Fans are trying to shoot gamma rays at The Incredible Hulk‘s reputation.
The 2008 solo film for the giant green rage monster is second in MCU chronology (releasing just six weeks after Iron Man), but sits near the bottom of the pile in terms of critical acclaim, audience adulation, and commercial success. Redditor Legitimate-Health-29 vehemently disagrees with this sentiment, taking to the Marvel Studios subreddit to argue in favor of the flick and see where “everyone else [is] at with it.”
Many fans are happy with the movie, which features Edward Norton as the Hulk and Tim Roth as the Abomination.
User JStormtrooper went so far as to rank The Incredible Hulk above Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2, Black Widow, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. “I know I’ll get downvoted to hell for this,” the brave Redditor continued. “But I find it even more entertaining than Black Panther.”
Other fans weren’t so generous, as they responded with similar complaints to those that sunk the film to the bottom of the MCU pool.
User WE4PONXYZ was extra critical:
“Edward Norton was extremely unbelievable to me and wooden/stiff as Bruce Banner. Half the time I have a mental block and forget it ever existed. It’s a movie that on my last rewatch of phase 1-3 I just watched the after credit scene and skipped the 1st 1hr 45min. I’m also extremely happy that abomination got a redesign, he was practically unrecognizable in that movie.”
But even that salty Redditor added a positive caveat: “More Tim Roth please and thank you Marvel.”
“I find it to be an entertaining movie that doesn’t deserve the hate it gets, but it’s also not some unrecognized brilliant film either,” user dle2800 concluded.
Here here. We’ll never see Norton again, but Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Roth’s Emily Blonsky will be back on our screens this summer when She-Hulk: Attorney at Law comes to Disney Plus, even if the rights issues surrounding more standalone Bruce Banner blockbusters remain shrouded in mystery.