There’s an interesting paradox at the heart of the new Planet Hulk animated film. “Planet Hulk” the comic book arc was conceived as a diverting detour from the Hulk’s status quo, not to mention a lead in to a cros-over mega-event. In the comics, with hundreds of issues of prototypical Jekyll and hyde Hulk stories weighing writers and readers down, a riff like the Maximus-meets-John Carter vibe of “Planet Hulk” worked as a novel break, a bit of variety to spice up Hulky’s pulpy life. With “Planet Hulk” fans got a few months of something different knowing fully well that eventually the character would return to something close to his Jekyll/Hyde status quo.

But take a riff like “Planet Hulk” out of its serial context and put it into a standalone film and there’s a different effect. Cut free of continuity, it seems kind of disingenuous. For the casual Hulkamaniac, Planet Hulk the movie is an exercise in frustration because he plot of Planet Hulk isn’t one that embraces what really makes The Hulk The Hulk to most of us. Planet Hulk dispenses with the dual identity of the Hulk and It drops him into a Sparatcus/Edgar Rice Burroughs plot that has to de-power the character to really work. In the process his cathartic “strongest there is” cachet practically disappears. As a stand-alone film Planet Hulk is not an intriguing riff, but a baffling contrivance that bends the Hulk’s identity so much that the character becomes nothing more than Conan the barbarian with a skin condition. For the casual viewer the purpose of the whole thing is baffling. Why go to the trouble of having The Hulk in your film if you are not going to let him be the Hulk?

Of course re-defining everything that makes the Hulk the Hulk in a narrative isn’t necessarily disastrous, its just an obstacle that has to be overcome by the storytellers, something the audience has to be sold on. If you create a compelling enough plot, envision a novel setting and intriguing characters, or even simply deliver overpowering action scenes, then the viewer will be having too much fun to care that the Hulk character they are watching has basically lost his iconic identity.

Unfortunately, with a meager 80 minute run time, Planet Hulk has little opportunity to sell its premise to skeptical newcomers. Planet Hulk doesn’t even have enough time to set its own narrative ground rules. I haven’t read a Hulk comic in a decade, but I’m familiar enough with the mythos to know that the Hulk/Banner dichotomy has been played around with a lot by writers. Banner’s been completely separated from the hulk, there have been versions where the Hulk retains Banner’s personality, even multiple Hulks. I’m cool with playing around with the old Jekyll and Hyde dynamic a bit, but at least let me know exactly how you’re playing around with it. Planet Hulk’s jolly green gamma giant obviously doesn’t transform back and forth between Hulk and Bruce Banner a la classic hulk, nor does he seem to have Banner’s personality in Hulk’s body, so just what is his deal? Is this the split Banner/Hulk version? Something between Smart Hulk and Dumb Hulk? Planet Hulk never lets you know.

The short run time also means Planet Hulk doesn’t allow its plot to develop far beyond a boilerplate gladiator/savior cliche that was old even when Lee and Kirby cribbed it from Spartacus way back in Fantastic Four #91. The element of an extremely de-powered Hulk also takes away the premise’s only concession to novelty, namely the presence of the unstoppable green goliath. Planet Hulk’s Hulk can be stabbed by conventional spears and smacked around by a winsome waifish warrior woman. He’s no more resistant to a sword’s cut than John Carer of Mars or Maximus the Gladiator. There might have been some cathartic novelty in having a fully-powered unstoppable Hulk just straight-up rampaging and flattening a Burroughsesque space fantasy world, but alas, that’s not how the story plays out.

Of course the de-powered hero riff is actually a pretty standard one in the superhero genre, and when it is used well it’s pretty compelling. Usually it serves to re-confirm the heroic status of the protagonist, basically showing that a superhero is more than just his superpowers. One great example of this stock plot was in the two part “Hereafter” episode of the Justice League animated series. In the episode Superman is shot into a post-apocalyptic, red-sunned future. Stripped of his powers, Supes triumphs by his own wits and bravery, doing things like forging steel for a sword and single-handedly taming wild mutated dogs, plus he grows a really boss beard. Planet Hulk doesn’t really seem to have the same method to its Hulk-downgrading madness. Hulk doesn’t suddenly become a sun-tzu evel strategist or anything. In the film, Hulk pretty much gets by like he always does: by smashing things and pulverizing anything that gets in his way, only he’s just not quite as efficient at it as usual.

Problems withe execution aside, Planet Hulk‘s shortcomings really illuminate the limitations of “riffing” on a character outside of the comics. Certain innovations in serial form lose their power when they are shrunk down and removed from the context of continuity. It made me think of all of those fans hoping for a “Kraven’s Last Hunt” Spider-man movie. The problem is, the impact of that particular story comes from taking a long established character with years of history and pushing him over the edge into a tragic, sadistic, denouement. Boil that story down into a 2 hour film and the tragedy that elevates the story is lost because the years of connection between audience and a character forged by comic continuity is absent. That familiarity is the very heart of the story’s emotional power. Likewise, would Ed Brubaker’s “Winter Soldier” arc really work a standalone 2- hour Captain America movie? Of course not, not because of its length, but because it relies on an emotional link only possible in a serial storytelling format.

Planet Hulk also had me thinking about the various Punisher films. In the context of a comic book universe, the concept of a crimefighter who just decides to gun down evildoers is a clever riff on the whole super-vigilante paradigm, not to mention a way to sneak some Schwarzeneggerian ultra-violence into code approved comics for kids whose mom’s wouldn’t let them go see Commando. But take that same character and put him on film and his high caliber appeal kind of disappears. On screen, he’s just another guy with a gun playing out a revenge scenario audiences have seen dozens of times before. There’s a related effect with Planet Hulk’s plot. In the comics, turning Hulk into Maximus for a year provides something radically different. Not so once you make the jump to film. People rent a Hulk movie wanting a Hulk movie, not a riff that combines Spartacus with Krull. If you want to watch a gladiator movie, a film fan can cut out the middleman and just go rent Gladiator, that is if they’re not tired of the whole cliche altogether. Some sci-fi trappings and A surprise appearance by Beta Ray Bill can’t hide the fact that Planet Hulk‘s story is something we’ve seen before, especially at the movies.

Maybe Planet Hulk delivered exactly what fans of the original comic arc wanted, I can’t say. But to those out of the loop, those just looking for a rollicking superhero action fix starring the Incredible Hulk, Planet Hulk is a reminder that, even more than in the comics, in film, riffing on the status quo has to be done with extreme caution.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Animation, Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Internet, Marvel, media, Movies, News & Views, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.