An Ode to the Incredible Hulk

Don’t make him angry…you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

I love all things Hulk. The comics, the films. Yes, even the Ang Lee film (its ambitious and unique and bursting with style and thematic depth). Mark Ruffalo is probably my favorite, for me his real

Shining moments being Age of Ultron and Thor Ragnarok. Eric Bana was great too, along with the iconic Sam Elliot as General Ross. The Ed Norton one was fun if a little shallow (what do you expect when you get the Transporter guy to direct an atomic Frankenstein with DID). She-Hulk is clever and a lot of fun. The whole Professor Hulk thing post-Endgame is fine, and could work really well if they gave him his own solo film again to really explore it. Anyway, all that said, none of them hit quite like that first film with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. It may not have hit theaters, but I’ll die on the hill that not only is it “cinema,” to use the Scorsesian gatekeeping buzzword, but it’s damn fine cinema. It’s intimate, heartfelt and emotionally powerful. The direction is understated but effective, with Kenneth Johnson using a subtle visual language of quick cut editing and low angles to convey the power and horror of what transpires. The acting is top notch, with a story that truly captures the central tenets of what make the Hulk the Hulk. 

The Hulk is two very distinct and important archetypes that must be captured in order for him to work on screen…

Godzilla: a monstrous but tragic atomic mutation set upon humanity to punish it for its hubris in the face of nature.

And Jekell & Hyde/ The Wolfman: a gothic meditation on the base, animal impulses lurking beneath the subconscious of every man, awakened by trauma (much like Godzilla). 

Trauma is the word of the day here. The story of The Hulk is one of Trauma and pain. Hulk is a lonely, broken creature that didn’t ask to be thrust into being, but is born all the same from the hubris and desperation of a widower scientist making play with forces he doesn’t understand. The result is The Hulk, who goes on to a life of punishment for simply existing. Shackled together by a shared body, the two wander off into world. Alone with nought but each other and no way for each to understand their counterpart.

The film perfectly marries the aesthetic and simplicity of the 50s creature feature with poignant character drama, creating a unique and subtle adaptation of the revolutionary Marvel Comics property. It doesn’t quite capture the size and scope of Jack Kirby’s 1962 superhero tale, but Johnson wasn’t trying to. He wanted to tell a quieter, more dramatic tale of loneliness and grief, and he pulled it off magnificently.

Then there’s the Ang Lee film. While not what people expected from the first theatrical outing of Marvel’s green Goliath, it is my firm belief that Ang Lee offered audiences what the character needed. A far cry from Bill Bixby’s procedural drama or the campy bombast of Sam Raimi’s Spider-man (which had recently hit theaters and defined the expectations of superhero cinema), Hulk took a different path. Hulk is first and foremost a story about mental illness, trauma, Promethean myth for the atomic age and Oedipal prophecy. Ambitious, stylish and dour in its dramatic renderings of a man damned by the sins of his father, Hulk offered a serious examination of character in place of splash page spectacle. Perhaps, to its detriment, it did so at a time where such an experiment was not commonplace and would be met with the confusions of an audience unaccustomed to asking the questions it posed. Were it released a decade later, maybe it would have found its audience more easily. But hindsight is 20x20, and I look back at this film with utmost reverence for the artistry and ambition at play.

The Ed Norton film does a complete 180 from Ang Lee’s contemplative psychodrama masquerading as a blockbuster. Trying to harken back to the nostalgia of the Bixby/Ferrigno era, Norton took a very hands on approach to the making of this film. He apparently wrote a whole new draft of it that was cut up a bit in post, removing darker elements that might have felt reminiscent of Lee’s arthouse creature feature. What remained, and ultimately was seen in theaters, was a middling chase film following Bruce Banner trying to find the cure…all while being pursued by the Military Industrial Complex in the form of William Hurt as the new General Ross. It is weirdly telling that the one MCU film that does NOT plant the military in a positive light is the one that didn’t get a sequel, which is truly sad and emblematic of the propagandistic hold certain industries have on Hollywood. The film, while underwhelmingly shallow compared to its predecessors (what do you expect when it’s directed by Louis LeTerrier), could have been improved upon in a sequel and it’s disappointing that we haven’t gotten another solo hulk film in 16 years. 

Which brings us to the current state of the Hulk in pop culture. Mark Ruffalo took over after Norton rage quit the franchise over the clashing visions for his film, and honestly? Ruffalo killed it. He easily stole the show in the first Avengers movie. Joss Whedon may not be a good man and his stylistic excesses can be overdone, but he really understood the tragedy and pathos of The Hulk in a way no other MCU filmmaker has before or since. He got to be scary again in the first two Avengers films, then even got to be hilarious in Thor: Ragnarok (which is easily one of the MCU’s best films) and She-Hulk (which is a perfectly funny and clever show and the hate it gets is pure CHUD energy). While Ruffalo has definitely cemented himself in the pop cultural zeitgeist as the modern Hulk, he has yet to get this own film to explore that character and it’s a damn shame.

There have some animated outings for the Hulk as well. I feel like the 90s Hulk cartoon is only Marvel cartoon from that era that aged well without the major benefit of nostalgia goggles. Spider-Man: the animated series is just hilarious to watch these days, with the stilted animation, Spider-Man constantly monologuing to himself and just straight up describing things as they happen, the censorship making the action just weird to watch, and of course: Morbius flying around declaring his yearning for PLASMUUUHHH.

Then there’s X-Men, which did do a good job of adapting a lot of the Claremont years…but it suffers some of the same problems as the Spider-Man cartoon and had pretty silly voice acting moments. I watch 97 thinking “damn, I don’t remember the original series being THIS good.” And I really think that’s because it wasn’t.

But back to the point, that Hulk cartoon was actually really solid. The theme song was dramatic and catchy and punctuated with amazing visuals, the show itself really sold the tragedy of the hulk featured a good deal of his classic villains at the time. The Leader was kind of silly but he’s always silly, he had a potato head and calls himself the leader. Plus Neal Mcdonagh and Lou Ferrigno play Banner and the Hulk and it’s awesome. #ferrigno4ever 

Then, there’s Agents of SMASH. Occasionally, II watch an episode or two of Hulk & the Agents of SMASH on Disney Plus because I’m starved for good hulk content and the MCU/Universal or whatever don’t seem interested in doing anything with him anymore. It’s…a really mixed bag. 

In theory I love the general premise. Smart Hulk (or at least a sentient, Non-Savage Hulk), wants to atone for his savage days of wanton destruction and devotes his time to the superhero gig. He’s joined by his supporting cast of various Gamma mutant allies and relatives and even has Devil Dinosaur as a pet (which automatically gets it a heart reacc from me). I love Hulk going on pulpy silver age adventures to different zany marvel locales like The Savage Lands, Subteranea and Ego the Living Planet. It feels like full on Jack Kirby sh!t in that regard. It also really feels like the Mark Waid run on Indestructible Hulk which I loved and had a similar concept of Hulk going full superhero to make up for his crimes. 

Also the cast is pretty awesome. I think it’s Fred Tatasciore as Hulk, who is pretty great, and I like Hulk’s noble but gruff personality here. You’ve got Eliza Dushku as She-Hulk which is cool, and Seth Green as Rick Jones. Then Clancy Brown as General Ross/Red Hulk (Brown is great but Red Hulk is annoying, but I guess he should be because Ross is the worse across all mediums). 

The mockumentary format is an interesting and refreshing idea, IF it can be used correctly. 

I like Hulk having this small home town in the desert that worships him as a hero. I like when heroes have a sort of home turf like Spider-Man and NYC or Superman and Metropolis. It creates a neat sort sort of worldbuilding where you can really flesh out their home and the people who populate it. Not that they really seem to do that here too much, but still. 

And that brings me to the cons, which yeah there are some glaring cons. It’s geared towards kids which is fine, but for these writers that seems to equate to juvenile bro humor which just doesn’t land for me. Then, there’s this weird pacing to it, even in individual scenes, where they employ this ADHD style editing that makes it seem like it’s on fast-forward. There’s no time to breathe or get a sense of character or story. ALSO, they made She-Hulk a Hollywood stunt woman instead of an intelligent but sassy Lawyer which I cannot abide.

All in all, yeah it’s pretty mid at best and has a lot of things against it. Definite a mitigated cringe factor, but I do love the general premise and I wish the MCU would do something similar with the recent Smart Hulk development they’ve done with Banner. Just with better writing then this lol 

All in all The Hulk is an amazing character and definitely among Marvel’s most iconic and enduring heroes. He is tragic, compelling and offers both epic action and deep character study. Jack Kirby really hit the jackpot when he conceptualized this character, which has only grown since then under classic writers like Len Wein, Peter David, Mark Waid and Al Ewing. Ewing’s 50 issue Hulk run, titled The Immortal Hulk, is a masterclass in horror writing and solidified the notion that Hulk is best when he’s scary and tragic. This is only emphasized in the current series by Philip Kennedy Johnson. I need to catch up on that run but what I read is fantastic so far. 

Anyway, Hulk Smash! But WHY does Hulk Smash 🧐