Hulk’s Brief History
Most of us love the version of Hulk represented in comic books. It’s great to see the transition from Bruce to beast within the panels of a page. But what about his other transitions—the ones where he goes from print to moving pictures? Before we try to analyze this conversion, we must reacquaint ourselves with the essentials. Betfair sums up our green freak’s story this way when introducing its online Incredible Hulk Game: “Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Hulk character—a mutated human with spectacular strength and an inability to control his rage—first appeared back in 1962. The big green monster is the aggressive and impulsive alter ego of the scientist Doctor Bruce Banner, who transforms into the Hulk after being caught up in radiation from the blast of a gamma bomb.”
There you have our hero’s story in a nutshell. It’s a pretty cool concept that serves perfectly as a metaphor of human emotions and strife. It’s a great premise about a person trying hard to deal with inner demons. More often than not, he loses his internal battle and goes on a villain-beating, property-damaging, all-out rampage, much to our delight. So, with this solid story surrounded with action and eye candy, why doesn’t our jolly green giant have his very own masterpiece? Sure, he had his moments in the sun in “The Avengers,” but his other vehicles have been somewhat flat. Our romping destroyer deserves better. Here is what we’ve seen so far:
TV Hulk
From 1978 to 1982 we had “The Incredible Hulk,” the television show. It starred Bill Bixby (how cool is it that his initials are BB?) as Doctor Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the monster. It was an okay effort for its time, but as beloved and endearing as the show was to its fans, it was simply too campy and overdramatic at times for its own good. It took years to remove those images from our consciousness and begin to manufacture another adaptation.
Movie Hulk One
Fast forward to Ang Lee’s “Hulk” released in 2003 and you’ll begin to see some potential. The film failed in emotionally connecting the characters, including Hulk, to the audience. The story was also scattered and uninvolving, but we all got to see the Hulk in his CGI glory for the first time. Clearly, the road was paved for progress.
Movie Hulk Two
In 2008, Marvel had its movie-making machine in high gear and “The Incredible Hulk” was released to theaters all across America. It was a huge improvement over the last attempt, but according to Box Office Mojo, it only grossed $134 million domestically. Considering that it cost $150 million to produce, it resulted in yet another disappointment. One can’t help but ask, what was the missing ingredient? What will finally turn this rolling green barrel of fun into a profitable barrel of green money? To answer that question we should take a look at the Hulk’s memorable scenes in Joss Whedon’s interpretation.
Hulk Smash Boxoffice Recipe
The Hulk’s standout flashes in “The Avengers” had an abundance of whimsy. We all loved to see him smash, but we loved how he made us laugh even more. Think about it. It’s difficult to take a mammoth angry dude seriously 100 percent of the time. Bruce Banner doesn’t have the charm of Tony Stark. He is brilliant, but rather dull. We need the green guy to supply more than roars and destruction. He must have more dimension than rage. Suddenly, the game plan is defined. The Hulk works better with some clever comedy peppered into the story. Just allow Master Whedon to write, produce, and/or direct the future film and the Hulk will finally have a cinematic gem worthy of his name—Incredible!