The MCU‘s first black sheep release is officially 18 years old. On June 13, 2008, The Incredible Hulk became the second official MCU release (and the only one to ever be distributed by Universal Pictures, for factoid fans) and is still the only solo movie Marvel’s Jade Giant has led since the mega-franchise kicked off. Tragically, it still feels unlikely we’ll ever get a legitimate sequel – albeit with Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner in place of Edward Norton. The years have actually been kinder to The Incredible Hulk than contemporary audiences might have believed possible, and the shift in sentiment is no doubt helped by the trajectory Banner’s story has taken since Avengers: Endgame. Basically, if you want pure, unadulterated Hulk smashing, this is one of the only places you’ll get it. And hidden in the story was an important founding stone for another infamously angry Marvel character: Wolverine.
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Hugh Jackman’s brand power being what it was meant his version of the X-Men’s favorite berserker endured even death and a perfect ending to jump across to the MCU when Marvel Studios were handed the keys to Fox’s universe. Deadpool & Wolverine was worth it, and Logan‘s legacy wasn’t quite undone, and it still feels like we’ll get more from Jackman’s Wolverine in the near future, but at some point, he’s going to have to hang his claws up for good and hand over the reins to someone new. Speculation has thrown all sorts of names at the wall for who could replace him, including Daniel Radcliffe and Henry Cavill (even after that delicious cameo), and it seems an inevitability. Wolverine is too big a character to leave out of the MCU’s new age of mutants, and unlike the other X-Men, we already have the foundation for the character’s origin thanks to The Incredible Hulk.
How The Incredible Hulk Set Up A New Wolverine
Exactly 18 years ago, when The Incredible Hulk hit theaters for the first time, Wolverine fans were given a treat thanks to the MCU’s canonization of the Weapon Plus programme that also formed Hulk’s new origin story. It’s largely overlooked these days, but Bruce Banner’s unfortunate transformation came about thanks to General Ross’ attempt to revive Project Rebirth – the secret government project that created the Super Soldier Serum that turned little Steve Rogers into near-invincible man mountain Captain America.
After Emil Blonsky’s first encounter with the Hulk ends in defeat for Tim Roth’s military man, William Hurt’s General Ross reveals the truth behind Banner’s transformation, and reveals to his volatile ally that a duplicate serum has been developed. Blonsky, of course, volunteers, creating the Abomination. But when Hurt retrieves the serum, we get an interesting collection of reveals from the cold storage unit. First, the company Cryosync is affiliated with Stark Industries, suggesting Tony’s company was in some way involved in development of the super soldier serum. Oddly, that’s never come up since, but could be waved away as part of Obadiah Stane’s legacy when Robert Downey Jr’s company heir was out of action.
There’s also a nod to Dr Reinstein (the alias of Stanley Tucci’s Dr Erskine from Captain America: The First Avenger). Even more interesting is the label marked “Weapons Plus,” which suggests that the Abomination serum was part of the same clandestine program that went on to give Wolverine his Adamantium skeletal upgrade. In the comics – specifically in New X-Men #128 – Weapons Plus was the repeated experiments designed to recreate Super Soldiers, beginning with Weapon I (otherwise known as Project Rebirth, as it was in the MCU) all the way up to Weapon XVI, with some side variants. Wolverine was just one of the results, and Deadpool, Logan’s clone X-23, and Fantomex were all part of the same program.
It might seem like a throwaway reference – and it certainly was at the time, given the Marvel rights mess back in the 2000s – but it remains Marvel canon and suggests the most logical way to establish Wolverine’s backstory in the MCU if they choose not to go with a catch-all multiversal angle to explain the arrival of all mutants. I personally hope this is brought back to relevance after Avengers: Secret Wars (and the rumored “soft reset” of the MCU), because keeping the tie between Wolverine and Captain America feels like the right way to honor established lore. It would also, excitingly, mean we could get a Wolverine timeline that predates the modern MCU timeline (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine only… not terrible, ideally) and allow for Wolverine to be developed as a character without immediately putting him in with the other X-Men.
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