Guillermo del Toro's 'The Hulk' TV Show Belongs on Disney+
There's a script already, so who's going to make this happen?
by Corey PlanteGuillermo del Toro clearly loves working with monstrous creatures (see Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and The Shape of Water). So it only makes sense that of all the Marvel heroes, he’d be drawn to the Incredible Hulk, so much so that he already wrote a script for the pilot episode of a Hulk TV show.
On Monday, del Toro humble-bragged on Twitter about the many dormant creative projects he’s written in the last decade that have never been produced. Several of them will almost definitely never see the light of day, namely his version of Pacific Rim 2 and Beauty and the Beast, both of which have already been made with different scripts. But also included in the list is a smattering of Lovecraftian stories, including his long-rumored adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness. There’s superheroes too, like the shelved live-action Justice League Dark, perhaps most mysterious of all, “THE HULK pilot.”
Guillermo del Toro previous wrote and directed the first two Hellboy movies, so he’s no stranger to comic book adaptations, but bringing the Incredible Hulk and Bruce Banner to the small screen for a new series is an interesting choice.
Of all the Marvel characters, Bruce Banner/Hulk does feel like the perfect fit for del Toro, a man obsessed with darker themes and fantastical realities. After all, here’s a character that’s essentially a superpowered Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hulk almost never gets the spotlight. The Incredible Hulk (2008) has a place in the official MCU canon, but only as a technicality. And despite being a core member of the original Avengers team, Banner/Hulk has only gotten a “secret Hulk trilogy” hidden within Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and (supposedly) Avengers 4.
With the Disney+ streaming service slated to launch various MCU shows focused on Loki, Scarlet Witch, and a Winter Soldier-Falcon team-up, maybe it’s time the House of Mouse considered giving del Toro a chance to produce this show? That is, assuming Banner (and Mark Ruffalo’s contract) survives the events of Avengers 4.
Bruce Banner and the Hulk will return in Avengers 4, due out May 3, 2019. But Guillermo del Toro’s Hulk TV show will probably never get made.
Watch Hulk get the beat down from Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
