By now you may have heard that on the DVD release of the Incredible Hulk we get to see the much spoken about alternate opening sequence that features a depressed Bruce Banner wandering the wilds of Antarctica looking to end it all. Bit of a downer to kick off an action movie perhaps? The upshot of the sequence is that according to the rumor mill, after an ice shelf collapses, the knowledgeable viewer will be able to spot a frozen Captain America in the ice.

And there you have it. My question is: Is this awesome? Is this a great nod to the fanboys?

At first I thought Marvel’s strategy of linking all of their films together and creating a movie version of comic book continuity was a bold and risky move. Would Marvel really risk alienating mainstream audiences by creating a tight little Marvel world. But I think this blurry image points to how it will be done across the board: they fanboy nods will be slight and subtle, the non-comic reader won’t even register the difference.

But that strategy leaves me hoping for more. How cool would it be to have the Hulk confront a man frozen in ice in Antarctica: Doesn’t that idea speak to Bruce Banner’s imprisonment inside the body of the Hulk? The connections are there and if Marvel can make them in the right way then the movie continuity could be a great boon, a thread that binds them all together and makes them stronger rather than a much talked about, blurry, throw-away image.