Hulk has probably the most live-action iterations over any other Marvel character. The number of actors who played with him competes with those that played Batman or Joker. And with a menu of iterations to select from, they’re going to appeal to different people. The first live-action Hulk was shared by two people. Although, the character is shared by two people to begin with. Bill Bixby played David Banner (the studio didn’t like the name Bruce at the time). And Lou Ferrigno played the Hulk. Ferrigno is still around to see what his character has become in live-action. At a recent ComiCon, he shared his opinion.
Ferrigno made an appearance at Hamilton Comic-Con in Canada. ComicBook.com reported about his comments about the latest version of the Hulk in Avengers: Endgame.
“What’s happening is that the first two Hulk movies, the CGI was improving, but the last one, Endgame, I was disappointed. Because the Hulk needs to be hideous, he needs to be a creature. You see in Endgame, Mark Ruffalo — I think it has a lot to do with him and Disney — I didn’t like the way it portrayed [Hulk]. It took away that beauty, that quality of the Hulk. That’s why a lot of people liked the series.”
The bodybuilder went on to discuss what he thought of the movie as a whole.
“Too much (of Endgame was) extreme with the spaceships, the shooting, the outer space. We need good stories. Good elements, good messages about life. Because when you see the series, even like The Twilight Zone, the original Twilight Zone, you learn something from every episode. The CGI, I mean, it’s all different. People like it that way because it’s bigger entertainment on the screen.”
Ferrigno went on to voice the Hulk long after he was painted green in The Incredible Hulk show and its subsequent movies. He voiced the beast in Hulk starring Eric Bana. He also voiced him in The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton and his further appearances in the MCU. Ferrigno’s voice can be heard over Ruffalo’s portrayal in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. He also played his voice in several cartoons. But when the jade giant started to formulate longer sentences in Thor: Ragnarok, Ruffalo took over speech duties. Ferrigno discussed his voice-over work for the films.
“Doing voiceover is very hard, because when you’re doing voice work, I can’t do a scene with [another actor], I have to improvise. So when I did the voice for the film, they had me in a dark room. They only told me about the scene, so I had to improvise. I couldn’t talk for two days afterwards, because [the voice] comes from inside the chest, the strong bellow when the Hulk roars. It’s a challenge, it’s work. But I had to almost yell and talk like the Hulk thinks and feels. And now in this new film, the Hulk is having dialogue conversations, I think it basically just spoiled it.”
He also had a few choice words about Ruffalo himself at Montreal Comiccon.
“Mark is a wonderful actor. But we’ve had three different actors — we’ve had Eric Bana, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo. I like Bill Bixby the best, I like Edward Norton. But Ruffalo — I think he’s a wonderful actor, he blends in with the Marvel aspect of the Avengers — but I can’t take him seriously enough. Bill has that intensity, and you knew that when he was in danger, you could feel that intensity. But because of Marvel and Disney, they’ve taken a different direction. You can’t take it as seriously as the original series.”
Obviously, he’s going to enjoy the actor he worked with the best. But even though Ruffalo does a great job in my opinion, whenever I read him in the comics, Banner looks more like Norton to me.
Ruffalo is currently rumored to appear in the Disney Plus She-Hulk show next. There have been no confirmations yet if he’ll actually appear though. But Screen Geek will let you know when we hear it, along with a release date for She-Hulk. Also, keep reading for more news and discoveries from the MCU.