Marvel’s What If…? Episode 3 Heavily Features an MCU Movie That’s Seldom Referenced

Full spoilers for this week’s new episode follow! When Marvel’s What If…? was first announced it came with the promise that it would explore alternate versions of the stories seen in all the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To be frank, not everyone actually expected this to be true as referencing every movie would be difficult but then also there are some of them that Marvel Studios sometimes shies away from. Episode 3, which asks the question “What If… The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?,” puts one of those movies almost front and center though setting much of the action around The Incredible Hulk.

The 2008 movie and second feature film in the MCU has frequently been neglected by Marvel Studios for a couple of reasons. First the film was distributed by Universal Studios, so even though it’s been included in DVD and blu-ray boxed sets, Disney doesn’t own the movie. Second, it starred Edward Norton as the titular character and as we know he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo for Marvel’s The Avengers and beyond. Some references to the movie have popped up every once in a while, like the Brazilian soda Pingo Doce in Ant-Man, but it’s frequently ignored by Marvel Studios.

In this week’s episode of What If…? there’s a lot of time devoted to locations and references from The Incredible Hulk. As Natasha tries to hunt down whoever is killing the Avengers initiative candidates it leads her to Culver University of Virgina, a key location from the film. While there she runs into Dr. Betty Ross and later Bruce Banner (a reference to Stanley’s Pizza from the movie can also be heard). The episode goes on to feature a major set piece from the movie as Bruce transforms into the Hulk inside an elevated, glass hallway at the college. It takes a major deviation from the film though when The Hulk explodes (his death caused by an angry Hank Pym).

Very soon a major piece of The Incredible Hulk will make its way back into the MCU when the film’s villain The Abomination appears in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the upcoming She-Hulk series, which will more than likely reference The Incredible Hulk in great detail.

The Incredible Hulk wasn’t the only MCU movie referenced in this week’s episode though which largely was dependent on…well, almost everything.

Marvel’s What If…? streams new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.