The French poodle Lily is David's favorite of the three dogs. She's the first one introduced in the film, the only dog David trusts enough to let her roam alone. She is always directly beside him whenever with Sammy and Smokey—the pitbull and mastiff, respectively.
The Hulk frequently charges through walls and trips clumsily during his first time out but gets the hang of things later. Since he gets larger with his rage, ILM made three different-sized Hulk models that Ang Lee compared to the three human development stages: infant, adolescent, and adult. The inexperienced newborn Hulk, unaccustomed to his size and strength, first appears in the lab; the dog fight features the adolescent Hulk coming into his abilities through his first real battle; the rest of the film has the adult Hulk in total control of his power. Breaking the Hulk down into these phases somewhat gives him stealth Character Development, as does the Hulk talking near the end of the film after spending most of it silent.
The idea of Hulk's varying size may also have come from his inconsistent height throughout the comic books, depending on the artist or writer.
David referring to the hounds as "dogs" instead of unique names is enough to see that they're just tools to him, and he is indifferent about what he does to them.
Maybe Hulk's intense emotional reaction to Betty is because of her passing resemblance to his mother, Edith, despite barely remembering her, which the Peter David novelization confirms. Besides being the woman Bruce loves, Betty also strongly resembles the only person he always had loving interactions with during childhood. It could also explain why the Hulk fiercely protects Betty from the dogs. Since David killed Edith—albeit accidentally—and the monstrous canines attack Betty on David's behalf, Hulk feels he's unconsciously getting a second chance to save his mother from David by rescuing Betty.
The novelization notes that David mutating the already-disciplined mutts makes them more intelligent. It also makes them capable of some human-level cunning. In the movie, they gang up on the Hulk to overpower and try outwitting him by ambushing him, but they barely interact with Betty. On the other hand, an early screenplay and the novels have all three Hulk-dogs being more competent foes and threatening Betty multiple times, sometimes together. They circle Betty in her car and approach her whenever the Hulk disappears, work out his tactics and adapt, team up against him, react to Betty's screams, and block Hulk's path when he tries to respond to her cries.
In the Official Illustrated Screenplay, animation director Colin Brady and concept art describe Lily as the fidgety, hyperactive leader; Sammy is constantly biting like a lion, and Smokey is the thick bear-like wrestler. These descriptions go a long way to explain the canines' actions during the dog fight. David commands them to get Betty and let nothing stand in their way, but only Lily goes for her. Lily is in charge, while Sammy and Smokey are the muscle, so the assault doesn't begin until Lily gives the signal and the other two do most of the heavy lifting. Lily is also the sharpest of the three, likely clever enough to remember David's order, recognize the Hulk as an obstacle between them and their target, and tell Smokey and Sammy to distract or kill him first so Betty would be helpless. Maybe Lily only attacks the Hulk when he becomes too meddlesome or to get a piece of him herself. Lily's the only dog slick enough to deal a humiliating low blow to the Hulk that could've incapacitated him and, in an early script, the only one to injure Betty. Her intelligence might also be the film's way of showing how some animals—hyenas, elephants, etc.—have dominant females that are wiser and more vicious than the males.
Ang Lee originally proposed having the Hulk nude during the dog fight; early storyboards show the Hulk naked during the sequence. Since the Hulk is at his most primal here, why not make him bare like our prehistoric ancestors?
The movie's tie-in books and early screenplay state that it starts raining after the dog fight, thus washing away the blood, gore, and dogs' dissolved corpses. So, aside from some fallen trees—though trees sometimes fall themselves—and Betty's damaged car, almost no evidence of a battle remains, making it difficult for Betty and Bruce to explain to others what happened, let alone have anyone believe them.
When David tells Betty his backstory, he seems ashamed of his actions during Bruce's childhood, but it's still unclear whether it's genuine remorse, as his later actions suggest otherwise. According to the novelization, he's not sorry for anything. David smirks after Betty leaves to make a call, revealing his "admission of guilt" is a ploy to make Betty trust him and bring him closer to his ultimate objective: getting the Hulk's power for himself.
How does the movie handle the age-old question of how the Hulk's shorts stay on? The crew rationalizes that the Hulk wears stretchy pants during his first and second appearances. As for the other times when he's 15 ft. tall—going by in-movie logic—one can surmise the Hulk's shorts are stretchable, military-grade fabric during the film's last third. The costume designers made them from cloth capable of stretching like jersey material, which would rip a little as the Hulk grows but not come apart entirely.
Bruce steaming and sweating from every pore while returning to normal is like someone losing some poundage; i.e., he's shedding the extra weight from being the Hulk.
The Hulk briefly shrinks in sync with Betty's eye-line as she slowly descends the steps toward him in San Francisco; in a way, he's sinking to Betty's level.
David becoming the Absorbing Man makes sense when you consider how his character is about enhancing himself by being invasive and taking things from others. Throughout the film, he invades other people's (mainly Bruce and Betty) personal space to get into their heads and take whatever he wants from them, like DNA samples, Betty's scarf, and scientific equipment, to further his plans and make himself more powerful. The gamma radiation brings out latent characteristics in Bruce and David, making them more of what they are already—especially in David's case. David is a naturally toxic person; gaining the power to enhance himself by stealing from others is par for the course.
Betty locates David by presumably getting his address from someone on the lab's staff in the film; however, how she finds him in the novelization gives off some creepy stalker vibes and shows David's intellect, making him a more dangerous threat. While driving after reluctantly leaving Bruce at his house, Betty gets a call from someone she correctly guesses as David telling her to pull over. After she does, Betty looks around nervously before asking David if he's watching her, to which David answers no; he reveals he got Betty's cellphone number through caller ID since she called the lab the previous night. Then, he correctly sums up what Betty was about to do to try and find him, putting her more on edge. David decides to save Betty the trouble and has her jot down his address.
After Betty leaves her cabin to investigate the loud rustling she hears outside, one can faintly hear what sounds like low growling if one listens closely. Betty finding the Hulk reveals the sound of his breathing. When the dogs arrive later, their first sound is slightly similar. It's a small detail that many wouldn't notice, but it and the musical score subtly help build tension on whether the dogs or the Hulk found Betty first—thankfully, it's the latter.
Betty being at her cabin instead of her house during the dog fight is a blessing in disguise; despite being isolated and initially defenseless, she unknowingly saves many people's lives. After talking to David, Betty returns home in a deleted scene, but her father's MPs being there makes her go to the cabin. If they weren't there and Betty could've stayed home—unless the Hulk found Betty first and took her elsewhere to protect her—David's monster hounds would've tracked her there, endangering her and the neighborhood. The neighbors and bystanders would've become more innocent blood on David's hands, and he'd likely pass the buck to Betty for prying and forcing his hand or General Ross and the army for imprisoning him.
At the same time, who's to say the Hulk-dogs don't do some damage while hunting Betty? For all we know, they might've damaged property or hurt some people on the way to the cabin. As the Hulk does by leaping around, the dogs could've left a trail of destruction in their wake.
Tie-in novels, an early script, concept art, and storyboards show the scene was initially longer and more violent. They have the Hulk killing the mutated hounds in more savage ways: jumping and landing on Sammy's back, forcing his body into the ground; using a tree to smash Lily's head flat against/through Betty's windshield; and crushing Smokey's head into a bloody pulp with one hand. One of them even gravely wounds Hulk, lunging at his neck and mutilating the skin at its base, making green blood ooze out.
According to ILM, the film versions of the Hulk-dogs are roughly the size of large horses, but some concept art has them bigger. Suppose they were bigger with their increased intelligence, as mentioned earlier. In that case, the Hulk might've had more difficulty protecting Betty and a more formidable battle if the monstrous hounds were near his size and smarter.
Looking closely at Lily just before the Hulk flings her carcass away, her body vaporizes and seems to melt slightly, but why is unknown. They are seemingly details from the books and early screenplay since they describe the dogs as steaming and dissolving into puddles after death. It could be a sign that their mutant DNA is unstable; their bodies suffering substantial damage makes them come apart. Would the Hulk-dogs have mutated more and become more grotesque if they lasted longer than they did?
The dog fight shows Lily as the trio's most fearsome member because she seems sadistic. She snarls wickedly before menacing Betty and her groin attack on the Hulk, implying that she enjoys thinking of harming them. Lily's cheap shot against the Hulk also shows her wickedness; it's a seemingly planned move as she runs around him while he's distracted, exploits an opening she sees, and chomps down on his crotch before he can react. That would've been bad enough, but Lily deviously worsens Hulk's pain by yanking his crotch and giving him a slight melvin. Judging by Hulk's reaction and despite maybe being the physically weakest dog, Lily's savvy and callous enough to inflict the most painful injury on him by targeting a sensitive spot.
Ang Lee has the Hulk go to town on the dogs to show how fierce he can be unrestrained. The dogs serve as attack hounds whose sole purpose is to kill whoever David wants. After he mutates them, they become hideous monsters tasked with killing Betty, and there's no reasoning with them, giving the Hulk free rein to go all-out on them. Compared to him fighting the army later, the Hulk seems to let Ross and his troops off easily since, as the dog fight shows, he could've done worse to them.
Bruce's immediate post-dog fight reaction is briefly taking pleasure in killing the deadly hounds and briefly choking Betty. Wouldn't he have a worse, potentially scarier response to the battle if he weren't emotionally repressed? If the novel's version of Bruce's emotional reaction—as described later—is enough evidence, there is a strong chance.
The tie-in books and early script have it rain after the dog fight, washing away the mutant canines' bodies. Since they got mutated with gamma radiation and their corpses dissolved after death, wouldn't the Hulk-dogs' remains affect the woods somehow? If something like the infamous Chernobyl disaster is any indicator, the dog fight's aftermath might negatively affect the forest in ways the film doesn't show. The dogs' gamma-irradiated remains seeping into the ground might infect the area over time, affecting the plants and wildlife. Since rainwater can become radioactive, starting to rain after the fight would worsen the situation.
The movie leaves David's motive for threatening Betty's life rather vague. The easy guess would be to get backat General Ross for ending his experiments and imprisoning him years earlier because she's Ross's daughter. But it's more than proxy revenge; it's more about David's ultimate plan to take the Hulk's power, as he tells Bruce on the phone. David figured Bruce and Betty would try to destroy the Hulk, so he sent his hellhounds after Betty to prevent that—to save the Hulk from Betty. David hints at it when he meets Bruce in the hospital and says he can protect Bruce and, by extension, the Hulk from Betty because of her father. The novelization reveals that David uses Betty and the dogs to test the Hulk's strength; David knew threatening Betty would spur Bruce into transforming and used her to lure the Hulk into a fight and see how he'd fare. Even so, the novel has David fantasizing about ways to kill Betty after she notices him replace Benny Goodman. David knew she would start snooping and asking questions, so if things got ugly, he hoped for the chance to punish her for disrupting his plan. David ultimately sees Betty as another problem to eliminate—"Let her be God's problem instead of his."
David would've achieved several things at once if his threat succeeded: Since Betty is Bruce's love—ex-girlfriend, but still—and Ross's daughter, David would make Bruce become the Hulk again as wanted and punish General Ross. Also, with Betty dead and the government seeking to weaponize and profit from the Hulk's abilities, Bruce would've been alone with the world against him.
Bruce and Betty are seemingly over the dog fight the morning after, although it's not something people would move on from so quickly. The novelization tells a different story, revealing they don't survive emotionally unscathed. The realization of crushing living creatures to death with his bare hands and enjoying it disturbs Bruce. Bruce covers Betty's mouth like in her dream and relishes his power as the Hulk, traumatizing Betty. That's just the tip of the iceberg for her. Watching Bruce sleep, Betty imagines his hands and chest as the Hulk's—imagining the Hulk subjecting her to the dogs' fate—scaring her about what else he can do with his destructive potential and who he'll direct it at, including herself.
The Peter David novel expands upon Betty's theory of Bruce's emotional trauma causing his transformations, revealing how it could lead to a scary notion. She says Bruce's anger triggers the nanomeds in his body, making his cells release lots of energy, which he absorbs and transforms, similar to the gamma rays. Feelings are infinite—one can't measure them like physical wounds, which have beginnings and ends—so who's to say whether or not Bruce's anger will continue and start a chain reaction? Furthermore, emotions affect the Hulk's virtually limitless strength, and 15 ft. is the tallest he gets here. It's also plausible that his body mass grows to accommodate his increased strength, so if he gets angry enough at that height, the Hulk might keep growing. Picture an even taller Hulk like the novelization's worst-case scenario example: a King Kong-sized Hulk with a screaming beauty clutched in his hand. Betty's idea also goes a long way in explaining why this film's Hulk is so powerful compared to his other film incarnations.
The book also suggests that the Hulk's mood and the degree of opposition he faces affect his size—the greater the opposition, the larger he gets—which makes sense as the threats he faces escalate as the film progresses. First, he becomes 12 ft. tall from Talbot and Ross's men bugging him before fighting the mutant dogs. Then the Hulk grows to 15 ft. tall when enraged by Talbot again while trapped in the sticky foam before battling the military. He's 15 ft. tall again when fighting the mutated David Banner, the source of all his troubles.
Betty gets a lucky break as David could've easily killed her after mutating himself, breaking into her house, and surprising her. It might have been too late when the two guards outside responded, and they wouldn't stand a chance against David anyway. Fortunately, David needed Betty alive to further his plan at that point.
Talbot's lucky he didn't use automatic weapons against the Hulk, or else he would've met a grislier karmic end like in the novelization and an early screenplay. He shoots armor-piercing rounds at the Hulk, who's grown big enough to fill the tunnel after escaping the sticky foam. The bullets ricochet off the Hulk's skin and bounce around the hall with some riddling Talbot. Talbot's hubris gets him turned into Swiss cheese with blood oozing from his wounds before he collapses, so his original death would've been an icky sight.
After General Ross tells Betty about Bruce escaping Desert Base, she immediately deems Talbot responsible and muses about killing him the next time she sees him, unaware of the dark irony that he's already dead.
The novel version of the climax portrays David as a more threatening foe who didn't just give an unhinged rant earlier; the novelization shows how David could've brought the world to its knees with the Hulk's power. Whenever the Hulk hits him, David absorbs his energy and grows in size; he starts slightly shorter than the Hulk but soon matches his height—David's not just stealing the Hulk's power but becoming more like him, bigger and greener. David eventually towers over the surrounding mountains.
The movie's climactic fight ends with David becoming a giant "jellyfish" bubble from the Hulk's limitless power and getting blown up; however, the book gives David's fate more depth and shows off his absorbing ability more. Bruce figures out David's plan to harness his anger, so he says he'll take it from himself by forgiving David. Bruce lets David have the Hulk, leading to David becoming taller than the mountains. Then David sees swirling energy in his stomach that spreads throughout his body, further increasing his size. He realizes Bruce tricked him and demands he retract the power since it isn't stopping. It gets out of control, absorbing energy from David's surroundings until it seeks a new source—David himself. In agonizing pain, he continues growing as his body starts consuming itself. Then, the thermonuclear missile Ross fires at David is too much for him to absorb, causing his center to shred and explode.
The movie makes it seem like Bruce quelled his emotions until the gammasphere accident because of his repressed memory of his mother's death. However, Edith tells her friend Kathleen that Bruce has always been "bottled up," so Bruce already had emotional issues. The novelization clarifies that David is responsible. When Bruce is three years old, Edith catches David taking a blood sample from him. David yanks the hypodermic syringe out of Bruce's arm, making him wail in pain. Seeing parts of Bruce's body distort again causes Edith to faint, making Bruce's crying stop. Seeing an opportunity, David points at Edith and blames Bruce for hurting her by acting out. Then David guilt-trips Bruce, warning him that Edith might die next time and it will be Bruce's fault for getting angry again. David tells Bruce to suppress his anger whenever it comes unless he wants more bad things to happen. David's words becoming ingrained in Bruce's mind help explain why he later doesn't defend himself against the bully kid Jack and grows up emotionally stunted.
David sabotaging the Desert Base gamma reactor to explode just because Ross foiled his efforts to find a cure for Bruce seems a tad overboard—not so much so in the novelization. Edith knows something's unusual about Bruce since his body would deform—arms distending, skin swelling, etc.—whenever he's upset; she first notices when Bruce is six months old. David tries to gaslight her into thinking she's imagining things, but Edith remains adamant. A couple of years later, Edith sees Bruce's body distort again and, after threatening to take Bruce away, gets David to confess to experimenting on himself and passing the mutation on to Bruce. Edith demands David to cure Bruce if possible, and unbeknownst to her, David lies. After David tells Edith to keep it between them, she threatens to kill him if he fails or hurts Bruce. Ross kicking David off the project for ignoring protocol now becomes the final straw for David. He blames Bruce's birth for ruining his life and shuts down the cyclotron, leading to the imminent explosion: David's "going away present" to make the army regret sacking him.
The movie never explains nanomeds; however, one can figure out they're nanomachines for medicinal purposes. Bruce and Betty also make a big deal about presenting to the review board about them, which never happens. A deleted scene shows the meeting, complete with a detailed explanation of the nanomeds, including their purpose and why the experiments with them keep failing—they remember their instructions to destroy and repair damaged cells too well. The presentation also shows what Betty meant when she snarked at Bruce about sounding "almost passionate" when discussing microbes and nanomeds; he goes into an extensive monologue that wins over the board members.
When meeting Betty for the first time, David tells her the lab's previous janitor, Benny, is dead; it's clear that David killed Benny and replaced him—but how? The film also doesn't answer how David can get a house and job after leaving the mental hospital with his record. The novelization reveals that David appeared at Benny's house one night, sicced his hounds on Benny, and stole the man's ID and home for himself, letting the place fall into the rotten, unrecognizable state seen in the film. Betty suspects David of killing Benny but dismisses the idea, thinking it's her being too paranoid; yet, Betty doesn't know she's right. The book also reveals that Talbot arranged David's release from the hospital, among other things.
Many dismiss the dog fight scene as absurd and pointless—only existing to give the Hulk an action scene after an hour of none—but it's vital to the story as it helps progress some character beats the film more or less overlooks:
The brawl starkly contrasts Betty and the Hulk's earlier tender interaction. As explained here, the scene has hidden importance regarding Bruce's emotions, backed by the novelization. As the Hulk, he becomes emotionally open with Betty during their quiet moment together, but his guard rises again once the Hulk-dogs appear. Afterward, Bruce grabs Betty before regaining his senses in the movie and illustrated screenplay. The novels go further with Bruce's emotional state. Bruce laughs maniacally, looking the happiest Betty's ever seen him. He obliviously thrusts his fist into the air near Betty's face and carelessly covers her mouth to illustrate how he snapped the dogs' necks before Betty shoves him away, returning him to his senses. Despite being heroic by protecting Betty, Bruce submits to his rage and holds nothing back against their attackers, showing the Hulk at his most brutal. Then Bruce suffers an abnormal mania from indulging in the violence, high on euphoria. These factors further justify Betty's fear and concern for Bruce and why she calls her father for help the following day.
Despite Betty's survival, the event still lets David kill two birds with one stone:
First, he taunts Bruce that, like it or not, the Hulk is part of him, and deep down, even Bruce can't resist basking in his power once it's unleashed—what better way to prove that point than endangering the woman Bruce loves? Given the Hulk's unchecked rage during the battle, Bruce's post-fight reaction as stated above, and his later confession to Betty about enjoying losing control, Bruce unwittingly proves David right.
Second, Bruce asks Betty why David wants him to become the Hulk. Earlier, David told Bruce his plan to harvest the Hulk's power, but the novelization reveals another reason David threatens Betty. He deduces his dogs not returning from their assault means they're dead, and Betty's still alive. Nonetheless, the dogs proved the Hulk was strong enough to beat them alone, exceeding David's expectations, so the mission was successful as far as he was concerned.
Bruce mentions possibly seeing Betty in the desert during their childhood. The movie treats it like a throwaway line, never following up on it or providing an answer, but the tie-in novels confirm they crossed paths as kids. When Ross and his men arrest David, Bruce and Betty see each other through Bruce's house window. Everything is connected.
How and why does Talbot expect to penetrate the Hulk's eye to get a DNA sample? Using a basic hand drill on the Hulk's skin is stupid on Talbot's part; the thing is hand-operated, and Talbot doesn't have the required muscle to pierce the Hulk's flesh, not by a long shot. In the novelization, he uses a laser drill to cut some pieces from the Hulk's neck, but the issue remains. Talbot learns the Hulk's skin is bulletproof from their first encounter, so why would Talbot think the Hulk's eye might be a weak point? Unless the Hulk's eye is like Luke Cage's, it's probably impenetrable too—like Superman's—for all Talbot knows, and he would've made more trouble for himself if it were the latter.
Ross believes the Hulk goes to San Fransisco for Betty, but why would the Hulk seek her out? The novel describes the Hulk, thinking on a primitive level, as needing to go to Betty. Besides being the only one who can calm the Hulk, Betty's the only person Bruce knows who, after learning his secret, still cares about him and never does anything to hurt him anything to hurt him—Betty represents love and safety for him.
The Hulk suddenly has a dream while falling from the fighter jet, which feels very out of place; its meaning and purpose are unclear. It may symbolize Bruce's rage overcoming him enough for the Hulk to "dispose" of him and become the dominant persona. As for serving the story, the dream connects to Bruce and Betty's San Francisco reunion; the last words they share are a Meaningful Echo of Betty's first line in the film, but Bruce's final line to Betty suggests a deeper meaning. Though Betty claims he wasn't hard to find, Bruce says that he was, and Betty looks at him like she understands what Bruce means: the Hulk is in total control when emerging in San Francisco until he sees Betty again, enabling Bruce to return. Bruce telling Betty that he was hard to find means that if Betty hadn't appeared when she did, there's a chance he could've been lost within the Hulk forever.
, the scene has hidden importance regarding Bruce's emotions, backed by the novelization. As the Hulk, he becomes emotionally open with Betty during their quiet moment together, but his guard rises again once the Hulk-dogs appear. Afterward, Bruce grabs Betty before regaining his senses in the movie and illustrated screenplay. The novels go further with Bruce's emotional state. Bruce laughs maniacally, looking the happiest Betty's ever seen him. He obliviously thrusts his fist into the air near Betty's face and carelessly covers her mouth to illustrate how he snapped the dogs' necks before Betty shoves him away, returning him to his senses. Despite being heroic by protecting Betty, Bruce submits to his rage and holds nothing back against their attackers, showing the Hulk at his most brutal. Then Bruce suffers an abnormal mania from indulging in the violence, high on euphoria. These factors further justify Betty's fear and concern for Bruce and why she calls her father for help the following day.