Ever since Ed Norton was switched out for Mark Ruffalo, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk has held a strangely isolated place in the MCU, making it sometimes easy to forget that it even occupies the same reality as the rest of the saga. Nonetheless, a recent post on Reddit would suggest that Bruce Banner’s last solo outing is a little more connected to the larger franchise that followed than you might have thought, with one fan pointing out the early inclusion of one major character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – or at least the actor who plays him.
Incredible Hulk sees Peter Mensah take on the role of General Joe Gellar, one of the associates of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. You’d be forgiven if this minor part doesn’t ring a bell, but ten years later, Mensah’s significance in the MCU has notably expanded via his role as Qovas in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This villainous figure was leader of Remorath, an alien race of scavengers said to protect Earth from the invasion of Thanos. Ultimately, Qovas’ quest for the Gravitonium possessed by S.H.I.E.L.D. ends up being his undoing when he’s tricked into killing himself with his own missiles.
With the character seemingly out of the picture, there’s a slim chance that this Incredible Hulk connection will ever be brought up in the show, making it more likely than not that these two appearances – separated by a whole decade – are more a case of double-casting. This certainly wouldn’t be the first case of MCU doppelgängers, with Alfre Woodard also assuming roles in Luke Cage and Captain America: Civil War and Martin Starr appearing in The Incredible Hulk long before he was Mr. Harrington in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Still, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans could find much to appreciate in the idea that Qovas had a shadowy presence in the MCU a whole decade before things really got serious with the guy. Feel free to consider this headcanon until otherwise corrected.
