THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV SERIES (1978)
Long before we had CGI technology and perhaps in bluescreen, back in 1977 Bill Bixby starred as David Bruce Banner and his alter-ego The Incredible hulk was Lou Ferrigno.
Lou Ferrigno had to endure having his entire body colour made to green in order to portray his character.
The show started in 1977 and concluded 5 years later in 1982 having completing a total of 82 episodes.
The Incredible hulk TV show also led to some memorable TV movies such as The Incredible Hulk Returns, The Trial of The Incredible Hulk (1989) in which he met Daredevil / Matt Murdoch. and The Death Of The Incredible Hulk (1990).
In fact it was this Hulk that met Thor long before we even imagined an almighty Avengers movie like the one we witnessed in 2012. The Bixby / Ferrigno Hulk had already expanded the Marvel universe from comic book fans to TV fans and had set all the groundwork and foundation for future actors playing Hulk.
HULK (2003)
In 2003, conditions were favourable for Marvel as their cinematic universe started growing. Thus far, they had success with movies like Blade, X-Men and Spider-Man and were looking to bring more major characters to the big screen.
Straight after his brilliant success with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, director Ang Lee was brought in for the movie.
Actors which joined him for this goliath movie were Eric Bana as The Hulk, Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross, Sam as Genreal Ross and Nick Nolte as David Banner.
There was even a nod to the original The Incredible Hulk TV show with a brief cameo made by Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee.
As per Ang Lee's signature, the movie came across as too dramatic and comic book fans and audiences spurned it though there were some powerful scenes shared by Nolte and Bana.
The movie however did not hasten a sequel. The movie was made with a production budget of $137 million and took a decent worldwide total of approxiamately $245,360,480.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)
By 2008, we got a second Hulk movie in the form of the Louie Letterier, The Incredible Hulk. The movie starred Edward Norton as Bruce Banner / Hulk, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross and William Hurt as General Ross.
Whatever fans felt lacked with the 2003 Hulk, this movie more than made up for it. Instead of showing us an origin movie, this went straight into action, with Hulk already burdening the tiny Bruce Banner. Though the movie was not a sequel to the 2003 movie it did however seem to subtly continue from it as well as the 1977 TV show as Hulk is in South America and hiding from his pursuers.
The Incredible Hulk however also did not impress cinema goers as well as anticipated and with a production budget of $150 million, the movie only made a worldwide gross of around $263 million. Only increasing it's taking by just $18 million from it's 2003 counterpart. It would then be another 4 years till we see Hulk in a cinematic release again.
THE AVENGERS (2012)
Though not a Hulk movie, the success of the Avengers was almost totally due to the Hulk in the movie. Hulk's strength is shown as extremely powerful and we get to see only the tip of his gamma-radiated awe.
The Hulk is seen 74 minutes into the movie as Mark Ruffalo tackles the tricky role of Bruce Banner / Hulk due to negotiations failing in Marvel's attempt to bring Edward Norton back as our ill-fated hero.
Ruffalo brought a new finesse to the Marvel character and this definitely helped to the overall excellent portrayal and story of the Avengers.
Marvel says that currently they don't have any plans for a solo Hulk movie as yet and if that is the case then we will all have to look forward to his new adventures in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron
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