The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Louis Leterrier, with a screenplay by Zak Penn. It stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, alongside Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell, and William Hurt. In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk as an unwitting pawn in a military scheme to reinvigorate the "Super-Soldier" program through gamma radiation. On the run, he attempts to cure himself of the Hulk before he is captured by General Thaddeus Ross, but his worst fears are realized when power-hungry soldier Emil Blonsky becomes a similar, but more bestial creatureAfter the mixed reception to the 2003 film Hulk, Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the character. Leterrier, who had expressed interest in directing Iron Man, was brought onboard and Penn began work on a script that would be much closer to the comics and the 1978 television series of the same name.
