The Incredible Hulkcould have subtly laid the foundation for introducingWolverineinto the Marvel Cinematic Universe . The Disney / Fox acquisition is reaching its final stage now , withDisney currently carry to have finish the leverage by June . When it ’s lastly done , the X - man and the Fantastic Four will be handed over to Marvel Studios .   The Fantastic Four are n’t too difficult to add to the MCU as it currently exists , but the cristal - Men enfranchisement involves a lot of complicated construct and ideas which will radically reshape the share universe . Naturally , there ’s a lot of fervour about how this will be acheived , not least with the most popular mutant of all : Wolverine .

Created by Roy Thomas , Len Wein , and John Romita , Sr . , Wolverine was first put in as a Hulk enemy inThe Incredible Hulk#180 . Although it did n’t take long for the Canucklehead to make his way over into the X - Men funnies - concluded with a minor alteration in masque design - Wolverine and the Hulk have had an antagonistic kinship ever since . The chip between the two are legendary , with Wolverine ’s raw legerity allowing him to dodge the Hulk ’s punches , his healing factor repairing the damage from any blow he ’s unable to avoid , and his adamantium claw even managing to thrust the Hulk ’s skin .

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x-men’s cyclops with spider-man and captain marvel-1

Given the firm connections between the Hulk and Wolverine , it ’s quite   fitting that 2008’sThe Incredible Hulkis the Marvel motion picture that subtly create the opportunity for Marvel to introduce a comic - book - exact version of Wolverine .

The Incredible Hulk Establishes A History of Super Soldier Programs

The Incredible Hulkintroduced viewing audience to General Thaddeus " Thunderbolt " Ross , the latest in a long line of US military leader who ’d been interested in revive the   Super Soldier program from World War II that transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America .   AsCaptain America : The First Avengerrevealed , Dr. Abraham Erskine , the only gentleman’s gentleman who know the summons , was killed by a Hydra assassin and the secrets of " Bio - Tech Force Enhancement . " were lost .

Ross had been lancinating to return to the idea , attempting to create more Super Soldiers with Bruce Banner ’s research into radiation resistance . push by Ross , and influence to try himself , Banner injected himself with a Gamma - free-base serum he had devise - and unknowingly transformed himself , becoming the Hulk . The novelization ofThe Incredible Hulkfleshes this out still further , suggest that there had been other super - soldier programs . In one primal scene , Ross debrief General Greller on the Hulk ’s descent .

" " Banner ’s work was a tan of Bio - technical school , " say Ross after a instant ’s waver .

Comic book art: 1990s X-Men, with Cyclops front and center, surrounded by characters including Storm, Gambit, and more.

Greller did n’t make the connection at first . Then , when he started to , he could n’t quite believe what Ross was aver . " You told me you were going to Brazil to nab a scientist . Are you separate me another one of your Super Soldier experimentation fit haywire ? " When Ross nodded , Greller leaned back in his chair , amazed . " And you did n’t think it was important enough to give me a heads - up ? " "

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The open implication is that Ross created other Super Soldiers , enhanced being who went on some sort of rampage . That fit with the picture show itself , where Ross subjected Emil Blonsky to a   Super Soldier serum that he ’d managed to save from one of his projects , giving him resistance to the Hulk ’s attack and abnormally high sum - rate . The novelization adds a little detail to Ross ' thoughts at this point ; " If Blonsky ’s body began to show the other properties associated with that machinelike heartbeat , then Ross knew that Blonsky would do far more than take the air again . Far more . " It seems Ross was really conversant with run subjects who displayed a superhuman healing factor .

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Page 2 of 2:How Weapon X And Wolverine Can Fit Into The MCU

The Weapon X Project Was A Super-Soldier Program In The Comics

As any 10 - Men sports fan will know , Wolverine himself was the subject of a top - orphic   Super Soldier programme ; that ’s why his consistency was fortify with adamantium . What most chance viewers wo n’t realize , though , is that the comics have connectedthe notorious Weapon X Programwith the ace - soldier experiment . In the 2000s , writer Grant Morrison revealed that the " X " in " Weapon X " was n’t about Xavier or his X - Men , but the papistic numeric for ten . The various programs were :

Project Rebirth is already an established part of the MCU , andThe Incredible Hulkclearly suggests that   Super Soldier experiment continued up until the mid-2000s . They could easy have included the Weapon X Project , with the US capturing the sport named Logan and bonding his underframe and claws with adamantium .

In the comics , the Weapon X Project terminate in catastrophe when Logan break out and slaughtered most of the scientists who had experiment upon him ; reduced to   animalistic savagery , Logan disappeared into the wild . This would match reasonably well with General Greller ’s gossip in the novelization that previous trial subjects had gone " haywire , " and it ’s even possible Ross first observed a healing factor when he saw Logan regain from injury at an accelerated pace . The mysterious cocktail Ross injected into Blonsky ’s bloodstream could even have potentially curb genetic modifiers based on Logan ’s X - factor .

Hulk and Wolverine in the MCU

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Naturally , this hypothesis would be a retcon to MCU persistence ; there ’s no style Marvel ever expected to get the film rights to the XTC - Men back when they were producingThe Incredible Hulk . But it ’s one that jibe surprisingly well - and could offer some good opportunities going into Phase 4 .

What Could This Mean For The Introduction Of Mutants In The MCU?

This connection between Wolverine andThe Incredible Hulkonly works   if mutant like Wolverine have always been a part of the MCU ; he ’d have to have been experimented on before 2010 ( whenThe Incredible Hulkis meant to take plaza ) ?   So why have n’t they ever been view before ?

Ironically , the 10 - Men comic may provide a solution for that .   In photographic print , have been a handful of mutants who appeared from ancient clip through to the Victorian earned run average , include the likes of Selene , Apocalypseand , of course , Wolverine himself . They were basically evolutionary herald , anomalousness whose X - gene had triggered and granted them superhuman powers . But they were few and far between , and either went unremarked on by history   or became creatures of myth and legend . It ’s only in the modern epoch that humanity reached an evolutionary " tipping point " in which X - gene were triggereden masse . Stan Lee ideate that tipping point to have been reached due to high background knowledge story of radiation in the Earth ’s atmosphere as a event of atomic weapons testing .

Perhaps the same could be rightful in the MCU as well ; there have always been mutants , they ’ve just been rare , with some form of trigger require to spark ten - factor across the globe . That approach shot would allow graphic symbol like Logan , Magneto , and Professor Xavier to exist in the MCU , and to be know in the function of their power ; when mutants are activated across the planet , Professor Xavier and Magneto would naturally become champions of their conflicting causes . Meanwhile , thisThe Incredible Hulkconnection   would also mean that Marvel ’s Wolverine could have already undergone the Weapon X Project years ago .

Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk

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Wolverine Weapon X

X-Men: The Animated Series including Jubilee, Rogue, Beast, Xavier and Wolverine.

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