MCU: All 33 Marvel Cinematic Universe films ranked from worst to best

32. The Incredible Hulk

You’d be forgiven for getting that The Incredible Hulk ever took place in the MCU as, since the planned sequel was scrapped, it seems that Marvel Studios have gone to as much effort as possible to essentially retcon the film out of the shared universe – recasting Hulk for The Avengers while breaking down his backstory so that viewers didn’t need to watch the 2008 film.

That being said, it’s not just the behind-the-scenes changes that differentiate the film from all the rest, because The Incredible Hulk doesn’t even feel like an MCU film. It has a significantly different tone and is a lot more unnerving than the vast majority of the saga’s offerings, with some of The Hulk-centric and/or Abomination-centric scenes being rather terrifying.

The special effects were impressive and story itself is rather strong. And it was admirable that, being a reboot only six years removed from the less-enjoyable Hulk, it didn’t bother retreading Bruce Banner’s origin story all over again.

Instead, it used those off-screen origins to catapult us straight into this story. On that note, the relationship between Bruce and Betty was one of the most endearing we have seen from the MCU as Edward Norton and Liv Tyler’s natural chemistry made it feel like the pair had history and, considering we didn’t actually see that history, that’s quite the feat to pull off.