The Incredible Hulk in 1968
Buoying my argument about Hulk having a weak rogues gallery, Hulk is visited by several borrowed villains this year, including Rhino and Mandarin. I suppose it’s fine — good to shore up a weakness with a strength from another series when necessary.
One thing I’ve been thinking about lately… maybe it’s that Hulk is just a better supporting character than a AAA feature. Think of the movies. We’ve have two consecutive attempts in Bana and Norton, and neither were fantastic. Yet the Ruffalo recast seemed to work. From his appearances in the Avengers movies to his major supporting role in the third Thor film, his character arc went off without a hitch.
It’s possible that there’s just a such thing as too-much of a character. But there was an extremely successful Hulk television show in the 70s. That would be a notable counter-argument.
Was Ferrigno lightning in a bottle, though? That show (have never seen it, other than some stray clips) lasted five seasons and several movies. Maybe the appeal was that there was little on television like it, compared to the current glut of super-fare? Potentially it successfully grabbed the same audience as the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man. Will have to watch some of the series and see what the appeal was.
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