181: Wolverine Vs The Hulk.
The second part of my three-arc proposal would be a film simply titled 181: Wolverine Vs the Hulk. We would do this because Universal still owns the primary distribution rights of all Hulk solo films. This is a workaround. But also, 181 is a call back to the first full appearance of the Wolverine. We would also include an Easter egg in the film to justify the unusual naming convention. If not for that, I would prefer we call the Incredible Hulk: 181. This treatment borrows heavily from Hulk 180, 181, Ultimate Hulk Vs Wolverine and the cartoon film Hulk Vs Wolverine
The town has been destroyed. There’s not a single house or business intact. There are dead bodies strewn about. The grizzled man with wing-tipped hair and mutton chops kneels next to one of the smashed bodies as his eyes dart back and forth scanning for every last detail. He reports his observations to a nearby military general, James Hudson. James then asks the man, Logan, if there is anything else, he should know. Logan rises to his full height and comments that the scent of the perpetrator is weird, even toxic. James asks if he believes this could be the work of the Hulk. Logan replies there’s no doubt.
They engage in a conversation about how odd this is, considering that Banner and Hulk have become one entity (Professor Hulk), and Banner should have more control than this. Logan is then tasked with bringing down the Hulk, killing him if needed. Logan agrees as he is handed a file labeled, “Project 181.” James Hudson then advises Logan that he is now in the employ of Department H, and as such, has to comply with the Sokolov Accords, which, according to Canadian Law, requires him to wear a costume easily identifiable as a super-hero to reassure the public. Logan grumbles about this but is given a case containing the blue and yellow variant (but it should be the Astonishing X-Men variant, which would probably translate better to film.) As a call back to the original X-Men film, Logan makes a smart remark about yellow. He then observes that “at least it doesn’t have whiskers.” (An inside joke and reference to his original suit from Hulk 181.)
Logan is asked by James if there is anything other equipment he needs. Logan replies by popping the claws of his right hand and holding them up. “Nope, I got all I need right here.”
Logan immediately heads into the woods, following Hulk’s trail. After a sequence of Logan tracking, he finds the Hulk, injured, with wounds that resemble an animal attack. They are healing, but Logan is surprised to see Hulk in this condition. Still, he states that Hulk is wanted for the massacre of Appalachia. He then encourages Hulk to come willingly without a fight, but then pops his claws and says he hopes he doesn’t choose that option. Hulk insists he didn’t do anything, but Logan points back in the direction of the leveled town. Hulk is frustrated by the accusations and charges Logan, which is exactly what the Wolverine wanted. They fight. The fight is brutal, and during the fight, they discover that Adamantium hurts Hulk, and he can’t just shrug off the damage.
Feeling like he has the upper hand, Logan tries to increase his ferocity, allowing himself to go, full
The three fight. Logan finds his claws are more effective against the Wendigo, so he shifts his focus to the creature and forces the Wendigo off a cliff. Logan goes with him, leaving Hulk behind. Hulk decides to leap down after them and pounces Wendigo. He shifts a smiling glance towards Logan indicating a desire to work together. “Pointy Man Help Hulk!” He says, “Beat Wendigo!”
Logan pauses, “Wendigo’s a myth!” He shouts as the Wendigo shouts its own name and smashes Logan into a nearby tree.
Borrowing actual dialogue from the comic again, (because its fun), Hulk shouts, “Wendigo is strong… but Hulk and Hulk’s friend are stronger!”
Logan is confused as to why he’s suddenly being treated as a friend, but decides to roll with it, and joins Hulk in the fray against the Wendigo. He leaps onto Wendigo’s back, hacking and slashing at him a fair bit, before leaping off, allowing Hulk to grab Wendigo and toss him into two massive trees. Both of which break and come crashing down. Logan leaps onto Wendigo running his claws through its neck as he lands.
“Dead?” Hulk asks, pointing to the Wendigo’s body.
Wolverine sheathes his claws, then shakes his head. “Well, if this really is the Wendigo, then no. Legend has it he’s immortal. He’ll just regenerate.” Logan then turns to the Hulk. He has realized there’s more to the story of the massacre and doesn’t want to hurt an innocent man. Instead, he tries to reason with him… a bit. “Look, I can vouch for you, but I have to bring you in…”
“Nooooo!” Hulk shouts and pounds his fists causing a small tremor.
“Fine!” Wolverine pops his claws, “Then it’s your turn!”
The two fight on with both feeling betrayed. However, this fight doesn’t end well for Logan. At some point in the fight, Hulk manages to get ahold of the small and feisty fight and lifts him over his head, and in a PG-13 way, tears him in half, tossing his top half to the ground, and his lower half up a mountain. Logan blacks out completely at that point.
 |
| Obviously, it can't look like this... PG-13 and all |
The scene shifts to an ethereal world where Logan is standing in a bamboo forest without a shirt. He is approached by a panda who is snacking on a bamboo shaft. The panda greets him. Logan is shocked but responds with pleasantries of his own. Logan asks if he is dreaming, and the panda responds that just because it’s a dream doesn’t mean it isn’t happening (UWvH #5). Logan asks who the panda is, and the Panda is upset that he wasn’t recognized, insisting that he’s Logan’s spirit animal. Logan dismisses it insisting his spirit animal is the Wolverine. The Panda mocks him because Wolverines aren’t willing to be spirit animals in the first place. Wolverine then asks if the Panda is his heart of Gold side, which the panda finds offensive and warns that if Logan doesn’t stop, he’ll get angry… “and you won’t like me when I’m angry.” (A reference to the classic Banner line, as well as direct dialogue from UWvH # 5) Wolverine then responds that he doesn’t like the bear now, and then calls him cuddly. This angers the Panda who comes charging right for him. Logan pops his claws and charges right for the panda who gets Logan’s head in his mouth and bites, causing Logan to wake up.
Wolverine finds himself in a pool of his own blood. “Blood?” He asks. “What happened?” He manages to twist so he is lying on his back. “Me legs?” He asks. “Why can’t I feel…?” He looks down. Again, this is PG-13 so we won’t show it. “I can’t feel my legs!” He exclaims. “I can’t feel my legs!” He starts to hyperventilate. He then pops his claws on his right hand, looks at the metal and says, “unbreakable my…” He then hears a distant roar. He sniffs the air, then shifts his gaze up a nearby mountain. “He threw my legs up the mountain?!” He hears the roar again, but its further away. He then pops his claws on his other hand and starts to pull himself towards, and then up the mountain. Again, we have to be careful here, this should all be done PG-13. “I can’t believe he… up a friggin’ mountain?”
It starts to snow, and it starts to grow dark, but Wolverine makes it to his legs. As he’s reaching for them a boot stomps down in front of him. He looks up, and its Nick Fury, and General Ross. “I was under the impression you were unbreakable, Mr. Howlett…”
Logan looks up, but his vision is fading. “Fury…” he says, as the screen fades to black.
Logan awakens in a medical bay of a shield carrier. Nick Fury is there waiting for him to wake up, alongside General Ross. They explain that Logan has to hurry, and can’t afford to fail again because Canada is readying a nuclear missile that they will launch against the Hulk if he isn’t stopped. Logan tries to defend the Hulk, urging them to try and get the Canadian government to reconsider since Logan can now attest that it is the Wendigo that is at fault. The promise to pass this along but stress the urgency in Wolverine succeeding. Logan then stresses he needs to learn about the Wendigo because the key to stopping Hulk is in stopping the Wendigo. He is granted access to the Shield computers. Though he’s not much for computers and has to be instructed in their use. After a time he discovers information about the Wendigo which reveals that it is a curse that is brought to bear by a ritual. He then announces his findings to Fury, and states his intention to find the people responsible for the ritual, and force them to undo it. Fury agrees and promises to make a phone call to Department H.
Logan then gets to do a skydive out of the Helicarrier and lands in Appalachia. After searching for clues, he finds a small stone hut that has managed to not be affected by the Hulk’s battle with the Wendigo. He enters, and finds two teenagers, huddled in the corner, scared out of their minds. He allows his inner panda to come out, showing compassion, offering them each a ration he had on hand, and assuring them he’s there to help. The girl, Marie Cartier, volunteers that the whole mess is their fault. They had stumbled upon the legend of the Wendigo on the Internet. There was an Internet Challenge, but no one had been successful. She had done some research into the Dark Arts and learned that something was missing from the challenges instructions. To summon the Wendigo, the one that was to be the demon’s host would need to eat human flesh. She confesses that they had lured a homeless man to this hovel, killed him, and her brother Paul, ate from his flesh while they filmed the whole thing with the intent to put it on YouTube.
Logan is noticeably disturbed by the whole thing. He turns to the boy, Georges Baptiste, for confirmation. Georges insists he did everything he could to talk the Cartiers out of this. That the whole challenge was meant to be a joke. Logan then asks how they can defeat the Wendigo. She then states that defeating the Wendigo is not her intention. Logan then hears something down the nearby stairs. He gets up to investigate and finds the Wendigo chained to a stone bed. Before he can finish asking what the hell, Marie reaches around his head from behind and exposes him to a powder which renders him unconscious.
The scene shifts to Marie stepping outside into the rising sun. She tells Georges they need to hurry and find the Hulk. She has a unique staff with her, as well as a bag of supplies. Georges complains that this is going too far, that Paul wouldn’t want to be freed this way. But to Marie, it doesn’t matter. She hears the Hulk roaring in the distance and follows after him. Eventually, she catches up to him. When she finds the Hulk, she finds him shifting between three forms, Banner, Hulk, Professor Hulk. Banner is trying to re-assure Hulk that he didn’t know those kids were going to try and hurt him and that they have to continue to work together to defeat the Wendigo. Hulk sees the kids, and there is a flashback which explains details left out of the story that Marie told Logan.
In her original attempt at the ritual, Marie, Paul and Georges lured Professor Hulk to their Hovel. They fed him, then tried to lull him to sleep. However, Hulk woke up during the ritual and escaped. Desperate not to be discredited on YouTube, Paul consumed the human meat they intended to force feed the sleeping Professor Hulk, and insists the ritual be completed. They complete the ritual and a demon takes Paul, turning him into the Wendigo right before their iPhones. At first, the remaining kids are excited, they completed the challenge. But then Wendigo rages and chases after Hulk where it forces Hulk into a battle. That battle destroys the whole town, people are killed trying to get away. Hulk is trying to protect people, but essentially to no avail because Wendigo just doesn’t care.
Hulk comes out of the flashback and confronts Marie about lying to him and trying to hurt him. Banner insists they work together but Hulk complains the Professor Hulk form is just not strong enough. They wrestle for control, and Marie takes advantage of this to slam her staff into the ground in a way that catches the fresh morning sun’s rays, and hits Hulk/Banner/Professor Hulk with a spell which not only puts him out but nullifies the Hulk form, returning Banner to his human form.
Despite Georges’ protests, Marie binds Banner and insists they drag him back to the hovel so they can complete the ritual the way it was meant to happen, and free her brother in the process. They drag Banner back to the Hovel, bind him to the stone bed and begin the ritual. Sadly, for them, Banner is out, leaving no one to hold the Hulk back. He shifts into full Hulk and knocks the kids aside. He roars at them but then bounces off into the distance. Marie realizes what’s happened and insists she has to go after Hulk to stop him from rampaging. Georges refuses to go with her, instead, he retreats to the Hovel.
The scene shifts back to the Hovel, Logan has come to and demands to know what’s going on. Georges looks at the unconscious Wendigo, then explains that Marie is out of control because she is trying to save her brother from this curse. He then fills Logan in on the details he was missing, but then assures him that he won’t let the Hulk be turned into the Wendigo, he doesn’t want that kind of power to fuse with that kind of monstrous evil. The Wendigo is a cannibalistic animal demon that cannot truly be stopped. If he were to gain the power of the Hulk, it could mean the end of the world. He then urges Logan not to worry he has a different plan. Logan asks for details, but Georges asks if Logan heals fast. Logan asks why, and Georges pops out a switchblade.
The scene shifts to Marie trying to find the Hulk. She finds him and starts to prepare another sleep powder while he gets ready to charge her, but then they both hear the Wendigo roar. Realizing Georges was headed back to the Hovel, she runs towards the Hovel instead, while being pursued by the Hulk. She reaches the Hovel, seeing Logan first, blood under his leg. He complains that people keep going after his legs, but they appear fine, as they have healed. Hulk steps in and laughs that Wolverine is chained up, but then notices that Marie’s gaze is locked on Georges who is transforming into the Wendigo as Paul is returning to normal.
Wolverine tries to goad Hulk into freeing him before the transformation is complete, but Hulk just mocks him again. The transformation finishes, but Wendigo, rather than fighting, bursts through the nearest wall to flee.
Marie, meanwhile, rushes to her brother who is waking up asking what happened. Marie then tells him that Georges sacrificed himself to save him. Logan cries foul because it was actually his leg that was sacrificed. He tries again to goad Hulk into freeing him, and Hulk once more mocks him. Marie then confesses that the chains are cursed to inhibit strength. That the chains were meant for Banner. Hulk then begrudgingly agrees to free Logan… by throwing him against the ground so hard the chains shatter.
Logan Gets up, pops his claws and takes an aggressive stance towards the Hulk. Hulk says, “friends?” Logan replies he’s owed an apology for tearing him in half. Hulk offers a snarky, “sorry,” to which Logan offers that this was good enough, and they both go charging after the Wendigo.
They battle the Wendigo together, and this time overcome him with ease. Hulk relinquishes part control to Banner and they merge again to become Professor Hulk. Marie volunteers bindings she just cursed to inhibit the Wendigo’s strength. She is distraught that, while she got her brother back, it cost her her dearest friend. She then volunteers to surrender to the Authorities. And speaking of the devil… Nick Fury, General Ross, and James Hudson arrive in military escort vehicles. All guns locked on the protagonists and antagonist. Hulk and Wolverine both put their hands up. Marie next.
Fury compliments Wolverine on a job well done and then encourages Professor Hulk to go along with them because if he does not, the Canadian government will be firing a nuke at him in mere moments. Professor Hulk agrees to go. Ross insists, not like that. Banner convinces Hulk to stand down, and a collar is placed around his neck that would choke him out if he changes and he is cuffed. Fury assures him that they will get everything cleared up and he’ll be free in no time. Banner asks how he knew they were there, and Fury replies that he’s Nick Fury. He knows everything.
As Hulk is escorted away and the Wendigo is being put in chains, and that binding at Marie’s insistence. Logan calls out to Banner, “Hey Banner!” Banner turns towards him. “When you get out, let’s talk about round two.” Logan smiles and punches his own hand.
Banner’s eyes turn emerald and he gives Logan a wry grin, before turning away and entering the vehicle.
FTB
A post credit scene
Logan is yelling at James Hudson over his being transferred to the States and relieved of Duty from Department H. He wants to know why. It is explained that the United States Government has requested Logan’s help with tracking down the Mutant Rogue, who put Carol Danvers into a vegetative state. Logan admits he wants revenge, because he did a mission with Carol, and enjoyed her company. Almost considered her a friend… almost. But then the room freezes, and Logan turns to find the source of the odd occurrence. There he sees a thin bald man in a wheelchair surrounded by six young men and women in colorful outfits (this, of course, would be the original five plus Storm.).
The man in the chair smiles and introduces himself. “Greetings, Logan. I’m Charles Xavior….”
Cut to black.
No comments:
Post a Comment