Showing posts with label Thaddeus Ross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thaddeus Ross. Show all posts

Thursday, August 5, 2021

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

 
The Incredible Hulk, released in 2008 was directed by Louis Leterrier, produced by Avi Arad, Gale Anne Hurd & Kevin Feige, written by Zak Penn. The film focuses on the gamma infused Bruce Banner who transforms into a green monster known as the Hulk when enraged.

Plot:
During an experiment gone wrong, Bruce Banner is exposed to gamma radiation - in the process he becomes Hulk killing several people and injuring General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and his daughter Betty Ross, who was dating Bruce at the time. Bruce attempts to apologise but General Ross is motivated by almost losing his daughter and makes Bruce a fugitive of the U.S. Military, at the same time hoping to weaponise the Hulk for the military.

After five years, Bruce has managed to control his transformations using Yoga and other techniques to prevent his heartbeat rising above 200 beats per minute which is the trigger for him becoming Hulk. He is also in contact with 'Mr. Blue' a mysterious individual who is also researching Hulk. He is now working at a factory in Brazil, however when he injures his finger a drop of his blood is enough to cause someone to get Gamma sickness resulting in him being tracked down by the U.S. Military once again - this time led by Emil Blonsky.

After failing to capture Hulk, Emil Blonsky is injected with a similar serum resulting in improved speed, strength, agility and healing. Bruce returns to the university where he encounters Betty again, however is attacked by General Ross and the U.S. Military forcing him to transform into Hulk. Having improved since the last fight, the military use sonic weapons to try and subdue Hulk but they fail. Emil Blonsky is slowly losing his sanity and in the process taunts Hulk resulting in him getting severely injured.

After fleeing with Betty, Bruce and Betty meet with 'Mr. Blue' who is revealed to be a cellular biologist known as Samuel Sterns. Sterns has synthesized Banner's blood and provides him an antidote, however the antidote might be needed for each specific transformation so Sterns has mass produced the blood.

In a third attempt to capture Banner, Emil Blonsky ends up tracking down Samuel Sterns and injects himself with synthesized blood from Bruce. In the process he begins to transform and some of the blood spills on Samuel Sterns, warping his head implying he may become the super villain known as 'The Leader'

Meanwhile Emil Blonsky has become the Abomination, attempting to cause chaos in Harlem to draw out the Hulk. After a battle through Harlem, The Hulk manages to defeat Abomination almost killing him however Betty manages to break through to him and get him to spare his life. Hulk flees New York.

A month later, Bruce is in hiding but manages to perform a controlled transformation smirking as he does. In a post-credit scene Tony Stark is shown approaching General Ross mentioning that a team is being put together, tying into 'The Consultant'

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

The Consultant

The Consultant is the first in a series of Marvel one-shots. It was attached to the physical media release of Thor on September 13th 2011. It is set after the events of Iron Man 2 and Thor during the events of The Incredible Hulk. The Consultant was directed by Leythum and written by Eric Pearson.

 
Phil Coulson ends up meeting Jasper Sitwell and informs him that the World Security Council wishes for Emil Blonsky, the Abomination, to be released from prison to join the Avengers Initiative. They blame the damage to New York City caused during the final battle of The Incredible Hulk as being caused by Bruce Banner as the Hulk.

In order to prevent this from happening, they decide to send Tony Stark who is currently part of the Avengers Initiative as a consultant to talk with General Thaddeus Ross to anger him enough that he would refuse to release Blonsky into their custody.

The mission is succesful with Phil Coulson meeting with Jasper Sitwell again to inform him that Ross ended up having Tony Stark removed from the bar, to which Tony Stark responded by purhasing the bar and having it demolished.

The Consultant was generally considered a lower budget one-shot, built from the budget being used up with the other two one-shots at the time; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer & Item 47. The one-shot as such almost entirely focuses around Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell talking with intersected segments of The Incredible Hulk focusing around Abominations rampage and the post-credit scene of Tony Stark approaching General Thaddeus Ross at the bar.