Big Brain Time : MCU Hulk the Super Soldier

Believe it or not but in the MCU Hulk related characters are all Captain America characters (including Bruce/Hulk) and gamma mutated are Super Soldiers.

Let me explain :

Little disclaimer : the MCU is NOT comics, so we don't care if "in comics they never met" or whatever, 3/4 of the shit happening in the MCU never happened in comics. Even if they inspired each others, they will NEVER be the same and an adaptation doesn't have to be a good adaptation to give you a good movie, Jurassic Park is the perfect exemple of that. Just like a good adaptation can still be awful to watch because different medium, so I'm not here to tell you "it matches the comics lore" but to explain why gamma characters are very highly connected to the Captain America lore IN THE MCU.

Cap 4 isn't secretly a Hulk movie, it's the Hulk movie that was secretly a Cap one.
And if you have no problem and no complain about Miek and Korg being Thor characters in the MCU then you shouldn't give a damn about gamma characters being related to Cap lore.

The Incredible Hulk movie (2008) :

There're still people out there who think the movie isn't canon because of a different actor but it is. That's the first thing that need to be said, it's canon. Kevin Feige confirmed it, She-Hulk confirmed it, every Avengers movie confirmed it, Civil War confirmed it, Shang Chi confirmed it, What If confirmed it and Iron Man 2 confirmed it, it's canon, there's no debate so I'm not gonna go back to this.

The MCU is (sadly) inspired by the Ultimate comics so you have some change with characters' personality and origin story. For exemple, Sam is a teacher in a NY University in the MCU because that's what he is in Ultimate (don't bother reading about Sam in the Ultimate universe, it's boring and lame af, just another Hulk, the Leader is a whole other character) and so Bruce didn't mutate through an accident but through an experiment he tested on himself, which is one of the few things I dislike about the MCU Gamma lore.

I liked the Incredible Hulk movie, I still like it a lot, it's one of my comfort movie, I often rewatch it. Also because I'm a huge Tim Blake Nelson simp but that's another story (and no that's not because he's portraying Sam, I'll go back to that eventually later in this blog).

So the Incredible Hulk is the second MCU movie, it came out after Iron Man and before Captain America and it introduced the concept of MCU through its famous post credit scene :

Yes, you had Fury teasing it in Iron Man but now it was canon (and damn how I miss when we watched a MCU movie for the movie and not for the post credit scene).

So back to the movie. Bruce is on the run, he's trying to cure himself while escaping from the army, helped by a mysterious Mr Blue and chased down by Thaddeus Ross and Emil Blonsky.

After Blonsky and Bruce's first encounter, Blonsky confront Ross about Hulk and that's what he says (and I'm sorry for the shitty quality, can't do any better) :

You cannot be CLEARER. Ross was trying to re-create the Super Soldier Serum and Bruce was reaaaaally close to succeed until Hulk happened, something went bad "or very well". He's LITTERALY saying that Hulk, the Super Soldier test, IS a success. Of a new kind, obviously, but a Super Soldier nonetheless.

That's the thing, in the MCU Hulk wasn't created because they tried to build a bomb like comics, he was created because they were trying to bring back Super Soldiers.

Now Ross is giving Blonsky the opportunity to inject him the imperfect Super Soldier serum they kept, but he's still not nearly as strong as Hulk. Though he heals quite fast.
That's what Ross injects him :

And you might wonder who the fuck is Reinstein ? Well Reinstein is Erskine's other name in comics and if you know the MCU you know Erskine, the good Doctor who chose Steve Rogers as his Super Soldier in Captain America the First Avengers.

Weapon Plus refers to the US Army's wish to create Super Soldier, not only Captain America but also Wolverine, all these projects are called Weapon *number or letter* and are part of the Weapon Plus program.

You can also notice the blue color used for Super Soldier Serum in other MCU movies and shows.

So as Ross said, Bruce was in the early phase of re-creating the serum and his experiments were pretty promising. However, because he understood the danger of his experiment, he flew away with his research and blood, which are both the key to continue that program and get your Super Soldiers.

We mentionned a Mr. Blue earlier so let's go back to that person. In comics Mr Blue was a mysterious person helping out Bruce, leading him here and there through e-mails and instant messaging. In the end it turned out to be Betty. Here it's pretty similar, Mr Blue is also helping Bruce through e-mails and instant messaging. In fact, Mr Blue is also the "guideline" of the whole movie, everything happens because Mr Blue asked Bruce for something, putting him in danger somehow and that's what we gonna focus on.

First time we "see" Mr Blue it's about a flower Bruce had to find.

Apparently they've been searching for that flower for a while because it could, supposedly, help cure Bruce.
However it fails so Mr Blue ask for a more direct approach, at first asking to see Bruce directly but Bruce refuses, arguing that it's unsafe for him. So instead asking for his blood.

I'm just putting screen because I love the dynamic between Bruce and Mr Blue and because it shows Bruce's despair and why he went as far as sending his blood and data to some random stranger on the internet (luckily for him xwitter wasn't a thing back then 'cause that's some pretty dangerous behaviors here Bruce).

So Bruce sends a sample of his blood to that person who recontacts him soon after

Bruce tells him that he can't 'cause the data are at "home" (aka Betty). He'll go back to take it after being chased down by the army and Hulking out, so again out of complet despair and will send it to Mr Blue after being reunited with Betty (shitty summary but I'm trying to be fast). So the first thing we notice is Mr Blue isn't Betty. Bruce also asks Mr Blue to finally meet.

Bruce and Betty are being chased down together, it's all pretty romantic, Blonsky comes back from the dead (he wasn't dead, I'm exagerating, but he was, mh, not so good) thanks to that Super Soldier stuff he got in his blood but starts developping some... Pretty odd behaviors, addiction symptoms in fact, so he's looking for more.

So now Mr Blue has both Bruce's blood and the data. You follow ? Mr Blue has everything needed to continu Bruce's experiments on the Super Soldier, Bruce is no longer the only key to re-create Super Soldiers, so is Mr Blue. The only thing needed know is knowledge.

And even if Mr Blue was pretty damn manipulative to Bruce he really was trying to help him, he didn't lie about that. Though his main interest was most likely science and not Bruce he was genuine about helping him out and don't know shit about Super Soldier, it wasn't some army trap, so he can't re-create shit because he has no knowledge of such a program, for now.

Yes, he. Because in the MCU Mr Blue isn't Betty, that's Sam, Samuel Sterns, the Leader. Hulk's main antagonist, love of my life, you know him well if you've been following me here and there.

But unfortunatly for our not-evil-yet Sam, when bruce asked him to meet he was stalked by the US army so they found out Mr Blue identity and more importantly where he is.

It was supposed to be a very short post but I'm just super passionate about it.
I'm posting these 3 pics 'cause you have two super cool Easter Eggs, the S.H.I.E.L.D one (remember, nobody knew the MCU was a thing, we didn't know it was connected to Iron Man and everything else so back then it was a pretty sick Easter Egg) and sam's mail "sst3rns62@grayburncollege.net" (and WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU USE YOUR WORK MAIL TO TALK WITH A FUGITIVE MATE ????????), first 's' for Samuel, st3rns for Sterns and 62 because Sam's very first appearence was in Tales to Astonish number 62, it's a very cool thing nobody ever mentionned so now I'm flooding it everywhere alright.

BUT ANYWAY, back to our business. So the army found him, they put mic everywhere, they're listening and watching him talking to Bruce and Betty, spying to the three of them, waiting for the right moment to step in.

Meanwhile our little Sam is curing Bruce (supposedly at least 'cause Hulk will comeback as you know) and develops his very infamous obsession for Hulk, notice how his little hand is slowly reaching for Hulk's body as he's completly forgetting what he's doing, way too absorbed by what he's witnessing.

After that Sam is super happily and proudly showing his experiment to them, explaining that he duplicated Bruce's blood.
Shit happens, the army breaks down because of Blonsky, they want to force Sam into creating more while he's explaining he can't 'cause it was an accident, Blonsky threatens him so Sam is forced to inject him Bruce's blood batch 2058 (yes there's this many samples, it's also important).

So that's what we know now :

Ross tried to re-create the Super Soldier Serum, Bruce nearly succeeded but flew away with his data and blood needed to finish that project. Sam got the needed data and blood, Sam can duplicate Bruce's blood and in fact has a shit tons of samples already. Sam mutated.
Oh right I forgot to mention it, because of Blonsky Sam got a wound on his head and Bruce's blood dripped in and last time we saw the boy he was lying on the floor with his forehead clearly mutating and the creepiest smile on his face, teasing the Leader.

And that's it, no need to talk about the end of the movie it's irrelevant for what's next but right now that's where we are, one of the two people who can re-create the Super Soldier serum became, like his comics self, one of the smartest being so who needs Bruce's knowledge now ?

But what happened to Sam afterward ? Well it's unclear and it will probably be adressed pretty soon as we all know but if the Fury's big week comics are still canon, S.H.I.E.L.D found Sam, abducted him to study him and let's say that if Sam ever goes out he'll be super upset about what the S.H.I.E.L.D did to him and, oh, what a nice coincidence, the S.H.I.E.L.D is no more. However most of the S.H.I.E.L.D experiments and weapons are now in the end of the US army.

So if it's still canon Sam ended up with Ross, if it's not canon we can assume that he still ended up with Ross 'cause y'know what ? Red Hulk.

Alright, alright, alright, I'm gonna have to stop you RIIIIIGHT here, I'm gonna share leaks and spoilers about Captain America 4 : A Brave New World.

Let's quickly mention Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Cap 4 prelogy, basically). Sam (Wilson)'s quest was to find and stop whoever was re-creating and giving away the Super Soldier Serum.

When the show came out I remember making a whole-ass thread explaining that if the MCU was well written we would see Sam (Sterns) because he's the only one who can do that with Bruce atm and it's obviously not Bruce, cursing that we would not see him anyway because the MCU is full of plot hole. Then we got that random scientist who was killed off in two sec and don't you think that's, like, super odd ? Someone RE-CREATED THE DAMN SERUM and it's a nobody ? Not even a name dropping ? Who was killed that easily ? Naaah, I don't believe that shit. In fact in comics that's something Sam (Sterns, I'll have to be more specific now 'cause there's two Sam) often do, having someone else take the blame for him, he's a character of the shadow, barely showing up.

But still, I was disappointed 'cause to me it was the only chance to get Sam (Sterns) back in the MCU but as the long promised LEADER, we had his origin story, different from the comics but still pretty cool (Tim Blake Nelson is a SICK Sam Sterns, he did a great job) and Kevin Feige once said he wanted to bring him back but with the right opportunity and damn, the opportunity was right there, it made so much sense to have him HERE, of ALL the MCU character, it was HIM, it had to be HIM, I was disappointed.

Until 2022 D23.

You had to be here back when I was still using Twitter, it was fire. So all of nowhere Tim Blake Nelson casually showed up during the Cap 4 panel to reprise his role as the Leader and I was "damn, I was right, I called it, I was right all along, it makes SO MUCH SENSE" and it does. I called it not because I'm a huge simp (ok, yeah, because of it too) but because IT MAKES SENSE to the MCU lore, because FOR ONCE it's following its own lore.
Sam (Sterns) is a Captain America villain and he was since Incredible Hulk, just like Ross, they're both the reason some people now have access to that serum, the one Sam (Wilson) is trying to stop, they're both indirectly Sam Wilson's antagonist and have been for years.

Alright so now to the spoils.
As we know Ross is the an antagonist and we now have that Red Hulk holding Cap's shield logo. Keep in mind that a huge part of the movie is being re-written atm and that leaks can always be fakes but let's assume it's true and we're seeing Red Hulk.
Sam Sterns will most likely have a key role, maybe merely present 'cause that's what he always does, it's part of his character.

I said above that not everything had to be comics accurate but that doesn't mean nothing is.

Who is the Red Hulk ? It's Thaddeus Ross. What is Hulk in the MCU ? A Super Soldier, Ross, the man behind that program, is about to become the Super Soldier he's trying to re-create, the reason he was chasing Bruce was to finish that program after all, he didn't care about Bruce himself and left him alone right after... Right after Sam mutated yes, exactly, prior to Avengers. Because he didn't need him anymore.

Who created Red Hulk in comics ? The Leader (and M.O.D.O.K.). And if you ever read a Red Hulk comics you know that he perfectly fit with the political ton of a Captain America movie and that Sam (Sterns) was ploting to put him as the President of the USA, what he is in Cap 4.

Hulk vol.2 23 (2010) written by Jeff Loeb, art by Leinil Francis Yu

Here is your comics accuracy.

Now it's just speculation from my own gamma knowledge :

Do you know how this run starts ? With a funeral. But just not any funeral.

Fall of the Hulks : Gamma (2009) written by Jeff Loeb, art by John Romita Jr

Ross' funeral. And a lot of people are intending it, including Betty and even Captain America.
So now let's take a look at a few pictures from the (first) set of Captain America A Brave New World :

Betty and Cap attending a funeral.
We don't know if it's Ross but let's remember that in Civil War Ross explained he suffered a heart attack and in Black Widow Natacha mentionned that he went into 3 heart surgery I believe so yeah, his health is pretty bad, could very well be him.

That's all I have to say, Ross started the MCU quest for the Super Soldier Serum, this plot was first introduced in a Hulk movie, not a Cap movie, a quest Sam Wilson tried to stop, it's ending with them both in a Brave New World, following both MCU lore and comics accuracy, for once. Bruce/Hulk is not needed to end this arc as he ran away from it and Ross found another way.

A Brave New World seems to highly take inspiration from Peter David's Era and Fall of the Hulks, which led to World War Hulks (and I insist on the 's' in Hulks, it's not World War Hulk), a bunch of gamma irradiated (because of Sam Sterns) fighting against Hulk, She-Hulk, Red Hulk etc etc, you get it, yes, it's oddly similar to these World War Hulk movie rumors, do whatever you want with that information.

Remember that everything Cap 4 is rumor and theories and remember that I wrote this way before the movie Came out if you read it later so maybe none of the Cap 4 part is true haha (everything else is) don't judge me alright !

Enjoy~