The Hollywood Hulk

So, with the new Marvel superhero movies coming out this year, it's all building up to one big one for 2012 and every fan boy out there is hoping it doesn't suck. The Avengers. This could potentially be the biggest, coolest superhero movie ever... if they do it right. If you've read Mark Millar's Ultimates, it reads like a movie storyboard and it's EPIC.
So far, everything seems to be shaping up and headed in the right direction. The Iron Man films were a huge success, Robert Downey was perfect, Thor looks like it will turn out to be pretty cool (even though I was hoping for something a little more gritty) and even Captain America has me pretty excited (even though Johnny Storm is playing Steve Rogers) The one thing I want to know is, will Hollywood screw up the Hulk again? I took a look at some screen caps from the last 2 Hulk films and had some fun doing some paintovers of how I wish the Hulk had been portrayed on screen.

Ang Lee's version of the Hulk was so disappointing. For whatever reason, they had this dough-eyed, pouty lipped, day glo green, baby-looking Hulk. ILM did a fantastic job rendering his skin and hair and created an amazing muscle system that looked very convincing but the face and bright green hue just ruined it for me.

In Leterrier's Incredible Hulk, his version was a bit better but it didn't stay true to Aaron Sims' concept for the film, which was amazing. In fact, his face seemed to change completely from shot to shot.

The Avengers will have a completely different looking hulk and Mark Ruffalo will be playing Banner, which I thought seemed like a good choice, until I read this. In a recent interview, Ruffalo revealed this bit of information:

"It's cool, it's gonna be great. The script is a nice combination of funny and was very in Joss Whedon's wheelhouse. And I got to see the maquette of the Hulk yesterday in full scope and it's awesome. Just like me. We're going out of our way to... first of all, I'm the first actor to actually do it in motion capture as the Hulk. And so, all the features are mine, they're just really big."

Really? Just like you? That's not a good thing, Mark Ruffalo. Especially since you look nothing like the Hulk. The Hulk has a very distinct look, it would be like drawing Jay Leno with a little chin....it wouldn't be Leno. Same goes for the Hulk, he has to have a short nose, large brow and a giant mouth. He needs to look primal, more ape-like....NOT HUMAN!

I decided to google Ruffalo and turn his face into the Hulk but make it still look like him. It just doesn't work. I don't know how they will get it to work. It seemed like the more I pushed the features into place to look like the Hulk, the less it looked like Ruffalo. Oh well, we shall see. My fingers are crossed that Hollywood does it right this time.

UPDATE! 2/29/2012

The final Avengers trailer just went online and it's epic.
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/marvel/avengers/
I still have minor complaints with the lips and teeth but I can nitpick anything. I think it proves my point that if you try to make Hulk share the same features as Banner, he will look less Hulk-like. I  couldn't resist doing one more paintover. :)

-cmof