Wednesday arrives again- and with it, another installment of " Into the MCU ".  This week, we bulk up and get incredible with 2008's " The Incredible Hulk "... Mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner is part of a "super soldier" project to grant soldiers immunity to gamma radiation. But something goes wrong... and Bruce Banner is thrust into a world of anger management issues, super heroics... and trying to find pants that'll survive "leg day"... I will start off by saying that 2008's " The Incredible Hulk " is certainly better than " The Hulk " that came out in 2003. The story is  much more focused and smoother, and offers the audience more emotional depth and intensity.  It has a pretty good balance between action, drama and humor that moves along at a pretty solid speed.  I wasn't left bored by it, and found it to be quite cohesive and tightly written- with very few loose threads. The characters- o...

Word has reached The Basement that Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee has died. He was 95. Lee passed away in the early hours of this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

A few weeks back we reported that Edward Norton will not play Bruce Banner , the Hulk's alter ego, in the upcoming Avengers movie. Now we've heard Norton has been replaced with Mark Ruffalo, probably one of the best working actors in the business. I lament the passing of Norton, but one could do far worse than Ruffalo. While not an "action guy," he does have the acting chops to pull of any role. It's going to be hard for him to fail as Banner, and my faith in the character being in The Avengers has been restored. Granted, a lot of his scenes will be filled by a screaming, massive, green version of himself, but surely Banner will play a pivotal part in the film during some of the less intense moments. Ruffalo was last seen in Shutter Island and The Kids Are All Right, which we in The Basement have yet to watch.