Hulk in other media

The Marvel Comics character called the Hulk has appeared in many types of media other than comics, such as animated and live action TV series, films, books, video games, comic strips, and stage shows.

Television

1960s

Hulk from the 1966 animated series, The Marvel Super Heroes

The Hulk debuted in television in 1966 as part of The Marvel Super Heroes animated series. Produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, headed by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, the series is in stop-motion comic book form, with radio personalities Max Ferguson voicing the Hulk and Paul Soles voicing Bruce Banner. The 39 seven-minute segment episodes were shown, along with those featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Sub-Mariner also from that series.^[1] They were all based on the early stories from The Incredible Hulk and Tales to Astonish comic book series from Marvel. The series shows Bruce Banner's origin of becoming the Hulk and struggling to keep his dual identity a secret from everyone, as well as trying to maintain his romance with Betty Ross, friendship with Rick Jones — the only one knowing that Banner and the Hulk are the same, and first battling super-villains such as the Leader.

1970s

The Hulk appeared in the 1978–82 live action television series, The Incredible Hulk, and its subsequent television films. Created by Universal Studios, it starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. It does not follow the comic book-fantasy format or its villains or supporting characters, Furthermore, this Hulk does not speak, but only growls and roars.^[2] In this series, David Banner becomes the Hulk, is assumed dead, and goes on the run while being pursued by tabloid investigative reporter Jack McGee (Jack Colvin), who is bent on proving that the creature exists. The two-hour pilot movie, which established the Hulk's origins, aired on November 4, 1977. The series was originally broadcast by CBS from March 10, 1978 to June 2, 1982,^[3] with eighty-two episodes in five seasons, and later followed by three television films.

Bixby / Ferrigno films

• The Incredible Hulk (1977) – Pilot for the CBS series, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson (distributed in theaters in some countries)
• The Return of the Incredible Hulk (1977) – Pilot sequel directed by Alan J. Levi (also shown overseas as a feature film); retitled "Death in the Family" as a two-parter in syndication
• Married (1978) – Two-hour season-two premiere episode directed by Kenneth Johnson (theatrically released outside of the United States as Hulk Returns or The Bride of the Incredible Hulk)^[2]
• The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) – NBC resurrection of the characters from the series by Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby, with the addition of Eric Allan Kramer as the Asgardian, Thor; directed by Nicholas Corea
• The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) – Sequel directed by Bill Bixby, with Rex Smith as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and John Rhys-Davies as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (This film marks the first time Stan Lee appeared in a Marvel movie)
• The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990) – Again directed by Bixby, this became the final installment of the television live-action franchise

1980s

The Hulk returned to television with the animated series, The Incredible Hulk (1982–83), which aired in a combined hour with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. The series once again shows Bruce Banner transformed into The Hulk by accident and struggling to keep it secret from Betty Ross and everyone else around him. Rick Jones is the one who shares his secret and helps control it while Bruce uses his new powers to battle supervillains such as the Leader. This series features appearances from more characters from the comics including Bruce's cousin Jennifer who becomes the She-Hulk, along with Spymaster, Doctor Octopus, Hydra, and the Puppet Master. Bruce Banner was voiced by Michael Bell, while the Hulk was voiced by Bob Holt, the narrator was voiced by Stan Lee, and Betty Ross was voiced by B. J. Ward. The Hulk also appears in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Spidey Goes Hollywood", voiced by Peter Cullen.

1990s

• The Marvel Action Hour (1994–96): The Hulk appears in episodes of the Fantastic Four and Iron Man cartoons that made up The Marvel Action Hour, although the character design for both Banner and the Hulk were markedly different, with Ron Perlman playing both roles.
• X-Men: The Hulk appears as a robot in the Danger Room of the X-Mansion in the animated series episode "The Juggernaut Returns" (1995).
• The Incredible Hulk (1996–97): Marvel Studios and Saban Entertainment brought the Hulk back to animated form, with Neal McDonough voicing Dr. Bruce Banner, Lou Ferrigno providing the voice of the Hulk, and Michael Donovan voicing the Grey Hulk. In 1997, the title changed to The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk, and the show began feature the She-Hulk in episodes with the Gray Hulk. In the episode "Mind Over Anti-Matter", Banner turns into a monstrous Dark Hulk when possessed by an evil entity, both voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. The show aired briefly on ABC Family following the release of the live-action movie in 2003.
• In Avengers: United They Stand Hulk is not featured in the show but a painting of Hulk is seen along with other former Avengers.

2000s

• Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes: The Hulk appears in the episode titled "Hard Knocks" (2006) with Bruce Banner voiced by Andrew Kavadas^[4] and the Hulk voiced by Mark Gibbon.^[5]
• Wolverine and the X-Men: The Hulk appears in the episode "Wolverine Vs. the Hulk" (2008) with Bruce Banner voiced by Gabriel Mann and the Hulk voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
• Iron Man: Armored Adventures: Appears in the episode "Uncontrollable" (2010) with Mark Gibbon reprising his role of the Hulk.^[5]
• The Super Hero Squad Show (2009–11): Voiced by Travis Willingham.^[5]

2010s

• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010–12): A show titled Hulk: Gamma Corps was being scripted in 2008 but Marvel Animation chose to fold that show into The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes,^[6] with Bruce Banner voiced by Gabriel Mann and the Hulk voiced by Fred Tatasciore. He was imprisoned in the Cube in his first appearance "Hulk Versus the World", but escaped during "Breakout, Part 1" with Leonard Samson after he was affected by gamma radiation. He later joins the Avengers after helping Thor, Iron Man, the Wasp, and Ant-Man fight Graviton. In the next episode, "Some Assembly Required", he is taken over by the Enchantress and leaves because he thinks the Avengers believe he is a monster, but comes back in "Gamma World, Part 2" after helping defeat the Leader. In "Nightmare in Red" he is arrested by the Hulk Busters after being framed for attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier when actually it was the Red Hulk, "Thunderbolt" Ross, in disguise. The Hulk later helped save the world from being devoured by Galactus.^[7]
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2012): Appears in the episodes "Exclusive", "Home Sick Hulk", and "The Incredible Spider-Hulk", once again voiced by Fred Tatasciore. During Return to the Spider-verse Part 3, a Marvel Noir version of Joe Fixit appears as a rival gang leader to Hammerhead.
• Avengers Assemble (2013-): A main cast member, once again voiced by Fred Tatasciore and Bruce Banner also voiced by Tatasciore and later by Jesse Burch.^[8]
• Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (2013–15): A main cast member, once again voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
• Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel: Appears in the 2013 animated special voiced by Fred Tatasciore.^[9][10]
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload: The Hulk is voiced by Fred Tatasciore again.
• Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (2014–15): The Hulk appeared as a main character in the Toei anime series.^[11]
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassmbled: The Hulk is voiced again by Fred Tatasciore.^[12]

Film

Evolution of the Hulk in film. (L to R: Hulk (2003), The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Avengers (2012)

Live action

Hulk (2003)

• Hulk explores the origins of the Hulk, which is partially attributed to Banner's father's experiments on himself, and on his son. The film stars Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte with Ang Lee directing the film. The film is produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

• Edward Norton portrays Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008),^[13] with Lou Ferrigno providing the voice of the Hulk.^[14]
• Norton did not return to the role in The Avengers (2012),^[15] being replaced by Mark Ruffalo.^[16] This time, the voice of the Hulk was a mix of Ruffalo, Ferrigno and few others,^[17] though the Hulk's single line of dialog, "Puny god", was provided solely by Ruffalo.^[18] Mike Seymour of FX Guide called Ruffalo's Hulk "the most successful Hulk" in comparison to "the less than fully successful earlier attempts at digital Hulks." Seymour explained, "Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk and Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk both failed in producing a Hulk that could walk the digital tightrope of impressive near undefeatable strength, huge body mass, fast agile movement, raw anger and likable performance." He stated that on contrary Ruffalo's Hulk had "both dynamic action sequences and crowd pleasing moments of humor and dialogue". In order to achieve this, Industrial Light & Magic created a new motion capture and facial animation system. Hulk's face was generated from a life cast / scan of Ruffalo's face, which was then manipulated in the program ZBrush to become the Hulk, while making sure to retain Ruffalo's essence.^[19]
• Ruffalo reprises the role of Banner in a post-credits scene of Iron Man 3 (2013)^[20] and again in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).^[21]
• Ruffalo will reprise the role in Thor: Ragnarok,^[22] and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and the untitled Avengers sequel (2019).^[23]

Future

A sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk has been discussed, with Marvel Studios having suggested a possible release after 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron due to the positive audience reception towards Ruffalo's portrayal of Bruce Banner in The Avengers.^[24] Ruffalo is set to reprise his role in any future adaptation of the character.^[16] In June 2014, Ruffalo said he believed the studio might be considering doing a new standalone Hulk film, saying, "I think they are, for the first time, entertaining the idea of it. When we did The Avengers it was basically 'No!', and now there is some consideration for it. But there's still nothing definitive, not even a skeletal version of what it would be."^[25] In December 2014, Joss Whedon stated that, for the time being, a new solo Hulk film has not been announced or confirmed, due to Marvel wishing to have a character that only appears in Avengers films, despite the positive reception to Ruffalo.^[26] In April 2015, Ruffalo told Collider.com that Universal holding the distribution rights to Hulk films may be an obstacle to releasing a future Hulk standalone film.^[27]

Animation

• The Hulk has been featured in Ultimate Avengers, an animated direct-to-video adaptation of the Ultimates produced by Marvel Entertainment and Lions Gate Films, voiced by Fred Tatasciore. Based on the Ultimate Hulk, Bruce Banner, voiced by Michael Massee, is working on recreating the super soldier serum. Banner thinking that the serum could help him control the Hulk, and creates a cure with his own blood. After the fight with the Chitauri, the Hulk becomes out of control and is taken down by the Avengers. In the sequel, Ultimate Avengers 2, Banner is voiced again by Massee and is in a prison cell due to what occurred in the first film. At the end the Hulk voiced again by Tatasciore breaks out of the cell and escapes.
• An elderly Hulk appears in the alternate universe Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow voiced by again by Tatasciore. He has decided to hide and keep away from other people for their own safety. The Next Avengers come up a plan to lure Ultron there so he can cause the Hulk to appear, destroying the robot.
• Tatasciore reprises his role of the Hulk in Hulk Vs.. The film features the Hulk in two short films: Hulk Vs Wolverine and Hulk Vs Thor. Bruce Banner is voiced by Bryce Johnson.^[28]
• In Planet Hulk, voice actor, Rick D. Wasserman voices the Hulk instead of regular voice actor, Fred Tatasciore. The film is based on the "Planet Hulk" storyline.^[28]
• The Hulk appears as a central character in Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United. Tatasciore reprised his role as Hulk.^[29]
• The Hulk appears in the anime film Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher with Tatasciore reprising the role.^[30]
• During San Diego Comic-Con 2016, it was announced that a Hulk-centered film co-starring Doctor Strange titled Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell will be released in the fall with Hulk teaming up with the Howling Commandos.^[31] The film had its world premiere at the New York Comic-Con on October 8, 2016. The synopsis for the film is as followed: "Hulk, Doctor Strange and the Howling Commandos on a mission to stop Nightmare from conquering the world."^[32]

Syndicated comic strip

The Hulk appeared in his own syndicated newspaper strip, which debuted on October 30, 1978 and ran until September 5, 1982 by King Features Syndicate. Initially written by Stan Lee and drawn by Larry Lieber,^[33][34] this strip modeled its version of the character after the television series airing at the time, with Banner's first name being given as "David", the McGee character, and a "wandering man" format. Although the depiction of the Hulk matched the comic books in terms of visual design, he did not speak dialog which is akin to the television version of the character.^[35] Lieber took over both writing and artwork soon after the strip launched. He later turned over art chores to first Rich Buckler (starting in Spring 1979) and then Alan Kupperberg (starting in November 1979), who also wrote the strip in its final months. The newspaper credits were slow to reflect changes in the creative team; Stan Lee, for instance, continued to appear in the byline for months after he gave up working on the strip.^[35]

Episode guide for the syndicated comic strip

Novels

Pocket Books published two mass market paperback solo novels starring the character, The Incredible Hulk: Stalker From the Stars in 1978^[36] and The Incredible Hulk: Cry of the Beast in 1979.^[37][38] The Hulk has appeared in the following novels:

Video games

The Incredible Hulk appears in video games for many systems, including the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Sega Genesis, SNES, Sega Master System, Game Gear, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and personal computer.

• The first Hulk video game was Questprobe featuring The Hulk, released by Adventure International in 1984 for the PC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.^[38] It was followed by The Incredible Hulk, The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga, Hulk (which was loosely based on the 2003 film rather than the comic books), and The Incredible Hulk for the Game Boy Advance
• The Hulk appears in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction voiced by Fred Tatasciore, with Neal McDonough reprising the role of Bruce Banner and Michael Donovan reprising Gray Hulk after The Incredible Hulk animated series from 1996, while Richard Moll voiced the Devil Hulk persona.
• In addition to his own games, the Hulk appears as a playable character in several games by Capcom. The first was a SNES game for the home consoles called Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems. After this the Hulk appeared in several arcade fighting games, starting with Marvel Super Heroes in 1995, followed by Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and concluding with Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. In all Capcom games, Hulk's persona is that of his merger with Bruce Banner.
• The Hulk has a cameo in the Fantastic Four video game for the PS and Sega Saturn as a boss.
• The Hulk is the main character in the Hulk video game which picks up after the film of the same name from 2003 with Bruce Banner played again by Eric Bana and Hulk voiced by Graig Robertson.
• The Hulk is in a cutscene in the Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects game for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. Hulk is defeated and captured by the Imperfects along with Captain America and the Punisher.
• In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, Spider-Man makes a reference to the Hulk in his fight with the Green Goblin by saying that Green Goblin is "impressive" but not "Hulk-impressive".
• The Hulk makes an appearance in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. He first appeared as Bruce Banner (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes in most versions, and Arin Hanson in the Wii version), and later appeared as one of Doctor Doom's victim during a raid on Castle Doom with the other superheroes including X-Men. The Hulk later became available as a downloadable character in the Xbox 360 version (voiced by Peter Lurie).
• The Hulk is the main character in The Incredible Hulk video game with Bruce Banner voiced by Edward Norton and Hulk voiced by Fred Tatasciore. In the game, there are secret characters/costumes you can unlock such as Joe Fixit, Gray Hulk, Classic Hulk, and much more.
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in the Marvel Super Hero Squad, (which features both red and gray versions) as well as Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat. In both games he was voiced by Travis Willingham.
• The Hulk has a cameo in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, where he appears on one of the billboards in 2099.
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, voiced again by Travis Willingham.
• The Hulk appears as a playable fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. He is shown in the official teaser trailer, battling Chris Redfield of the Resident Evil series on a rooftop. Fred Tatasciore reprises his voice role.^[39] The Hulk would later appear in the updated version of the game, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
• The Hulk is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, both in his standard torn pants attire, his Planet Hulk gladiator attire, Avengers movie attire, and SHIELD attire.
• The Hulk is available as downloadable content for the game LittleBigPlanet, as part of "Marvel Costume Kit 4".^[40]
• The Hulk appeared in five virtual pinball games for Pinball FX 2 released by Zen Studios. The four games were a part of the Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles. The games being World War Hulk,^[41] The Avengers,^[42] Infinity Gauntlet,^[43] and (as Nul, Breaker of Worlds) Fear Itself.^[44] As well as Avengers: Age of Ultron.^[45]
• The Hulk appears as a main character theme in four online slot games made by Cryptologic and Playtech.^[46]
• The Hulk is a playable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance. His alternate costumes include his Planet Hulk and Avengers costumes.
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in the 2012 fighting game Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.
• The Hulk is a playable character in the MMORPG Marvel Heroes voiced again by Fred Tatasciore.^[47]
• The Hulk is a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes voiced again by Fred Tatasciore.^[48]
• The Hulk's costume was available in Club Penguin during the Avengers edition of the game.
• The Hulk is a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics.
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.
• Triple H voices The Hulk in The Marvel Experience.^[49][50]
• The Hulk appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 3.0.
• The Hulk is a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
• A teenage version of Hulk appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by wrestler John Cena.^[51]

Theatre

• The Hulk appears in the Marvel Universe Live! stage show.^[52]

Popular culture references

• 1979/92/94: Saturday Night Live
  • season 4, episode 15 sketch called "Superhero Party" has John Belushi playing the Hulk when Superman (Bill Murray) and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) are married and having a dinner party
  • season 18, episode 8 sketch called "Superman's Funeral", where the Hulk (portrayed by Chris Farley) is one of the speakers.
  • season 20, episode 9 sketch called "The Incredible Hulk", where the Hulk (portrayed by George Foreman) gets bored at a needlessly repetitive sketch.
• 1990: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes episode – "Tomato from the Black Lagoon", Chad Finletter sees a man getting angry and impatient while waiting for a plane, then the man starts to turn into a green muscular monster as he gets angry.
• 1991: Taz-Mania – episode "Dr. Wendal and Mr. Taz", Wendal is irradiated in an "Ultra gamma ray testing booth", mistaking it for a tanning booth, causing him to transform into a giant, violent monster whenever he is made upset.
• 1996: Adventures of Ricardo short – originally seen on MTV's Cartoon Sushi and available on The Animation Show DVD, the title character professes his love of the character, renamed "The Incwedibul Hunk" here due to Ricardo's speech impediment
• 1996: Dexter's Laboratory – a purple-skinned parody of the Hulk named "The Infraggable Krunk" (voiced by Frank Welker) made a few appearances in season one and shared a segment called "The Justice Friends" with Major Glory (a parody of Captain America voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Valhallen (a parody of Thor voiced by Tom Kenny).
• 1998, 2004: MADtv
  • season 3, episode 17 skit showed a man (portrayed by Will Sasso) becoming a miniature version of the Hulk (portrayed by Alex Borstein), and a
  • season 9, episode 19 skit, Bruce Banner (portrayed by Ike Barinholtz) tries to create a serum that will prevent him from becoming the Hulk, unfortunately the serum causes him to turn into a homosexual Hulk (portrayed by Paul Vogt).
• 1999–2011: Family Guy
  • episode "Chitty Chitty Death Bang" (1999), a part in Peter Griffin's obviously made-up story to Lois Griffin has him turning into the Hulk to attack the devilish manager of the place he is supposed to have Stewie's birthday
  • The end credits for the episode "Wasted Talent" (2000) are run while Joe Harnell's "The Lonely Man" plays in homage to The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series); it shows Stewie hitchhiking along the side of the freeway á la David Banner
  • episode "A Fish out of Water" (2001), Peter buys a fishing boat and gives it the name of "S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk put it together"
  • episode "Emission Impossible" (2001), Peter asks Lois's sister if he can have her husband's shirts so that he can imitate Hulk ripping his shirt off throughout; And the 2011
  • episode: "And I'm Joyce Kinney", replaces the regular Family Guy opening with a spoof of the Hulk TV series opening, placing Stewie as David Banner, Peter as the Hulk and Tom Tucker as Jack McGee
• 2001 (Dr. Dre album): On the song "Some L.A. Niggas," rapper King T compares the marijuana he smokes to the Hulk, with the line, "Smoke big green, call it Bruce Banner"
• 2002: Scrubs – episode "My Student", after the medical student assigned to J.D. made numerous mistakes, J.D. gets angry and transforms into the Hulk
• 2002/08: The Simpsons
  • episode "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes", a Hulk-parody character, called the "Mulk", is shown fighting another ingenious Marvel parody, "The Thung"
  • episode "I Am Furious (Yellow)", Homer turns into the Hulk
• 2005–13: The character appears in the Robot Chicken episodes: "The Deep End" (2005), "Badunkadunk" (2005), "Two Weeks Without Food" (2009), "Executed by the State" (2012), "Collateral Damage in Gang Turf War" (2012), "Eaten by Cats" (2013)
• 2006: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – Lil' Bow Wow has a Hulk-themed car.
• 2007: The Hulk appears in the South Park episode trilogy "Imaginationland"
• 2008: In the parody film Disaster Movie, the character is played by Roland Kickinger
• 2010: Castle – episode "Tick, Tick, Tick...", Martha Rodgers (played by Susan Sullivan) watches a video of the pilot episode of The Incredible Hulk, where she plays Dr. Marks
• 2016: Bruce Banner (portrayed by Lloyd Ahlquist) and The Hulk (portrayed by Mike O'Hearn) appear in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, rap battling against Bruce and Caitlyn Jenner respectively. He also appeared in the 69th episode of the popular online show from ScrewAttack, Death Battle, where he fought Doomsday from DC Comics in a hypothetical battle to the death and lost. He also fought and lost against Broly from Dragon Ball Z in a One Minute Melee.
• Several Twitter accounts exist that parody the Hulk, including Feminist Hulk,^[53] Drunk Hulk, and Film Crit Hulk

References