The Incredible Hulk (upcoming animated series)/Tropes

* Actor Allusion:
** This isn't the first time Willem Dafoe plays a green-colored Mad Scientist and supervillain in a Marvel production. The Leader even at one point uses orange bombs similar to the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs.
** Ron Perlman once again plays a villanous military general in a Guillermo del Toro production.
*Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While Marlo briefly teases Betty by claiming to have a physical attraction to Banner, the two never date in the series.
*Adaptational Intelligence: The Hulk in the comics was noted for being lacking in intelligence in his Savage persona. Here, while still being child-like in personality and definetly not as smart as other versions such as his The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes incarnation, is much smarter than one would assume at first glance, being able to follow complex instructions rather easily.
*Author's Saving Throw:
** After Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. received criticism for cutting off the Darker and Edgier Jekyll & Hyde aspects of the character, this series brings them back in full force.
** After several Marvel series being mainly influenced by the MCU, this show instead draws more inspiration from the comics, with any connection to the MCU being limited to Mythology Gags, one or two cases of Composite Character, and the mythology of Doctor Strange (which the shpwrunner noted was mainly due to cultural issues. And the show still incorporates aspects of the comic book version to compensate).
**Some felt the Hulk was a bit Wangsty regarding his wish of being left alone, since he is later seen lamenting just that. The producers avoided this by turning it into a character arc for the Hulk in season 1, which depicts his wish of being left alone as him being in denial about his true wish of companionship.
**Fans of the Hulk complained how previous series, while giving him a level of depth, still essentially had him coming out most of the time for action sequences only, while those that did gave promenient screentime did it at the expense of Banner's, thereby taking away the more tragic aspects of the character. This series ultimately reaches a compromise by giving both sides episodes centered around each of them (which is what the old comics did anyway), allowing them both to have an equal screentime and character development.
**Fans often felt people calling the Hulk dangerous and a threat came off as an Informed Wrongness. The series instead flips the argument by having Hulk's friends state that he is dangerous and a threat, but because he dosen't know any better and can be shown and teached what he does is wrong, with the argument against Ross being his specific use of offensive violence against him instead.
**Given how The Dark Phoenix Saga became a Never Live It Down moment for Jean Grey and that all of her modern interpretations featured nods to that story in one way or another, fans will be pleased to see this interprtation of Jean lacking any nods to the Dark Phoenix, with her role in the season 2 premiere instead calling back to New X-Men #121.
* Adaptational Backatory Change: This version establishes that Betty and Bruce knew each other since childhood. Most versions had them meeting as adults or never address when they met, with the closest thing to having met as kids being the fact that they grew up in the same town as kids in Ang Lee's Hulk (2003), which isn't a lot.
*Adaptational Diversity: This version of the X-Men is compromised primarly of people of color.
*Adaptation Personality Change:
** Betty is a fan of gothic luterature in the shpw, something she showed no interest in at any point in the comics. She's also canonically autistic, unlike the comics.
** While still smart, the Leader on this show is a Psychopathic Manchild who wants things to go his way and throws tantrums when they not.
*Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While most interpreataions seem to at least hint towards Betty having the same feeling for Hulk as she has for Bruce and vice-versa, the show instead potrays Betty as somewhat of a mother figure towards the green guy.
* Awesome Moments: 
**During a battle between the Hulk and the military, he and Betty are trapped inside of a cave that begins to crumble. But, just before Betty is smashed by a pile of rocks, the Hulk stops them from crushimg her, recreating the iconic moment from Secret Wars of Hulk using his strength to save somebody's life. Even better? In both that instance and its Avengers: Endgame recreation, it was Banner in control of the Hulk's body. Here? Its the Hulk himself doing it, all acting out of instinct to protect one of the few people he cares about and care about him.
**A huge one for comic book fans happens at The Stinger for the season 4 premiere. Banner's body lies dead in an abysm... and then his body turns into that of the Devil Hulk as soon as the moon rises. Ladies and gentlemen, the series just crossed into Immortal Hulk territory.
**The season 4 finale: All the Hulks vs. Bruce's abusive father.
*The Cameo: The third season premiere features cameos from several mutants at the Xavier Institute, including Kitty Pride, Rogue, Blink, and Darwin.
*Casting Gag:
**Henry Simmons voices Nick Fury, who is mostly known for being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. althrougth the agency is absent in the show. Simmons previously appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the role of Alphonso Mackenzie, who became director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the last two seasons.
**The showrunner explicitly made their mission to cast previous Hulk/Banner actors as Marvel superheroes, all of whom assist Banner at some point.
**Ross Marquand voices Captain America, this after voicing both his Arch-Enemy Red Skull and Avengers villain Ultron in multiple MCU entries.
* Central Theme:
**What makes a monster?
**The series also subtly but strongly emphases Brain Over Brawn. Ross is convinced that only brute strength and violence will be enough to end the Hulk's treat, which causes him to act incompetently. The Hulk, meanwhile, uses Genius Bruiser moves to cdefeat his opponents, and is diplomacy and talking to him what causes the Hulk to stop being a threat.
* Celebrity Voice Cast: Willem Dafoe voices the Leader and Ron Perlman voices General Ross/Red Hulk. Additionally, Robert Pattinson voices Wolverine as a guest star.
* Character Development:
** Througth the series, Bruce grows from seeing the Hulk as a threat, to tolerate him, to see him as a friend.
** Betty becomes more confident as season one progresses, growing from meek to brave by the time the Leader attacks.
**At the start of season 1, Hulk wants just to be left alone, but througth the season he realizes he actually wants friends. He also begins to overcome his violent and anti-social tendencies.
** Ross goes througth a darker version, going from a composed Well-Intentioned Extremist, to a deranged monstrous lunatic no different from how the Hulk used to be.
*Character Rerailment:
**The Savage Hulk, at least in terms of media potrayals. Most recent adaptations tend to potray the Hulk's savage persona as simply a mindless rage-monster. This show, however, potrays him as he was in the 1970s and 1990s shows: An overpowered creature with the mind and maturity of a 5-year-old and far too much power than someone like him should have.
**Banner himself is also more in line with his comics potrayal, being less chipper and quipping than most potrayals post-Avengers and having as many of the same mental problems as his comic book counterpart as allowed, such as depression, suicidal idealization, and DID.
*Cliffhanger: "Truth" finishes with Rick being captured by Ross, who's eager to interrogate him in how to find the Hulk...
* Company Cross References:
**Among the books in Betty's library are Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The Enchanted Rose can also be seen in her library.
**The scene were Hulk thinks of his loneliness was inspired by a scene from Lilo & Stitch, where Stitch says he's lost while waiting for a family to take care of him.
**An episode has Hulk climbing to tge top of a tree and staring at the stars, longing for a place to belong. This is similar to the "Go the Distance" number from Hercules (1997).
**A sticker of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit can be seen in Rick's fridge.
**A figurine of an Atlantean ship from Atlantis: The Lost Empire can be seen in Jennifer's home in the episode "The She-Hulk Lives!". Doubles as an Actor Allusion, since Cree Summer, who voices She-Hulk,reviously starred in Atlantis as Kida.
**Jennifer has a dog named "Tramp".
**Pongo and Perdita make a cameo at the start of "Hard Knocks", among the dogs in New York City. Cruella DeVil also appears as a New York citizen.
**Lighting McQueen and Cruz Ramirez can be seen in an episode during a wide shot of a road. 
**Among the toys in a room in the Xavier Institute are plush toys of Mickey Mouse, Sprig Plantar, Della Duck, Stitch, and Simba. 
* Composite Character:
** Elements from General Ross were inspured by Glenn Talbot's personality in Bill Mantlo's Hulk run, such as his obsession with killing Hulk after several losses.
** The Leader obtains a few elements of the MCU version of Thanos, being a mastermind who mostly works in the shadows througth lackeys, while manipulating events to lead to his victory. His visionary obsesion with evolution and hammy persoanlity are also reminiscent of Chukwudi Iwuji's the High Evolutionary.
** Brian Banner in the series follows his original comic book counterpart, but also serbes as the overrall antagonist of the show, calling back to his potrayal in Ang Lee's Hulk. He also adopts some traits of The One Bellow All from the Immortal Hulk comics.
* Darker and Edgier: The series brings forth the chatacter's more dramatic and emotional aspects, contrasting with the lighthearted comedy that was Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and making it closer in tone to the 1996-97 animated series.
*Deconstruction:
**Of General Ross' character. Everybody is quick to point out how utterly idiotic is his plan of dealing with the Hulk AKA someone whose Catchphrase is "The angrier Hulk gets the stronger Hulk gets!" througth violence, to not to mention the fact that Banner is attempting to cure himself anyways yet he always prevents him when it would be smarter to assist him instead of putting more stress on him and thus making him more likely to transform by chasing him like a dog. However, he refuses to listen. As a result, the season 2 premiere sees him being fired for incompetence.
*** The series also asks the question of "what kind of moron would think that dealing with the Hulk by attacking him is a good idea?", to which it provides the answer: an Ax-Crazy brute who thinks violence is the only answer.
**The series also deconstructs the usual plot of Banner creating a potential cure for the Hulk. Generally, most series have him come up woth dozens of different potential cures per episodes. This show, on the other hand, has an entire arc of Banner trying to create one cure for the Hulk, because cures for physical conditions take a long time to conceive, much less invent (this was also acknowkedged in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., where Betty actually required assistance from other scientists or stole their research regarding people like Dr. Doom to get one cure done).
*Demoted to Extra: Jackie McGee, a promenient character in the Immortal Hulk comics, makes sporadic cameos as a reporter througth the series.
*Disabled In the Adaptation: Betty is depicted in the show as having autism, which she didn't had in any other potrayal.
*Disney Villain Death: Red Hulk meets his demise during a fight against the Hulk, in which he ends up causing himself to fall into a reactor shaft.
*Driven to Suicide: Strongly implied. Banner at one point admits he wonders the point on running "when there are other options" as he stares at a cliff, before adding "but they wouldn't work. Not for me".
*Exiled from Continuity: According to Sage Cotugno, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow are the only Marvel characters excluded from the series. Surprisingly, this was not the product of Executive Meddling (as was the case regarding Mickey Mouse and the DuckTales reboot), but instead something they imposed on themselves to avoid similarities with the MCU.
*Foreshadowing:
** Experts on DID will notice Banner displaying symptoms of the disorder early in the series, hinting that the origins of the Hulk go beyond the Gamma radiation.
** In Banner's transformations, we have brief shots of his blood preasure increasing and of his heart increasing its rate, and he begins to act like the Hulk before any physical changes manifest. Higher blood preasure abd increased heart rate are both physiological changes for people with DID, further indicating the Hulk is actually an alter.
** In an episode, Betty mentions to Rick that Bruce not even as a child ever talked about his parents, but Betty muses that something happened to them. Something happened, alright.
*Friendly Fandoms: The series would have one with Ang Lee's Hulk, thanks to both delving deeper into Hulk and Banner's psyche and Eric Bana being casted as Doc Samson in a deliberate nod to the 2003 film.
*Funny Moments: At the start of "The She-Hulk Lives! Part 2", we see Bruce struggling to tell Jennifer of her new Gamma form. As to be expected from someone who soends most of his time isolating himself, he sucks hard.
*Harsher in Hindsight: In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Hulk tries to kill Ross for framing and jailing him, but is convinced to spare him by Captain America. In this series, Hulk tries to save him, but fails and Ross falls to his death due to Ross' own insanity.
* He Really Can Act: Fred Tatasciore hasn't really gotten a lot of chances to act in emotional scenes while playing the Savage Hulk. However, this series goves him that chance and totally milks it, delivering some ot the most emotional and heartfelt performances in his entire career.
* He Who Fights Monsters: Ross takes this to frightening degrees, Jumping Off the Slippery Slope until he becomes not only a literal monster, but a mindless bloodlusting monster far more dangerous than the Hulk ever was.
* Heartwarming Moments:
** At one point, while talking with Hulk, Betty accidentally annoys him and apologizes. She then explains to Hulk how she has autism and that means she has troubles with social interections. Hulk, knowing hpw struggling talking with others feels like, empathizes with her.
*** Also, when Betty refers to her autism as a "condition", Hulk assumess she means she's ill, and express corncern for her. Coming from Mr. "Hate Puny Humans", this is quite nice.
** Season 1 ends with Bruce walking as the his dhadow turns into that of the Hulk, while the song "Send My On My Way" plays. This reflects that he is beginning to accept the Hulk and that, whatever may happen to Bruce in his journey to dealing with his mental health properly, it will be good.
** Joe Fixit may be tough-as-nails and with an actitude worthy of 50s gangster, but when it comes to Banner and the Hulk, he's very protective.
**Season 3 reveals that, after bonding with Hulk on Canada, Wolverine dropped his life as a mercenary and began to search for peopke like him, eventually meeting and joining the X-Men. And he seems quite happy with the team.
**In the season 3 premiere, Banner shows a lot of empathy towards mutants. Seeing how he knows what is like to not to ask for powers that you can't control and you are hounded for, it only makes sense he'd relate to mutants on a personal level. Hell, he even implicitly threatens to Hulk Out voluntarely when an anti-mutant protester attacks verbally the students.
**The season 3 premiere also shows that, as with the comics, Hulk has a soft spot for kids. And he makes it clear by not only smashing a Sentinel, but threatening to do it to the others if they keep attacking the school. And his threat makes it clear it is to keep the children safe.
*Hidden Depths:
**Betty's talk about the "butterfly effect" seems to hint at some sort of philosophical side to her.
**Hulk shows a lot of intelligence for a seemingly mindless creature, being able to understand complex instructions you would think he would fail to comprehend. This is Truth in Television, as child alters are capable of holding knowledge beyond their years.
* Hilarious In Hindsight: The last time Zachary Quinto and Eric Bana were on the same project, they were enemies. Now, Bana tries to help Quinto's character, who was once played by Bana!
* I Would Like You to Meet a Friend of Mine: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast members Henry Simmons and Chloe Bennet reunite for this show.
*Inspiration for the Work: According to Cotugno, the series's tone and themes were inspired by Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, while the overrall story and horror elements drew inspiration from The Owl House.
*Musical Nods: Tragic moments involving Banner or the Hulk are often underscored by "The Lonely Man" from the 1970s series.
* Mythology Gag:
** Several episodes are titled after or in reference to comics and TV shows featuring the Hulk.
** When he begins transforming, Banner's eyes first turn green, an homage to the live-action series.
** As in the Bruce Jones run, Betty secretly helps Banner under the name "Mr. Blue".
** One of Betty's outfits resembles the one she wore in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
**Doubling as an Actor Allusion, the Leader shows awe at Banner's transformation by saying "that's some neat trick", which is how the Green Goblin described Spider-Man's spider-sense in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
**Bruce mentions how Jennifer always taught him to smile in spite of anything, an element lifted from Geoff Johns' Avengers run.
**Similar to the MCU Spider-Man Trilogy, several car licensce plates alude to comic books:
***A vehicle Banner uses on the pilot features the licensce plate "INH01", alluding to Incredible Hulk #1.
***Logan's truck has the licensce plate "IH181", a nod to his debut in Incredible Hulk #181.
***Jennifer's licensce plate reads "SSH-01", a nod to Savage She-Hulk #1, where she debuted.
**A giant-headed Marvel supervillain with psychic blasts and a floating chair. Is this the Leader or M.O.D.O.K.?
**At one point in the series, Wolverine claims that Hulk is "just like him", which is what he told to a young Magneto in X-Men: Days of the Future Past.
** The season 1 finale is titled "The Hulk Triumphant!".
** Banner is a fan of The Beatles, which was inspired by him comparing the Avengers' breakup with that of the band in Avengers: Infinity War.
** Banner trying to create a cure for the Hulk and failing due to his DID symptoms manifesting calls back to what Doc Samson said in Incredible Hulk #376 of how Banner's attempts to cure himself fail due to attacking the symptoms and not the root of his condition.
** To the 1996 series:
*** As in the 1996 series, Jennifer's injuries are caused by a supervillain attacking Banner.
*** The opening for "The She-Hulk Lives!" (Part 1) has Jennifer watching a news report on the Hulk's rampages, similar to her first scene in the 1996 series.
*** Jennifer refers to Bruce as "Brucey" and to the Hulk as "Hulkster", much like the 1996 series.
*** The 1996 show saw the Grey Hulk take on a promenient role in season 2. This show sees the Grey Hulk making his debut in season 2.
**One of Jennifer Walters' contacts in her phone is "Flo Mayer", a character from She-Hulk's 2016-17 run who helped her deal with her trauma after fighting Thanos and Banner was killed during Civil War II.
**At one point during "The She-Hulk Lives!" (Part 1), Jennifer explains to Hulk that she putd her plants in front of her window so they can receive sunlight, after qhuch the Hulk thriws a plant outside her house, claiming it will receive more sunlight. This is exactly what Hulk did with his plant in The Super Hero Squad Show.
**In the finale, Bruce deliberatedly triggers a transformation in a scene inspired by a similar panel from Tales to Astonish #67.
**In episode 10, Betty mentions she once dated a guy named Ramon, who was a boyfriend of hers when she left Bruce during the Bill Mantlo run.
**Banner and Hulk being stuck mid-transformation previously happened in Incredible Hulk #241.
** Betty resides in Culver City, California. Her location us a nod to the Culver Institute from the 1978 series.
** The first season ends exactly like the 2003 game did: With Banner walking towards the sunrise as the Hulk's shadow appears instead of his.
** Before protecting the Teen Brigade from the army, Hulk says "Hulk does not have many friends, and Hulk will do anything to protect them", a line extracted from The Incredible Hulk #212.
**Througth the series, the background features buildings and billboards for companies such as Stark Industries, Queng Enterprises, GRUMBL, and Rand Enterprises.
** The Hulk is established to have first manifested as Banner's imaginary friend in childhood, a concept first established in Bruce Jones' run.
** The way Banner meets the Devil Hulk was strongly influenced by his debut in the 2000s.
** In the comics, Banner killed his father and supresed the memory. While this dosen't happen in the show, Bruce is neverthless the one to put Brian (or, more accuretly, his soul) to rest.
*Nightmare Fuel: What happens when you put some of the crew behind The Owl House behind a show starring one of Marvel's most terrifying heroes alongside the writer of Immortal Hulk? Nothing for the faint of heart.
** Much like in The Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes, Bruce's eyes turning green is very unnerving, and likely to elicit an Oh Crap! from audiences.
**In the first episode, Banner suffers a flashback where he sees a man calling to him in anger, his child self crying, and him about to be beaten and insulted. This spells out the show will explore Banner's abused past for the first time since 2003. The flashback itself has a claustrophobic feel with its lighting and shaky camera.
**Hulk's rampages are filled with this. Once he shows up, what follows is pure mayhem and chaos. Thank glodness by the end of the series Banner helps him find better ways to release his rage.
*** His second rampage is enough to scary even adults. Not only is he hidden behind the shadows, but when he notices some soldiers, he says "Leave me alone". Which feels more like a warning, given how he reacts to their aggresions by smashing them like ragdolls. From that moment, the Hulk feels more like an enraged force of nature, desyroying everything and everyone in his path to freedom, while the soldiers can't do anything to even defend themselves.
*** Particularly frightening is when the soldiers drop a bomb from a helicopter... and not only is Hulk pissed, he is unharmed. And the fire sure makes him look like a very angry Terminator.
***And even when he's not rampaging, he still pretty fucking terrifying. There's a reason Banner says people wouldn't like him when he's angry.
** And if he is bad, then Ross slow descent into madness is worse. He starts off as a somewhat reasonable general doing his duty, but his hatred for the Hulk slowly erodes his rationality and sanity. And when he becomes the Red Hulk, he becomes even worse! He becomes willing to do anything to get a fight with the Hulk, to the point of willfully endangering civilians and even his own daughter! By the last episode, he becomes nothing but a rampaging mindless monster reminescent of when Mephisto manipulated the Hulk in the comics, but without any external influence that made him that way.
*** A particular point is when Ross fibds Rick and threatens to shoot him to get the Hulk to surrender. Even his soldiers are disturbed by such callous act.
**A moment during Hulk and Wolverine's fight has Wolverine being punched off a cliff by the Hulk. Of course, his regeneration factor saves him, but the how is unnerving: Every dislocated part of his body is slowly rearranged, almost like a zombie. Even the Hulk is unnerved by this.
**"To the Edge" starts off with a Nightmare Sequence in which Banner dreams of being attacked by the Hulk. And Dream!Hulk looks and acts less like the real deal and more like something out of a David Cronenberg film. There's also the implication that, at the end of the dream, Banner gets eaten alive.
**As in the comics, Brian Banner himself is this. A monster of a human being, he beat poor young Bruce for the hell of it whenever Bruce did anything that got him angry, and its shown as explicitly as possible within a Disney+ show how this affected Bruce physically and emotionally. Add in the fact that he is voiced by the same guy as the Joker...
**When the Leader (wearing an armor) faces the Hulk in the season 2 finale, he lets out a speech that lets out a glimpse of the depravity that his mind and shows his claims of "wanting to lead humanity on the right path" are bullshit. In truth, he's just a Mad Scientist who wants thinks he's a God.
**Season 3 opens with the all-too-familiar shot of the Sentinels attacking the Xavier Institute. This time, however, we get a big emphasis on how the victims of the attack are children. There's a even a brief moment where a Sentinel almost kills a student.
*Nothing is Scarier: Rebbeca Banner's death. We on,y get to see as much as Briwn starting to hit her before changing to Bruce's reaction, which soeaks volumes to the horror transpirimg in front of him. According to Sage Cotugno, this is the on,y way tgey could show her death accuretly in a Disney show.
*Retraux: Much like X-Men '97, the series is light on the sarcastic quips common across post-MCU Marvel projects, taking itself far more seriously while also including campy elements from the comics without a hint of irony. The series' guest superheroes also draw more from their classic potrayals rather than their MCU incarnations, aside from Doctor Strange.
*Revisiting the Roots: After years of mostly comedic potrayals of the Hulk in TV and films (aside from What If...?), the show fully brings him back to the more serious and dramatic potrayal of his earlier TV shows. Showrunner Sage Cotugno even stated that "one of the points of this show was to remind audiences of why Hulk is among those characters in the Marvel Universe people shit themselves upon seeing him".
* Role Reprise:
** Fred Tatasciore is back to voice the Hulk.
** Cree Summer returns from the 1996-97 series as She-Hulk
*Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The show often uses the idea of villains damning themselves to fates they want to avoid.
** General Ross wants the Hulk dead becayse he dosen't want to lose everything. In the end, his obsession costs him his daughrer Betty, hus job, his reputation, and his humanity.
** Brian Banner abused Bruce because he thougth he brought a monster to the world. In the season finale, he escapes from the Afterlife as a Gamma Beast, meaning he did brought a monster to Earth... himself. Always in mind, and now in body.
*Shout-Out:
** The military meeting scene in the pilot is a reference to Dr. Strangelove.
** A shot of the Hulk in the pilot is an homage to King Kong.
** Banner's first in-universe transformation is an homage to the start of the fifth chapter of showrunner Sage Cotugno's webcomic The Glass Scientists.
** She-Hulk's entrance in the season one finale is an homage to Wonder Woman's entrance at the climax of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
** Plenty of these to Star Trek:
*** During Ross' court martial, Fury peels down Ross with a line from Star Trek: First Contact: "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrumpt your little quest. Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale!".
*** Ross, as he descends to madness, refers to Hulk as "old friend", which was Khan's Term of Endangerment towards Kirk in The Wrath of Khan.
* Shown Their Work:
** The series puts an emphasis in how the Hulk's rampages somehow always avoid actual casualties, to the point of Betty theorizing the Hulk does it either on purpose or subconciously. This is an actual theory from the comics, which was generally neglected in most adaptations.
** It is mentioned that the Hulk alters only manifested during Banner's childhood before the events of the series. Alters remaining dormant for decades is actually plausible in a DID system.
*Stealth Pun: The Leader's introductory scene, where he watches througth cameras the Hulk being captured by his forces, has him stepping on two ants that were fighting each other with his boots. The Leader sees himself as far above the rest of the world, including the Hulk and the army, who didn't even knew of his existence until now when he captured the Green Goliath. In other words, the ants were not in conflict with the boot, and the Leader just stepped on them 
* Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
**Unlike the comics and most media, where Status Quo is God managed to keep Ross as a respected General, his military competence is being doubted since, while the Hulk is dangerous, Ross using offensive tactics against an enemy whose power grows with his rage only increades the danger and collateral damage, and he refuses to try other tactics. This mindset eventually gets him fired and remplaced with General Talbot, whose tactics center less on attacking the Hulk and more on protecting the civilians in the perimeter avoud as much vollateral damage as possible, only attacking the Hulk whenever he directly attacks either them or civilians, and, even then, are strictly defensive attacks mewnt to sent the Hulk away from shere he can harm the rest. All in all, Talbot ends up being the better General by focusing on avoiding casaulties and collateral damage instead of on attacking the Hulk.
*Tearjerker:
**The pilot hurts, the entire episode beoing essentially how a good man is ripped off from a normal life after doing the right thing.
**While talking about Jennifer to Betty, Banner briefly pauses. He clearly misses his cousin.
**In "The She-Hulk Lives! (Part 1)", Jennifer and Hulk have a heart-to-heart in which Hulk reveals he realized he dosen't actually want to be left alone, but actually wants to have friends who won't harm him, but lamenting how his rage will leave him unable to co-exist with somebody. Jen then comforts him by telling him anyone can change, including him.
* They Also Did: The series was created by Sage Cotugno. They previously worked at Disney Television Animation, working as a director for series such as The Owl House.
*"The Reason You Suck" Speak: Betty delivers one to Ross after he threatens Rick's life to capture the Hulk, chasting him by saying that, while both Hulk and Ross have hurted people, the Green Goliath did it out of ignorance and lack of emotional maturity without killing anybody, while Ross knowingly threatened a man's life.
* Truer to Text: Unlike even the 1990s series, which only have Banner as the Hulk for a number of scenes, this series have entire episodes with the Hulk transformed, akin to how the comics had entire issues centering exclusively on the Hulk side of the character.
** As a whole, the series is more faithful to the comics than most recent adaptstions, featuring a dark tone in line with the character's potrayal in the comic books and Hulk being treated as a terrifying creature with the mind of a 5-year old, whereas other modern adaptations line more with either of those or, at the very least, tone down one without enterily erasing that aspect. The series also potrays Banner's transformations as an explicit case of dissociative, which wasn't actually potrayed outside of comics and videogames ever since Ang Lee's Hulk.
*Unexpected Characters:
**Seeing as how their closest thing to an appearance outside comics was a mention in a LEGO videogame, nobody was expecting the Teen Brigade to appear in the series.
**Fans also weren't expecting for Marlo Chandler, who hasn't made any appearance in outside media, to appear in the show.
* Whem Episode: "The She-Hulk Lives! (Part Two)". The much more stable nature of Jen's transformations causes Banner to refocus his investigations into the true nature of the Hulk.
*Wham Shot: Episode 10 features a flashback of Banner talking to someone as a kid. The image then moves around to reveal that someone is the Hulk.
*What Do You Mean Its For Kids?: It may be a Marvel show made for Disney+, but its dark tone, focus on mental health, and terrifying villains, as well as the Hulk himself being scary at times, make it clear this show is not for children.
*Win Back the Crowd: Many fans felt the series was a return to form for Hulk adaptations, thanks to its dark tone and faithfulness to the sourve material, after many other recent adaptations that were comical in nature but ended downplaying or outright erasing the drama elements many fans felt were crucial to the character.
*Word of God: According to showrunner Sage Cotugno, while there are no plans to adapt the iconic storyline where Banner and Hulk are separated, they stated that, should such a separation occur, the Hulk would not be rendered mindless as in the comics, as Banner and Hulk are supposed to be treated metaphysically as two individuals within one body (which is in line with modern understandings of DID).
*Wrong Genre Savy: Banner believes he's in a werewolf-esque story in which his search for a cure to the Hulk will end everything. In truth, he's the lead of a psychological action-drama in which the Hulk's origins run deeper than a lab accident and where he needs to come to terms with theur shared existence.