Hulk Out

Written by Kirk Baird

The Amazing Spider-Man swung into theaters on July 3. If it seems strange to have a reboot of the franchise after the original was released only a decade ago, consider 2003’s The Hulk. This critically and commercially underwhelming origin story of Marvel Comics’ Green Goliath was essentially rebooted in 2008 with a new cast, new director, and what amounts to an apology to fans with The Incredible Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk didn’t live up to expectations either, which is why there is a third actor (Mark Ruffalo) playing Hulk in this summer’s superhero team-up, The Avengers. But this Hulk was much different and, frankly, much better in movie theaters. He was limited in screen time, but he made the most of it, stealing scenes and the movie from the other heroes with a surprising amount of humor to go with the CGI “Hulk smash!” effects.

Now look for an Incredible Hulk TV series next year, executive produced by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) — remember the classic TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the 1970s and ’80s? There’s also serious talk of another standalone Hulk feature film starring Ruffalo in 2015.