The Incredible Hulk (upcoming animated series)/Tropes


 * Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Willem Dafoe plays a green-colored Mad Scientist and supervillain in a Marvel production. The Leader even at one point uses orange bombs similar to the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs.
 * Author's Saving Throw:
 * After Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. received criticism for cutting off the Darker and Edgier Jekyll & Hyde aspects of the character, this series brings them back in full force.
 * After several Marvel series being mainly influenced by the MCU, this show instead draws more inspiration from the comics, with any connection to the MCU being limited to Mythology Gags or only one or two cases of Composite Character.
 * Some felt the Hulk was a bit Wangsty refarding his wush of being keft alone, since he is later seen lamenting just that. The producers avoided thus by turning it into a character arc for the Hulk in season 1, which depicts his wish of being left alone of him being in denial about his true wish of companionship.
 * Fans of the Hulk complained how previous series, while givimg him a level of depth, still essentially had him coming out most of the time for action sequemces only, while those that did gave promenient screentime did it at the expense of Banner's, thereby taking away the more tragic aspects of the character. This series ultimately reaches a compromise by giving both sides episodes centered around each of them (which is what the old comics did anyway), allowing them both to have an equal screentime and character development.
 * Fans often felt people calling the Hulk dangerous and a threat came off as an Informed Wrongness. The series insread flips tye argument by having Hulk's friends state that he is dangerous and a threat, but because he dosen't know any better and can be shown and teached what he dies is wrong, with the argument against Ross being his specific use of offensive violence against him instead.
 * Adapted Out: Banner's backstory of having Abusive Parent was cutted off, as the writers felt more confortable by treating the Hulk as a werewolf-like story than having him explicity suffer with Dissociative Identity Disorder, due to their small knowledge of the disorder, througth they choose to leave it ambigous instead lf outright deleting it enterily so the idea of him having DID can be read without explicity including it.
 * Adaptational Backatory Change: This version establishes that Betty and Bruce kbew each other since childhood. Most versions had them meeting as adults or never address when they met, with the closest thing to having met as kuds being the fact that they grew up in the same town as kids in Ang Lee's Hulk (2003), which isn't a lot.
 * Adaptational Diversity: This version of the X-Men is compromised primarly of people of color.
 * Awesome Moments:
 * Even if its a voice-only role, Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine!!! And he gets to fight the Hulk!!!!
 * During a battle between the Hulk and the Leader, he and Betty are trapped insude of a cave that begins to crumble. But, just before Betty is smashed by a pile of rocks, the Hulk stops them from crushimg her, recreating the iconic moment from Secret Wars of Hulk using his strength to save somebody's life. Even better? In both that instance and its Avengers: Endgame recreation, it was Banner in control of the Hulk's body. Here? Its the Hulk himself doing it, all acting out of instinct to protect one if the few people he cares about and care about him.
 * The final battle between Hulk and the Leader:
 * The ropes are against him, the Leader has the upper hand, yet still, the Hulk just dosen't stop. As in the comics, he's Too Dumb to Quit, but he makes ot look simply awe-inspiring.
 * Before he delivers the killing blow, the Leader taunts Hulk woth how alone he is... only for Betty to pick a rocket-launcher and tell him that no, the Hulk is not alone.
 * This gives the Hulk an opening, and he takes it. He kicks the Leader's robo suit's legs, takes the extra arm off like a stick off a tree, throws his opponent away like nobody's business, and throws the extra arm away,,destroyimg the Leader's megacomputer and stopping his plans, mere seconds away fro, his victory.
 * Enraged at this and not one to be upstaged, the Leader still challenges the Hulk, who acceots the challenge. Even without the extra arm the Leader still is enough of a match for the Hulk, but is the Green Goliath who emerges victorious when he grabs a missile the Leader launched and crashes it on the Leader's chest, grabbing the villain mid-air before throwing him to the ground like a toy and beating the living hell out of him, until the duite is nothing more tgan a bunch of metal. When the Hulk screamed "Hulk s,ash Leader!", that wasn't him delivering a threat or a war cry, that was him stating a fact.
 * Both Sides Have a Point: Bruce may have a point in that the Hulk is dangerous and has caused countless destruction, but Betty is also right to point out that the Hulk is pretty much a child who dosen't know what he does is wrong or how to express his anger, and that Bruce dosen't make an attempt to reason with him inside their subconscious, as well as that by curing himself Banner would kill the Hulk.
 * The Cameo: The second season premiere features cameos from several mutants at the Xavier Institute, including Kitty Pride, Rogue, Blink, and Darwin.
 * Central Theme:
 * What makes a monster?
 * The value of having loved ones around you. For sll his problems, Hulk truly values Betty and Rick, as they are his only friends, and his circle eventually expands to both his cousin Jennifer and even Banner himself, whereas the Leader, being the narcissist he is, dosen't gave anyone that loves hik or he loves, whike Ross' obsession with defeating the Hulk draws even Betty away.
 * Celebrity Voice Cast: Willem Dafoe voices the Leader, Chris Pratt voices Rick Jones, and Sam Elliot voices General Ross/Red Hulk. Additionally, Hugh Jackman reprises his longtime role as Wolverine as a guest star.
 * Character Development:
 * Througth the series, Bruce grows from seeing the Hulk as a threat, to tolerate him, to see him as a friend.
 * Betty becomes more confident as season one progresses, growing from meek to brave by the time the Leader attacks.
 * At the start of season 1, Hulk wants just to be left alone, but througth the season he realizes he actually wants friends. He also begins to overcome his violent and anti-social tendencies.
 * Ross goes througth a darker version, going from a composed Well-Intentioned Extremist, to a deranged monstrous lunatic no different from how the Hulk used to be.
 * Company Cross References:
 * Among the books in Betty's library are Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
 * The scene were Hulk thinks of his loneliness was inspired by a scene from Lilo & Stitch, where Stitch says he's lost while waiting for a family to take care of him.
 * An episode has Hulk climbing to tge top of a tree and staring at the stars, longing for a place to belong. This is similar to the "Go the Distance" number from Hercules (1997).
 * A sticker of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit can be seen in Rick's fridge.
 * Bruce's transformation in the episode "The Abomination!" references Eda's Owl Beast transformation in The Owl House episode "Keeping Up A-fear-ensces".
 * Blonsky's transformation into the Abomination, whike drawing elementsvfrom the MCU, is also based on how Taurus Bulba turned into a cyborg in Darkwing Duck: Both were villains initially assumed desceased before being found by the heroes' enemies barely alive, after which they performed an experiment on thrm to turn them into powerful assets, only to go rogue before setting on a revenhevquest against the hero.
 * A figurine of an Atlantean ship from Atlantis: The Lost Empire can be seen in Jennifer's home in the episode "The She-Hulk Lives!". Doubkes as an Actor Allusion, since Cree Summer, who voices She-Hulk,reviously starred in Atlantis as Kida.
 * Composite Character:
 * Emil Blonsky/The Abomination is a British-Russian soldier who received his powers via a miltary experiment, just like his MCU counterpart. He also ends up as the Leader's lackey, much like in the 1996 version.
 * The Leader obtains a few elements of the MCU version of Thanos, being a mastermind who mostly works in the shadows througth lackeys, while manipulating events to oead to his victory.
 * Darker and Edgier: The series brings forth the chaaacter's more dramatic and emotional aspects, contrasting with the lighthearted comedy that was Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and making it closer in tone to the 1996-97 animated series.
 * Deconstruction: Of General Ross' character. Everybody is quick to point out how utterly idiotic is his plan of dealing with the Hulk AKA someone whose Catchphrase is "The angrier Hulk gets the stronger Hulk gets!" througth violence, to not to mention the fact that Banner is attempting to cure himself anyways yet he always prevents him when it would be smarter to assist him instead of putting more stress on him and thus making him more likely to transform by chasing him like a dog. However, he refuses to listen. As a result, the season 2 premiere sees him being fired for incompetence.
 * Demoted to Extra: Jackie McGee, a promenient character in the Immortal Hulk comics, makes sporadic cameos as a reporter througth the series.
 * Disney Villain Death: Red Hulk meets his demise during a fight against the Hulk, in which he ends up causing himself to fall into a reactor shaft.
 * Executive Meddling: And surprisingly, a positive example meant to enforce creativity. According to Danny Elfman, he was ordered by the crew in charge of the series to not to make his score even remotely similar to any previous project nor to reuse character themes unless explicitly ordered to, no doubt in response to criticism regarding his last two superhero scores.
 * Exiled from Continuity: According to Sabrina Cotugno, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow are the only Marvel characters excluded from the series. Surprisingly, this was not the product of Executive Meddling (as was the case regarding Mickey Mouse and the DuckTales reboot), but instead something they imposed on themselves to avoid similarities with the MCU.
 * Fastball Special: Hulk and Wolverine do one while fighting the leader.
 * Fridge Horror: One of the countries the Leader wanted to turn into gsmma mutate-inhabitated areas is Genosha. Supposing its anything like the comics' version, he could have created gamma monsters out of an entire country of mutants.
 * Harsher in Hindsight: In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Hulk tries to kill Ross for framing and jailing him, but is convinced to spare him by Captain America. In this series, Hulk tries to save him, but fails and Ross falls to his death due to Ross' own insanity.
 * He Really Can Act: Fred Tatasciore hasn't really gotten a lot of chances to act in emotional scenes while playing the Savage Hulk. However, this series goves him that chance and totally milks it, delivering some ot the most emotional and heartfelt performances in his entire career.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Ross takes this to frightening degrees, Jumping Off the Slippery Slope until he becomes not only a literal monster, but a mindless bloodlusting monster far more dangerous than the Hulk ever was.
 * Heartwarming Moments:
 * When the Leader asks Hulk why is he protecting humanity from him when, as he claims, he us supposedly above them, the Hulk responds that he is actually inferior to humans because "Leader is bad. Puny humans are good". This proves that, for all his fights and anger towards humanity, Hulk does recognize that there's good in them. Doubles as a Moment of Awesome.
 * After the Leader is defeated, Ross orders his soldiers to shoot the Hulk. The soldiers, having realized that Hulk, while dangerous, just wants to live in peace, and that Ross has lost his mind, refuse instead.
 * Season 2 reveals that, after bondong with Hulk on Canada, Wolverine dropped his life as a mercenary and began to search for peopke like him, eventually meeting and joining the X-Men. And he seems quite happy with the team.
 * Hilarious In Hindsight: Josh Keaton previously voiced the Marvel superhero scientist Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man, where the character predictably fqced off against Nirman Osborn / Green Goblin. Later he voiced Osborn himself in Spider-Man (2017), who physically transformed into the Goblin (througth he was never referred as such) instead of wearing a suit. Here, he voices Bruce Banner, another Marvel superhero scientist, and who physically transforms into a green creature, and whose archenemy is also a green-colored scientist who underwent a physical transformation, and who is voiced by the Green Goblin's first official live-action actor, Willem Dafoe.
 * Inspiration for the Work: According to Cotugno, the series's tone and themes were inspired by Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, while the overrall story and horror elements drew inspiration from The Owl House, and Hulk's character arc was inspired by Lilo & Stitch.
 * Mythology Gag:
 * Several episodes are titled after or in reference to comics featuring the Hulk.
 * When he begins transforming, Banner's eyes first turn green, an homage to the live-action series.
 * Hulk is capable of increasing his size when angered further, much like in Ang Lee's film.
 * The pilot's opening sequence is a shot-for-shot recreation of the 1996 series' pilot's first action scene. Additionally, the machine Banner tries to cure himself with resembles the machine that irradiated him with Gamma rays in the 1978 series.
 * Several shors at the start and end of the season are an homage to Ang Lee's Hulk.
 * At one point, Banner tells Betty that "[he dosen't] want to wake up to find out the Hulk had children".
 * One of Betty's outfits resembles the one she wore in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
 * Doubling as an Actor Allusion, the Leader shows awe at Banner's transformation by saying "that's some neat trick", which is how the Green Goblin described Spider-Man's spider-sense in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
 * Simioar to the MCU Spider-Man Trilogy, several car licensce plates alude to co,ic books:
 * Logan's truck has the licensce plate "IH181", a nod to his debut in Incredible Hulk #181.
 * Jennifer's licensce plate reads "SSH-01", a nod to Savage She-Hulk #1, where she debuted.
 * The licensce plate of the ambulance carrying Blonsky reads "TTO-90", referencing Blonsky's first comic book appearance in Tales to Astonish #90.
 * After another of the Hulk's rampages, he walks away from a town in a reflexive mood. The shot resembles a panel from Incredible Hulk #297. The plot itself, however, is somewhat similar to Incredible Hulk #267, as both have Hulk trapped in an illusion of an idilic life at one point.
 * At one point in episode 4, Eolverine claims that Hulk is "just like him", which is what he told to a young Magneto in X-Men: Days of the Future Past.
 * The end of "Home at the Range" has Banner walking away from Rick's hometown as sad music plays, which is how most episodes of the 1978 series ended. Another nod to the 1978 series occured when Rick suggested that Bruce should use a different name per town, which Bruce points out woukd only work in the 70s.
 * The Leader's first succesful experiment on creating Hulk-like creatures is with dogs, just like Hulk's father in the 2003 film.
 * The season 1 finale is titled "Gamma World".
 * One of Jennifer Walters' contacts in her phone is "Flo Mayer", a character from She-Hulk's 2016-17 run who helped her deal with her trauma after fighting Thanos and Banner was killed during Civil War II.
 * Jennifer refers to Bruce as "Brucey" and to the Hulk as "Hulkster", much like the 1996 series.
 * The opening for "The She-Hulk Lives!" (Part 1) has Jennifer watching a news report on the Hulk's rampages, similar to her first scene in the 1996 series. Additionally, the briadcast features the line "Bruce Banner, belted by Gamma Rays, turns into the Hulk...", which were some of the lyrics of his opening theme in The Marvel Superheroes.
 * At one point during "The She-Hulk Lives!" (Part 1), Jennufer explains to Hulk that she putd her plants in front of her window so they can receive sunlight, after qhuch the Hulk thriws a plant outside her house, claiming it will receive more sunlight. This js exactly what Hulk did with his plant in The Super Hero Squad Show.
 * One of the traps the Leader uses on Hulk is the same cage Tony Stark trapped him in before they fight in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
 * During the final battle against the Leader, the Hulk smashes a vehicle in two parts and uses them as box gloves, a reference to the "Steel Fists" move from The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
 * At one point, Banner turns himself into the Hulk by biting his lips to escape captivity, exactly what he did in the videogame Questprobe featuring The Hulk.
 * Among the countries the Leader plans to bombard with Gamma energy are Latveria, Madripoor, and Genosha.
 * The speech the Leader gives Hulk during their duel resembles the one the Lizard gave to Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). They both are about their rivals' loneliness abd are cutted-off by a Shut Up! Hannibal Big Damn Heroes moment.
 * Banner once again tries a Hulk Out via falling. And this time, it works!
 * After the Hulk defeats the Leader, She-Hulk congralutes the group before asking if somebody wants shawarma, similar to Tony Stark in The Avengers (2012).
 * The scene on the season 2 premiere where Ross is discharded from his position in the military is similar to John Walker's discharge in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
 * While channeling her powers, Jean Grey creates a phoenix-like aura, a clear nod to The Dark Phoenix Saga.
 * Tigra's appearance is based on her Avengers: United They Stand incarnation. This version is also depicted Tigra as a former actress; her United They Stand incarnation was potrayed in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) as an Animated Actress who has fallen in hard times and ended up recurring to fan appearances as a source of income.
 * Nightmare Fuel: What happens when you put some of the crew behind The Owl House behind a show starring one of Marvel's most terrifying heroes? Nothing for the faint of heart.
 * Hulk's rampages are filled with this. Once he shows up, what follows is pure mayhem and chaos. Thank glodness by the end of the series Banner helps him find better ways to release his rage.
 * His first rampage is enough to scary even adults. Not only is he hidden behind the shadows, but when he notices some soldiers, he says "Leave me alone". Which feels more like a warning, given how he reacts to their aggresions by smashing them like ragdolls. From that moment, the Hulk feels more like an enraged force of nature, desyroying everything and everyone in his path to freedom, while the soldiers can't do anything to even defend themselves.
 * And if he is bad, then Ross slow descent into madness is worse. He starts off as a somewhat reasonable general doing his duty, but his hatred for the Hulk slowly erodes his rationality to the point of letting a global-level terrorist try to conquer the world if it means getting a chance of killing the Green Emerald. And when he becomes the Red Hulk, he becomes even worse! He becomes willing to do anything to get a fight with the Hulk, to the point of willfully endangering civilians and even his own daughter! By the last episode, he becomes nothing but a rampaging mindless monster reminescent of when Mephisto manipulated the Hulk in the comics, but without any external influence that made him that way.
 * A particular point is when Ross fibds Rick and threatens to shoot him to get the Hulk to surrender. Even his soldiers are disturbed by such callous act.
 * At the end of the first episode, we see the Hulk being captured, after which Ross reveañs that wasn't the army. We then cut to a lair in an unknown location. A mysterious figure then contemplates the situation by treating everythung like a sport and revelling on everybody's reaction to the event. After which, he orders the Hulk to be detained to extract his gamma energy, before revealing his identity via a catchphrase that, thanks in no small part due to coming from Willem Dafoe, has never been do bone-chilling: "So says the Leader".
 * Samuel Sterns' transformation is no pretty sight. We get to see as clearly as pissible in a Disney show how painful your cranium expanding can truly be. And then there's his scream... which transitions into Willem Dafoe's iconic laugh, a scene that feels straight out of The Killing Joke.
 * The Leader's planned fate for the Hulk: Turn him to his green self througth gamma-epinephrine so he dosen't rampage, and then dissect him and his brain slowly to figure out how to turn everyone into mindless gamma brutes. Dafoe's calm and suave yet psychotic delivery makes this something truly frightening. Even worse when you realized he never saud he would kill the Hulk...
 * A moment during Hulk and Wolverine's fight has Wolverine being punched off a cliff by the Hulk. Of course, his regeneration factor saves him, but the how is unnerving: Every dislocated part of his body is slowly rearranged, almost like a zombie. Even the Hulk is unnerved by this.
 * Oh Crap!: Glorian has a big one when Hulk realizes he deceived him, leaving him VERY angry at the trickster.
 * Role Reprise:
 * Fred Tatasciore is back to voice the Hulk.
 * Cree Summer returns from the 1996-97 series as She-Hulk
 * Sam Elliot returns from Ang Lee's Hulk to voice General Ross.
 * On the musical side of things, Danny Elfman returns from Lee's Hulk as composer.
 * Hugh Jackman makes his long-awaited return as Wolverine from the Fox franchise, by providing his voice in episode 4.
 * John Krasinski voices Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, whom he played in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
 * Michael Chilkins reprises his role as The Thing from the Tim Story Fantastic Four films.
 * Spiritual Adaptation: An episode has the Hulk trapped by trickster Glorian in an illusion of the life hev wishes he could have. This is pretty much the same plot as the DC Comics story For the Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore.
 * Stealth Pun: The Leader's introductory scene, where he watches througth cameras the Hulk being captured by his forces, has him stepping on two ants that were fighting each other with his boots. The Leader sees himself as far above the rest of the world, including the Hulk and the army, who didn't even knew of his existence until now when he captured the Green Goliath. In other words, the ants were not in conflict with the boot, and the Leader just stepped on them
 * Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Unlike the comics and most media, where Status Quo is God managed to keep Ross as a respected General, his military competence is being doubted since, while the Hulk is dangerous, Ross using offensive tactics against an enemy whose power grows with his rage only increades the danger and collateral damage, and he refuses to try other tactics. This mindset eventually gets him fired and remplaced with General Talbot, whose tactics center less on attacking the Hulk and more on protecting the civilians in the perimeter avoud as much vollateral damage as possible, only attacking the Hulk whenever he directly attacks either them or civilians, and, even then, are strictly defensive attacks mewnt to sent the Hulk away from shere he can harm the rest. All in all, Talbot ends up being the better General by focusing on avoiding casaulties and collateral damage instead of on attacking the Hulk.
 * Tearjerker:
 * In the first episode, after another fight with the army, Hulk at first rejoices over the army leaving him alone, and even beings to turn back to Banner... until he realizes how empty he feels inside, stoppibg the transformation, and lash outs the entire area in grief, before kneeling in tears and turning back to Banner, in a manner that suggests he's allowing Banner to retake control to stop feeling that pain.
 * In the second episode's ending, Hulk sees a mother narrating her daughter The Ugly Duckling, after which Hulk begins to feel lost because he is awwy from Betty and Rick, the closest thing he has for a family. Unknowbest to him, Betty is watching througth a drone, and sympathizes with the Green Goliath.
 * When Abomination begins to win against the Hulk. Unlike most versions, while he dosen't stop, we see that Hulk is downright terrified for his life. A tragic reminder that, for all his might, the Savage Hulk is still a child, and now is one fearing this monster will kill him.
 * In "The She-Hulk Lives! (Part 1)", Jennifer and Hulk have a heart-to-heart in wgich Hulk reveals he realized he dosen't actually want to be left alone, but actually wants to have friends who won't harm him, but lamenting how his rage will keave him unable to co-exist with somebody. Jen then comforts him by telling him anyone can change, including him.
 * Near the end of season one, Ross forces Hulk to surrender by threatening to shoot Rick. His soldiers are disturbed by this and are torn on whether to follow his command or let Rick go. And when the Hulk does surrender, Betty outright disowns Ross for doing something so horrible to capture the Hulk, who at this point already showed signs of being over his violent nature.
 * They Also Did: The series was created by Sabrina Cotugno. They previously worked at Disney Television Animation, working as a director for series such as The Owl House.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speak: Betty delivers one to Ross after he threatens Rick's life to capture the Hulk, chasting him by saying that, while both Hulk and Ross yave hurted people, the Green Goliath did it out of ignorance and lack of emotional maturity without killing anybody, while Ross knowingly threatened a man's life.
 * Truer to Text: Unlike even the 1990s series, which only have Banner as the Hulk for a number of scenes, this series have entire episodes with the Hulk transformed, akin to how the comics had entire issues centering exclusively on the Hulk side of the character.
 * Villanous Breakdown: Ross grows more and more desesperate to capture the Hulk as the first season progresses, resulting in him lashing out hus doldiers to attack the Hulk even when he's fighting the Leader and protects them. He then tries to do it himself, resulting in him getting caught in a Gamma blast that slowly turns him into the Red Hulk.
 * Unexpected Character: One of the guest stars in this series is... the Texas Twister! If you never heard of him... well, there's a reason he's in this trope!
 * Win Back the Crowd: Many fans felt the series was a return to form for Hulk adaptations, thanks to its dark tone and faithfulness to the sourve material, after many other recent adaptations that were comical in nature but ended downplaying or outright erasing the drama elements many fans felt were crucial to the character.