Hey guys, I’m Kya and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
Y’know, we weren’t sure how we were going to tackle the Jade Giant.
After all, Yellow Spandex is a show about superhero fashion,
and even I wouldn’t sit through a 10 minute video about some shredded purple pants.
Dammit! It's not like purple pants grow on trees!
There's only tailor's that carries these things and it's all the way downtown and now I'm ARRRGHH!!!
But the Hulk’s visual evolution isn’t about costumes,
it’s about colors.
So let’s look beyond the tattered trousers and talk about
The Hulk: From Grey to Green and Everything In-Between
When Hulk first appeared in 1962, he wasn’t the green goliath we know today,
Originally, he was rendered in
Shades of Grey
In response to comics using exaggerated skin tones to further racial stereotypes,
Lee and Kirby chose grey for their misunderstood monster,
because it couldn’t reflect any ethnicities, it’s neutral.
Big respect to Stan and Jack, but the grey created a massive problem:
Back then, comics were printed on the cheap,
using a primitive four-color process that was great for a big bold palette,
but made it impossible to show a consistent grey.
Hulk changes throughout the first issue,
ranging from pale and chalky to a dark slate that almost looks blue.
No no no, I'm not in the group yet. I'm afraid I just blue myself.
There's gotta be a better way to say that.
So for the second issue, they changed him without explanation to a nice, even green,
and the rest is comics history.
For years, Hulk’s original coloring was just an odd piece of trivia,
until writer Peter David brought it back to continuity in 1986.
He introduced the concept of multiple personalities battling for Banner’s brain,
and cast the Grey Hulk as a sleazy Las Vegas mob enforcer named Joe Fixit.
Because of his intelligence, he’s not quite as strong as his Savage green counterpart,
but he can drive a car and rock a mean tuxedo.
Check out what a little power shopping can do!
Still, it’s not the first image that comes to mind when we think of the rampaging Hulk.
Let’s talk about
Going Green.
As the character evolved, more classic Hulk elements fell into place.
Hulk’s speech became simpler and more childlike,
with Hulk only referring to Hulk in the third person.
Hulk like fire, Thor like water.
We're kind of both like fire.
Hulk like real fire.
Hulk like raging fire. Thor like smoldering fire.
And instead of the full moon or gamma machines,
rage became the catalyst for his transformation.
But the most important development was only skin deep.
In comics, heroes are usually depicted in bright, primary colors like reds and blues,
while villains are typically decked out in garish greens and purples.
Think Doctor Doom, Joker, Green Goblin... Basically all of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery.
For a character that walks the line between man and monster,
like the Hulk,
green was the perfect fit.
Once the pigment problem was settled,
green became baked into the Hulk’s DNA,
no matter what incarnation.
Whether it’s the brainy Professor,
the malevolent Maestro from the distant future,
or even non-Banners like She-Hulk and Amadeus Cho.
Gamma and green go together like Batman and dead parents,
especially in live-action, where the Hulk became
A Smash Hit
The iconic ‘70s Hulk show made a lot of changes from the source material,
mostly to distance itself from it’s cheesy, kiddy comic book origins.
That’s why his name is David Banner, instead of Bruce.
Now, that didn’t bother Marvel too much,
but they drew the line when producer Kenneth Johnson argued the Hulk should be red.
His reasoning is actually pretty solid:
Is he the jealous Hulk? When people are angry, they get red with rage!
The color of rage is red! He'd be flushed with anger!
And also, red is a human color. Green is not.
But Marvel had too much invested in their jolly green giant,
and the skin color stayed,
although they paid tribute to the idea decades later by introducing their own Red Hulk into the comics in 2008.
To portray the Hulk’s raw strength, they cast bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno.
He donned a wig made of yak hair,
and contacts that were so painful he could only wear them 15 minutes at a time,
which definitely helped his performance as a tortured rage monster.
Ferrigno played the character for five years,
and for a lot of people, he is the Hulk.
Hulk has me in a sleeperhold and I don't think I can I can take him!
Those are some big, beefy shoes to fill,
so for Ang Lee’s 2003 film, they created the Hulk out of CGI instead.
Look, there are a lot of reasons to hate on this ‘Hulk.’
It came out in a weird time, after ‘X-Men’ but before ‘Iron Man,’
where Hollywood was still figuring out how to make superhero movies work.
Lock down the entire facility immediately.
It’s a weird-ass film,
but it gave the world green Hershey’s Syrup and Hulk Hands,
The power of the Hulk in my hands! AND I LIKE IT!
so it’s not a total loss.
As for Hulk himself, yeah, no bones about it, dude kinda looks like Shrek.
I know it’s still in the early days of computer animation,
but this wasn’t some two-bit FX house with a Gateway 2000,
this was ILM.
Plus, ‘The Mummy Returns’ already proved the viability of a realistic CGI character two years earlier,
so what’s your excuse, Dennis Muren?
I’m sure they tried their best, but in the days before mo-cap became standard,
the animators didn’t have a lot to rely on besides reference footage of Eric Bana grimacing.
Five years later, the tech had progressed enough to deliver an incredible onscreen Hulk.
Problem was, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is
A Tale of Two Hulks
There are a few things certain in life.
Death, taxes,
and the fact that the 2008 ‘Incredible Hulk’ movie is still MCU canon.
That's right, you heard right. Edward Norton? Mark Ruffalo? Same person. Same character. Whatever. Deal with it, this is what we got.
I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out.
No one cares about Terrence Howard!
No one talks about the fact that Terrance Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle!
It's so sad because Terrence Howard is like 'next time, baby,' and he never knew there would never be a next time.
It's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on. Drop it!
It’s no shock that it was completely overshadowed by ‘Iron Man,’
and compared to Robert Downey Jr.’s raw charisma,
Edward Norton had all the screen presence of wet newspaper.
I can't get too excited...
But the Hulk himself looked pretty awesome.
They went with shaggy Ferrigno-style hair,
darker skin to reflect the green blood pumping in his veins,
and a chiseled build that made the pudgy Eric Bana Hulk look like a sumo wrestler.
It’s a great look for the first and so-far only time Norton wore the purple pants.
So why did Marvel kick him to the curb?
After Ang Lee’s angsty ‘Hulk,’
the studio wanted a tighter, more action-packed movie.
But Norton was promised creative control,
and he wasn’t happy when Marvel slashed away the character development in his script.
That kind of stuff is par for the course in Hollywood,
but it’s rare to see a studio throw a talent under the bus so publically.
In a statement explaining the recasting, Marvel said:
‘’The Avengers’ demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble.’
Oof. Don't get on Disney's bad side, folks.
Piece of shit!!! Ha ha!
Lucky for them, Mark Ruffalo is a team player.
‘Avengers’ was the first time the same actor could play Banner and the Hulk,
thanks to ILM’s motion-capture technology that captured every nuance of Ruffalo's surprisingly chill performance.
Now would be a really good time for you to get angry.
That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry.
Although it couldn’t capture the subtle curves of his dad-bod,
which is why the Hulk’s build was based on a male stripper from Long Island, instead.
The more you know!
No matter who provided the pecs,
Ruffalo’s Hulk is the most incredible incarnation yet.
He can rock those purple pants like no tomorrow,
and, since this is Yellow Spandex,
I’ve got to give props to the MCU for recreating one of the few times he’s ever worn a costume in the comics.
‘Ragnarok’s’ gamma gladiator look is straight from ‘Planet Hulk,’
and those beads when he’s chilling actually come from an ‘Ultimate’ miniseries where he fights Wolverine.
No matter what he’s wearing,
or who’s playing him,
the Hulk has become a keystone of the entire MCU,
and one of the most fleshed-out characters in it,
all without his own movie.
Universal still has the rights to a standalone Hulk film,
and they aren’t giving the green light anytime soon.
Considering both of his solo ventures bombed,
maybe the Hulk just works better as part of an ensemble.
Maybe you need to see him next to other superheroes,
to provide a contrast for his terrible situation.
Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled.And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.
The Hulk became a phenomenon because he was so different from characters that came before.
from his size to his skin color to his tortured soul.
His teammates might have better tailors,
but when the gang’s all assembled,
every other Avenger is green with envy.
Hulk... Smash!