Almost every major Marvel comic book character appears on-screen in some capacity, but it took until the last ten years and the cosmic success of the MCU for a lot of them to make the transition. Others made the leap early, and in the case of the Hulk, very successfully. The Hulk in many ways represents the first live-action Marvel success.
Not all the early Marvel comic screen adaptations proved successful but The Incredible Hulk, which debuted in 1978 on CBS, provided a unique showcase for the character and a framework for how to approach comic characters in a serial format.
Updated September 2nd, 2022 by Darby Harn: She-Hulk: Attorney At Law brings the Hulk to the small screen, but it’s not the first time the iconic Marvel Comics character appeared on television. The Hulk spearheaded Marvel Comics’ foray into live-action in many ways with the 1978 CBS series and carved out a path for many shows and movies to follow in the decades after. Hulk’s appearance in the new MCU streaming series also links back to a key thing fans may not know about the 1978 Hulk series starring Lou Ferrigno. The TV show actually prompted Marvel Comics to create She-Hulk, leading to her debut on the printed page in The Savage She-Hulk #1 in 1980.
The Savage She-Hulk
Comic book fans know She-Hulk owes her existence in large measure to the 1978 Hulk series. Stan Lee, responsible for many iconic Marvel Comics superheroes, co-created She-Hulk for the comics along with artist John Buscema in 1980 because he feared that the CBS series was about to beat him to it. He had reason to think so based on the circumstances.
The Incredible Hulk producer Kenneth Johnson had already spun The Bionic Woman from the successful Six Million Dollar Man series. Knowing that CBS would own the copyright on any original characters created for the series and not Marvel, Lee introduced Jennifer Walters into the comics first. She ultimately never appeared in the TV show.
The First Marvel Movie
The Incredible Hulk not only charted new territory as a TV series, it in some ways counts as Marvel’s first movie. The original 1977 pilot played in theaters in Europe as a standalone movie. The character’s second appearance, The Return of the Incredible Hulk, also received theatrical distribution in some foreign countries.
The movie did appear at the same time as a pilot for The Amazing Spider-Man, similarly receiving distribution in theaters outside the United States, though it likely doesn’t rank high among the most rewatchable Spider-Man movies. A Captain America serial movie from Republic Pictures premiered in 1944, but this predated the actual Marvel Universe and emerged when the company was still called Timely Comics.
David, Not Bruce, Bruce Banner
A lot of things changed between the comic book and the television series, but one of the strangest and most obvious ones is that it wasn’t Bruce Banner as the main character, but David Banner. While the origin of the character is somewhat similar in the show, the name change mystified fans at the time.
Many reasons factored into the change, but the main reason seems to be that producer Kenneth Johnson, also responsible for the Alien Nation TV series, simply wanted to name the character after his son. The show also changed some biographical details about Banner, including making him a widower.
Journeyman
The part of David Banner went to veteran actor Bill Bixby, who brought a quiet intensity to the role that helped sell the idea that a raging green monster was hiding inside him. The green contact lenses helped a lot, too. Bixby started acting in the early 1960s and achieved success and acclaim in a series of roles, including reporter Tim O’Hara in My Favorite Martian, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and The Magician.
Bixby went on to direct the last two Incredible Hulk TV movies, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk. He also directed numerous episodes of the sitcom Blossom.
Hulked Out
While Bill Bixby played David Banner, the part of the Incredible Hulk went to another actor, Lou Ferrigno. In the days before CGI, realizing a gigantic green Hulk on screen proved a challenge, but Ferrigno absolutely met it and then some. A world-class bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and IFBB Mr. Universe titles two years running.
He also appeared in the documentary Pumping Iron, which focused on bodybuilding and featured his rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger. His association with the character continues into recent screen versions. He made cameo appearances in both the 2003 and 2008 Hulk movies.
Makeup Changes
Lou Ferrigno possessed the size for the Hulk no problem, but portraying a convincing green goliath took some doing. Playing the iconic role required the actor to get covered head to toe in green makeup, which took three hours to apply.
In the early episodes of the series, Ferrigno wore monstrous facial makeup to help convey how much more of a creature the Hulk was, but this was considered too much and ultimately toned down to green contact lenses and a wig made out of dyed yak hair.
Hulk Sandals
Comic book fans know the Hulk goes barefoot thanks to his shoes shredding when he transforms. He does in the 1978 TV series too, but behind the scenes, Ferrigno wore sandals. In shots where his feet remained out of frame, Ferrigno wore green-colored sandals to protect his feet while running and jumping in action scenes.
Hulk routinely ran down city streets, particularly in the episode where he goes on a rampage in Times Square. The sandals appear in numerous pictures taken from the production and appear almost like ballerina slippers given how thin and form-fitting they are.
Two Different Pilots
The show didn’t immediately become a series, as is usually the case with successful pilots. After the initial success of the first pilot in November 1977, CBS produced another special called The Return of the Incredible Hulk. This episode eventually became known as Death In The Family in syndication, not to be confused with one of the best Batman comic book storylines ever.
With the success of the show proven in the back-to-back pilots, The Incredible Hulk officially kicked off in 1978 on CBS and ran through 1982, though production stopped in early 1981.
One Of Three Superhero Shows On The Air
MCU fans might consider the modern-day the Golden Age for superheroes in live-action and for good reason, but The Incredible Hulk heralded an unusual moment for the genre. The 1978 Hulk series counted among three different superhero TV shows on the air at the time, including the classic Lynda Carter Wonder Woman series.
In addition, Hulk established an embryonic MCU of sorts by appearing at the same time as The Amazing Spider-Man, a mostly forgotten show that also aired on CBS from 1977 to 1979, airing only thirteen episodes before it was canceled.
The Hulk Almost Teamed Up With Spider-Man
Though the Spider-Man series didn’t enjoy the same success the 1978 Hulk show did, the two nearly crossed over. This occurred many years later after both shows ceased production. Universal pursued what would ultimately become a series of TV movies featuring the Hulk and Bill Bixby sought Spider-Man actor Nicholas Hammond to come back to the role.
Sadly, the two characters never met. Though with many Spider-Man variants appearing in live-action and animation at the moment, it’s not out of the question for the 1977 version to pop up somewhere in the near future.
Transitions
Making the Hulk work on the small screen required scaling him down in many ways. The TV show powered down the Hulk from the comics quite a bit. The comic book version routinely performs massive feats of strength, but on the show, it wasn’t feasible – or practical – for the Hulk to punch through mountains or lift buildings.
Another change producers mandated is that the Hulk didn’t talk. In the comics, the Hulk speaks a little (depending on the version) but this one never did. Ferrigno did provide the Hulk’s voice in the MCU The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Almost The Red Hulk
One change producer Kenneth Johnson considered was changing the Hulk to be red. Johnson liked the idea of a red Hulk because he thought the color red conveyed the rage and anger inherent in the character more than the green. That idea makes sense as the Red Hulk has become a popular character in recent comics and a powerful Hulk villain.
The Red Hulk, the enraged gamma-persona of General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, likely appears in the MCU in the near future given his connection to the Hulks as well as the Thunderbolts team.
Change Agent
Johnson came to the role of executive producer on the 1978 series after he was offered his choice of any of the myriad Marvel characters Universal Television had under license at the time.
Johnson didn’t like comic books that much, but he saw the potential for a powerful drama in the Hulk character given his personal demons.
Though he disliked comics, Johnson loved science fiction. He later went on to develop the NBC alien invasion miniseries V, which featured an alien race invading Earth for its water supply, while appearing to be peaceful and cooperative.
Cameo Appearance
Johnson appreciated them enough to honor where his success had come from. The show featured a number of high-profile guest stars including Kim Cattrall, Ray Walston, and even Lou Ferrigno, sans green makeup in another role. But its two best might have been a pair of small cameos right out of the comics.
Hulk co-creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby each appeared in the series in small roles, though Lee’s didn’t occur until a made-for-TV movie in the late 1980s.
The First MCU
Not only did The Incredible Hulk provide a template for later comic-book-based television shows, but it also could be considered a prototype MCU. While the television show generally avoided comic connections, when the Hulk returned as a series of made-for-TV movies on NBC in the late 1980s, things changed.
The first movie, The Incredible Hulk Returns, introduced Thor. The second in 1989, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, gave fans its first screen Daredevil and Kingpin, played by John Rhys-Davies, and brought back Thor for an early Marvel live-action team-up.
