….
INT. FACTORY SAFE HOUSE - BACK ROOM - DAY
Bruce's eyes flash GREEN.
His pupils dilate, the color spreading across his entire iris like ink in water.
The soldier's expression changes from professional aggression to primal fear.
SOLDIER (into radio):
Contact! Subject is-
He doesn't finish.
Bruce's body begins to CHANGE.
It wasn't a typical hero transformation, instead it was fast, violent, and wrong.
His spine arches backward with a sound like breaking wood. Muscle mass expands so rapidly his shirt tears apart. Skin shifts from normal flesh tone to deep green, the transformation spreading outward from his core.
Height increasing - six feet to seven to eight to nine–
The soldier fires his weapon.
Three shots.
The bullets HIT - Bruce's transforming body jerks from the impact–
But they don't penetrate.
The wounds are already closing, green skin knitting back together faster than the damage can register.
The Hulk's hand shoots out - impossibly fast for something that size - and GRABS the soldier by his tactical vest.
LIFTS him off the ground.
THROWS him through the wall.
The soldier crashes through plaster and wood, tumbling into the adjacent room, unconscious before he hits the ground.
More soldiers pour through the door.
The Hulk ROARS - a sound that doesn't belong to anything human, something between rage and anguish and pure primal fury–
And then he MOVES.
….
EXT. FAVELA STREETS - DAY.
The Hulk crashes through the side of the building, debris exploding outward.
He lands in the street, cracking pavement under his weight.
For a moment he just stands there, breathing hard, looking at his own hands like he doesn't recognize them.
Then soldiers open fire from multiple positions.
Gunfire, dozens of weapons and bullets sparking off his skin, tearing through the air around him.
The Hulk's expression shifts from confusion to RAGE.
He picks up a car - an entire car, easily two tons - and THROWS it at the nearest military position.
The vehicle tumbles through the air, crashes into a building, soldiers scattering.
The Hulk RUNS - each step covering fifteen feet, massive legs propelling him forward with terrifying speed–
He LEAPS - clearing an entire building, thirty feet vertical, landing on a rooftop that partially collapses under the impact–
JUMPS again–
Each leap took him further from the soldiers, deeper into the favela, moving with desperate animal instinct away from the threat.
Behind him: destruction.
Collapsed buildings, burning vehicles, injured soldiers calling for backup.
The military had been hunting Bruce Banner for five years.
They had finally found him.
And now they understood why he had been running.
….
John set the script down, hands actually shaking.
His heart was pounding like he had just run a marathon. Goosebumps covered his arms despite the temperature-controlled office.
That transformation sequence-
He had read action scenes before, lots of them.
Scripts that described fights and chases and explosions with varying degrees of competence.
It felt like watching something happen, like being present for violence that was simultaneously horrifying and impossible to look away from.
The way Regal had written it - the specific details of Bruce's body changing, the sound design implied in the description, the soldier's perspective shifting from professional to terrified, the Hulk's own confusion before the rage took over–
John could see it, the entire sequence fully formed in his mind, exactly how it would look on screen.
The transformation wouldn't be a spectacle. It would be a pure adrenaline rush. Something that happened to Bruce against his will.
And when the Hulk finally moved - throwing cars, leaping buildings, each action described with just enough detail to convey the impossible physics of it–
John felt a weird satisfaction just reading the words on the page.
This was going to look incredible on screen.
Incredible like the title suggested - beyond belief, impossible to fully comprehend, something that demanded to be seen in IMAX with a sound that rattled your chest.
He picked up the script again, flipping forward, scanning subsequent pages rapidly.
The military pursuit. Betty Ross searches for Bruce independently, driven by guilt and love. Samuel Sterns trying to help develop a cure. Emil Blonsky enhanced with super-soldier serum, becoming addicted to the power it gave him.
The script built methodically toward the final confrontation–
Blonsky transforms into Abomination, Bruce having to choose between staying hidden or letting the Hulk out one more time to stop a monster he'd inadvertently helped create.
John read the climax, the battle between Hulk and Abomination, and felt his pulse spike again.
Two creatures, each weighing several tons, tearing through an urban campus like it was made of cardboard.
The property damage was described in clinical detail - buildings collapsed, vehicles crushed, pavement cracked and broken - while Bruce fought for control from inside the Hulk's consciousness.
Not trying to suppress the rage anymore.
Trying to direct it.
The script ended with Bruce accepting that he had never been normal again, negotiating an uneasy alliance with General Ross, choosing to learn to coexist with the Hulk rather than keep running from it.
John closed the script and looked up at Regal, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, just watching him read.
"Well?" Regal asked.
John opened his mouth to speak, then stopped.
What was he supposed to say?
That this was the best script he had ever read? That the action sequences alone would be worth the price of admission? That the character work was deeper than most dramas pretending to be important?
All of that was true, but it felt inadequate.
"I won't do this film." he said suddenly.
Regal raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"Not if 'Incredible' isn't part of the title."
The words came out without thinking, pure instinct, and for a second John worried he had just blown the entire opportunity with a stupid joke.
Then Regal laughed - a genuine, surprised sound.
"Don't worry there is no Hulk without Incredible." Regal said, like he was testing how it sounded.
"So is that a yes?"
Regal stood and extended his hand across the desk. "Pre-production starts in three weeks. Casting begins in May. I want your initial vision board and shot list in two weeks."
John stood and shook his hand, grip firm. "You will have it in one week."
He turned to leave, script in hand, then paused at the door.
"Thank you." he managed finally.
"Let's see if you could say the same thing after production starts when you're exhausted and second-guessing every decision and wondering if this was the worst mistake of your career."
"I will thank you then too."
Regal smiled slightly. "Goodluck."
….
Outside the conference room, John Tunnard sat in his car, the script resting on his passenger seat.
He stared at it.
Then he picked up his phone and called his wife.
"Hey!" he said when she answered. "I got the job."
Her squeal of excitement made him pull the phone away from his ear.
"Congratulations…"
He listened to her rapid-fire questions, smiling to himself.
"I can't explain everything right now." he said, glancing back at the script. "But I think I finally did it… all the hard work… And more than that…. the script is…."
"Incredible."
He glanced at the script again. Right, incredible nothing less than that.
"I think this might be the most important thing I will ever work on."
More excited talking from his wife.
"I love you too. I will be home in an hour. We will celebrate."
He hung up.
Started the car.
And drove home with the script beside him, already thinking about camera angles, casting choices, how to translate Bruce Banner's internal struggle into something visual.
How to make a monster sympathetic.
How to make rage tragic.
How to tell a story about a man learning to live with his demons instead of running from them.
It was going to be hard, exhausting, a challenge of his career.
He couldn't wait to start.
….
Back to Regal.
By the time John stepped out, Regal was already on the line with Darren.
"So, did you manage to contact his agent?"
["…Apparently, he doesn't have one."]
"Could have guessed that actually."
["But yeah. He is willing to fly to the U.S. for the audition."]
"Cool. Arrange his flights, and send him the copy of the script."
["Got it."]
"Yah, see you. Good work."
Regal ended the call.
They had been talking about the actor he intended to cast as Hulk.
The name he had landed on was–
Karl-Heinz Urban.
Yep, the same New Zealand actor who, in Regal's previous world, would later go on to play Billy Butcher in one of the most successful modern television series–
[The Boys]
Here, though, Karl-Heinz was still at the very beginning - small indie films, a few television appearances, and is yet to make his debut in Hollywood.
From the moment Regal had come across him, he'd known he wanted to work with him. And now, with a role as raw and imposing as Hulk on the table, there was no reason not to make the offer.
None at all…
But, yeah, he also had one thought running in his mind–
Was this world ready for a show like-
[The Boys]?
Alas, he had to see it for himself, and he doubts it is gonna be anytime soon.
For now, he was simply looking forward to seeing Karl-Heinz Urban step into the role of Hulk.
….
.
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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