Hulk... talk?

[Whofan]

One thing that's always bugged me about the live-action adaptations of the Hulk is that the Hulk, while reminiscent of the Savage Hulk, is mostly mute (With a few exceptions, mainly in Ed Norton's film).


Granted, this has been done a few times in the comic series-The later Mantlo years/Bryne's early run when the Hulk was either suppressed or removed from Hulk's mind altogether, and the first year or so of Bruce Jones's run had him largely mute as well.

However, the end of Norton's film suggested he could control, in some way, the change and maybe there would be more of his persona. Not saying we need to have a smart Hulk with Banner's mind (Which has also been done in the comics) but it would be nice to have the Hulk's on-screen persona speak a bit more IMO. I wonder if Ruffalo or Whedon have in store for him, apart from more detailed motion-control.

 

[Admiral_Young]

In an "Incredible Hulk" sequel I would have loved to have gotten a Grey Hulk or Smart Hulk. I suppose though that the filmmakers of both films wanted to get across the point that the Hulk is a mindless, savage monster. I liked the end of "The Incredible Hulk" where it's implied that Bruce has some degree of harmonic balance between himself and the Hulk (kind of like Planet Hulk where this happens).

 

[Christopher]

I suppose though that the filmmakers of both films wanted to get across the point that the Hulk is a mindless, savage monster.

Maybe they just figured the CGI of the Hulk talking wouldn't be too convincing, so they kept it to a minimum. In TIH, one of the Hulk's two lines ("Leave me alone" in the factory) was spoken when he wasn't visible on camera.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yeah. It's possible that was dubbed in ADR.

 

[Christopher]

^Err, we're talking about the dialogue of a computer-animated character, so it's a given that the lines were dubbed.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Ferrrigno always said he wanted to be able to talk as the Hulk. And in the Norton version, he got his wish, voicing the CGI Hulk.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

If the movies are aimed at people other than hard-core Hulk comic fans, a gray Hulk or intelligent green one might confuse the masses.

There would have to be too much explanation of the back-story.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

If the movies are aimed at people other than hard-core Hulk comic fans, a gray Hulk or intelligent green one might confuse the masses.

There would have to be too much explanation of the back-story.

Oh sure! "Here's Bruce Banner. When he gets angry, he turns into a giant green guy, and sometimes, the giant green guy talks". Obviously the masses are not ready for that level of explanation.

 

[Technobuilder]

I've never understood the argument that audiences-at-large won't understand what's happening due to one various reason or another...

If that's the case, write a better fucking script.

It's not their responsibility to dumb it down, it's the viewers job to pay attention and keep up.

It's not rocket science. So why are we conditioned to think it's acceptable to create media for the very people who wouldn't see the film in the first place?

 

[Christopher]

I think what Ar-Pharazon might mean is that most people would only know the Hulk from the Bixby/Ferrigno TV series, in which the Hulk was mute.

Still, the Leterrier movie did draw heavily from the TV series for inspiration, but its Hulk did talk -- just not much.

I think part of the reason for avoiding "Hulkspeak" is that it would sound silly spoken aloud at length. In which case, perhaps the answer is to follow the lead of the current Avengers animated series or the Planet Hulk DVD movie -- have Hulk able to speak coherent English, as he could in the earliest comics, but just be all attitude and hostility. Combine that with a "man of few words" approach and it could work pretty well onscreen.

 

[captcalhoun]

Ultimate Hulk talks. mostly about food, sex and killing.

NAKED GUY TALK TOO MUCH! HULK SMASH!

BLUE GUY KICK BANNER! HULK NOT AS PUNY AS BANNER!

etc.

 

[sikkbones]

next we can get kelsey grammer as the voice of Intelligent hulk and it can suck as hard as beast from X3.

 

[C_Miller]

next we can get kelsey grammer as the voice of Intelligent hulk and it can suck as hard as beast from X3.

I thought it was general consensus that Kelsey Grammer as Beast was one of the only good things about that movie?

 

[Christopher]

I thought it was general consensus that Kelsey Grammer as Beast was one of the only good things about that movie?

I certainly thought so. Well, there are a lot of things about X-Men: The Last Stand that I thought were reasonably good or at least okay, but Grammer as Beast was just about the best. It's hard to think of anyone who would've been better for the role.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Matthew Vaughn's contribution to the movie. I would have loved to have seen what Vaughn would have been able to do with the film had been able to remain on the project.

capcalhoun sums up Ultimate Hulk pretty well. Mark Millar recently introduced a concept of a "First Hulk" which I'm not real clear on. He was seen in the silly vampire war thing that was going on in the Ultimate Avengers books.

 

[Silvercrest]

I think part of the reason for avoiding "Hulkspeak" is that it would sound silly spoken aloud at length. In which case, perhaps the answer is to follow the lead of the current Avengers animated series or the Planet Hulk DVD movie -- have Hulk able to speak coherent English, as he could in the earliest comics, but just be all attitude and hostility. Combine that with a "man of few words" approach and it could work pretty well onscreen.

Wasn't the Heroes Reborn Hulk like that?

I've never understood the argument that audiences-at-large won't understand what's happening due to one various reason or another...

If that's the case, write a better fucking script.

It's not their responsibility to dumb it down, it's the viewers job to pay attention and keep up.

It's not rocket science. So why are we conditioned to think it's acceptable to create media for the very people who wouldn't see the film in the first place?

My theory is this: Hollywood executives, along with a lot of other media people, got their jobs because they're good at selling images, not because they're smart. But it's hard to write for an audience that's smarter than you are. So they did the next best thing. They convinced the viewing public that it's okay to be dumb. And here we are, with an entertainment industry that caters to the shallow, and that expects the audience to turn their brains off and just look at the pretty pictures.

I call it the "Dumb Leading the Dumb" theory. It would be frightening if it weren't so pathetic.

 

[captcalhoun]

capcalhoun sums up Ultimate Hulk pretty well. Mark Millar recently introduced a concept of a "First Hulk" which I'm not real clear on. He was seen in the silly vampire war thing that was going on in the Ultimate Avengers books.

Cash first appeared in Ultimate Avengers 2: Crime and Punishment; he's a British guy who taught Banner and created a Hulk-style serum and basically became a murdering evil crime boss. He was recruited into the Avengers (Fury's black ops Ultimates team) for the second story line where they fought Ultimate Ghost Rider.