Released just months after Iron Man launched the MCU in 2008, The Incredible Hulk regularly ranks toward the bottom of franchise rankings. For years, it seemed that Marvel wanted to forget about The Incredible Hulk, especially after it replaced Norton with Mark Ruffalo. But the franchise has slowly brought back elements and Betty’s return fully restores the film in the MCU timeline.
Isaiah Goes Free
Ross gets the primary emotional arc in Brave New World, but the most sympathetic character is Isaiah Bradley, played with depth by Carl Lumbly. First introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Bradley was one of several Black soldiers who became unwilling test subjects in a program to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that changed Steve Rogers into Captain America.
Most of the subjects died, but Bradley thrived and was deployed on missions in Korea. However, when Hydra agents captured Bradley, the U.S. disavowed all knowledge, allowing him to rot in a prison. Even after returning to his home, Bradley carried a great deal of justified anger toward the American government, anger that slightly receded through his relationship with Sam.
Early in Brave New World, Bradley becomes an unwitting would-be assassin, and thus gets sent back to prison, his worst fear. Thanks to the actions of Sam, his sidekick Joaquin Torres aka Falcon (Danny Ramirez), and Ross’s new aide Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), Bradley is exonerated and released.
As hopeful as Bradley’s ending is, it does raise a question. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we also met Bradley’s nephew Eli, played by Elijah Richardson. Eli doesn’t appear in Brave New World, a strange decision given that Eli becomes Patriot in the comics, one of the founding members of the Young Avengers. Given how much Marvel has pushed the Young Avengers lately, Eli’s absence seems odd. However, if a Young Avengers movie or show does ever happen, Eli would likely be in it, and Bradley’s arc in Brave New World will be relevant.
Even more than Patriot, the absence of any Wolverine nods is really confusing. True, we’ve heard nothing so far about Marvel’s plans to cast a new version of Logan—on the contrary, rumors have suggested that Hugh Jackman will continue playing the Canucklehead in the MCU, despite his character’s apparent retirement in a different universe at the end of Deadpool & Wolverine.