Incredible Hulk

The latest animated straight-to-DVD release from Marvel / Lionsgate brings the smash (heh, heh) comic book saga to life. Planet Hulk is based on the original comic book story by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan.

The story has a small group of Marvel’s foremost brainiacs (Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, Black Bolt and Doctor Strange) deciding one of the best ways to help the Earth is to send Hulk (Rick D. Wasserman) to another planet. They deem him way too destructive for the room and rocket him to a place where he can smash to his content without causing too much property damage.

“Hello, Hulk. This is Iron Man wishing you a wonderful flight into the cosmos. And now for your in-flight double feature: Battlefield Earth and Gigli. Happy landings!”

Hulk wakes in the rocket en route to his new home. Iron Man fills Hulk in on the plan via a recording. Hulk gets royally ticked and causes the rocket to change course. The Big Green One crash lands on Sakaar and is promptly enslaved by Red King (Mark Hildreth). In order to win his freedom Hulk has to fight gladiator style in the local arena. His fellow inmates believe him to be the prophesied Sakaarson that will free the people from the tyrannical rule of the Red King. Hulk believes he just wants to get these silly games over with so he can be left alone.

What I liked most about Planet Hulk is that it doesn’t shy away from the brutality of the original story. Conservative parents should take note that there are some moments of gore in this feature. Not too traumatic since it’s animated blood but Marvel/Lionsgate definitely cranked the carnage factor up one more notch since the action packed Hulk Vs (2009) piece. Though not everything from the original comic book story could be fit into the animated version of Planet Hulk I think the fans will appreciate that the producers made some valiant efforts to retain the elements that made the Planet Hulk story so captivating in comics form.

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“Hulk not like losers that watch big fight on pirated cable station. Pay-Per-View or Hulk smash you!”

One noticeable absentee from Planet Hulk is Bruce Banner. I guess it can be chalked up to
the physics of Sakaar that keep Hulk from morphing back into Banner. It does provide a
rare opportunity to see Hulk bask in the spotlight on his own. The story revolves around Hulk and his experience on Sakaar rather than the traditional scenario with Banner struggling to keep his Hulk side in check as he searches for a cure to his “green rage”. Planet Hulk lets Hulk be himself and even lets him use complete sentences. I almost liked Banner being out of the picture because Hulk alone turned out to be quite intriguing.

Aside from Hulk there is also the part of the plot that deals with the happenings on Sakaar. The fighters that are enslaved with Hulk each have their own motivation for surviving the arena brawls but all are united in their hatred for the Red King and burn with a desire to see him dethroned. Their quest for emancipation is just as thrilling as the fight sequences so rest assured that this is not just a frivolous exercise in animated fisticuffs. Despite the violence the younger ones will benefit from the lesson that slavery is always bad and only the worst of the worst enslave others.

With Planet Hulk in the can I can only hope that Marvel/Lionsgate will strongly consider adapting the World War Hulk story that picks up where Planet Hulk ends. Now that comic book saga I did read and that would make for an incredible animated feature. Until then I am happy with Planet Hulk. I was afraid that Marvel/Lionsgate had lost their edge with Next Avengers (2008) but Hulk Vs (2009) and Planet Hulk have reassured me that they can still dole out intense animated flicks that can go toe to toe with the stuff DC/Warner Brothers is hammering out.

Translation: “Earth be 200 kajillion miles thisaway.”

I rented the single disc DVD version that included a making-of featurette called “A World of Hurt: The Making of Planet Hulk”, a sneak peek at the upcoming Thor: Tales Of Asgard and trailers for other Marvel/Lionsgate flicks. The double disc DVD and Blu-Ray comes with that plus a digital copy, an additional featurette titled “Let The Smashing Commence!: The Saga of Planet Hulk”, two audio commentaries, an episode of Wolverine & The X-Men featuring Hulk, and “Spider-Woman” and “Astonishing X-Men” motion comics and music videos.