Hulk (2003)
Ang Lee’s moody, comic-panel-styled take with Eric Bana. Not MCU.
Stream:Free with ads on YouTube
The MCU has only one solo Hulk film, The Incredible Hulk (2008). Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk lives in the team-up films instead. Here’s the whole story in order.
Why no Hulk 2 with Mark Ruffalo? Universal held distribution rights to solo Hulk films, which made a standalone sequel complicated, so Marvel told Bruce Banner’s story through other characters’ films. Edward Norton played Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008), Ruffalo took over in The Avengers, and from there Banner’s best arc runs through Thor: Ragnarok, Endgame and She-Hulk.
Before the MCU there was Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003) with Eric Bana, and long before that the 1978–82 TV series with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, followed by three TV movies. In 2025, Captain America: Brave New World brought a different Hulk to the big screen: Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk.
Ang Lee’s moody, comic-panel-styled take with Eric Bana. Not MCU.
Stream:Free with ads on YouTube
Edward Norton as Banner, on the run from General Ross. The MCU’s only solo Hulk film.
Stream:Disney+, Hulu
No Banner, but Thaddeus Ross becomes the Red Hulk.
Stream:Disney+
Mark Ruffalo’s Banner crosses paths with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
Rent or buy:Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home
For Bruce Banner in the MCU: The Incredible Hulk → The Avengers → Age of Ultron → Ragnarok → Infinity War → Endgame → She-Hulk → Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Add Brave New World if you want the Red Hulk.
Two solo live-action films: Hulk (2003) and The Incredible Hulk (2008). Only the 2008 film is part of the MCU. Mark Ruffalo’s Banner appears in the Avengers films, Thor: Ragnarok, She-Hulk and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, among others.
Universal Pictures held distribution rights to standalone Hulk films, which made a solo sequel difficult. Marvel told Banner’s story in the Avengers and Thor films instead.
Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Harrison Ford in Captain America: Brave New World (2025).