We learned last year that Captain America: New World Order would bring actor Tim Blake Nelson back to Marvel to play The Leader, and it's looking like yet another key member of The Incredible Hulk movie will join him. Liv Tyler, who played Betty Ross in the Edward Norton-led Hulk movie, is returning to the MCU and will be a part of Anthony Mackie's first film as Captain America.
Liv Tyler is reportedly set to reprise her role as Betty Ross, according to THR. Ross is a scientist and daughter to General Thaddeus Ross, who will be played by Harrison Ford in Captain America: New World Order. While General Ross and other characters from The Incredible Hulk movie have popped up in Marvel movies elsewhere, this will be Tyler's first time back in the MCU since that 2008 movie.
Betty Ross has historically been Bruce Banner's love interest in Marvel Comics, though one has to wonder if that will be the case in Liv Tyler's return to the MCU. While Ross and Banner shared a peaceful moment before he went on the run. Banner, of course, re-emerged in The Avengers and many adventures that followed, but has not mentioned or shown any sign he's kept in contact with Betty since then.
Liv Tyler's return as Betty Ross for Captain America: New World Order, paired with the other castings we've heard so far, does leave a big question mark on whether or not Mark Ruffalo will be in this movie. It seems like the film is setting up a lot of Hulk-adjacent characters to appear, so it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility he'll be worked into this movie.
It may sound odd for so many Hulk characters to potentially appear in a Captain America movie, though Marvel fans know this is how the situation has been for a while. Disney can't do a solo Hulk film or give him top-billing in a movie without it being distributed by Universal, so Marvel has told his story through subplots in Avengers movies, Thor: Ragnarok and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Liv Tyler's casting could hint that we're in for another one of those stories in Captain America: New World Order, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Liv Tyler's casting is just the latest interesting bit of information we've gotten about Captain America: New World Order. The movie is expected to be one of the last movies we'll see in the MCU's Phase 5, which may be why we're seeing so many characters added to the mix. Perhaps these returns will set up a bigger Hulk story for Phase 6 and allow Anthony Mackie's first film as Captain America to stand out with his performance.
Captain America: New World Order arrives in theaters on May 3rd, 2024. Use that Disney+ subscription right now to revisit the previous Captain America movies, though you'll have to be subscribed to HBO Max to see Liv Tyler in The Incredible Hulk.
