Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, streaming, TV | Tagged: disney, edward norton, Incredible Hulk (2008), mark ruffalo, Marvel Studios, she-hulk, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, universal studios
Marvel Studios Legends: Hulk Retraces Edward Norton-Free MCU Journey
The Disney+ series Marvel Studios Legends offers an abridged look at a variety of topics that shaped the Marvel Cinematic Universe retracing the steps of Vision, Falcon, The Winter Soldier, Peggy Carter, Zemo, The Tesseract, Loki, The Ravengers, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye and more throughout the 14-year history of its canon. Its latest episode in advance of the upcoming series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law features Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk. Given Universal Studio's solo film rights, the character's only MCU film is the 2008 film directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton. Legends doesn't feature anything on Norton, focusing (understandably) on his successor, Mark Ruffalo.
Due to the current deal, the Ruffalo incarnation can only appear in projects that feature other Marvel characters without Hulk being the main focus. It starts his journey in 2012's The Avengers and chronicles his every other major appearance, including 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and the Avengers sequels in 2015's Age of Ultron, 2018's Infinity War, and 2019's Endgame. Ruffalo also made several cameos in 2013's Iron Man 3, 2019's Captain Marvel, and 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The actor reprised the role for the animated series Marvel's What If….
With She-Hulk premiering on August 18, it remains to be seen how much it will expand on Bruce Banner and the Hulk's lore, as we've already seen Marvel do with William Hurt's General Thunderbolt Ross on several occasions before the actor's passing. We also haven't heard anything about Liv Tyler or Tim Blake Nelson possibly reprising their roles as Betty Ross and Samuel Sterns/Leader, respectively, from the 2008 film. Tim Roth will reprise his role as Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, the film's primary villain for the Disney+ series. Created by Jessica Gao, She-Hulk also stars Tatiana Maslany, Jameela Jamil, Josh Segarra, Ginger Gonzaga, Jon Bass, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Benedict Wong, and Charlie Cox. But the bigger question in all of this? What… no love for Eric Bana?