Hulk Speed Art and Film Ranking (2003 Hulk)
Hello people! And welcome back. I am Aaron and I'm here with another Speed-Art, this one of the Incredible Hulk, and instead of ranking his movies – since he's only starred in 2 major theatrical films as the lead, instead I'm going to rank each of his appearances, including ranking his look and how he's used in each film and the way Banner is portrayed as well. I just released the animation on my main channel going through his Evolution, so if you came from there hello and thanks for checking out my SpeedArt channel, and if you're for some reason new to this channel you can check in the description for a link to the animation video. And before I get started feel free to rank the Hulks below before I get started, that way my opinion won't seep into yours, and then I can see where the general opinion lies with the big green guy. With that said I'm just going to stop the intro and get into my ranking, from worst to first let's Hulk jump into it:
So starting at the bottom of the list is going to be the 2003 Hulk and Banner. Now if I was ranking the main Hulk films this would actually be on the top of the list because I feel the film has a lot to say and is actually pretty interesting and not just a rockem sockem beat em up with the Hulk, but the way the Hulk actually looks is pretty bad. CGI just wasn't where it is today so he almost doesn't quite fit in when he's on screen compared to the actual live shoot locations they used. And the shade of green they used is a little ridiculous looking. But with that said I actually am a fan of how he grows larger the more angry he becomes. This Hulk also has the power to speak at least in fragmented Hulk fashion, something the next Hulk on this list lacked. And you can't talk about the Hulk without talking about the Banner, and Bruce Banner in this film is played by Eric Bana, now I know it's not his fault but I always felt like he was slightly miscast in this role, he just doesn't come across as as brilliant as the film would want you to believe or as nerdy as the role needed him to be. But with that said I do think that scene to scene he actually does a good job, especially when playing as the straight man against his more over-acted father, the scene where his dad reveals his own powers to him is a great side by side comparison with the two characters. Now each Banner Hulk pairing is always trying to say something, the Hulk is often the opposite of Banner in general, and this Banner more or less represents repressed emotions and when Hulked out represents unlimited almost tantrum like emotions, something that I think works pretty well for a film dealing with his psychotic past. But overall this is a mixed bag, because I actually like the film and feel it is underrated, but the central Hulk/Banner protagonist is a little lacking, which I think hurts the film as a whole.
Alrighty so coming in at number three is the original Jolly Green Monster, Lou Ferrigno. Now there's something almost ridiculous looking about this portrayal especially when looked at with modern eyes. But when looked at as a product of the time this Hulk is used in near perfect fashion. He only appears for maybe 5 minutes per episode of the TV show, but you're always excited when he does. He almost has a Frankenstein type look, with the atrocious looking wig and over exaggerated brow and of course green skin, which can be quite off putting, but there's something very cool actually seeing a real person act on screen as opposed to the CGI renditions we're used to. Now, Bruce Banner, who in the series is named David because the producers thought that Bruce wasn't a manly enough name, is played competently by Bill Bixby who truly puts his all into the role. Now I only watched the first half of the first season and the 3 TV movies, which he directed 2 of, so I can't say if he ever phoned it in for an episode here or there, but from what I saw he was putting his all into the role and doing a great job with it. He comes across as a broken man but truly smart, something the previous Banner just couldn't quite pull off. So the Hulk/Banner relationship in the series is really more of a Jekyll and Hyde situation, where one is the weak human and one is the monstrous beast, but for a syndicated show in the 70s they were able to pull this relatively simple concept off pretty well. He doesn't ever speak as the hulk, but it probably would have been pretty cheesy watching this Hulk speak, so I think that's a benefit. Now he does look slightly different in the TV movies, but their overall looks are pretty consistent, so I'm not going to bother with all that, so on to the next Hulk.
So at number 2 on the list is the Edward Norton Hulk. Now if you're into looking at veiny body builders lift up cars and box other veiny monsters in Toronto posing as Harlem then this is the Hulk for you. I don't think we'll ever see another Hulk in a live-action film look nearly this grotesque again. Which is both a good and a bad thing, while I love the later look of Hulk there's something super menacing about this interpretation of the Hulk. If the Avenger's had this Hulk on their team I think Thanos may have thought twice about taking him on in a fight, but I fully understand that you can't quite sell as many toys with a Hulk so gross looking. As for the way he acts, this Hulk says very few lines, and for the the most part just comes off as a giant rage monster, but is shown to have softer emotions such as when he saves Betty from being burned alive. Now on the other side of things we have Edward Norton playing Bruce Banner, now I’m a huge Edward Norton fan, I love him in American History X, Primal Fear, Moonrise Kingdom and Fight Club, unfortunately I don't quite feel like he brought that type of determination to this role and he comes across as pretty plain, now I don't think he's fully to blame, the script was a little one-note but I more charismatic lead could have brought this incarnation of the Hulk to the next level. As for the relationship between the Hulk and Banner, it plays off more like the 70s the show, with the weak vs the strong, and doesn't have as much to say as the 2003 film from 5 years previous, but the look of the Hulk and the slightly better casted Banner elevate this Hulk above those previous entries.
So coming in at number one is the Gorrila man himself, The Avengers and beyond Hulk. Now I'm going to go through and rank each one of the appearances in the MCU movies but for the most part it seems Disney took a step back and said we got to sell this Hulk to kids so they softened his features, they no longer put him in as a lead because he's not profitable, but they make him the most interesting side-character, and for what they were going for they've succeeded pretty well. This Hulk is a lot of fun to watch on Screen, and much like the original TV series he doesn't over-stay his welcome when transformed. This is also the first Hulk that looks like his Banner equivalent. That's mostly because CGI had caught up to what they wanted to achieve with face capture and modelling being much more realistic looking. Mark Ruffalo himself does a great job in the role, I think he plays it with a certain charm the other Banners were missing, and is able to come off as both smart and occasionally witty when needed. So hands down he is the best overall Banner in my opinion. Now his look as the Hulk has still changed and altered as the movies have gone on, so I'm going to rank those appearances right now, kind of like a sub-catagory in this list.
So coming in at number 4 for the Ruffalo Hulks is the Age of Ultron look, it took everything from the previous film and tried to exaggerate it and make him look more monstrous, which could be fine but they already established his his look pretty well perfectly in the first Avengers that the slight alterations come across as unwarranted. I also heard that they had to break his jaw when animating to make certain expressions when animating, which if you're an animator and have used 3D software before you'll know that probably isn't the best way to handle animating a character rig.
And moving on we have his appearance in Avengers Infinity War, now this is slightly cheating since he barely appears, and he looks the exact same as in Thor Ragnarok when he does, but I'm a pretty big fan of the big guy so I was just hoping for a bit more than a minute long action scene. But the new Hulk Buster armour is pretty sweet, and that's why this is ranked above his Ultron appearance.
And at number two we have the original Avengers look, now this as mentioned before is pretty Gorilla like, but I think it's a nice revamp, plus for the scene between him and Loki is an all time favourite of mine and many other Hulk fans.
Now at number one is his Appearance in Thor Ragnarok. When I first saw this film I felt he was acting a little too much like a big child, but after sleeping on it and thinking, this is basically the only way to take the Hulk. He needs to be able to play off of other characters so that he doesn't just grunt when in Hulk form and that way we can actually develop a relationship with Hulk as we get to know Banner as well. Which if they keep going in this direction could lead to an interesting solo movie in the future - fingers crossed at least.
Okay so that's my rankings of the Hulks and their Banners, let me know where I got it wrong and your own thoughts on the series down below. And before I sign off I want to thank my Patrons, so thank you to Anthony Stamps, Karen Demarsh, Dead Meat, Colton Wood, Ethan Roshkam, Zoran Gvojic, HB, Alex Holguin, Ross McIntyre, Q, Mari Sury, Adolfo Meneses, Reese Ward, Jeremiah Lambert, MinkisBaby, Chris Hogan, Sam, David Warshaw and Paul Kissock. So until the next time I post on this channel, I'm aiming for every two weeks, but eh, what can you do. My name is Aaron and I'll tell you something later!