Source: THN
Date: 15th April, 2006
Posted by: Aaron Allen

Live Action Superhero Showdown: Film or Television?

(PART TWO)

This week, I continue my comparison of comic book properties that have been adapted both to live-action film and television. Last week I dealt with the only two properties from DC Comics to achieve this distinction - Batman and Superman - I argued that the films did justice to the comics far more than live-action television versions. Now I turn to Marvel Comics and the treatment of The Incredible Hulk (which oddly enough also includes Daredevil), and Captain America.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Movies: HULK (2003)

TV: The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982); The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988); The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989); The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990).

"Doctor 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. 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..."

With those iconic words, millions of television viewers in North America were introduced each week into the live action sc-fi/drama series The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby as the noble but tortured David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as his rampaging green alter ego, the Hulk.

The show ran from 1977-1982 on CBS, and featured a feature-length episode ("A Death in the Family") that aired as a mini-movie in 1977 after the initial pilot episode.

Pursued by investigative reporter Jack McGee, Banner would travel around the America in search of a cure, and each week he would find himself in a new city, with a new alias, a new job, and in a new adventure that would often result in him giving up a chance for a cure to save others. Like all shows, The Incredible Hulk encountered a few problems during its run; sometimes the writers would need to go to ridiculous lengths to make the formula interesting, and on a special effects and choreography front Ferrigno sometimes looked less than convincing as the Hulk with his silly wig, unevenly applied green body paint, and the occasional goofy shots that showed the green stalkings worn to protect the actors' feet when outdoors. However, the bulk of the show remains a remarkably likable and entertaining series. Although the series featured few story arches or recurring characters besides McGee and the insights he learned about the Hulk each season, the series was successful mainly because of Bixby's compelling characterization of Banner, one of the most likeable heroes on television. During the second season, actress Mariette Hartley won an Emmy in 1978 for her portrayal of Banner's terminally ill psychologist wife – a notable achievement for a science fiction show.

Outstanding episodes include "Another Path," about a blind Chinese philosopher who teaches Banner ways of controlling his rage; "A Child in Need," in which Banner intervenes on the behalf of a child being severely abused by his father; "Deathmask" when Banner is accused of being a serial killer in a college town; "The First," in which David Banner discovers another man capable of becoming a Hulk creature; "The Harder They Fall" when an accident leaves Banner a paraplegic and he is tempted to become the Hulk to heal his legs, but risk the damage the Hulk would reek; and "Mystery Man," in which Banner suffers amnesia and, with his face and identity obscured by bandages, must work with Jack McGee to survive in the woods after the plane they are on goes down. And who could forget the famous piano piece called "The Lonely Man," composed by Joe Harnell, which played during the end credits as Banner hitchhiked his way across America?

Unfortunately, the show was cancelled while filming episodes for the 5th season (which turned out to be the worst season of them all). Due to the abrupt cancellation, Banner was never cured; however, the series spanned three made-for-TV movies directed by Bill Bixby. The first, The Incredible Hulk Returns in 1998, was a two-hour film for NBC that caught up with Banner two years later as he is establishing a machine that could cure his affliction. Things go wrong when a former student comes to see him because he is possessed with the spirit of a Norse god who he can summon with the aid of a magic hammer. Yes, folks, this was also the only live-action version of Marvel's character Thor! Along with Thor, the Hulk breaks up a crime ring intent on stealing his invention. Banner is ultimately unable to cure himself before the end of the TV movie, and must go on the run again.

The Incredible Hulk Returns was by no means a perfect film: for one, it lacked Jack McGee as a critical driving force of the narrative in the series. However it is a fun romp with some added interest due to the odd inclusion of Thor (played charismatically by Eric Kramer as a mead loving, bar-fighting jock), and it did capture enough ratings to prompt NBC to sign a deal with Marvel to produce more Hulk films that would include other Marvel characters with the hopes of spinning the heroes off into their own shows.

The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk (1989) finds a discouraged, pessimistic, and bearded Banner trying to make a living doing menial work in a city controlled by organized crime masterminded by Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk (Jonathan Rhys-Davis). When Banner saves a woman who Fisk wants dead, he is arrested and accused of various crimes. Coming to is aid is the altruistic blind lawyer Matt Murdock (Rex Smith). If this is all beginning to sound familiar to you it is because Matt Murdock is also the Marvel hero Daredevil, who was recently adapted into a film starring Ben Affleck as Murdock and Michael Clark Duncan as the Kingpin. Unlike in the Affleck version, the Man Without Fear is less of a violent dark avenger. This Daredevil also wears a simple black ninja suit with a mask that covers his eyes completely and leaves the red devil horns at home. And no luke-warm love stories with Jennifer Garner either! Although the commercials for this movie hyped a scene in which Banner Hulks out in a courtroom for everyone to see, in the movie that scene occurs as a dream sequence (and unfortunately it is the most gripping scene of the movie). Again, while a decent TV movie, it is something of a dud considering its potential. Neither of the two TV movie found much popularity with execs, apparently, as neither Daredevil nor Thor were parlayed into their own series.

The final Hulk TV movie, The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), is also the strongest of the three films. Banner comes close to a cure for his condition and reveals his story to a doctor who would cure him, except for the fact that the necessary technology is targeted by terrorists seeking ways of creating an army of super soldiers. Unfortunately, the movie ends with a lame plane crash in which it is suggested that the Hulk dies, hardly a characteristic or fitting end to the character. Also, the film does not tie up the subplot of Jack McGee's pursuit of the Hulk left hanging by the series. Poor Jack never got any of that sweet TV-movie love.

Apparently there were plans to revive the character for another TV movie, but when Bixby died in 1993, those plans went out the window.

In the late 1980s Marvel Comics tried to get a live-action She-Hulk film into production, and although Brigitte Nielsen (who had previously starred in the barbarian-fantasy film Red Sonja, based on a Marvel comic) was cast in the title role and conceptual/promotional photos were shot, the film was never made.

After several years of being absent from the live-action realm, the Hulk finally came back to life with Ang Lee's HULK (2003). I have already written on this film (see PART ONE and PART TWO of my article here) but suffice it to say that I think, although taking a different thematic direction from the Bixby series, that the film is masterful adaptation of the character and one of the finest films ever adapted from a comic book.

Film or TV?: Although I love the film, I have to give the crown to the television series because it was the first successful attempt to translate a comic book character into an extended live-action series, a legacy to which I think shows like Smallville owe their very existence.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Movies: Captain America (1991)

TV: Captain America (1979); Captain America 2: Death Too Soon (1979)

Captain America has had a rough time getting a decent live-action adaptation. He first appeared in a TV movie for CBS, the same network that brought us Hulk. Reb Brown plays Steve Rogers, an ex-serviceman whose father was once a superhero known as Captain America and granted heightened strength, agility, stamina, and reflexes by an experimental serum. When terrorist spies come looking for his late father's secret formula, Rogers is fatally wounded, and must take the serum to save his life. Doing so, he is healed, and inherits his father's powers. A government agency equips Rogers with a special motorcycle loaded with gadgets and a detachable, bulletproof shield that can be used as a projectile. Taking up the mantle of Captain America, Rogers goes after the terrorists and foils their plot to detonate a neutron bomb. Although the movie did not produce a series, it was followed up by a sequel in which Captain America faces an evil scientist (Christopher Lee) who plots to poison the water supply with an agent that horrifically accelerates the aging processing.

Both films were hokey, under-budgeted attempts to adapt the character in a live-action format. Cruising around in a van or on a motorcycle and sporting a clunky motorcycle helmet and an ill-conceived, formfitting suit that uncomfortably accentuated Brown's crotch, Captain America is hard to take seriously, and the films suffer from bad pacing, many technical goofs, and not enough superhero action. Mostly forgotten, these films languish in that place where all bad superhero movies go to die, right at home with Roger Corman's take on the Fantastic Four and Superman III.

In 1991, a second attempt to make a success of Captain America came in the form of a direct-to-video film. Starring Matt Salinger as Captain America and Scott Paulin as the Red Skull, the film was another low-budget flop, but it was much more faithful to the comics than previous live-action efforts. Utilizing the man-out-of-time angle that has become so popular with the character, the film begins during WWII as the Nazis attempt to use a young Italian boy as their subject in a super soldier project, but the scientist who created the formula flees to the United States. The US develops its own project, giving Steve Rogers, who was disqualified from the military due to polio, the chance to become a hero with super strength and heightened reflexes.

In a costume that is very close to the one in the comics (but still inherently goofy-looking - how does one translate red, white, and blue chain mail and pirate boots to a live action hero without looking silly?), Captain America thwarts Red Skull's attempt to destroy the White House with a missile, but not before being strapped to the missile, which he is able to knock off course. It lands in Alaska, where Captain America is frozen for 50 years. When the Red Skull emerges in the 1990s with a plot to control the mind of the American President, Captain America is unthawed. After dealing with the shock of being out of time, and with all his loved ones and family dead or elderly and moved on with their lives, Captain America sets out to save the president.

Due to a clunky script, no motives or nationalist sentiments driving the title hero, and a very low budget, the film fails to make any impact or any significant mileage out of the character.

Film or TV?: Having to choose between the lesser of two evils, the 1991 film attempts to provide some characterization and drama to the character with the man-out-of-time story, and is therefore the best adaptation of Captain America so far, which isn't saying much.

NEXT WEEK: I round off my look at live-action superheroes in part three where I address Spider-Man, and the X-Men.

Aaron Allen

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