Incredible Hulk: Civil War

I was mulling over this just a couple of minutes ago, I thought I'd give it it's own thread.

Do you think it's at all creatively plausible to combine scenes from Civil War and Ed Norton's Incredible Hulk?


Granted, this would play havoc with established MCU continuity, and some might not take to that, but as an experimental edit it could well be doable.

The idea would be to only use about 15% or 20% of Civil War footage, with the rest of the movie being incredible Hulk. The motivations are that the army are trying to recruit Banner for Tony's team to go after Steve Rogers and his own team per Black Widow's suggestion (when Tony suggests if there's "any shot" of getting him on the team to her), and we follow Banner's adventures. In this alternate universe, Banner never left Earth and reconnects with old flame Betty Ross. 

I'd still devote some time to Tony and Cap's struggle just so there's a complete story, and Spidey could still wind up being Banner's substitute on the team.

The post-credit scene of the Incredible Hulk between Tony and General Ross can be repurposed for earlier in the movie, possibly at the very beginning if need be.

I'd try to at least end the film with Bruce and Betty together and on the run. The final scene could be the "not even a little excited?" love making scene at the end.

Interesting! I like that your idea isn't just trying to improve The Incredible Hulk (IH), as either a stand-alone film or to fit better in the MCU, even though it does need to be improved! Instead you'd use the available materials to create a new story. Like a "What If" Marvel comic book in movie form.

The positive:
- Use "What If" in the title and everyone understands up front that you're creating you own story. You can have fun editing Marvel superheroes with creative freedom, because MCU continuity no longer matters (much).
- Consider making this a 30-minute short. The "What If" comics are wonderful in their exploration of alternate storylines but they tend to carry on too long. Make this long enough to explore your idea, short enough that it doesn't feel like a replacement attempt for the original movies.

The negative:
- General Ross is never out of uniform in IH and has only a few moments without his uniform jacket, but he's already Secretary of State in Civil War. So you can't use much Ross footage from IH.
- The IH deleted scenes contain great material but are only 480p. If you manage to up-rez those to plausible HD, please share! I, for one, would be thrilled to use that for a straight-up IH edit.

The neutral:
- Norton or Ruffalo? Since this'll be a "What If" it's doesn't matter that you'll use Norton.
- Bruce and Betty run away together as fugitives. I don't think it makes the edit easier or harder but it's a fun twist.

Thanks for your opinions. Glad it seems to excite you.

We definitely need a Marvel "What If..." consecution series someday, so we can encourage more of these experimental edits. 

Making it a short sounds doable, ideally I'd love to extend it but the Abomination arc probably would detract from the important stuff, I can maybe try for an hour if you pack it full of the backstory.

Yeah, the Ross stuff breaks a lot of continuity, unless you're into suspension of disbelief with edits. I could edit out any reference to him being secretary, but not sure if that'd lead to any jarring cuts. I'm relying a lot on memory of both movies at the moment so I can't guarantee a lot of the ideas will land if I execute them.

Yes, I'd love Bruce and Betty to get a happy ending for once. Big fan of those two

I suggest exorcising anything with Abomination, like already mentioned, and ALSO get rid of all of the backstory elements. Then try to use as much of whatever is left. I would be fine with either a short or a full length thing.
Another idea, is make an edit of Civil War, that just fits this in as an additional side plot, though that would get lengthy, and mostly Civil War footage. 

I don't think the outfit change for Ross matters, I certainly wouldn't pick up an outfit change, nor would I recognize the ranks attached to uniform.

jrWHAG42 said:

Another idea, is make an edit of Civil War, that just fits this in as an additional side plot, though that would get lengthy, and mostly Civil War footage.

Click to expand...

It's just that, having already done a near full-on edit of Civil War (with inclusion of a side-plot borrowed from Homecoming), I sort of don't want to repeat myself too much, hence why I suggested leaving in a lot of Hulk so as to make CW the possible side-plot and the motivation for the army hunting down Banner.

Zarius said:

jrWHAG42 said:

Another idea, is make an edit of Civil War, that just fits this in as an additional side plot, though that would get lengthy, and mostly Civil War footage.

Click to expand...

It's just that, having already done a near full-on edit of Civil War (with inclusion of a side-plot borrowed from Homecoming), I sort of don't want to repeat myself too much, hence why I suggested leaving in a lot of Hulk so as to make CW the possible side-plot and the motivation for the army hunting down Banner.

Click to expand...

I fully understand this, I'm just spit balling ideas.

I do agree with ditching the Abomination elements, I prefer the Banner vs Military elements of the Norton film. Maybe I could possibly link "Mr. Blue" to be Black Widow trying to keep in touch with him, rather than have it turn out to be The Leader?

If the deleted scenes are used, what if we have Banner be in the exact same location as the Cap/Stark/Bucky confrontation, the facility that stores the Super Soldiers? We can switch between the escalating battle and loss of friendship between Tony and Steve with Bruce struggling whether or not to kill himself.

Found time to track down my DVDs, will rip them and look over both. I'll focus on the ending because, from watching the scenes on Youtube, I may have figured out something, but can't be too certain just yet.

Ok, here's what I tried


password: hulk

I tried my ending with Bruce and Betty and it worked. I knew exactly which deleted scene to use. The quality of the scene, however, is pretty low-res , so if it was used, it would be for the "unauthorized" cut. I have thought ahead and put together one for a theatrical cut that would be suitable for the IFDB if I went through with this.

Again, all just test samples for now, but I really think we have something here people. I can't go into too much detail right now, but there's stuff in here that makes this edit a very worthwhile project.


password: hulk

Added a little poster to the OP

A short clip from a potential opening


password: hulk

Some more tests

I made sure to exclude any reference to Ross being the secretary of state in this


password: hulk

Pleased to say the Widow/Banner "interaction" via computer worked.

Iron Man 2 also came to the rescue when I was mulling over ways of ignoring Bucky's escape and maintain continuity with Tony's black eye. Have Tony get so depressed over the accords and taking a side that he gets blind drunk and gets in a fight with Rhodes!

I think the key to an edit like this is not to overuse the footage for Civil War, as it's very dense and even trying to unravel it for the sake of a cut means the whole story goes off the rails. I'd love to lose the airport fight and have come close on many occasions in previous edits, but in order for an ending like the one in the test samples to make sense, Steve's team have to be arrested. 

A lot of these issues have much to do with abandoning the Abomination plot, I might have to put it back in so the film is more Incredible Hulk than Civil War, but since I've gone and give Black Widow The Leader's role, I'll have to find a different way of introducing him...unless I have Widow arrange a meeting between Banner and The Leader somehow...

One thing to note, with all of Banner and Widow's communicating being through text, it should be relatively easy to add in your own lines for it, so having her tell him to visit The Leader could work. Something like "I've gotten in contact with an old friend. I think he might be able to help you, I urge you to visit him" or something, I don't know.

Zarius said:

A lot of these issues have much to do with abandoning the Abomination plot, I might have to put it back in so the film is more Incredible Hulk than Civil War, but since I've gone and give Black Widow The Leader's role, I'll have to find a different way of introducing him...unless I have Widow arrange a meeting between Banner and The Leader somehow...

Click to expand...

He gets injected with two things, one by the government, one by the Leader. Just consolidate down to everything happening because of the government injections. Maybe recovering from his Hulk fight at the college triggers the mutation.

addiesin said:

Zarius said:

A lot of these issues have much to do with abandoning the Abomination plot, I might have to put it back in so the film is more Incredible Hulk than Civil War, but since I've gone and give Black Widow The Leader's role, I'll have to find a different way of introducing him...unless I have Widow arrange a meeting between Banner and The Leader somehow...

Click to expand...

He gets injected with two things, one by the government, one by the Leader. Just consolidate down to everything happening because of the government injections. Maybe recovering from his Hulk fight at the college triggers the mutation.

Click to expand...

Good idea.

Belted out a couple of more tests (currently on my Vimeo storage limit, so will wait until the weekend to post samples), I think I've pretty much succeeded in having Civil War serve the Incredible Hulk and not the other way around. I've established a stable timeline.

I'm currently debating whether to open the movie with Zemo discovering the bodies of the super soldiers, or have Zemo reading the book in the hotel room. 

The idea is I want Bucky to have been legit responsible for the Vienna bombing in this edit, and he would have been triggered by the book being read out. When we first see Bucky, he's already on a rampage and Steve and Falcon have to stop him. This is not a perfect way of editing out most of the Avengers side-plot, but if you suspend your disbelief for the General Ross stuff you should have a breeze with this also.

In order to preserve the continuity of Tony gaining his black eye from a fall-out with War Machine (Iron Man 2 footage), I've omitted Rhodey from the airport confrontation entirely. Black Panther does still turn up, but his role is very, VERY reduced.

Oh, and @"jrWHAG42" , your suggestion does work.