Finally, after many years without a streaming platform to call home, The Incredible Hulk has landed on one of the biggest services on the planet, but it's not coming to Disney Plus.
The oft-forgotten Marvel movie isn't making its streaming debut on Disney's platform. Instead, The Incredible Hulk is coming to HBO Max, at least in countries where Warner Bros' streaming service is available.
Decider was the first outlet to report on the surprise reveal in its roundup article "New to HBO and HBO Max April 1." TechRadar has since verified that The Incredible Hulk will launch on HBO Max on April XNUMX, with a press blast for HBO's April XNUMX lineup confirming that's the case.
Unfortunately for UK and Australian viewers, The Incredible Hulk will not stream on Disney Plus or Netflix. The superhero movie starring Edward Norton is only available to rent from the Sky Store in the UK, but is available to stream on Foxtel Now in Australia. The Incredible Hulk is also available to stream on Netflix in India.
The Incredible Hulk isn't the first non-Marvel Studios movie not available on Disney Plus. Sony's Spider-Man movies aren't either; instead, multiple third-party licensing deals mean that the Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield are distributed across considerably more streams. For example, Spider-Man: Homecoming is available on Netflix in the UK and Hulu in the US, while Spider-Man: No Way Home will start on Starz in the US and Netflix in the US. R. United.
Released in 2012, The Incredible Hulk is technically the second entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The studio reworked Bruce Banner already before XNUMX's Avengers Assemble: Mark Ruffalo replaced Norton as the soulless Green Machine, but The Incredible Hulk is still considered canon in the MCU. That's because Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark and the late William Hurt's General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross appeared in a post-credits scene, setting the stage for the triumphant MCU to follow up.
Analysis: why The Incredible Hulk comes to HBO Max?
This is quite a difficult question to answer. Sony officially owns the rights to Spider-Man and every single character in the webslinger's illustrious comic book history, which is why Marvel Studios had to strike a partnership deal with Sony to add the title to the MCU.
However, that is not the case with the Hulk. Yes, Universal Pictures is the studio that has distributed the two Hulk movies to date, that is, the XNUMX live-action adaptation directed by Ang Lee and the XNUMX film directed by Louis Leterrier, but no has the rights to the hulk character
As revealed in the book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making-of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (by CBR.com), former studio head David Maisel discovered that Universal only had "the right of first refusal to dole out any and all future Hulk solo movies". It's the reason we haven't seen a Mark Ruffalo-directed solo Hulk movie in ten years, and the reason for his supporting roles in Thor: Ragnarok, other Avengers movies, and the upcoming show. .
But since Marvel owns the rights to the Hulk, some fans may find it odd that The Incredible Hulk isn't available to stream on Disney Plus. After all, Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Disney, so it would make more sense for The Incredible Hulk to air on the latter's service.
However, since Universal still holds the distribution rights to The Hulk, they have a say in where The Incredible Hulk is available to watch. Barring Disney making Universal an offer it can't refuse, Universal has no reason to bring The Incredible Hulk to Disney Plus.
So it seems that WarnerMedia has reached an agreement with Universal to bring The Incredible Hulk to HBO Max for an as yet undetermined time. For now, Marvel fans will have to admit to the fact that The Incredible Hulk isn't yet available to stream like just about every other MCU movie.
For more Marvel-themed content, check out every Marvel movie release date and TV show announcement in our MCU Phase Four hub. If not, see where we rank The Incredible Hulk on our list of the best Marvel movies.