Easter Eggs and References in The Incredible Hulk Movie

If you're reading this, then you probably saw The Incredible Hulk and thought that the line, "Hulk Smash!", was a lame and cheesy thing to say before he beats up the Abomination.

* Samuel Sterns receiving gamma ray blood on his temple. In the comic books, one of the Hulk's main nemesis is the Leader, a mental equivalent to the Hulk's brute strength. The Leader's power originated from gamma ray exposure much like the Hulk's. Also, the name of the man who turned into the Leader is Samuel Sterns. ComicBookMovie.com reports that the Leader will be the villain in the sequel.

* The purple pants that Betty Ross gave Banner at the motel room. In the comic books, the Hulk wore purple pants.

* "Hulk smash!" is not a corny line thrown in by the writers. It's the Hulk's signature line in the comic books. Other well-known superhero signature line includes "This is a job for Superman", "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man", "It's clobberin time!", and "Shazzam".

* Dr. Samson, Betty's psychiatrist boyfriend played by Ty Burrell. In the comic books, he is known as Doc Samson, also a psychiatrist who was exposed to a small dose of gamma radiation while working with Dr. Banner. He gained similar powers as the Hulk but at a much lesser level.

* Rick Jones in a list of names during the opening sequence. In the comic books, Rick Jones was the teenager that Dr. Banner saved from a blast of gamma radiation. Banner shielded Rick from the gamma ray bombardment with his own body, kicking off the Hulk saga.

* Hulk out muscling the Abomination. To the uninitiated, it may seem a bit lame that the Hulk was able to comeback from the beating that he received from a much more powerful and better-trained Blonsky as the Abomination. The same goes when the Hulk was clearly beaten down by the soldiers using sonar cannons in an earlier battle.

Where did the Hulk get the burst of strength? Well, in the comic books, the Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier, giving him potentially limitless strength. This particular trait allows the Hulk to match up very well against powerful supernatural beings such as the Norse god Thor and the demi-god Hercules (LeadersLair.com).

In the movie, each time the Hulk was beaten down, he saw Betty Ross in danger (e.g. soldiers carrying her away against her will and flames about to engulf her on the rooftop) and seeing her in danger made him angrier building up the strength to overpower his opponents.

Besides the Hulk universe, there are two more distinct categories of references incorporated by the movie makers. These two categories are references to the 1970 Hulk TV series and other Marvel comic book superheroes such as Iron Man and Captain America that could be used for setting up the Avengers movie.

Seeing these references made The Incredible Hulk fun to watch for loyal fans. And if you missed them, you should watch the movie again.

For a complete list of references, easter eggs, and allusions in The Incredible Hulk movie, see the article at Planet Comic Book Radio, a weekly talkshow and blog on everything comic books.