If you haven’t watched “The Incredible Hulk (2008)” but stumbled upon Marvel’s “The Avengers (2012)” you may only know Mark Ruffalo as the one and only Incredible Hulk. But a true Marvel fan knows that Edward Norton is the first Incredible Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk seems more suited to the Marvel Universe going forward, the sudden character swap from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo shocked a true fan. It was very hard for me personally to accept the character swap. Suddenly changing one of the lead characters like that in a universe you are so emotionally invested in is like someone else replacing your brother or sister. All that said If you are yearning for some action in a mean green animal monstrosity and up for a trip to memory lane you should revisit “The Incredible Hulk (2008)”. It is an action bomb. If you are not sure or don’t have the time to watch the whole movie let me give you a summary of the story. If by any chance you didn’t watch the movie, read at your own risk because there are spoilers ahead!

In one of his experiments Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, Ph.D. takes part in a test related to Gamma radiation that turns him into the Hulk. In the Hulk form, he is not fully in control of his mind. He destroys the lab in his Hulk form. He also injures his girlfriend Doctor Elizabeth Betty Ross, scientist and professor at Culver University, and her father Thaddeus Ross, Lieutenant General of the United States Army.

After the incident, while Betty is unconscious and lying in the hospital bed Bruce goes to visit her. But General Ross kicks him out.

He moves to Rocinha favela – Brazil. There he learns martial arts and ways to control his emotions through breathing exercises.

For a day job, he works in a soft drink bottling plant. His supervisor recognizes he is talented and asks for help with many things despite him being just a day laborer. One day his supervisor asks for help with control switches at the plant. While working on the control switches he cuts his thumb and a drop of his blood falls into the bottling line. He runs to wipe it and seals his wound with superglue. But some of the blood gets into a bottle(of Pingo Doce with guarana kick!). The soda bottle contaminated with his blood gets shipped to the USA.

Going back home from work that day, he contacts “Mr. Blue”, a person who is helping him find a cure.  He uses an encrypted internet connection. “Mr. Blue” addresses Bruce as “Mr. Green”.

Consulting with Mr. Blue he collects some white flowers from a local guy which he uses to try making an antidote.

He mixes the antidote with his blood sample. At first, it seems to work but then the Hulk molecules get reactivated. He informs Mr. Blue that it was another failure. Mr Blue tells him that they need to meet in person. He also asks Bruce to send some blood samples. Bruce sends some of his blood samples through the mail.

Back in Arlington, Virginia, General Ross receives a case of possible Gamma sickness reported in Milwaukee. The bottling plant was traced back to Porto Verde, Brazil.

General Ross immediately gathers a troop at the Military base of Fort Johnson-Everglades. Among his troop, there is an ace Captain Emil Blonsky. He was born in Russia, and raised in England. He is a loan to SOCOM from the Royal Marines. They set out to capture Bruce Banner. 

Back in Brazil, Mr. Blue sends Bruce good news that his blood samples show significant gamma reduction in a primary blood test that he conducted. It could possibly cure the Hulk but Mr. Blue needs more data. Bruce tells him that the data is back home in the USA.

General Ross tracks Banner’s house in Brazil and attempts to capture him. Bruce manages to get out of the house but Emil Blonsky recognizes him in the ally. They chase Bruce on foot.

Running to escape he bumps into some guys from the factory he had beef with earlier. They also start to chase him. Trying to escape he ends up in the factory where he was working. The guys catch him and put him in a corner. They start to punch him. 

Blonsky and the team also find them. His heartbeat rises and Bruce turns into the Hulk. He attacks the guys. Blonsky and his team engage the Hulk. The Hulk Kills most of the troops and escapes the scene.

Emil Blonsky shows deep interest in Hulk’s strengths. He swears to get all the information about the Hulk from Banner. Ross says that Bruce is the Hulk.

Changing back, Bruce wakes up in a jungle in Guatemala and finds his way back home through Chiapas, Mexico.

Emil Blonsky convinces Ross to let him in on the case of Bruce Banner.

Ross shares with Emil Blonsky that it all started during WWII with the super soldier program. Bruce worked on his project thinking he was working on radiation resistance. Being so sure of his work he tested it on himself and ended up creating the Hulk. 

Emil Blonsky convinces General Ross to give him a dose of super soldier serum.

Coming back to the USA, Bruce gets into his old lab At Culver University, Virginia, and tries to find data on his gamma project. But he finds out that the data is gone.

He returns to where he was staying. Betty finds out that Bruce is in town. As Bruce knows that she has found someone else, he doesn’t want to meet her. But she finds him and takes him home. She gives him a copy of the data she saved before the military could wipe it.

General Ross goes to an old military lab storage and gets out the super soldier serum named Cryosync, developed by Stark Industries. Emil Blonsky gets a low dose of the serum to face the Hulk.

The next morning when Bruce is about to leave the campus of Culver University, he spots the military and starts to run. Getting a brief chance, he eats the flash drive containing the data to keep it safe and starts to run again. 

The military locks him in an overpass and gasses him. He turns into the Hulk. They begin to fire at him with all they have. He smashes through everything they throw at him. Emil Blonsky engages him with his newfound power. He lures him towards a couple of powerful sound cannons and they hit him with those. The Hulk manages to also destroy the cannons.

Emil Blonsky goes insane and after shooting some ineffective shots at him Blonsky stands right in front of The Hulk. He asks if it was all he got. The Hulk kicks him and he smashes into a tree getting mortally injured.

Betty gets close to him while everyone else is afraid of him. Meanwhile a gunship fires at him He throws a big piece of metal at the gunship and it crashes toward him and Betty. He covers up Betty to protect her. 

He emerges through the wreckage with her unconscious body in his lap. The Hulk flees the scene with her.

He takes her to a cave in the jungle while it is pouring. She gains consciousness there. Still being the Hulk, he gets freaked out by the thunder but she calms him down.

In the morning the Hulk turns back to normal. They go to a motel where Bruce gets the flash drive out that he ate. Eventually, he and Betty get close, but Bruce is afraid that he might become the Hulk again if he gets too excited.

Back at the hospital, Emil Blonsky’s bones are crushed but his heart runs like a racehorse. Miraculously he fully recovers within a few hours. To level up the playing field Blonsky gets more dosage of the super soldier serum.

Bruce tells Betty that they need to get to Mr. Blue in New York to get help. They try to avoid getting tracked by not using credit cards or phones.

But Ross eventually tracks Mr. Blue through an email Bruce sends him with the data and states that it’s time for them to meet. 

Mr Blue is actually Dr. Samuel Sterns who is a cellular biologist at Grayburn College in New York

They meet Dr. Samuel Sterns and go to his lab. They talk about the possible outcomes. Sterns is skeptical if the process will cure him or will just work as an antidote to suppress the episode.

His solution has a possibility of going either way. There is also a chance that it might cause an overdose and kill him. On the other hand, Sterns will be in danger if he is turned and the solution doesn’t work.

Sterns always being more curious than cautious encourages Bruce to go for it.

Back at the Military Base, Ross Gets ready with his troops along with Emil Blonsky to capture Banner.

Sterns papers his equipment and runs the experiment on Banner. During the process, Bruce turns into the Hulk and reverts to normal. The procedure was successful.

Sterns shares that he discovered some key findings during the procedure because his previous test subjects didn’t survive. Hearing about the test subjects Bruce gets worried and asks what he meant by test subjects. 

Sturn shows them that he had concentrated Bruce’s blood and made more of it to conduct experiments. Sterns thinks he can make humans impervious to diseases with his research.

But Bruce tells him that he should destroy it all. Sterns argues that they could win the Nobel Prize for this research. They even have an antidote now. Bruce says that the military doesn’t want the antidote, they want to make it a weapon.

In the meantime, General Ross and his troops reach the scene and secure the parameters. They start surveillance on Dr. Sterns’s compound.

Emil Blonsky breaks protocol and engages as he realizes that they are about to shoot Banner.

In the middle of their discussion, they shoot Bruce with a tranquilizer. Emil Blonsky enters the scene and tries to invoke the Hulk but Bruce doesn’t change. 

General Ross captures Bruce and threatens to put him in prison if he takes away the Hulk from him.

Bruce and Betty get on a helicopter with Ross for transportation.

Emil Blonsky Forces Sterns to give him the power of the Hulk. Sterns gives him Banner’s blood he synthesized from batch 2058 with 14.56% strength and exposes him to gamma radiation.

The process turns Blonsky into “The Abomination”.

He throws Sterns away and flees from the scene smashing through the walls. As he is lying on the ground injured, some drop of hulk blood gets into a cut on the forehead of Sterns.

The Abomination goes onto a rampage asking for a real fight with the Hulk. Ross watches the scene from a soldier’s video feed and tells the pilot to turn the helicopter around.

Bruce asks Ross to let him stop The Abomination. Seeing no other way Ross agrees. Bruce asks the pilot to keep the helicopter high and plans to jump from the back door. Bettey tries to stop him saying that they don’t even know if he will change into the Hulk. Bruce says that he has got to try and leap from the helicopter after sharing a kiss with her.

On his way down he doesn’t change and smashes into the ground. They all think he is dead. But the Hulk punches through the rubble.

The Hulk and the Abomination engage in an epic battle.

The abomination seems to be stronger than the Hulk. General Ross tells the gunman on the helicopter to help the Hulk. So he starts to shoot the Abomination. The Abomination goes on to attack the helicopter and the Hulk tries to stop him. Being hit the helicopter crashes but Ross and Betty survive the crash.

The Abomination pits the Hulk in a corner and says that he didn’t deserve that power and now he is going to watch her die as the helicopter is about to explode.

The Hulk overpowers him and claps his hand creating a shockwave so strong that it puts out the fire. The Abomination re-engages him but this time the Hulk gets the upper hand and gets to the point of killing the Abomination. But Betty tells him to stop. The Hulk kicks the Abomination’s defeated body onto Ross’s feet.

Another helicopter flies in and flashes a spotlight on him. He again escapes from the scene.

This time he goes to the frosts of  Bella Coola, British Columbia. There he masters the way to become the Hulk at his own will.

Back at the base, while General Ross is drowning in his defeat drinking, Tony Stark visits him and tells him that they are putting a team together.

Although the story of The Incredible Hulk might not seem that incredible the CGI action scenes of the rampages of the big green monster were absolutely eye-candy.