super Soldier Serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America existed all the way back in “The Incredible Hulk” – which released three years before Cap’s origin story introduced the serum in “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
Thunderbolt Ross funds Bruce’s research into gamma radiation under the guise of furthering radiation resistance, but in reality he hopes it can be a replacement to the Super Soldier Serum lost during WWII. After Bruce gets Hulked out for the first time, Ross spends years tracking him with hopes to use the Hulk as a military asset. Eventually he hires Blonsky to track him down and to help even the soldier’s odds he gives him a dose of a weaker version of the Super Solider Serum. Blonsky becomes addicted to the power and eventually forces Sterns to turn him into Abomination.
The hunt for the Super Soldier Serum popped up again in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” when Sam learned about Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) who was injected with the serum during Korean War but tossed aside after his use faded. The Disney+ series also followed the resurfacing of another Super Soldier Serum that seemed to stick a bit more. All that hunting can be traced back to General Ross and “The Incredible Hulk.”
