Our Adapted Hulk
While animations have certainly gone much further in exploring the story of The Hulk since his first adaptation in 1966, his live-action renderings have only deteriorated since his heyday of 1978. That was the year that the television show The Incredible Hulk began its now legendary run – a series that aired until 1982. It starred Bill Bixby as Dr. Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk – but strangely, it did not use the origin story from the source material. Instead, Banner’s transformation in the show was the result of a scientific experiment prompted by his investigations into surges in physical strength experienced by people under extreme stress.
This interest, in turn, was prompted by the fact that his wife had been killed in a car crash because he had been unable to lift the overturned car. While in the comic books, Banner is pursued by U.S Army General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, in The Incredible Hulk TV show, he’s pursued by an investigative journalist as he travels from town to town, helping random people. The television show was very popular, however, and greatly contributed to the visibility of the character within popular culture. In fact, it was so successful, it spawned several feature length stories using the same versions of the characters.
In 2003, award winning director Ang Lee delivered Hulk, starring Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. This presented a story that focused on Banner’s relationship with Betty Ross (played by Jennifer Connelly), who is indeed a significant love interest for the scientist in the source material. She’s also the daughter of General Ross – Banner’s enemy. Hulk saw this conflict play out alongside an exploration of Banner’s relationship with his abusive father (played by Nick Nolte) – creating a denouement reminiscent of a Greek tragedy. It still altered the way in which Banner was exposed to the radiation in the first place, though.
Then, came the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and director Louis Leterrier delivered a variation on the relationship theme again. This time, Edward Norton played the scientist, while Liv Tyler filled the role of Betty Ross in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Her father was still chasing Hulk, though – and this time, he did so using Abomination. This is a Hulk-like character from the source material, and is one of Hulk’s arch-enemies. Abomination’s alter-ego is Emil Blonsky, and here he was played by Tim Roth.
The character was recast after the release of The Incredible Hulk and Mark Ruffalo took up the mantle. He has since played the hero in The Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and will continue to do so through future franchise instalments – including the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, which will feature elements of the Hulk comic book stories previously unseen on the big screen in live-action.
But that’s simply not enough. The Incredible Hulk deserves more – and so do his fans. Beyond the strange, altered re-tellings of his origin story, and beyond the confines of his relationship with the Ross family (of which we have already seen far too much) there’s a wealth of other material to explore.
