Dr. David Banner—physician, scientist…searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now, when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter.
[Banner:] “Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
The creature is wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. David Banner is believed to be dead. And he must let the world think that he is dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him. – ‘The Incredible Hulk’ opening narration.
The second of the CBS superhero shows to be produced would be the one with the most endearing legacy: The Incredible Hulk. The Hulk, like Spider-Man, was created from the fertile mind of Stan Lee. After The Fantastic Four’s initial success, the member with the greatest response from the public was The Thing, the group’s resident monster-like strongman. Lee got the idea to create a new monster hero with a few literary influences as well:
“It was patently apparent that [the monstrous character the] Thing was the most popular character in [Marvel’s recently created superhero team the] Fantastic Four. … For a long time I’d been aware of the fact that people were more likely to favor someone who was less than perfect. … It’s a safe bet that you remember Quasimodo, but how easily can you name any of the heroic, handsomer, more glamorous characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame?”
“And then there’s Frankenstein … I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Frankenstein monster. No one could ever convince me that he was the bad guy. … He never wanted to hurt anyone; he merely groped his torturous way through a second life trying to defend himself, trying to come to terms with those who sought to destroy him.”
“… I decided I might as well borrow from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well—our protagonist would constantly change from his normal identity to his superhuman alter ego and back again”( 2019. Hulk( comics), Wikipedia).
The Hulk debuted in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962) by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The Hulk was initially gray during his debut. However, the printers at Marvel could not make a consistent gray. Stan Lee makes the decision to change The Hulk to the color most associated with the character: Green. The original run of The Hulk only lasted six issues before cancellation.
The Hulk then become a popular guest star in other titles like The Avengers, The Fantastic Four or The Amazing Spider-Man. The Hulk eventually got his own title in 1966 that continues to this day.
The producer chosen to helm the Hulk series was veteran producer/writer/director Kenneth Johnson. Johnson has previously had success in the realm of science-fiction as the executive producer of The Six Million Dollar Man and creator of its equally popular spin-off, The Bionic Woman.
Kenneth explained his choice to do the series in an interview on YouTube:
‘When Universal first came to me with the idea of doing one of the Marvel superheroes, Frank Price called me and said ‘We’ve just acquired the rights to five of them. Which one do you would you like to do?”. I said ‘Gee, none of them, Frank’. I just don’t connect to people in spandex and primary colors. Then, my wife Susie had just gotten this book and I was in the middle of reading it. {This is} Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The story of Jean ValJean being pursued by Inspector Javert and living life as a fugitive. So, I had all of that sort of Victor Hugo story in my head. I realized it was a way to take a little Victor Hugo, a little Robert Louis Stevenson and this ludricrous thing called The Incredible Hulk and turn it into a serious psychological adult drama. I didn’t want it to be comic-book-y in any way’.
Also, like the Spider-man show, the producer made a number of changes for the mainstream audience:
- The first change made to the character was to change the name of the main character from Bruce Banner to David Banner. The reason being that the producer wanted to get away the alliterate names that are associated with the character’s comic roots (Lois Lane, Peter Parker, etc). NOTE: The name David is a tribute to Johnson’s own son, David. Stan Lee was not happy with the change. So, as a compromise, Johnson made the character’s full name David Bruce Banner.
- The Hulk’s supporting cast was also abandoned (no Rick Jones, no Thunderbolt Ross, no Betty Ross).
- For the character’s origin story, Banner’s exposure to gamma rays happens during a lab experiment gone wrong as opposed to an atomic explosion like in the comics.
- Also changed was the fact that Banner is gamma-irradiated during a test on himself rather than being a victim of circumstance.
- Banner’s job was changed to medical researcher/physician from a nuclear physicist.
- The TV Hulk did not speak at all (he just growled and roared). Hulk co-creator Stan Lee was actually supportive of this change: “When we started the television show, Ken said to me, ‘You know, Stan, I don’t think the Hulk should talk.’ The minute he said it, I knew he was right. [In the comics,] I had the Hulk talking like this: ‘Hulk crush! Hulk get him!’ I could get away with it in a comic, but that would have sounded so silly if he spoke that way in a television show.“
NOTE: Johnson also wanted the Hulk to be colored red instead of green. He felt that red, not green, is the color of rage, and also because red is a “human color” whereas green is not. However, Stan Lee said that the Hulk’s color was not something that could be changed because of its iconic image. However, Marvel Comics did introduce a Red Hulk 30 years later in 2008.
Casting Dr. Banner and The Hulk:
Veteran actor Bill Bixby was the producer’s first and only choice to play Dr. David Banner. NOTE: Bixby had several TV shows under his belt before the Hulk series like My Favorite Martian, The Magician and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Like Johnson, Bixby was initially hesitant about taking the role but he signed on enthusiastically because he loved the pilot script. Bixby’s sensibility and ‘everyman’ likability was the anchor of the show.
In fact, all the successive live-action actors to play Banner (Eric Bana, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo) have all stated that Bixby’s Banner is the measuring stick they aimed for. Bixby suffered many personal tragedies during the run of the Hulk series (he lost both his only son and his ex-wife in less than a year). After the series, Bixby became a highly sought-after TV director. Bixby died of complications from prostate cancer on November 21, 1993 at age 59 years old.
As for the Hulk, the producer cast champion bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno to play the Green Giant. Prior to the series, Lou won many championships in bodybuilding like Mr. America and Mr. Universe. At 6’5 and 285lbs, Lou was the largest bodybuilder in the world at the time and participated in the ESPN World’s Strongest Man competition (Lou finished 4th).
Lou’s only acting credit was a documentary called Pumping Iron, where Lou was on the quest for the title of Mr. Olympia against his rival Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lou won the role because of not only his size, but his innate ability to convey emotion without talking.
After the end of the series, Lou would go on to become as synonymous with The Hulk as Arnold Schwarzenegger is with The Terminator. Lou made cameo appearances in the 2003 film Hulk and the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk ( both as a security guard). Lou also voiced The Hulk in the 1996 Incredible Hulk cartoon series and in MCU films like The Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
The only other regular in the cast was character actor Jack Colvin as reporter Jack McGee. Not originally in the comics, McGee was created by Johnson for the show and was inspired by Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. McGee was usually the only one to call the character ‘The Hulk’ ( Banner himself always referred him as ‘ The Creature’). NOTE: Colvin’s most famous film role was the doctor who was killed with an electroshock machine by Chucky The Killer Doll in the original Child’s Play.
The Hulk’s makeup was created by Werner Keppler. It consisted of a fake forehead, nosepiece, fake teeth, a Yak Hair wig and hard contact lenses that could only be worn for 15 minutes at a time. The most difficult part of the process was applying green grease paint makeup all over Lou’s body. Ferrigno describes the process for The 13th Dimension:
‘It took about three-and-a-half to four hours to put on because back then, we didn’t have the spray-on method. They had a ball of clay that they would run on. The face took about an hour-and-a-half. I would be the first one on the set. I had a custom shower built in my motor home because every time I would take a shower, the motor home would be covered with green paint. I had two makeup guys who would scrub the makeup off my back’( Greenfield, 2018, LOU FERRIGNO: When I Was the INCREDIBLE HULK, The 13th Dimension).
The Hulk’s growls on the series, however, were provided by actor Ted Cassidy for the first two seasons and actor Charles Napier for the rest of the series.
Composer Joe Harnell created the famous “The Lonely Man” theme for the show. “The Lonely Man” was a somber piano piece that is played over the opening titles and over the closing credits as Banner hitchhikes down to the next adventure. As the years have passed, ‘The Lonely Man’ has become the most iconic piece of music most associated with The Hulk. “The Lonely Man’ theme has appeared on shows like Family Guy and MADTV and in films like The Incredible Hulk and Thor Ragnarok.
Origin:
David Bruce Banner, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician and scientist employed at the Culver Institute in California. One year earlier, David survived a car accident that killed his beloved wife, Laura. Banner is haunted and traumatized by his inability to save her. With the help of his friend Dr. Elaina Marks, Banner begins a scientific study of people who summoned superhuman strength in order to save their loved ones. Banner is obsessed with finding the source of that strength. During the interviews, Banner and Elaina analyze the following subjects:
- Jessie Meyer and her son BJ have a car accident that identical to Banner’s. The difference is that Mrs. Meyer was able to lift her car to save her son.
- A German woman who bends a steel beam she was trapped under during an earthquake.
- An Italian man trying to save a group during a fire kicks down a massive fire door. He was informed that it would’ve taken a battering ram to knock down the door otherwise.
- A young soldier saves his friend while under heavy enemy fire during an ambush. This resulted in the loss of his left arm and 17 bullets pulled out of his body but his friend was saved. Banner informs the young soldier that a medevac deemed his heroic act as ‘physically impossible’. The soldier’s response: “ I guess he was wrong”.
Banner and Elaina look into the DNA of their subjects and discovers they all share a rare genetic deviation: an abnormal content of the ademine/thymine combination. At Elaina’s insistence, Banner checks his own DNA and discovers he has the deviation too (and in a much larger amount than the others). Elaina hypothesizes that an external factor is at play and leaves for the night. Alone and angry, Banner discovers that high levels of gamma radiation from sunspots may be the source of the subjects’ increase in strength. Impatient to test his theory, Banner decides to conduct an unsupervised experiment in the lab. What Banner is unaware of is that a technician has been tuning up most of the lab equipment for higher energy levels. Strapping into an X-ray-like device, Banner subjects himself to an ‘injection’ of (what he thinks is) 200,000 units of gamma radiation for 15 seconds (The injection is actually over 2 MILLION units). Sensing no immediate change, Banner angrily leaves in his car for the night during a thunderstorm. A downed tree causes a flat tire that Banner must change in the pouring rain. His building frustration plus the pain of slamming his hand in the ground triggers ‘a startling metamorphosis’. Banner’s eyes turn white and this begins his transformation into a massive, heavily muscled, green-skinned monster of a man with a sub-human mind and superhuman strength. Banner destroys his car and walks off into the night as THE INCREDIBLE HULK is born!
Banner and Elaina look into the transformation and discover the cause of his change: Anger. Meanwhile, reporter Jack McGee investigates the creature’s first appearance, showing up to Banner’s lab with a giant Bigfoot-size footprint. McGee even names the creature ‘The Hulk’. When they attempt to reverse the process, McGee sneaks in the lab and knocks over some volatile chemicals. Banner finds McGee and escorts him out, warning him with the fateful words: “Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” McGee’s mishap causes an explosion that Elaina is caught in. Banner goes back into the lab to save her and he changes into The Hulk. The reporter sees the creature emerge with Elaina’s lifeless body and blames the “Incredible Hulk” for both Banner and Elaina’s apparent deaths. Having been declared dead by the media, Banner begins his new existence as a drifter, walking the Earth from place to place. He finds himself feeling obliged to help the people he meets out of whatever troubles have befallen them but his goal is to cure himself from a curse that he himself caused. Meanwhile, McGee endlessly continues to pursue the mysterious monster, whom he believes got away with a double murder( and to save his own career).
Powers/Abilities:
Gifted Intelligence/ Medical Training: Banner is a highly intelligent physician and scientist. Prior to his supposed ‘death’, Dr. David Banner was highly regarded by his peers as one of the most brilliant physicians in the United States. He was a guest professor/lecturer at the many of the country’s most prestigious colleges like Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. Banner is a general practitioner of medicine with experience in areas like surgery, diabetes and has even delivered babies. His work with radiation also required that Banner have a national security clearance. Many of the medical professionals that David encounters in his travels are familiar with him. Despite not knowing what he looks like, they often speak of him and his work in reverence.
- “ Married”: Dr. Carolyn Fields said his work with diseases like A.L.S. was ‘brilliant’ and ‘pioneering’.
- “ The Beast Within” : Dr. Claudia Baxter keeps a book of all his collected articles for her research in aggression therapy( though she found him to be long-winded).
- “ Killer Instinct”: Dr. Bryon Stewart compares himself to Banner in terms of brilliance but feels he has taken the aggression study further than Banner ever did.
Banner saw The Hulk as a disease that needed to be treated. Despite his transient lifestyle, Banner remains up to date with all the latest trends in medicine as it relates to his ‘disorder’. One episode shows him able to help a young med student pass her diagnostic exam from sheer memory. Banner is also shown to be an expert computer hacker and mathematician. Many episodes have Banner often on the way to consult with some professional who has a new form of treatment that could cure him. Though a man of science, Banner was open to and knowledgeable of alternative medicine like Chinese meditation, Native American potions, and hypnotherapy.
Adaptability/ Subterfuge: As a fugitive, Banner would often assume different identities and odd jobs to support himself and sometimes to enable his research. He would usually keep his first name while changing his surname which would start with the letter ‘B’ (Baxter, Bradburn, Blaine, Blake, Brown, etc). Many episodes show Banner acquiring or creating fake IDs and adopting personas like an upscale gentleman or a mentally disabled janitor. Banner had many low-profile manual labor jobs like a gardener, a bartender, or a dishwasher. David would also get higher profile jobs like a medical assistant, personal valet or a hospital orderly. Banner was even able to resume his medical career as ‘Dr. David Banion’ with a 2-year stint at the Joshua Lambert Institute in L.A.
Transformation:
“I have a mutation, near the rage center of my brain. And during moments of anger or fear, it secretes a hormone and I become a mutant thing, a beast until that rage ends”– David Banner.
After an accident overdose of gamma radiation, Banner now experiences a full body transformation that is triggered by surges of adrenaline in response to feelings of fear, pain or anger. The process itself is as follows:
- Banner reaches a certain breaking point.
- Banner’s eyes turn a whitish green.
- His body secretes a mutated hormone as it slowly begins to gain over one hundred pounds of pure muscle. He is shown ripping out of his clothes as his new form bursts through.
- Banner’s skin, nails and hair turn to an olive-like green color.
Banner describe his transformation medically as ‘a neurosynaptic disfunction that leads to hyperactivity followed by blackouts’. The process appears to be a heightened version of the ‘fight or flight response’ in regular human beings. Triggers of the transformation can be violent (getting into a fight), painful (getting injured or bitten) or just built-up frustration (dealing with an uncooperative cabbie). It only takes seconds for the change to take place. Banner has no conscious control while transformed and has no memory of his actions as The Hulk. The ‘coming down’ process leaves Banner confused and dehydrated. Banner only knew what The Hulk looked like through pictures in the tabloids for years but finally sees The Hulk in action on videotape for the first time in The Death of The Incredible Hulk.
Banner describes in detail what the transformation feels like for him: “I felt a chill rushing through my body. Something was happening. I had a feeling inside me like 100 people shouting all at once. Like a locomotive beginning to roar. I felt a surging, an infusion of strength in my muscles, vibrating with a strange life of their own. I could feel a force welling up inside me. And then I black out. ”
The Hulk:
‘It is a man who metamorphosizes into something superhuman. Jekyll into Hyde, only not fiction, fact’.– Jack McGee
The Hulk is the brutish bestial persona that David Banner assumes during moments of anger or pain. The Hulk is characterized as a large green skinned humanoid with a massive, overdeveloped musculature and a sloped forehead like a Neanderthal caveman. Hulk has the inherent personality of a small child. When angered, The Hulk is rage incarnate and capable of great destruction. When relaxed, The Hulk behaves like any curious animal. The Hulk is also especially kind to women, children, the elderly, the handicapped and small animals. The Hulk cannot communicate by speaking but can respond to a person’s emotions. The Hulk is primarily motivated in getting rid of whatever obstacle that is frustrating Banner at the time. The Hulk does not kill because it is driven by Banner’s peaceful personality. This can seen as The Hulk never punches anyone ( he merely shoves or tosses them away). Banner himself explains it as such: ‘From what I can gather the creature has never wantingly destroyed anything or seriously hurt anybody. Apparently he is motivated to deal with whatever frustrates or angers me. And I can’t tell you what it’s like every time when I… come back, wondering what has he done”.
Throughout many episodes, many different scientists get a chance to examine The Hulk:
“Mystery Man”: Jack McGee says that he has sent pictures of The Hulk to the top anthropologists in the country. He said their responses range from ‘obvious hoax’ to ‘freak mutation’.
“Prometheus”: A group of scientists look over The Hulk using various methods like X-rays: ‘His respiration seems quite human. Oxygen into C02. But there’s an average of 30 breaths per minute. His bone structure seems very human but enlarged.’
“Bring Me the Head of The Hulk”: A mercenary hired to kill The Hulk and does a full body workup of the creature to study:
Height: 219 cm (7’2”).
Weight: 195 kg (429 lbs.).
Biceps: 78 cm (30”).
Chest: 192 cm (75”).
Waist: 98.5 cm (38”).
Thighs: 101.8 cm (39”).
Hair: Green.
Eyes: White.
Sex: Male.
Race: Indeterminate
NOTE: In the reality of the series, The Hulk is the 3rd such creature to ever exist.
1. “Kindred Spirits” : This episode shows an archaeological dig that uncovers the existence of a pre-historic Hulk worshipped by early Native Americans as a god.
2. “The First”: The two-parter has David find out about a Hulk- like creature in the 1950s that terrorized the small town of Vassaria. The biggest difference is the 50’s Hulk is a bullied man that liked being a Hulk and who is capable of murder. This 50’s Hulk is played by actor/ stuntman Dick Durock. Durock would go on to play another green monster/superhero: SWAMP THING.
Superhuman Strength:
“Garland couldn’t understand the pure power of that creature. Witnesses saw he rip an entire engine of a car. I’ve seen the results of his destruction. It’s overwhelming. I sometimes wonder if there’s anything strong enough to stop him. Its as if his only reason for existing is to destroy”– Jack McGee
The Hulk’s primary power is his capacity of vast levels of superhuman strength. The Hulk is clearly the most physically powerful creature on Earth in the reality of the show. The Hulk’s strength is directly proportional to his level of rage, excitement, and stress. The Hulk is regularly seen knocking down brick walls, bending steel, and flipping over cars and trucks. The Hulk has even destroyed much larger machinery like bulldozers, forklifts and junkyard trash compactors. The Hulk has faced off against large animals like bears, dogs, gorillas, panthers and once wrestled a bull to the ground by its horns.
Here are some of The Hulk’s more impressive feats of strength:
• Kicking over a mobile home
• Preventing a helicopter from taking off with one hand
• Having a shoving match with an Army tank and won
• Overpowering a hydraulic press which caused a chain reaction that destroys a government base.
Superhuman Leaps: The Hulk’s strength extends to his legs as well. The Hulk can make leaps of over 20 feet in the air in many episodes. This ability also allows The Hulk to survive falls from hundreds of feet. The Hulk has fallen from various multi-story buildings like the LA Coliseum or the top of a medical center. The Hulk even survived a fall from an airplane during a botched skydiving accident.
Superhuman Durability: In addition to great strength, the Hulk’s body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. The Hulk is seen crashing through glass, steel doors and stone walls with no damage. Many people have hit The Hulk with weapons like bats, chairs, heavy tools and pieces of lumber to no avail. The Hulk has even taken massive jolts of electricity and the brunt of large explosions. However, The Hulk is not impervious to conventional weapons like guns. The Hulk has been shot multiple times (usually in the shoulder or arm) but heals quickly. This ability apparently diminished as he got older (A fall from a plane will lead to The Hulk’s death).
Healing Factor:
“ I am the strength and the healing. I can tear down a brick wall but I can mend bone and flesh on hours. Minutes. I have seen lacerations close in seconds. Bullet wounds heal. I don’t even have a scar”- David Banner.
The Hulk has a highly advanced healing factor that allows him to regenerate damaged areas of his body with far greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Banner describes it as a side effect of his metamorphosis with his metabolism working at an incredible rate (at least six times what would normally be expected). Banner has suffered many cuts, bullet wounds and broken bones with no lasting scar tissue. The healing factor even saved Banner from potentially permanent damage like blindness, paralysis, amnesia and radiation poisoning.
TV Movies:
The Incredible Hulk:
Debut: November 4, 1977 on CBS
An accidental overdose of gamma radiation creates a mutation in David Banner’s DNA, and, whenever he becomes angry, it causes him to metamorphose into a seven-foot-tall, 330-pound, green hulking creature. Tabloid newspaper reporter, Jack McGee begins investigating claims of a giant creature; his investigation leads to the laboratory that Banner was using. An explosion in the lab kills Banner’s associate and friend Dr. Elaina Marks; McGee, who dubs the creature “the Hulk”, believes it killed David too. Unable to explain the truth, nor control his transformations, David leaves to try to find a cure for himself.
Film Notes:
• The television movie was released overseas in movie theaters and debuted at #1 at the box office.
• The car explosion scene was the very first scene Lou Ferrigno shot as The Hulk. The explosion stunt left him with first degree burns on his chest.
• Lou Ferrigno was NOT the first person to play the Incredible Hulk. The producer first cast 7’2 actor Richard Kiel as The Hulk in this pilot. While Richard had the height, he did not have the bulk needed for the character.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger also auditioned to play The Hulk but he wasn’t tall enough.
The Return of The Incredible Hulk: ( AKA “A Death In The Family”)
Debut: November 27, 1977 on CBS
In his first adventure, David is on the run from Jack McGee and the authorities, with everyone believing that he was killed along with Elaina. Still trying to find a cure, David ‘Benton’ accidentally finds himself in the middle of a plot to kill a young, crippled girl named Julie Griffith so her unscrupulous stepmother can inherit the fortune. As The Hulk, Banner manages to save her life and provide her with help so that she can walk again.
Film Notes:
• The main purpose of this second movie was to show the audience (and The CBS brass) what an actual show with The Hulk would be like.
• This movie establishes the Hulk TV show formula:
- David meets a new friend or friends in his travels
- The friend is in some form of trouble or danger
- David feels obliged to help them and gets hassled for his trouble.
- David transforms into The Hulk to save his friend.
- David has to leave town after everything is resolved.
- David walks down a highway as ‘The Lonely Man’ theme plays.
The Incredible Hulk was a ratings hit for CBS and lasted for 80 episodes over 5 seasons. The Incredible Hulk is notable as the only live-action comic book based tv series to win an Emmy for acting (Guest star Mariette Hartley won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the episode ‘Married’). The series ran from 1978 to 1982.
After the cancellation of the television series in 1982, television was showing a successful boom in TV movies that revived cancelled TV shows. Shows like Columbo, Perry Mason and The Brady Bunch got new life as a result. In the late 80s’, three television movies by New World Pictures were produced with Bixby and Ferrigno reprising their roles as Dr. Banner and The Hulk. All of these TV movies aired on NBC: The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990).
The Death of the Incredible Hulk would be David Banner’s last adventure as the film ends with the Hulk taking a fatal fall from an airplane. Lying in a crater his body created, The Hulk reverts back to David Banner one last time. Just before he dies, he is joined by an Eastern European spy named Jasmin whom he fell in love with and two kidnapped scientists he saved. With Jasmin holding his hand, David says his last words:
Jasmin: David, no, don’t die. We can be free now.
David Banner: Jasmin… I am free.
David Banner passes away with a helicopter spotlight on his body as The Lonely Man theme plays one last time.
NEXT TIME: DOCTOR STRANGE…..