In many respects, The Incredible Hulk remains the black sheep of the Marvel Studios family. However, that does look likely to change as we get deeper into the Multiverse Saga.
Abomination returned in last year's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, while The Leader and Red Hulk will take centre stage in Captain America: Brave New World. Looking even further down the line, it's been widely reported that a World War Hulk project is in the works.
The Incredible Hulk never got a direct sequel, with the Jade Giant instead becoming a lead character in The Avengers movies. Now, the 2008 blockbuster's director, Louis Leterrier, has shared new details about what he had planned for The Incredible Hulk 2.
"Yeah there was like a whole sequel," the filmmaker tells ComicBook.com. "There was like Grey Hulk, Red Hulks...there was a lot of good stuff that we were planning."
"Hulk is a complex character within the Marvel Universe," Leterrier continues. "You want the primaeval Hulk...the rage Hulk. And then when you go Grey Hulk and Smart Hulk you lose that a little bit and you get a little bit more kiddish with it."
"But that was the fun of where I was in my movie, with the access to consciousness and all that stuff. That was really fun. And that's what I was aiming to do. But take my time with it. Because there are so many characters they want it all fast [Laughs]."
Red Hulk was actually introduced the same year The Incredible Hulk arrived in theaters. Based on these comments, it seems Marvel Studios wanted to waste no time in introducing that villain and having the Green Goliath evolve into Grey Hulk (an idea once considered for Avengers: Age of Ultron).
Leterrier concluded the interview by suggesting his vision for Bruce Banner differed greatly from where the character has since headed. "I like She-Hulk," he notes, "but then you know, yoga between Hulk and...I was like 'Okay! yeah, we're very far from my Hulk.'"
Do you wish The Incredible Hulk 2 had happened?