‘The Trial of the Incredible Hulk’ Was Marvel’s First Faithful Superhero Adaptation
Marvel began bringing their characters to live action in the 1970s, unless you count the Captain America serial from the 1940s, before Marvel became Marvel, back when it was still Timely Comics. They started in 1977 with The Amazing Spider-Man, a pilot movie that launched a series following a Peter Parker who still resembled his comic book counterpart, worked at the Daily Bugle and had a doting Aunt May, but one that also took drastic liberties. Probably the most drastic of them all is the fact that Uncle Ben never appeared and served no role in Spider-Man’s origin. The famous “with great power there must also come great responsibility” line is never uttered. On top of that, the show (which was actually cool and innovative for its time) never featured a single villain from the comics. Yes, they were drastically limited by the budget, but Spider-Man has one of the most recognizable rogues galleries in comic book history and this was coming only a decade after the equally cheap Batman series had used nearly all of the caped crusader’s famous villains and even created some new ones.
Marvel’s second attempt at TV was their first live-action success, and only live-action success for the next few decades, and that was 1978’s The Incredible Hulk. The 1977 pilot movie followed shortly on the heels of the Spider-Man pilot. This time, the show was a hit, lasting for five seasons, and cementing the phrase “don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” in pop culture forever. Like The Amazing Spider-Man, the basic structure of the Incredible Hulk comics is there. Our hero is accidentally exposed to gamma radiation that causes him to turn into a raging green monster if he loses his temper, forcing him to go on the run.
However, once again, the basic story elements are the same and nearly everything else is different, even the main character’s name. Bruce Banner was renamed David Banner for the series. Whereas General Thunderbolt Ross spent the comics hunting down the Hulk with the entire army at his back, for the sake of budget, that was replaced in the narrative by a single reporter tracking sightings of the Hulk, intent on proving his existence. Unlike the comics, Hulk does not speak whatsoever, although this show’s Hulk actor Lou Ferrigno would go on to voice the jade giant in the 1996 animated series.
A few attempts to bring other Marvel heroes to life on the small screen appeared at the end of the decade, in the form of Captain America and its sequel, Captain America II: Death Too Soon, as well as Doctor Strange. All three TV movies were meant to launch series, though none of them succeeded. In the years after the end of The Incredible Hulk, Marvel, New World International and NBC made a second wave of attempts to bring some of Marvel’s heroes to life, this time with the aid of their only success to date. This resulted in a trilogy of Incredible Hulk TV movies, all serving as sequels to the show, all featuring the Hulk and/or Banner teaming up with other Marvel heroes. The first, The Incredible Hulk Returns paired Hulk with Thor decades before Thor: Ragnarok would be marketed based on that same gimmick. The third, Death of the Incredible Hulk, teamed Hulk with a loose interpretation of Black Widow.
In the middle, the best of the three movies and directed by star Bill Bixby himself, there was The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Those familiar with Marvel’s most famous lawyer (next to Hulk’s own cousin She-Hulk, at least) might be able to deduce that Trial of the Incredible Hulk introduced Daredevil as its secondary hero. It was also the character’s live-action debut, and was meant to serve as the backdoor pilot for a Daredevil TV series, which is legitimately unfortunate, because this interpretation of the man without fear made Trial of the Incredible Hulk Marvel’s first truly faithful superhero adaptation.
Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America and Doctor Strange took the basic premise and core defining characteristics of their heroes and changed virtually everything else. None of them, with the exception of Doctor Strange, had used any villains from the comics. From the beginning, Trial of the Incredible Hulk is almost jarringly different. Matt Murdock is introduced almost immediately, a blind lawyer, helping those in need while concealing his secret identity as a masked vigilante (although we don’t know that yet as of the opening credits). This is the amount of faithfulness we’d come to expect from the other adaptations. Even if there was nothing else, this would still be recognizably Daredevil. But in that first scene of Matt arriving at his office, he remarks on the skyscraper visible through the window, and asks if Mr. Fisk is in his tower today.
That would of course be Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, one of Marvel’s most infamous villains and Daredevil’s longtime nemesis, here played by Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings star John Rhys-Davies. That’s huge, even if he’s inexplicably wearing dark glasses the entire time so that you never once see his eyes. That’s not just a villain from the comics, that’s the guy. That’s Daredevil’s guy. And I love that they are introduced at practically the same time. This scene does such a great job of setting up that rivalry without any exposition. It’s extremely economical. Matt’s little law office literally sits in the shadow of Wilson Fisk’s monument to his own criminal enterprise. It’s not even a shadow that Matt can see. But he can feel it. That is a perfect representation of the relationship between those two characters.
It doesn’t stop there, either. Once Matt reveals his identity to David Banner later in the film, he recounts his origin. His boxer father killed by the mob, the accident that blinded Matt and gave him superhuman senses, his agility, his radar sense, it’s all there. Even low-level goon Turk from the Daredevil comics makes an appearance. Compared to the previous TV adaptations, that is shockingly accurate. So much of the specific character details and world building are pretty much pulled from the comic book page. I also love that we’re introduced to a Daredevil who has been doing this for a while. Banner pretty much walks into the middle of an ongoing story. Kingpin and Daredevil are already intimately aware of one another and it’s great to just hit the ground running with that rivalry.
The only drastic liberty taken with Daredevil is his costume, which is far removed from the red spandex and horns. But that’s barely even worth mentioning because while it wasn’t accurate at the time, it has become accurate since. Writer/artist Frank Miller’s run on the comics heavily influenced not only this movie, but every adaptation that followed. In Miller’s Man Without Fear origin miniseries, he introduced an homage to Trial of the Incredible Hulk’s Daredevil costume as a porto-costume for Matt before he dons the classic threads at the end of the book. That costume then served as the basis for the suit that appeared in the Netflix Daredevil series. The all-black, blindfold/bandana look has become almost as iconic as the classic costume thanks to the 2015 show, and it all started right here, with this TV movie.
Other than the action being restricted by budgetary limitations, the only real downside to The Trial of the Incredible Hulk is that it is much more of a Daredevil movie than it is a Hulk movie. The film’s major standout Hulk sequence, depicting Hulk rampaging through a courthouse, which is also the only scene that really evokes the title, turns out to be a dream sequence. But as much of a Daredevil fan as I am, I really didn’t mind. Banner serves as the audience surrogate, he’s our entry-point into Murdock’s world because he’s as new to it as we are.
Make no mistake, though, this is a movie that serves both characters well and their relationship is absolutely one of the best things about it. Trial of the Incredible Hulk is about two men who are outsiders due to circumstances entirely beyond their control. They both harbor secrets they cannot tell, and in each other they both find the only person they have ever been able to be completely themselves with in their entire lives. There’s a connection there that can’t be broken.
It gives Banner the happiest ending out of any Hulk movie, as most end like most episodes of the show, with Banner alone again, having burned another bridge, helpless to cure his destructive condition. Trial of the Incredible Hulk ends so differently. Yes, Banner goes off again in his endless pursuit of a cure, but this time he does it knowing that he has a friend in the world, that there is someone like him, both of them sad to part but taking comfort in the knowledge that they are finally no longer alone. I don’t know if the queer subtext here is intentional, but I hope it is, because it’s honestly impressive, if so.
Yes, Trial of the Incredible Hulk is hindered by its budget, at least in terms of spectacle. It also embraces its roots in ways you wouldn’t even think to do now. Kingpin’s escape in a secret copter that ejects from the roof is so in line with that character’s original comic book roots, but it’s hard to imagine Vincent D’Onofrio’s Fisk ever doing anything of the sort. It’s so classicaly comic book villain in a way that is ironically no longer associated with Kingpin at all. Still, aided by the relatively small-scale world of Daredevil to begin with, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk marked the first truly faithful Marvel superhero movie. In doing so, it helped to prove that Marvel movies could work by embracing the stories themselves, more than just the iconography. It introduced Daredevil to a new audience at the time, and established a character design that is still thriving to this day. That is a legacy that should be celebrated. At the very least, it should never be forgotten.
