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The Incredible Hulk is muscling his way to primetime TV. ABC is in very early stages of development of a live-action series adaptation of the popular Marvel comic book character. There is no writer on board yet with search underway. Marvel, which was acquired by ABC parent Disney last year for $4 billion, started a major push in TV in June with the launch of Marvel Television whose goal was to adapt Marvel characters and stories to the small screen. Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb (Smallville) and his team quickly zeroed in on The Hulk, with rumors of a potential Hulk live-action series first surfacing in mid-summer.
For the uninitiated, The Hulk is the giant, green, bulked-up and raging alter ego of quiet physicist Bruce Banner that was the result of Banner’s exposure to radiation in a gamma bomb explosion. Unlike other superheroes, Banner has no control over his alter ego and involuntarily transforms into the Hulk every time he gets angry. The previous Incredible Hulk TV series starring Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk and Bill Bixby as Banner ran on CBS from 1978-82. The character has also spawned a half-dozen TV movies and an animation series. On the big screen, The Hulk has been very busy lately, headlining two live-action/CGI movies, one with Eric Bana and one with Edward Norton in the title role. In the upcoming movie The Avengers, the Hulk/Banner is played by Mark Ruffalo.
The Hulk is the second major comic book character to get a primetime treatment for next season. Warner Bros. TV and DC Comics are developing a Wonder Woman series with The Practice creator David E. Kelley.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Who’s playing Mr. McGee?
Charlie Finn/John Cena
what if they did Spiderman at college. He takes classes at an ivy league school and must use his powers for good but if someone knows his identity he will transform them to spiders. I’d love to also see a series from Marvel about Green Flash but it can follow him as an elder and he must train a new protege to follow him.
Disney was running out of ideas and has warehouses full of Hulk fists that need to dumped — so why not another Hulk rehash…
So how does this work with Ruffalo’s casting? What happens if there is an Avengers 2 or other film spin offs? In this month’s Empire Ruffalo’s even says he is signed up for multiple films. Will they have a TV banner a movie Banner? Will the show integrate with the movie universe?
Also after the last 2 movies using a CG Hulk how will they afford that on a TV budget? The only feasible option is using a painted body builder like the 70s show but then will the public accept that after the gargantuan Hulks of the movies? And if the show is linked to the movie universe it won’t make sense to have a smaller non cg Hulk!?
Too many variables which could tarnish the character – I’d rather they kept the Hulk on the big screen and go with a lesser known hero or better still get the Daredevil rights back from Fox and make that into a epic show. Still interesting Marvel/Disney is making is first steps into TV.
It would only be a great show if Joss Whedon were showrunning it because he is a great writer and director. Exxamples are Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Dollhouse failed because the network made changes.
A much better idea would be to use Daredevil. Very minimal use of CGI, Kingpin running the crime syndicate. Plus since every other TV show with high ratings is some type of CSI / Court room show….half of the time Daredevil is fighting crime from the vigilante stand point and the other half he is a lawyer fighting crime from the legal standpoint.
Ongoing conflict with the Kingpin, occasional run-ins with the Punisher. I think it would be an easier show to do and stay consistent with the comic.
Yes, this is a winning concept — a TV series based on a character that has spawned two under-performing movies. Isn’t poor ABC in enough development trouble on its own?
I think that we, AS fans of the classic TV series and the comics should give it a chance. (As well as provide positive comments on forums such as this one, which I should think is one of the more higher profile forums in Hollywood- I mean, chances are that a COUPLE of people of some importance will read these comments to get a handle on what the public thinks as a guide for the future writers of the series. After all, they’d like the show to be successful, yes?)
For the admirers of the classic Bixby/Ferrigno series, our demographic from THEN really doesn’t buy much NOW, so I would think they are going to aim for a Smallville-type demographic of a younger audience. Heck, if I were in charge thats what I would do….But that doesnt mean it can’t work.
Maybe we’ll see Bruce Banner, highly intelligent scientist, who is working on a cure for anger as he is concerned for humanity or whatever and everything goes wrong
Maybe he’s not a fugitive as the Bixby character was and maybe he CAN control it (as what happened for a time in the comicbook)and he goes around fighting crime secretly.
Who knows?
I think the toughest decision will be wether or not to really use CGI. I’d prefer a larger, bulked up actor painted green. Maybe leave the hair as is instead of a wig and skip the contacts in the eyes to remind viewers that there is still a man within the monster…
Of course, there’ll have to a be young woman scientist who either suspects Bruce’s secret or hasn’t got a clue and Bruce wants to hook up with her despite his secret. I mean, it could work.
Throw in a few rich coroporate types who want to capture Hulk’s powers along with a McGee type character who wants to revive his career or something like that, along with the standard issue handful of saps who, every week, try to jump the Hulk and get tossed into a handy nearby car or wooden structure so the stunt fans get a weekly fix.
I can see the new series get rebooted for today’s audience and using today’s world news while still retaining the core of the classic show of a man who tried to do the right thing, the wrong way, and then paid a terrible price for it.
Hopefully they get a good formula going and it runs a few years. Long enough to at least syndicate it.
As for Smallville…yes, I agree it has gone on too long (my opinion) and I was a big fan back then who liked the idea of 5 years- no flight- no tights.
But I guess there was good money to be made and since money is the overriding factor of many decisions, the show kept going. But by season 7 it should have had Tom wearing the suit already.
I mean they already had him break a standard by having him meeting Louis before joining the Daily Planet so why not have the guy start wearing the suit as well?
But, it continues to earn ratings and I still try to catch an episode or two. I do admire Welling’s efforts to start directing (those are the episodes I went out of my way to watch) as he probably knows it’ll be awhile, once the show ends, before he can get another juicy role. But then, I assume, and I’m done commenting anyway, so good luck to the HULK team. Hopefully it works out. Especially for comics fans everywhere
Fanboys always bite the hand that feeds them. You shouldn’t be so surprised at the rabidness on display in this thread. Doesn’t matter if it’s George Lucas, once lionized Jeph Loeb, Smallville, Incredible Hulk or Marvel and DC themselves. Fanboys always turn on their idols. Fanboys used to love Zack Snyder, who did all in his power to please and appease them in every way. Fanboys repay him by ripping him to shreds all over the internet. Robert Rodriguez wants desperately to be loved by the fanboys. He gives them everything they claimed to want in an action film. Fanboys repay him by crapping on him. Ultimately, you can’t please fanboys by giving them what they claim they want. Only by ignoring and abusing them do you gather a particle of their respect.
Part of the issue to that is the fact as a whole, fanboys are pretty stupid, vapid, and ignore details. Look at X-23 for example, it’s been almost 7 years of her existing in marvel. 6 since her origin 2 miniseries, and fans and wiki itself still claim her as a clone (which was actually just how they dehumanized her, to make her feel subhuman, and why Dr. Rice says it in quotes when talking to Dr. Sarah Kinney, Laura’s Mother), when her own origin mini (page 16) states that she is a genetic twin, not a clone, essentially Logan’s test-tube daughter, which is why Laura shares traits with her mother, like eye color, hair and bone structure, etc. But just watch, people will complain about me even correcting that, even though it’s in her own BOOKS. These are the same fans that accept the fact the heart and soul of kick-ass was ripped out for hollywood audience pleasing (giving him a girlfriend, when it was supposed to be reality, and in reality the geek never gets the girl till out of college). At least hollywood and disney are trying though. I look forward to Cloak and Dagger on ABC family. So it may entail the drug references still that are needed for character drive. Just as I look forward to this Hulk show, as they could do a lot with techniques and practical effects on a small budget touched up by CG. It’s all in the pre-planning. Plus, it’s disney, so they got deep pockets anyway. I’m also looking forward to Deadpool now that they are tieing it to the FoX-Men universe, while still keeping it pretty accurate to comics and using the real costume and powers. DC on the other hand, still has a lot to learn, but Red was a good start. I just hope Fox finally ups their game with the licenses they have. It’s about time they attempted something like the X-23 origin minis accurately(minus the needed changes of matt murdock and captain america), or even any other X-Men property besides the mainline series to give it some forward thinking to build for an X-Men 4: the new class. While the first class series builds to the true comic first class. Which honestly I expected anyway because Scott wasn’t recruited until after vietnam, Jean was early 80s, and the first class takes place in the 60s. The only goof there, will be if they paralyze Charles, since he wasn’t paralyzed in the movie-verse 70s and 80s. So can you really blame hollywood for ignoring fanboys? Granted it doesn’t help, that these comic companies can’t even keep their own characters true to their history. Literally crapping on each other’s work, or retconning it because they want to make the character something new. Ya know, whatever happened to character driven reasons? Or even events that set things in motion to push the character to this new whatever? Oh well, in 10 years it’ll be reboot time again anyway. Which is another thing I’m sick of. We don’t need more reboots, when capable writers who take the time to read up on and analyze the pieces they are adapting/continuing can salvage things to amazing degrees. Well, not counting Batman, once they Adam Wested that with Mr. Freeze and Ivy, there was no salvaging it. But supes could be. The problem with returns wasn’t the donner-verse, it was just boring. Supes needs a big bad that can be on par with him. No more of this Alien good guy vs human bad guy camp. We got the symbolism in the last 5 movies, did we really need it for a 6th?
This is just a test — if it works the networks are going to go hard after Wagon Train and I Remember Momma, Man in the Challenge and Rin Tin Tin…
Who cares about the Hulk? Now when is someone going to bring back Gilligan’s Island? “Skipper, Skipper, theres a ship on the horizon!” Now that’s made-for-TV entertainment.
Honestly…..the Hulk? Another poster said it right, they must be thinking they can cheap-out and put some ex-WWE Guy in green makeup and make the show on a shoestring budget.
Marvel has 1 million and 1 characters to tap, and after 2 “nobody cared” movies and a TV show from the 70′s that borders on unwatchable today, they’re dipping into this well again? Unreal.
I’m waiting for the reboot of Automan myself….
The hulk is very difficult to do. In the Tv or the movies they can never catch the pathos of being the hulk. The TV show had just the right formula with Bill Bixby that the hulk was almost irrelevant. In fact I would say Bixby took the roll that the Hulk takes in the comics and did a great job.
Can they do so without screwing it up? I think it’s an uphill battle. There’s just too many ways to make it wrong.
The fact is that “The Incredible Hulk” deals with issues that are pretty poignant in society. The Hulk was actually Bruce Banner’s “Mr Hyde” and unrestrained portion of his own ego. When Banner is enraged, he does indeed become “The Hulk” but anyone who has read the comic knows that neither Banner or the Hulk are evil, but only misunderstood. Banner tries mightly to keep the Hulk at bay because he knows his alter ego is unrestrained. He truly doesn’t know what the Hulk will do if challenged. The Hulk is simply a superpowerful giant with a need for solitude, but he can never find it.
What people like about this series is that it is about the human need to be civilized and control our inner “man”, and in our political correct society, it is all the more poignant to examine this. If you take away man’s choice to be violent, you also take away what makes him male, and his ability to fight for justice, but if unrestrained, this can also be dangerous.
I just hope that ABC does not wreck this series, but Marvel has been pretty good at keeping the storylines from wandering into the Leftist political realm, the same cannot be said of DC.
I can’t believe you remember that show! What about “The Powers Of Mathew Star”? You’re talkin’ ’bout my generation.
And who should play “The Hulk”? My choice is UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar;)
Please, are there no new ideas in Hollywood anymore? Remakes and reality shows are all they can come up with. How sad.
there are a MILLION new ideas in hollywood. just none of the executives are brave enough — or smart enough — to buy them.
Well since WB makes smallville I hope the stupidity in that series doesnt catch on with the Hulk. Im sick of the ‘early years’ strategy that ignores cannon and prostitutes our childhood heroes for product placement and music promotion. I stopped watching smallville after pete misteriously disappeared.
Nerd rage makes everyone else feel so much saner.
Can they please just make him talk this time? The Hulk has been capable of speech in the comics since the very beginning, and with some very brief exceptions he’s always been able to carry on conversations, issue threats, say “Hulk will smash!” etc.
The moment he gets to a screen he becomes as verbal as my one year old. I don’t get it.
If you don’t get why the Hulk didn’t speak in the 1970′s TV show, then you’ve never heard Lou Ferrigno interviewed, and CERTAINLY never heard him try to act.
(I have nothing against Big Lou, the man’s just not an actor. The TV series wisely played to his strengths.)
As for why the movie Hulks never speak, they’re probably stretching the credibility of the CGI character enough as it is. I can’t see having him stick around for dialogue scenes with “puny hyooman”, or tossing in a scene where Hulk reveals his motivations in a long, heartfelt speech on the nature of humanity and the struggle against a personal monster that consumes each and every one of us….
Yeah, I dunno. Maybe massive, lumbering, and mute works, despite the comics.
As much as I am fond of the Marvel Universe, I do feel Hollywood needs to step up it’s game just a bit. I mean I sometimes suspect an alien civilization which has perhaps lost all it’s creative writers to an intergalactic war started over an accusation of plagiarism, secretly came one night back around 1997 and capture all of our writers… Either that or, did Hollywood simply stop writing? I am curious? With all the remakes, and revamps,and do-overs, I am not sure that Hollywood has had an original script in years. Something is amiss here. Thus the plot thickens… errr I mean the plot gets thinner. Hey maybe it was an old gypsy who was wronged and placed a curse on Hollywood, there is another possibility.
Gonna be better than a daredevil movie. Half of what marvel put out 30 years ago was junk. Now with better CGI you get great marvel movies. The only ones that are crap are the ones where they try to get you interested in lame beta class characters like electra.
[No performance in any TV-broadcast comic book superhero adaptation has come close.]
Very true and not just for superhero shows…to this day, Bixby’s Incredible Hulk is FAR better than 90% of the television dreck that’s followed it over the years.
The first show I cued up when I started streaming Netflix was The Incredible Hulk. Even after 30 years, I was truly amazed at how good the show was and how it had held up over the years. Of course, the effects are cheap and cheesy, but the underlying story – a guilt-ridden, seemingly cursed man who’s good-nature wouldn’t allow him to turn a blind eye to people in need – is still powerful and inspiring. And the late Bill Bixby played the tormented Banner to perfection, easily surpassing the performances of Eric Bana or Edward Norton.
The only quibble I have is with your contention that no other superhero show has come close. I’d disagree in the case of Smallville. The first 5 seasons of the show were fantastic, especially season 5. After that, it seemed to lose it’s way for a while – probably as a result of the shake-up that occurred with the creators and producers. But last season was good and season 10 is off to a very good start as it takes fans to the series conclusion next May. Tom Welling has done an excellent job of portraying Clark Kent, moving the character from an unsure, confused teenage boy to a confident, heroic man – a man who is currently taking his final steps to becoming a Superman
TWO WORDS:
JEPH
LOEB
THAT IS ALL
Other possible remakes for the networks we have all been holding our breaths for…
1) Man From Uncle (staring Pauly Shore)
2) Gidget (staring Paris Hilton)
3) Threes Company (starring Harvey Fierstein as Mr Roper, Neil Patrick and Nathan Lane as Jack tripper, and Ann Heche)
If the series is “in very early stages of development”, is it really up for next season?
That would be awesome, but it doesn’t seem right.