10 Underappreciated Comic Book Movies That Deserve A Second Chance

Released a month after Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk is the ginger-haired stepchild of the MCU, the movie that flopped at the box office, failed to launch a franchise and caused Marvel to recast the lead role for The Avengers. So this must be a coiled and steaming mess that makes even Thor: The Dark World look good, right?

Well, no. It’s a solid action movie in its own right, and the Hulk shown here is meaner, greener and more dangerous than the character portrayed in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie. The movie also excises the psychobabble that weighed down Lee’s version, opting instead for a chase thriller whose lead character happens to turn green when angry.

Lighter on its feet and less crassly commercial than many of the later MCU films, The Incredible Hulk not only clocks in at under two hours (a rare thing these days) but being the second movie in Phase One means that characters from future installments aren’t clumsily shoehorned into the narrative. There is a cameo from Robert Downey, but that comes right at the very end.