Situated in a bunker some odd miles away from Banner is meticulously making the final preparations for the detonation when he peers through some binoculars and discovers a teen casually lounging in his car near the nuclear device. Banner panics and rushes off to save the teen after warning his lab assistant to halt the proceedings.
What Banner doesn’t know is that Carl, his assistant is a Russian spy. Carl allows the test to continue unabated as Banner rushes to the pedestrian’s aid.
After a brief struggle with the rebellious teen, Banner is able to push the kid (Rick Jones) into a protective trench moments before the bomb detonates inundating the hapless scientist with wave upon wave of raw gamma energy.
Miraculously, Bruce survives along with Rick Jones and immediately falls under the suspicion of base commander General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Banner soon learns that he has paid a terrible price for his heroism when he begins transforming into an incredible powerful brutish creature known as “The Incredible Hulk”.
Rick Jones wracked with guilt at having inadvertently caused Banner’s accident travels with the Hulk and sometimes serving as his portable conscious.
*THIS WAS THE BIRTH OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK*
Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the Hulk had a short run and was cancelled after six issues. The character immediately began guest starring in other books most notably Fantastic Four #12 where he engaged in a memorable brawl with The Thing.
Jack Kirby was heartened to discover that the Hulk had found an audience in college age readers at the time who embraced the antihero as a symbol of counter culture rebellion and physical embodiment of the dangers of mixing science & military barbarism. The Hulk challenges the reader to consider which is the greater monster … The gamma spawned menace, the incredible Hulk or Robert Bruce Banner, the scientist who created the gamma bomb in the first place.
The Incredible Hulk has been adapted for television numerous times as a cartoon (1966-Grantray Lawrence Animation), melodrama, (1977 television series) and the silver screen two times. This ill-tempered green giant is also scheduled to make an appearance in the upcoming tent pole movie “The Avengers” in 2012.
This limited animated cartoon consisting of 39 7-minute segments is how I first became acquainted with the Hulk as a child. Yeah, the execution of the idea may leave a little to be desired, but everything that makes the character who he is remains intact.
The Hulk is presented in this cartoon as a thuggish brute, a monstrous bully who coincidentally seems to be on our side from time to time. The endless Id of a complicated man too self absorbed and frail to take matters into his own hands for the better or worse as evidenced by Hulk’s continual reference to his host as a “puny wimp”.
This cartoon version of the “Hulk” is indelibly etched into my subconscious and many others as the “definitive Hulk.”
As of yet, the Hulk has yet to be accurately portrayed in live action.
The next version of the Incredible Hulk etched into the minds of most baby boomers and generation x television viewers would have to be the cult classic series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferigno. I personally come from a more daring time in television where many studios were trying new things and experimenting with television programming. When I look at current shows like Heroes (Thankfully cancelled) and No Ordinary Family, I’m glad I have these shows to look back on.
The Incredible Hulk (circa 1978) delved more into the psychological effects of being the monster and the toll it took to contain the monstrous id (portrayed memorably by Lou Ferigno.).
Super villains of the marvel variety were in short supply and the writers had the title character confront a lot of society’s social ills like child & spousal abuse, drug addiction, greed & obsession themes.
Bill Bixby is the most credible live action version of the Robert Bruce Banner to date mixing more than a little self awareness in with the self dread at his condition. Banner reacted like the common man when confronted with common criminals, spousal abusers and drunken hillbillies. These various antagonists would literally have to beat the crap out of Banner before the Hulk would manifest to meet out some ham fisted justice.
MAN !! Those Hulk transformation scenes scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Ultimately however I became bored with the show when it became apparent that no super villains would challenge the Hulk and started looking elsewhere for excitement. The one caveat from the producers of this show would come in the form of a last season villain Dell Frye (Harry Townes) / Evil Hulk (Dick Durock), a psychotic groundskeeper that conned Banner into restoring his former Hulk-like abilities.
(PRELUDE TO THE ABOMINATION in 2008?)
Decades later I was ecstatic to learn that the Hulk would have his day in the sun again when the success of the Spider-man movie led Universal to option and produce the Hulk as a tent pole movie for the summer of 2003.
The hiring of director Ang Lee had me scratching my head , but I waited breathlessly for the big green guy to finally get his due.
Plain and Simple: I wanted to see Hulk SMASH !!!
WHAT THE AUDIENCE GOT: An Art film disguised as a comic book movie. No Gamma Bomb, Daddy Issues & NO RICK JONES !!!
Note: Omitting Rick Jones from the cinematic version of the Hulk is like making a Superman movie without Lois Lane (See Superman 3 for reference.).
Hulk did smash but all of that lovely destruction was wrapped around an increasingly esoteric plot that became denser as the movie went on.
In short, Ang Lee Hulk= Arty, Farty Snorefest
And don’t forget the trio of Hulked out poodles that attack Banner & Betty Ross . Personally, I would have had security toss Ang Lee out on his ass when he presented the concept art for the Hulk Poodles.
To say that this movie was received with less than stellar critical acclaim would be an understatement.
The Hulk returned in 2008 a more credible action oriented movie that was enjoyable and actually had a sense of scope. This is by far the best representation of the character as such staples as the sonic boom clap and the Hulk’s ability to leap from one continent to another were introduced.
On the down side: NO GAMMA BOMB, NO RICK JONES !!!
This version of the Hulk even had a credible supervillian to battle with throughout the movie in Emil Blonsky (Abomination) , presented here as an aging faded black-ops tweaking out on the super soldier serum (Captain America). The final battle between the two unfortunately takes on all the realism of a PS3 game.
But I liked the movie enough to purchase it.
Louis Leterrier does an admirable job of repairing some of the damage done to the franchise by Lee’s earlier crap fest. Star Edward Norton had a hand in the screenplay, but how much of what is his writing is on screen is anybody’s guess.
Note: I wish the Hulk would have been the villain in Iron Man 2. It would make more sense considering Stark tech makes an appearance in the movie followed by Robert Downey Junior’s Tony Stark himself in a forced cameo.
Edward Norton reportedly had issues with the final product and refused to do press for the film. This led to him being replaced in the role and the Hulk being recast for the third time in his cinematic career and the forth time live action overall.
The Hulk is next scheduled to appear in the Avengers in 2012.
What form he will take is anybody’s guess.
END OF PART ONE
… shadowgeek10 returns to the shadows once more…