The Incredible Hulk is the unquestionable dark sheep of the MCU, so much so that it saw star Edward Norton replaced by Mark Ruffalo as the MCU's Bruce Banner till this day. But it could have been very different, as Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier has confirmed there's a "longer" and "darker" cut of the movie, featuring even more MCU cameos.
Speaking to Collider about his new Netflix horror The Last House (which our favorite movie critic Hideo Kojima recently compared to Death Stranding), Leterrier not only confirmed the existence of an (even) darker extended cut, but also teased a major Marvel cameo, in addition to Tony Stark's appearance in the film's post-credits scene.
"There's a darker cut," Leterrier said. "Longer, obviously. It's not an hour, but it's very interesting because The Incredible Hulk was the first movie sort of starting the MCU. So there were all these ideas that started many of the stories you're following now, and that was in The Incredible Hulk."
Iron Man technically kickstarted the MCU, but The Incredible Hulk quickly followed. Released barely 6 weeks after Iron Man in the summer of 2008, both movies were made concurrently and could be considered the twin building blocks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While Norton would never return, many elements from The Incredible Hulk have recurred over the years, including William Hurt's Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross playing a key role in Captain America: Civil War and Abomination popping up in She-Hulk and Shang-Chi. 2025's Captain America: Brave New World even served as something of a pseudo-sequel to The Incredible Hulk, with Tim Blake Nelson's Leader returning to cause trouble some 17 years later.
Leterrier doesn't go into much detail about the footage actually shot and left on the cutting room floor. But he does reveal one sequence, which never made it in front of cameras, was set to feature none other than Steve Rogers, two years before Chris Evans was cast as the MCU's first Captain America.
"It was a little ahead of its time, so we didn't [shoot] it. But Captain America was in it," Leterrier said. "Tony Stark was in it – he's still in it. And the opening was actually quite interesting. It was set in the North Pole. It was cool. A little too dark." As for whether The Incredible Hulk deleted scenes will ever see the light of day, Leterrier notes that: "Some got out, some are still to be shown." Maybe one day, the MCU's least-loved movie will be redeemed.
Things are certainly looking up for the MCU of late. Following a post-Endgame slump, Marvel Studios is back on top following the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is well on track to make over $2 billion at the box office and become one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Up next on the big screen is Avengers: Doomsday, with news expected at Marvel's D23 panels this Friday.
For more on the MCU, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order, and our list of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows.
