Hulk (2003 film)

## Plot

Brian Banner is a genetics researcher for the government trying to improve human DNA. His supervisor, Colonel Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, forbids human experimentation, so Brian experiments on himself. His wife, Rebecca, soon gives birth to their son, Bruce Banner. Brian realizes Bruce inherited his mutant DNA and attempts to find a cure. After discovering his experiments, Ross shuts down Brian's research; Brian rigs Desert Base's gamma reactor to explode as revenge. Believing he is dangerous, Brian tries to kill Bruce but accidentally murders Rebecca when she gets between them; the trauma makes Bruce suppress his early childhood memories. Ross arrests and sends Brian to a mental hospital, putting the 4-year-old Bruce into foster care. His aunt Susan adopts him.

Now an adult, Bruce is a brilliant scientist working at the University of New Mexico with his girlfriend and Ross's estranged daughter, Betty Ross, and Samuel Sterns. Bruce is leading the development of the Gamma Reactor, a device intended to generate electricity using gamma radiation. The now-general Ross investigates, becoming concerned for Betty's safety around Bruce.

During the Gamma Reactor's first test, Sterns secretly sabotages the device, causing an explosion to rock the reactor. Nearby, a student named Rick Jones has fallen off his motorcycle. Bruce rushes to escort Rick to safety and throws him into a protective trench. Before Bruce can get himself to safety, the reactor explodes, and Bruce is irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles.

Bruce wakes in a hospital bed feeling better than ever, and Rick thanks Bruce for saving his life. However, Bruce's increasing rage from the tensions around him activates his gamma-radiated DNA; he becomes the Hulk and destroys the lab. Meanwhile, Sterns attempts to steal canisters of gamadium but the Hulk finds him, and Sterns ends up contaminating himself in radioactive material.

Betty finds Bruce unconscious in his home the next morning, barely remembering the previous night. Sterns recovers from his injuries and discovers that his intellect has increased a thousand-fold, and he retains information with the accuracy of a computer. He frames Bruce for stealing the gamadium. Ross arrives later to question Bruce. After hours of interrogation, Ross seizes the lab and places Bruce under house arrest. Bemoaning the lab's destruction, Sterns attacks Bruce, who transforms, injuring Sterns Ross's MPs. Rick, who had come by to check on Bruce, witnesses the attack and follows the Hulk.

The Hulk finds Betty at her house, but he is surrounded by the army. The Hulk easily defeated the army and leaves. Upon changing back, Rick finds Bruce on the road and hides him in his apartment. Sterns' gamma-irradiated body continues to mutate. His skin turns permanently green, and his cranium increases in size. The following day, Ross' army raid Rick's apartment where he and Bruce are arrested and brought to Desert Base. Ross doubts helping Bruce, but Betty persuades Ross to let her try.

Sterns wrestles control from Ross, forcing Betty to return home. Seeking to profit from the Hulk's power, Sterns fails to provoke Bruce and puts him in an isolation tank. Sterns induces a nightmare from Bruce's repressed memories and triggers a transformation. Trapping the Hulk in sticky foam, Sterns tries taking a sample of him, but the Hulk breaks free. The Hulk escapes the base, battles the army in the desert, and leaps to Albuquerque to find Betty. She convinces Ross to take her to the Hulk, returning Bruce to normal.

Bruce and Betty are taken away in a helicopter. Back at Desert Base, Sterns has finished construction on a gamma bomb, intending to drop it on Washington, D.C. and takeover the government. He then traps the military in the caves and unleashes the Humanoids, an army of synthetic androids from an abandoned project at the Base. Bruce convinces Ross to let him fight Sterns. He transforms into the Hulk, frees the military and clashes with the Humanoids. During the battle, the Hulk overpowers Sterns, who decides to activate the bomb's detonator, but fails due to Rick blocking the signal. Sterns activates an explosion on the reactor chamber. With no way to stop the bomb, the Hulk hauls the bomb far into the desert, where it safely explodes.

A year later, Ross has Betty under constant surveillance, as many Hulk sightings get reported. In exile in the Amazon Rainforest, Bruce is alive as a medical camp doctor. His camp gets overrun by soldiers who try to steal their supplies. After Bruce unsuccessfully warns their commander not to make him angry, the Hulk bellows in rage.

## Cast

* Matt Dillon as Bruce Banner / Hulk:
A gamma radiation research scientist. After exposure to elevated gamma radiation levels, he becomes a enormous green humanoid monster when enraged or agitated, and also has the ability to grow larger in size and become stronger when angered in his Hulk form. Christian Bale was a front-runner for the film before Dillon's casting. It was widely reported Billy Crudup turned down the role. Johnny Depp, Steve Buscemi, Edward Norton, and Eric Bana were reportedly under consideration for the lead. David Duchovny and Jeff Goldblum auditioned for the role. Tom Cruise was also offered the role but he turned it down.
	+ Lou Ferrigno provides vocal performance as the Hulk. This marks the third time Ferrigno portrayed the Hulk, having also voiced the character in the 1996 animated series.
* Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross
* Sam Elliott as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
* Alan Cumming as Samuel Sterns / The Leader
* Matthew Lawrence as Rick Jones
* Josh Lucas as Glenn Talbot
* Paul Kersey as Brian Banner
* Cara Buono as Rebecca Banner

*Hulk* co-creator/executive producer Stan Lee and former Hulk actor Lou Ferrigno made a cameo appearance as security guards. Jack Colvin, who played Jack McGee in *The Incredible Hulk* TV series, makes a cameo as a scientist. This was Colvin's final film appearance before his death in 2005.

## Production

Filming began on February 9, 2002 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The ending scene with Bruce in the Amazon rainforest was filmed in Maui, Hawaii. Ed Verreaux served as production designer. Principal photography wrapped on July 5, 2002.

The visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic. The studio began animating the Hulk in mid-1999.

## Marketing

A teaser trailer was released online on June 7, 2002. It was shown in theaters with *Scooby-Doo, The Bourne Identity, Minority Report,* and *Men in Black II*.

The first official trailer was released online on December 17, 2002. It made its theatrical debut the following day with the opening of *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*. It was later attached to *The Recruit* and *Final Destination 2.* On March 7, 2003, a second trailer premiered in theaters with *Tears of the Sun*. The trailer aired the following evening on ABC during a showing of *Con Air*, before being released online on March 9. The trailer was also shown before *Phone Booth, A Man Apart, Holes, Daddy Day Care, Agent Cody Banks, The Italian Job, Bruce Almighty, The Matrix Reloaded, 2 Fast 2 Furious,* and *X-Men: Children of the Atom*. On June 14, a final trailer was released exclusively on QuickTime Player.

To promote the release of the film, Universal partnered with CKE Restaurants to release kids meal toys at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. restaurants. Beginning in June 2002, the locations offered customers three different Hulk collector's cups and patrons could purchase a Hulk figure to attach to their car radio antenna. A month later in July, "Cool Combos for Kids" would feature one of four different toys highlighting the Hulk or his nemesis, the Leader. KFC would then follow suit, releasing their own Hulk kids meal toys at their locations in the United Kingdom. Other promotional partners included Mountain Dew, Hershey's, Kellogg's, and Levi's.

A tie-in video game, developed by Radical Entertainment, was released on July 1, 2003 for Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.

## Release

Tickets for *Hulk* went on sale on June 10, 2003. The film premiered on June 16, 2003 in Tokyo, on June 22, in Berlin, on June 23 at Odeon Leicester Square in London, and on June 30 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

After its UK release on June 27, 2003, it was released in North America on July 2, although some theaters held limited-access advance screenings on June 30.

### Home media

*Hulk* was released on VHS and DVD on December 9, 2003. The DVD release featured two discs, featuring three commentary tracks (Matt Dillon & Darren Aronofsky; Avi Arad, Jennifer Connelly & Matthew Lawrence; and the screenwriter team), various deleted scenes and documentaries, and a digital version of the first Hulk comic. The home video releases included a trailer for *Van Helsing*.