Marvel Needs To Scrap Plans For A Live-Action World War Hulk
It’s been rumored for years that a live-action World War Hulk is on the way, and between the pretty much 99.99999 (etc.) percent confirmation that Red Hulk will make his debut in next year’s Captain America: Brave New World, the fact that just about the entire surviving cast of 2008’s Incredible Hulk will join the cosmic-powered strawberry in the film, seeds planted in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law for a widespread Hulk-demic, and the introduction of Skaar in the same series, it seems like it may actually happen. If the rumor mill actually has it right this time, Marvel needs to step on the brakes and leave World War Hulk alone because they’ve already decimated any possibility that a live-action adaptation would live up to the vengeful spirit of the source material.
What Is World War Hulk?
The short answer–Marvel Comics’ 2007 event World War Hulk is the sequel to the previous year’s Planet Hulk, which saw The Illuminati banish the eponymous green-skinned hero to the planet Sakaar. The man-monster who comes to be known as “The Green Scar” dominates in the planet’s gladiator arenas, helps to free his fellow warriors, and leads a rebellion against the mad Red King. Hulk becomes the new ruler of Sakaar, and soon after taking the throne he and his beloved Caiera conceive sons (that’s right–Skaar is not their only son).
Tragically, Planet Hulk ends when the shuttle that carried Hulk to Sakaar explodes, decimating the planet and killing millions, including Caeira and–we erroneously believe–her unborn children. Wrongly blaming the same heroes who banished him for the shuttle explosion, Hulk, his warbound, and an army of survivors travel to Earth to get vengeance on the heroes. The epic battle that unfolds is World War Hulk.
You Can’t Have A World War Hulk Without A Planet Hulk
As much as I adore 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok (though it does have more flaws than many are willing to admit), the game-changing films solidly ruined any possibility of a live-action Planet Hulk. It took the gladiator aspect of the story, the name of the planet, and it turned a couple of Planet Hulk‘s side characters and made them comic relief (one of whom, Miek, is actually the secret villain of World War Hulk). It took just enough of the source material to render it recognizable, and in doing so made sure a more faithful version (beyond the 2010 animated adaptation) was impossible.
You can’t have a World War Hulk without a Planet Hulk, because the former is a story unlike most superhero tales–it’s a story of revenge.
Hulk’s Great Vengeance Epic
On one level, World War Hulk is specifically about the title character getting back at the four members of the Illuminati–Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and Mister Fantastic–who banished him to space. But on another level, particularly in the minds and hearts of hardcore Hulk fans, the event was the man-monster’s revenge on the entire Marvel Universe.
The Hulk’s relationship with other Marvel heroes is much different in the comics than it is in the MCU. Bruce Banner isn’t on anyone’s speed dial in the comics. In spite of the Hulk helping to save life, the universe, and everything right along with the Avengers, the X-Men, and all the others–when the Hulk shows up, the other capes don’t know whether he’s there for or against him.
World War Hulk is something Hulk fans had been hungering for–the green goliath’s revenge on the heroes who had hounded him and refused to give him his due for decades. Every time the Hulk’s fist connected with a superhero’s face in that event, you can believe his fans knew that do-gooder deserved it.
An MCU World War Hulk Will Be Nothing Like The Source Material
If Marvel does adapt World War Hulk, it will not be the Hulk’s great vengeance tale. It won’t be anything like it.
Judging by what we saw in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and what we know so far about Captain America: Brave New World (or whatever title it will have between now and next year), the MCU’s version of World War Hulk will be “bunch of people get all Hulky.”
Red Hulk, She-Hulk, Leader, Abomination, and Skaar will be in it. Maybe the Hulk himself will show up if Marvel’s feeling generous.
Heck, if there are plans to Hulk-ify Betty Ross, then we might get Red She-Hulk, or Harpy, or Red Harpy, or Red-She-Harpy-Hulky. Maybe with no new Modern Family episodes to make, Ty Burrell will get a call assuring him that it would totally make sense for him to play an impossibly muscular guy with long, green hair.
And that will be the MCU’s World War Hulk. No Hulk and Iron Man destroying a skyscraper as they fight mid-air. No Hulk sneering at Black Bolt with one of the best lines ever written in a comic book (“I didn’t come here for a whisper. I wanna hear you scream.). Just hey, look at the CGI, everyone’s green and stuff.
They’ve Done It Before
You might argue that, should World War Hulk arrive in the MCU, it wouldn’t be the first time Marvel Studios released a project named after a comic book event which bore little resemblance to the source material. Age of Ultron, Civil War, and Secret Invasion were all wildly different from the events they adapted.
You would, of course, be correct. And, do we maybe want to consider that out of those three projects, two of them–Avengers: Age of Ultron and Secret Invasion–are generally considered to be two of the worst productions Marvel Studios ever backed?
