The Incredible Hulk

The great outlier of the MCU, with only really a nominal link to anything else. This is partly because it plainly wasn't planned as part of the shared universe but was only belatedly slapped into a shape it would fit with a few cosmetic touches, while the recasting of Bruce Banner afterwards make this even more of an orphan. It isn't actually an outright dreadful film despite going a bit too far from the mixed success of Ang Lee's highbrow attempt at Hulk five years before; mashing the pair together might have produced an okay film but compared to the lofty standards. It's got some good action in places but it's hard to argue it isn't the weakest film in the franchise by some distance, something born out by consistently low rankings elsewhere. It's just inescapably not really an MCU film, lacking even the detail present in Iron Man or even a proper place in the scheme of things. Nevertheless...

TEN GREAT THINGS FROM THE INCREDIBLE HULK

EDWARD NORTON ISN'T BAD, ACTUALLY

Mark Ruffalo was better, or at least was once he started getting good scripts in Phase Three but Edward Norton really isn't bad, even if it sounds like he was a massive dick to work with. He's very good as a scrawny, haunted, hunted Bruce Banner, though how well his intensity would have worked in the more knockabout atmosphere of later films is unclear. But it really must be said he's great in this film.

THERE'S NO ORIGIN

Everyone knows how Bruce Banner got turned into the Hulk. There was a film about it, even if it wasn't the same. Incredible Hulk doesn't bore us, it just goes for the chorus, cheekily using Ang Lee's movie where it suits and merrily ignoring it when it doesn't. Apparently a detailed origin was filmed but then compacted into the opening titles, meaning the movie just hits the ground running.

EMIL BLONSKY

Tim Roth is a fine actor but also a superb scenery-chewing bad guy when needed (cf. Rob Roy, Planet of the Apes, The Musketeer) and he doesn't disappoint as Emil Blonsky, a Russian-born Royal Marine who joins up with Ross' anti-Hulk team and quickly becomes completely psychotic. Considering Roth was signed up for multiple films it's a shame he wasn't seen again.

THE HULK KICKS BLONSKY INTO A TREE

It's a great moment of physical comedy in a film of strained witticisms and it's a laugh-out-loud moment, a bit that foreshadows the famous beating of Loki and the character's future redemption in physical comedy via Thor - Ragnarok. You stick that bit in Phase Three and it would be a lot better received, plus Emil was kind of asking for it.

SAMUEL STERN

Tim Blake Nelson brings some welcome weirdness to the film late-on as Samuel Sterns, the guy who would have become the Leader if the Hulk franchise had gone anywhere rather than becoming an ensemble-only thing. Sterns starts off as cheerfully amoral and gets worse. Like Blonsky he deserved to be with the MCU for a bit longer than he actually was.

THE DESIGNS FOR HULK AND ABOMINATION

The too-bright too-cartoony 2003 look was effectively updated by The Incredible Hulk, with a powerful, leaner look and a more natural hue. While the design wasn't quite there with a long hairstyle it does have some continuity. Just as good is the design for the Abomination, all spikes and bones, and it really is fun when the pair smash each other around Harlem.

GENERAL ROSS

I mean, he isn't actually a great character in a three-dimensional world. The template used is the Silver Age's "J Jonah Jameson without the humour" model and it's a poor fit with the rest of the movie as he's just a mad general with a grudge. But William Hurt got the call a few years later to reprise the role in Captain America - Civil War. Though you perhaps get the impression that William Hurt was called to play someone in Civil War and then someone belatedly noticed he previously played Ross and the part was renamed as they basically share no similarities. But hey, he's the only main cast member to appear in another MCU film so...

LIV TYLER REALLY IS STUNNING

I mean, not as an actress, really, but she sure is pretty. Not as pretty as Jennifer Connelly but who is, right? And there's a bit where she's wearing a white blouse in the rain. Look, it's going to be a real struggle here to get to ten, especially as poor Betty Ross goes through everything with Bruce only to never, ever be mentioned again. At least it meant we got that Black Widow romance subplot everyone hated.

TONY STARK'S IN IT

I mean, you have to wait right until the end and really having Nick Fury instead would have perhaps been a better fit with the end of Iron Man but hey, Tony Stark is cool. And okay, you have to wait until right up to the end and even then he talks to Ross instead of Banner, it doesn't really relate to anything else that will happen and again feels like it's been the result of a panicked reshoot but Tony Stark is definitely in this film. Though you can probably find his scene on YouTube.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACTUALLY WATCH IT

Seriously, it isn't particularly good so don't bother. Basically everything that happens in it, even Tony Stark meeting with General Ross, adds absolutely nothing to the future universe. And if you do like it you might be annoyed that nothing in it is followed up. Either way drop it from any rewatches, the film is actually best tackled in isolation.