Marvel Wants Hulk and Punisher on TV

[Tom Goldman]

Marvel Wants Hulk and Punisher on TV

The incredible Hulk is planned for a return to television, while the Punisher and other heroes could also make their small screen debuts.

Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno once played the alternating sides of Marvel's Hulk on CBS's The Incredible Hulk, but the series ended way back in 1982. Since then, live-action television has been noticeably Hulk-less. Disney's purchase of Marvel [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94313-Disney-to-Buy-Marvel-Comics] in 2009 may have sparked the return of Hulk to TV, with other superheroes also possibly in the cards.

Collider reports that there is a "major push" to bring the Hulk back to television on Disney network ABC. Details are scarce, but should gradually be released when and if the show begins to move forward. The big question is whether a new Hulk show would use CGI or a modern-day Lou Ferrigno to portray the main character when transformed, because either have the chance to be a bit corny.

Moving on, Marvel Television has plans for more than just its green, angry hero, with reports also saying that the division is pitching many other characters like the Punisher and Luke Cage, though Cloak and Dagger is apparently "priority #2." Cloak and Dagger follows its title's respective heroes, with Cloak able to pull criminals into the eternal darkness of his cloak, and Dagger his shiny partner that fights with weapons made of light.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, but evidently Marvel is pushing to make TV a little more super. I'd personally like to see how a new live-action television series that focuses on a hero like Hulk or Punisher would do. Shows like Heroes and Smallville have done well enough for themselves, so there's certainly no reason why a Marvel superhero series that follows a similar format couldn't be successful too, just as long as the writing is strong and the characters aren't turned into a whiny 16-year-olds.

Source: Collider [http://www.collider.com/2010/10/14/the-incredible-hulk-tv-series-the-punisher-cloak-and-dagger/]

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[bjj hero]

If the punisher is PG-13 it will be terrible.

The punisher needs to be gritty and nasty. I'd love for it to be done right though. The punisher is one of the best heros ever, screw Batman and his personal class war.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Only one man can play The Hulk...

Adam West.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If the punisher is PG-13 it will be terrible.

The punisher needs to be gritty and nasty. I'd love for it to be done right though. The punisher is one of the best heros ever, screw Batman and his personal class war.

I would love to see a TV-MA version of The Punisher mainly because I don't know of any ultra-violent TV shows...at all. Then again, I don't watch much TV >.>

 

[icyneesan]

If this isn't in any version of the Hulk on TV then it is insta fail.


Manly tears.

 

[Thrashgrinder]

Punisher on Fx or HBO or something would be FUCKING AMAZING!

 

[NeedAUserName]

If the punisher is PG-13 it will be terrible.

The punisher needs to be gritty and nasty. I'd love for it to be done right though. The punisher is one of the best heros ever, screw Batman and his personal class war.

Thats exactly what I was thinking, the Punisher done right would be amazing, but it would almost definitely be toned down and edited to be child friendly.

 

[Mr. Omega]

There is so much that can go wrong here. But dammit, I want to see these shows made! As long as they are done right, I actually ahve a reason to watch TV again!

 

[cerebus23]

or hell dc needs to get off its ass and explore the early years of bruce wayne, which is a pretty fertile ground since by all account he traveled the world studied under gurus and martial arts masters, spent time at the fbi.

know nola is agaisnt all it but common give viewers some credit, while they might not be up on the multiverses of dc and marvel and the different continualties and yadda yadda noone is gong to confuse tv bruce of nolans works on batman any more than they will confuse smallville with his work on superman.

punisher does need to be pretty damn hardcore, unless your going to push the bounds of fx or have showtime or hbo do it, gtfo and skip it.

 

[HT_Black]

Punisher on Fx or HBO or something would be FUCKING AMAZING!

So it would.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I would watch a Punisher TV show alright. I never really liked the hulk all that much though. If the series is anything like the (first) Punisher movie, then it will be awesome.

 

[thenamelessloser]

I never watched the old Hulk TV series but I caz't imagine Hulk workng taht well under a TV show budget... I mean, he supposed to throw cars, tanks and other things. I think a punisher TV show could work on HBO or show time or something though because he isn't super powered.

I know it is DC but I would LOVE a Question TV series. I only know of the character from the justice league cartoon but it seems like he could be easily be done on a normal tv show budget.

 

[PorkChopXpress]

Punisher on Showtime...they have the best shows on cable

 

[Tom Goldman]

If this isn't in any version of the Hulk on TV then it is insta fail.


Manly tears.

Haha, so true.

 

[Anachronism]

If the punisher is PG-13 it will be terrible.

Agreed. If they make it post-watershed, and get Garth Ennis to write the scripts, it could be fantastic, though. If they gave it the same kind of creative freedom that Rome had, in that it can be as ridiculously ultraviolent as it wants, then it could be very, very good.

 

[Dioxide20]

*facepalm*

Seriously?

 

[Therumancer]

Actually Cloak and Dagger would pretty much define the whole "angsty teen hero" thing. Understand that Cloak and Dagger were both broken kids on the streets who met by chance, with Dagger buying Cloak (who was younger) something to eat in an act of charity. They wound up being abducted and used as experimental subjects for some new drugs that gave them their powers, later teaming up with a cop called "Mayhem" to track down and destroy the organization.

It's been a while, but I remember that's the gist of the story that started them. I could see it being done as a TV series, but it would lose something if the characters weren't homeless kids which was part of the point.

The Punisher wouldn't work, because to be honest there really isn't anything special about the character except for him being in a world of super heroes, where most of the super guys will not kill, which he has no hesitation about. If you remove the rest of the Marvel Universe from the equasion you wind up with what is a pretty stereotypical action hero in
the time-honored mould of Mack Bolan. I think this is why other attempts to do the character have been mediocre at best.

See, for "The Punisher" to be "The Punisher" you need to to know other super heroes in the same area, and be following their exploits to fully get the overall effect. What's more Frank is at his most profound when he comes into conflict with well known super-powered opposition and/or runs into other vigilantes (like Spider Man, Or Daredevil) with differant points of view and either winds up fighting them to take out a target permanantly, or teaming up with them.

The Incredible Hulk could work again, but I think the character has more exposure than he did back in the days of Bill Bixby. People who watch a "Hulk" show are going to expect a somewhat differant kind of storytelling and a bit more action with substantially more flashy opposition.

The biggest obstacle here is of course special effects. Most of the super hero shows out there suffer from the fact that they don't have the budget for the characters to use their powers when and where appropriate. The characters who do the most, are ones that can have their powers emulated simply by acting... like someone throwing themselves against a wall like a telekinetic did it. "Heroes" died I think because they had to constantly come up with more and more obtuse reasons for why people didn't do the logical things in order to both keep the story going, and also to not exceed their budget. I suspect we never saw a good Peter/Sylar fight like everyone wanted because the FX for that would have gotten to a movie-scene level.

Cloak and Dagger seems like the best bet thematically, but at the same time in order to do that "right" it would be very expensive since neither character is exactly shy about using their powers.

I'll also be honest in saying that Tandy Bowen (Dagger) pretty much defines "Jailbait" in terms of comic characters. More so than more frequently referanced characters like Kitty Pryde. Her original costume with the dagger cut out was... interesting, and then you think about her age (of course at the time I was reading this and it first came out it was just interesting since I was of a similar age myself... heh). I kind of suspect that the characters won't wind up looking anything like the ones from the comics if they ever do launch it for TV.

 

[Legend of J]

Punisher=Late night channel 4 tv 18+ unless they arnt keepin to the max series. Which if they arnt i have lost my faith in marvel ¬¬.

 

[Sparrow]

Anyone else thinking that if Heroes and Smallville can make it big, a Runaways TV series shouldn't be too far in the distance?