We told you earlier in the week in one of our news briefs that “The Incredible Hulk” director Louis Letterier promised a cameo appearance by none other than Captain America in the film. Well, consider it one of those obscure Hollywood promises because if you go and see the movie this weekend, you’ll have to look real hard to find the good Captain because he is no where to be found.
Marvel Studios opted to remove about 70 minutes out of the film’s theatrical release which included dark segments revealing Bruce Banner’s decision to off himself because he can’t deal with his Hulk outbreaks. He meets up with Captain America way up north in the Arctic Circle where Banner is convinced by the Captain to find a way to deal with his dual persona.
Since the studio is shooting to reach as wide a range of age groups as possible they felt these scenes were far to dark and moody and didn’t really add anything to the overall production value of the film, so they were cut from the theatrical version. Letterier and Marvel do promise that they will be included in the DVD release. Of course, all we can hope is this isn’t just another Hollywood promise.
Now, let’s think about this for just a minute. It’s alright for a parent to show a frightening green monster of a man rip things (and people) from limb to limb, but it’s not proper to see a man deal with some real internal emotional turmoil and get positive feedback from a trusted friend that puts him back on the path of living. Boy, talk about screwed-up priorities. Why doesn’t Hollywood execs just tell the truth for a change. Watching those quiet private moments doesn’t sell tickets to the kiddies, but watching him turn into a monster and tear the hell out of a city, well — that’s definitely a no brainer for ticket sales….isn’t it? They’ve had it right all along…….”That’s Entertainment!”
Bronzethumb from Australia says
There were still some references to Captain America in the final flick. Ross and Blonksy talk about the WWII-era super soldier formula, which, as I understand it, is how Captain America became a superhero.
My two questions are, a) will we get an extended cut of this movie? If we do I hope it’s not too long, ’cause the reason this film works better than Ang Lee’s is because it doesn’t get bogged down nearly as much, and I doubt those 70 minutes are exactly action packed. And b) who did they get to play Captain America? And will this be the person who’ll play him in the Captain America movie?
Doug Abramson says
The tank that Ross takes the super-soldier serum out of has the name of the scientist that developed Cap’s formula. The inference being that Blonsky got the same formula that made Cap. (Although in the original story, Cap gets the only sample and it cannot be recreated after the Nazi spy kills the Professor.)
Chunky says
The real question should be, who played Capt.America in the deleted scenes?
..this of course reveals the real reason why they were deleted – so director Nick Cassavetes can choose the actor before actual CA production starts and to keep continuity in the upcoming Avengers movies.
It’s pretty damn obvious studios didn’t want another introspective borefest like the original Hulk movie was either.
Since when does Hulk rip people apart btw?
What’s wrong with SoSF these days?
Sam says
Well, I guess in all the destruction that goes on to planes, trains and automobiles (speaking figuratively) and buildings, it would be a real stretch of the imagination to think not one person wasn’t ripped apart (whether or not they are actually seen on camera). The Hulk doesn’t have to rip the legs off a person, in full view of the audience for any thinking person with half an imagination in that same audience, to know there certainly is human collateral damage when the city streets get “ripped apart.”
You’ve got an imagination, use it. It’s not a real stretch to figure that out.
Chunky says
and another stretch to figure a group of good guys, let’s say..The Avengers…would accept him into their group if his collateral damage included ripped apart women and children. I can imagine people either running for their lives or standing around watching ala Superman 2. Speaking of Superman, how about the Superman Doomsday cartoon battle which included Supes punching Doomsday throughout Metropolis’ buildings. Any loss of life there? None shown?
Well I bet safely bet The Incredible Hulk has non shown as well, but wait let’s read your quote again!
“It’s alright for a parent to show a frightening green monster of a man rip things (and people) from limb to limb, but it’s not proper”
Won’t someone please think about the children?
Stretch much Sam?
Sam says
I stretch everyday, but not to the point of breaking the rubber band of common sense. From the time I was a child I have always thought that there was collateral damage whenever superheroes like Superman et. al. battled bad guys and great destruction was left in their wake. Just like when wars are fought for noble causes, many times those not directly involved in the fighting get killed. Such is life!
Somehow I could never buy into the fantasy that the good guys, in their restless pursuit of the bad guys, don’t do serious, unintentionable damage to innocents along the way. That, was way too much of a STRETCH for my rational mind — even for the comic book and movie world. When it goes that far, then the story (whether in a comic book, novel or movie) looses all credibility for me and I abandon it as trash. That is another reason why I couldn’t buy into the later Christopher Reeve Superman movies. After the first one, especially the ones with Zod and later with Richard Pryor, no one but the bad guys got hurt whenever battle ensued between Superman and the villains (although Zod and company did kill people before meeting up with our superhero). Simpy too much of a stretch. For instance the scene with the parts of a building coming down and the woman with her baby just stands there and looks up cowering over the carriage. She had plenty of time to move and then miraculously Superman saves the day for her and she calmly looks up and lazily waves with a “thank you” while all along the villains just idly stand by and watch the Man of Steel do his salvation thing. Please – now who is stretching? I could go on and on, however as least in some of the more recent flicks, directors have been kind enough to keep the balance between reality and fantasy. A perfect example is AVP: Requiem. Opening scene has a father and his very young son out on a hunting trip being infested by the alien creature with both their chests exploding with new aliens coming forthwith ala John Hurt. While the movie was less than stellar, at least the director didn’t play footsie with the idea that in these kinds of situations there won’t be collateral damage — because truthfully, there will be.
Nah, I believe to think there isn’t collateral damage is the stretch.
M.Talon says
Eh, it entirely depends on your point of view (to quote Star Wars)
To a kid who hasn’t seen it, people don’t get torn apart in comics or movies. They just get slammed into things, fall over when shot, or “disappear” when something blows up. The only stretch I remember as a kid was the fact that COBRA pilots -always- ejected when their planes blew up. 🙂 It wasn’t until I was much older that reality kicked in and I thought “wow, he should have been blown apart in pulpy pieces by that”.
In any case, the scenes with Cap were probably cut for a variety of reasons including everything mentioned. The movie already clocked in at close to 2 hours, and there probably was a great fear of the movie getting too talky like the first one. any case, while I was disappointed that the cameo was gone I thought the movie was a lot better than the first one.
To sum up, you said “Since the studio is shooting to reach as wide a range of age groups as possible they felt these scenes were far to dark and moody and didn’t really add anything to the overall production value of the film, so they were cut from the theatrical version.” Sounds to me like they told the truth pretty obviously. They dumped the emo stuff and kept the action TO MAKE THE FANS HAPPY, which sells tickets.
SilvaSpoon says
“To a kid who hasn’t seen it, people don’t get torn apart in comics or movies.”
Not true. See below
http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/667/667856/ultimate-wolverine-vs-hulk-20051117010529051.jpg