Directed by Louis Leterrier whose known for his work largely as an action director for all three Transporter films and Jet Li's Unleashed. Louis had pitched a more action oriented Hulk movie to Marvel, as Marvel wanted to distance themselves from Ang Lee's interpretation. Now with a 5 year gap between films and given writer Zak Penn who hand a long standing record with marvel comic based films. Leterrier was given the go ahead to make the movie. With the condition he had to completely recast; to give the impression of a new start and no ties to the latter. Liv Tyler was the last actor to be recast as it was difficult to find an actress to replace Jennifer Connelly. Leterrier first choice for Banner was Mark Ruffalo but producers wanted a more established name at that time. Edward Norton took on the role with the agreement he could add more character development, but not disrupt the original script. The Norton cut would have several more scenes making the film nearly two and a half hours long; Marvel had shot all those scenes and it would have given more exposition and depth to characters. But a decision was made to not pursue an over examination of the Hulk, and avoid any and all parallel's to Ang Lee's version. And thus not a single frame of Norton's work was used in the making of the final draft bringing the runtime down to 1 hour and 52 minutes. This of course spark some speculation between Norton and the company and why Norton did not appear during any of the press and promotional tours.
Actor William Hurt and his character General Thunderbolt Ross would continue to make appearances in the MCU beginning 8 years later in Captain America:Civil War and most recently in this year's Black Widow with a help of a little De-aging technology as we peer back into the Black Widow's origin story.
As the Ang Lee film concludes somewhere in South America, we begin the Incredible hulk in South America at a pop bottle factory. Banner has been on the run from the military for a number of years, this failure to capture was a thorn in General Ross's side, that thorn drove Ross to do a brash decision of turning his top veteran soldier unintentionally into the Abomination. Knowing full well that previous subjects had gone mentally unstable from unsuccessful trials. Tim Roth's Emil Blonsky as Hulk's Antagonist is one of the more standouts, as he is calm and tactical; Albeit the only survivor from a bunch of commandos claiming to be the best of the best of Ross' elite rooster; at the south American attempt to capture the Hulk .
Mark Ruffalo's most poignant lines in the 2012 Avengers movie are directly linked to the 2008 movie with the reference of the hulk spitting out the bullet from a failed suicide attempt, the unseen alternative opening that can be found on the blue ray disc will show Bruce attempting to end his life and the hulk intervening. Conversely in the closing scene of the 2008 movie we witness Norton applying his breathing techniques as he can control his anger as he finally releases the Hulk without incident; which is mirrored in Ruffalo statement, 'My secret is I'm always angry' as Ruffalo's hulk is pointed in the oncoming direction of the Chitauri-Leviathan that gets stopped in a single punch.
At the conclusion of Iron man 2, Tony Stark was deemed not suited to be team player for the avengers initiative, and was given the status of a consultant with SHIELD. The post credit scene of Tony speaking with General Ross ties in with the Marvel One-Shot: titled 'The Consultant', referring to Tony himself as his meeting was to indirectly persuade Ross to keep Blonsky (The Abomination) under lock and key and not loose as a potential candidate for the Avengers initiative; with consideration of tech genius charisma and charm would annoy the General to no end.
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