Nowadays, after each Marvel Studios film runs in the theaters, it subsequently moves to the Disney+ streaming service more often than not. Currently, there are only a few movies that don’t reside on Disney’s streaming home, including Venom, The Spider-Man trilogy, and 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. This is due to both characters’ rights falling under the ownership of Sony Pictures and Universal Pictures.
The ownership issues have plagued the Hulk in particular over the years, resulting in the character only leading one solo movie in the MCU, the franchise’s second full project. Although this may change in the near future, thanks to She-Hulk‘s imminent debut on Disney+, the angry green giant still remains an anomaly amongst his Avengers counterparts.
While The Incredible Hulk is available for purchase through various virtual and physical marketplaces, Edward Norton’s MCU solo movie can only currently be streamed via Spectrum on Demand. That now changes thanks to a new report surrounding this film, although its new home is far from the one that fans may have expected.
Hulk Finds a New Streaming Home
Decider revealed the lengthy list of movies that will be available on stream on HBO and HBO Max starting in April 2022. One movie on that list is 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, the second movie released within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the first being 2008’s Iron Man), which will start streaming at the start of the month on Friday, April 1st.
HBO Max is largely known for being the main home for Warner Bros.’ DC films, including the entire DC Extended universe and dozens of other superhero outings. Although The Incredible Hulk is firmly a part of the Marvel world, this isn’t the first film from the red side of comic book movies that calls this particular streaming service home.
Other past Marvel movies on the platform include all three movies in Wesley Snipes’ Blade trilogy and 2020s The New Mutants from 20th Century Fox. Because these films were never under the Disney umbrella or within the MCU, it’s more plausible to see them on HBO Mac rather than alongside their move recent counterparts on Disney+.
The Incredible Hulk coming to HBO Max is likely due to its place under Universal ownership, even though the MCU can use the character only in team-up movies. This could change in the near future, especially with Universal neighbor Namor coming into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but it will remain the case as long as these characters’ rights remain with Universal.
