Liv Tyler Returning as Betty Ross in Captain America 4

Movies

Marvel is pulling out all the stops to get people to start seeing its movies again. One of those stops is bringing back The Hulk’s ex-girlfriend. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Liv Tyler will return as Betty Ross in Captain America: New World Order. Betty, the love interest of Bruce Banner and daughter of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, was last seen in The Incredible Hulk all the way back in 2008. She’ll be acting opposite two new actors in those roles, as Edward Norton, who played Banner/The Hulk in the first film, has long been replaced by Mark Ruffalo, and William Hurt recently passed away, with Harrison Ford playing General Ross in future Marvel films. Tyler is not the only long-awaited returning character from The Incredible Hulk to appear in New World Order; Tim Blake Nelson is reprising his role as Samuel Sterns, who, as was teased in The Incredible Hulk, will now be Hulk villain The Leader. New World Order’s current release date is May 3, 2024.

I should be excited about this. I loved Liv Tyler’s version of Betty in The Incredible Hulk. She was kind, loving, supportive, understanding, good-humored – basically everything Marvel will never allow a female character to be again, which is why I anticipate them ruining Betty by making her an unlikable ball-buster. I also half-expect her to be the new Hulk, or at least some kind of superhero; we can’t have damsels getting into rescue-necessitating distress, now, can we? (I’m sure they’ll ignore that one of the best moments in The Incredible Hulk is when Hulk uses a thunderclap to save Betty and her father from being blown up in a downed helicopter.) But what this feels like more than anything else is Marvel trying to make their Phase 5 movies look enticing to an audience that didn’t like their recent output. This film’s Disney+ precursor, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was a boring race lecture that turned patriotic Sam Wilson into an America-hating, terrorist-loving avatar for the writers’ racial rhetoric. Now, they’ve got to sell a movie starring this character that’s being written and directed by the same guy behind the show, so they’re giving people lots of candy to get them in the door. Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross is back! The Hulk (probably) is back! Finally, see Samuel Sterns transform into The Leader! And Harrison Ford is in it, too! They look desperate but not desperate enough to make good movies again.