The Incredible Hulk

The Hulk is one of the best characters in comic book history and arguably the best that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ever created. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby began to develop the idea for the Hulk they had in mind horror classics like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also Frankenstein which they drew their themes from to create the character. So at the core of the story behind the creation of the Hulk must lay a terrible tragedy since Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jekyll is the inspiration for the story. Therefore anyone who plays the role of Bruce Banner must understand that he is a tragic character and there needs to be a degree of tragedy in his portrayal. He is also a man in love and he loves Betty Ross with everything she is the center of his universe but he cannot be with her because he is living with a dreadful curse and that is the tragedy behind Bruce Banner. As for the Hulk he is a simple character because he is destruction personified a creature capable of unutterable destruction either for good or for evil. The Hulk has had two big screen adaptions, an iconic TV show as well as appearing in this summer's blockbuster The Avengers. Here is a list of actors who did the best job of portraying the character of the Bruce Banner/Hulk.

1. Edward Norton: He is the highest profile actor to play the role of Bruce Banner and one of the most intense actors besides Anthony Hopkins to star in a Marvel film in the past four years. His portrayal of Bruce Banner is the closest to the comics we have seen so far. For one he is fugitive running from the U.S government and has that mentality of constantly looking over his shoulder because he does not know who may be looking for him. When you think of the character let's face facts Bruce Banner is a man who has been running for years. Second his fear of the Hulk is very much real in the movie he does everything he can to contain the Hulk in fact he lets factor workers rough him up because he is afraid of what the Hulk might do. In the comics Bruce is both afraid of and hates the Hulk because he has destroyed his life and is keeping him from Betty. In the movie as Norton transforms into the Hulk you can see the anxiety in his eyes. Finally Bruce Banner is a physicist, not a medical doctor or a geek although he can use technical jargon but the way he speaks comes from him being an brilliant nuclear physicist. Norton so far is the best scientist because most of the movie is centered around him trying to cure his gamma poisoned blood therefore getting rid of the Hulk. What is best about Edward Norton's Bruce Banner is that he is a man with a heart and a purpose.


2. Bill Bixby: Just looking at the pilot of the 1978 TV series The Incredible Hulk it is clear that he gives the best performance of Banner hands down. It's unbelievable he is like a man on fire and he is proof that Hollywood doesn't make actors like they use to. His performance is so good that I encourage anyone with Netflix to go back and watch that pilot episode because in that he masterfully plays a man that is tormented by the loss of his wife in an accident and is looking for answers. The sheer depth and emotion to his portrayal of Banner is both thrilling and refreshing also no actor has since equaled his performance in that show. I would rank him as the best but the show is so loosely based on the comics that it is hard to compare it to the movies in fact the show portrays Banner as a behavioral research doctor instead of a physicist. Credit also must be given to Bixby for playing the role of Banner longer than any actor.




3. Mark Ruffalo: As Bruce Banner he is without question the coolest and the most fun to watch on screen. He also portrays a Banner that is calm and in control of his emotional state in fact throughout most of the movie he is in control of himself even letting Tony Stark poke him to see if he could get him angry. He is also a great scientist in the film he is looking for gamma signatures that is being emitted from a piece of alien technology called the tesseract. The problem with his character is that he is just so calm and collect that one can rename his character Bruce Banner the Zen Master because almost nothing gets to the guy. He doesn't have to wear a heart monitor to watch the rise in his blood pressure, nor do breathing techniques as well as he can have fun at the playboy mansion without worrying about getting too excited because is so just completely carefree. There are two times in the movie where he transforms into the Hulk and in both of those occasions he seems more in control of himself than any person who has ever played Bruce Banner. I know a lot of people love his portrayal of Bruce banner but they must ask themselves three questions. 1. Does Mark Ruffalo Bruce Banner look like a guy who has been running from the U.S government for years? 2. To what degree does his banner hate or fear the Hulk and how does he reasonably try to contain the Hulk? 3. Is he a man with a purpose or heart? For example does he desire to find cure for his gamma poisoning or does desire be with Betty? If you answer no to any one these questions then his Banner is not the best.


4. Eric Bana: There is not much that I can comment on his portrayal of Bruce Banner because it's a pretty standard issue performance of the character. He is a brilliant young scientist that falls in love and meets with an unfortunate accident that transforms him into a giant green monster. He goes on the run when he finds out that General Ross wants to use and replicate the Hulk. He does a good job in the role my criticism of him is that he does not go beyond that and try to capture the audience. There is nothing about his Bruce Banner that stands out in any way.


In this article I did not discuss the Hulk because he is such a simple character that it is almost impossible to portray him in wrong way. The "Hulk smash" that's what he does and that's what he is about to mess that up takes a director with super human incompetence. We can discuss what action sequences that involve the Hulk are better or what CGI Hulk and in Lou Ferrigno's case which man looks closer to the comics but at heart they do the same thing which again is smash. No matter what your personal opinion is of the the hulk or who's your favorite we are certain to see him for years to come.