90:00-95:00
Banner decides to head into the fight.
The music we hear is Bruce Must Do It.
He kisses Betty, the jumps out of the helicopter.
The Hulk has actually thrown himself out of several planes and choppers over the years in the comics, resulting in a Hulk-out.
The Hulk is here. Hero shot with the flames behind him, as he pulls himself out.
The Abomination throws a dude away. He must be dead.
The Hulk and the Abomination fight.
The music is Harlem Brawl.
Abomination knocks the Hulk to a new street, the one where he finds the police car. It’s Main Street East, Hamilton. Temporary buildings were made on John Street, just for smashing.
The army and Ross now attack Abomination.
95:00-100:00
The pair end up hanging off the helicopter, crashing into a neon sign.
Then they land, with the chopper, in an abandoned building. It’s a courthouse, with its ornate columns. The filmmakers wanted to symbolise a battle between epic and powerful Gods. It was a set, created at Toronto Film Studios.
The music is Are They Dead?
Turns out no. Abomination actually lifts the Hulk. Note that the filmmakers deliberately made the Abomination taller.
The chopper catches fire and Hulk puts it out with a big clap. Another classic comic book move.
Abomination uses a chain.
Hulk uses his last words – “Hulk Smash!”. This is very much one of the great Hulk clichés, from the comics and every other iteration.
The music here is also called Hulk Smash.
100:00-105:00
The Hulk brings Abomination down finally, letting off a big scream.
General Ross holds off the attack whilst Betty confronts him.
The music is Hulk And Betty.
He says his sixth word in the entire film – Betty.
And he runs.
Back to an aerial of Liberty Island. It is in the background as Betty gets a low battery on her camera, suggesting she is near Wall Street. It is clearly a set.
The music is A Tear.
Deleted scene here has her getting a call from Samson.
Then off to Bella Coola, British Columbia.
Banner gets mail to David B. For whatever reason, the 70s TV series renamed Banner from Bruce, in the comics, to David.
It’s the necklace that they sold when they first hit the road. He sends it back to Betty and we see Culver University’s location – Willowdale, Virginia.
The music we hear is The Necklace.
Banner goes back to his meditation. He Hulks-out. For kind of no reason.
And that’s the end for this version of the Hulk, and Edward Norton. Both Norton and Letterier were fighting for a film hat focussed more on Banner, but they lost the fight. Hence the abundance of deleted scenes. The tension leaked out into the press, and despite Norton, Letterier and Marvel playing nice for promotion, the relationships were strained. Despite some discussion, Norton did not return.
There’s no mid-credits sequence technically, as the scene goes straight into what is considered the credits sting.
General Ross downs a drink. In a bar, location unknown and could be a set.
The drink is a cocktail called The Incredible Hulk.
Music here is Who’s We.
In walks Tony Stark. You know him as Iron Man. Played by Robert Downey Jr.
This is Robert Downey Jr‘s second appearance in the MCU. We last saw him in Iron Man (2008).
And that’s the end!
And THAT’s the thing about cheesy pizza!
You get down and dirty, then you seize the meats-a!
Exactly.
My reading of that final moment isn’t that Banner “hulks out for no kind of reason,” but rather that he has managed to tap into Hulk power without having to hulk out completely. He’s meditating, he gets the green eyes, he smiles. In other words, after the attempted cure there has in fact been some sort of progress.
I was being flippant and it would actually be a pretty nice ending if the Ruffalo Hulk didn’t just pick up as if this film barely happened as well. It’s not like that amount of control paid off.
I dunno. I feel like it pays off very nicely in The Avengers, with “that’s my secret, Captain: I’m always angry.” He gains control in Norton’s last scene, and except for times when he’s injured/ attacked/ whammied by the Mind Gem, he shows every sign of still having it when Ruffalo takes over as Banner.