Disney+ to Finally Bring the MCU’s Second Film, ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ to the Service This Week
Disney+ is about to get meaner and greener. The service announced via Twitter on Thursday that it would be adding the 2008 film “The Incredible Hulk,” which stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, to its library on Friday, June 16.
Smashing news. đź‘Šđź’Ą Marvel Studios’ The Incredible #Hulk arrives tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/r5rfWH4COM
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) June 15, 2023
The move will bring yet another of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe diaspora under the Disney+ umbrella. When “The Incredible Hulk” smashes its way onto the service on Friday, the only MCU films not available on Disney+ will be “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” as well as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which has not yet left movie theaters.
Fans may well be wondering why “The Incredible Hulk” was not available to stream on Disney+ before. While the film was produced by Marvel Studios, it was distributed by Universal Studios. The movie was made in 2008, whereas Disney did not acquire Marvel until 2009, which meant that MCU movies made before that year had to find individual distribution partners. Universal still owns the individual rights to the Hulk character, which is why Disney can only use him in movies in which he is not the primary focus. The film has bounced around various streaming services over the years, but this marks the first time that it will be available on Disney+.
The movie was the second MCU film following “Iron Man,” which was released in theaters just over one month earlier in 2008. Since this film, Mark Ruffalo has taken over the role of Banner/The Hulk for all of his other Marvel film and television appearances.
The various deals Marvel made over the years to license its characters to film studios can be confusing, and hard to keep track of. One Wall Street analyst proposed earlier this year that Disney should trade its 67% stake in Hulu to Universal’s parent company Comcast in exchange for the rights to Hulk and Namor the Submariner. That proposal was never given public consideration by either side, and these days it seems much more likely that Disney will buy out Comcast’s share of Hulu rather than surrendering its own portion of the streamer.
Disney has been working hard to unite all of its MCU films on Disney+. Earlier this year, the company struck a deal with Sony to bring multiple generations of “Spider-Man” and “Venom” movies to Disney+ as well, although the two most-recent “Spider-Man” outings were not included in the pact.
The efforts to bring all MCU movies onto Disney+ could be related to the company’s strategy of fewer Marvel streaming releases going forward. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige have both informed fans that the company won't release as many Marvel TV series in its upcoming Phases 5 and 6 as it has in the past. Countering fan disappointment regarding fewer Marvel shows by putting more MCU films on the streamer is a good move on Disney’s part.
It’s not yet clear if Universal is licensing the streaming rights to “The Incredible Hulk” to Disney for a limited time, or if the move will be permanent. Either way, fans can start streaming the movie with their Disney+ subscriptions as of Friday, June 16.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”