Brave New World Captain America Connects to Hulk Legacy

Captain America: Brave New World, a film that directly connects to the 2008 Hulk solo film, features Dr. Samuel Sterns as the main antagonist, whose backstory is deeply rooted in The Incredible Hulk, where he was exposed to Bruce Banner's blood, gaining the ability to calculate probabilities but also resulting in a morphed, enlarged head and green skin.

The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, tells the story of an experiment involving gamma radiation that turns him into the Hulk, leading to a cat-and-mouse chase with General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who aims to replicate and weaponize the technology. This storyline is revisited in Captain America: Brave New World, where President Ross, played by Harrison Ford, holds Sterns prisoner, utilizing him to develop weapons, showcasing the connections between the two films.

The connections between The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: Brave New World open up potential future storylines, including the possibility of Betty, played by Liv Tyler, reuniting with a recast Bruce Banner. The film's inclusion of characters from The Incredible Hulk, such as Sterns and Betty, indicates a broader integration of these characters into the larger universe, following the footsteps of Shang-Chi, which brought back the Hulk antagonist The Abomination, and She-Hulk, which referenced the events of The Incredible Hulk.

As the Marvel universe continues to expand, the integration of characters and storylines from earlier films like The Incredible Hulk into new releases such as Captain America: Brave New World not only enriches the narrative but also provides a sense of continuity and depth to the franchise, inviting both old and new fans to explore the intricate web of stories and characters that make up the Marvel cinematic universe.