True romance

Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk is the last Marvel movie to exist alongside other movies. Jon Favreau’s Iron Man was Dr No: after that, every Marvel movie / TV series / live-action animation set out to bottle that lightning. But even with its tacked-on post-credits scene you can watch The Incredible Hulk without the burden of legacy. The film taps into the unseen horrors of Cat People (1942) and Hammer horrors and their literary antecedents. Hulk is Frankenstein's monster, Banner is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Liv Tyler is the only female character in the MCU films who exists on her own non-superpower terms. Blonsky is the only villain who really poses a threat. Consider the indestructible god Hulk – so boring in Ang Lee’s take; the ultimate weapon in Whedon’s (“We have a Hulk. Do you have a Hulk?”) – and then consider how perky chancer Tim Roth backs him down with a pop gun. Edward Norton on the run in Rio de Janeiro is the fugitive fuse for a cascade of bad decisions. Betty and Bruce’s doomed romance has real weight. It shows you how little Marvel risked with Tony and Pepper.