Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I almost attended the New York Comic Con myself, like I did last year, but things just didn't come together quick enough. Thankfully we have some readers who were on the ground to fill us in on some of the goodies. If you've seen any of the panels and want to give us a heads up, feel free to email us at harry@aintitcool.com and we'll make sure it ends up on the site! This report covers the Incredible Hulk panel, which includes a Q&A with actors and producers as well as footage shown, the new trailer and... a little something special at the end.
I posted this on a comic book site, but I thought you'd be interested! Don't read further, if you don't want to know stuff! You have been warned!!!! The preview of The Incredible Hulk was suppossed to start at 3PM in the IGN Theatre at the NYCCC. Unfortunately, a crowd of at least 1,000 of us were left cooling our heels until almost 4PM due to another movie studio running their presentation too long. Needless to say, many of us were not happy! The convention was over at 7PM, The Incredible Hulk presentation was suppossed to be done at 4PM, so it cut into a lot of shopping & other presentations that I wanted to attend. Thankfully, after we all got seated (filling the theatre to capacity!) we were in for a special time! On stage were Tim Roth (Abomination), Louis Lettier (director), Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios), and Gale Anne Hurd(?) (producer). In a surprise move, they brought out Lou Ferrigno! The Incredible Hulk 5-10 minute clip.... It opens with General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) walking with Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) in a hanger (?). They are discussing the process they are going to perform on Emil. Apparently, Marvel is setting up future movies (as you will read at the end of my tale!) and seem to be introducing the Super Soldier Formula. Of course, Captain America was created using the only known sample of the Super Soldier Serum along with the stabilizing effects of the Vita Rays in 1941. The plan was to turn ordinary soldiers into peaks of human perfection in the effort to thwart the Nazis. Unfortunately, a Nazi assassin/spy shoots & kills Professor Erkstine, the creator of the Super Soldier Serum. Erkstine had committed the formula to memory & had not written anything down, so that the secrets of the Super Soldier Program would not be discovered by the Axis powers. This resulted in the creation of Captain America, the only super soldier. Ross explains to Blonsky that he must be informed of any side-effects. We then see the very painful process that Emil Blonsky endures. Now we cut to a college university(?) and Ed Norton as Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. Apparently, Banner has been discovered by Ross & his troops! The university has been invaded by the US military. Banner is seen running through an elevated glass/brick tunnel that connects two buildings at the university. Ross has his men aiming at Banner. They shoot tear gas canisters into the elevated passageway. As the gas begins to disperse from the canisters, Bruce spies another player down below---Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)! The army seems to be manhandling her and restricting her access to Banner. She breaks free & screams for Bruce as she begins running across a green field towards the passageway where Banner is trapped. Soldiers pursue her. In one of my favorite scenes, acting like the Betty of the comics, she elbows one of the soldiers who drops to the ground bleeding from his mouth and nose. The other soldiers grapple and restrain her. Bruce looking down at the chaos is none too happy even as his escape route fills with the tear gas! You know what's coming next, right? Banner bangs his hands against the glass and screams for them to let Betty go! As the gas engulfs him, his eyes turn green! He is now completely obscured in smoke. We cut to a slightly backwards, side view of Banner in the tunnel. Straight out of issue #1 of The Incredible Hulk, comes the transformation we've been anticipating! We are thrilled to see his boots splitting open, looking as if the late, great,co-father of Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby had drawn it himself! Now we see the fists smashing through the glass of the elevated passage. The Hulk breaks free and leaps upwards, finally landing on the field below to confront Ross and his troops. He bellows a mighty roar and then begins his counter offense! The Hulk battles the military might of Ross' armored troops---guns, tanks, jeeps, etc...He tosses them about like a child on a rampage! Finally, Ross pulls back his men and tells Emil Blonsky that, "he's up." Emil, now apparently enhanced with the Super Soldier Serum, directly confronts the Hulk. He leaps around like Captain America, avoiding the Hulk's blows and landing some of his own! It seems as if Blonsky has tired out our monstorous hero! They now stand, sideways, facing one another. The 9'(should be 7' folks, but better than Ang Lee's 15') Incredible Hulk looks down at this "puny human" soldier not knowing what to make of him and angry that he couldn't get his paws on him. Emil looks up at him and says, "is that all you've got?" The Hulk responds by kicking him in the chest. CUT! The crowd goes nuts in applause! We now move to a Q&A phase. About 10 of us line-up (including me!). Most of the questions are mundane & have little to do with the movie. One guy is roundly booed for praising the Ang Lee film and asking Leterrier how he is going to "honor" it in this new one? Kevin Feige states that Lee's film had some great parts, but what's different about this new film is that it kicks ass! Someone asks Gale Anne Hurd about the troubles with Norton. She agrees that he is very intense and that he is taking this film very, very seriously. That has caused disagreements about the length and cut. She says that Norton is totally committed to this movie and was just in the editing room with her days ago. Despite the disagreements, (Marvel wants a shorter, concise, fast paced action picture after the failure of Ang Lee's previous cerebral outing, while Ed Norton (who rewrote much of the script) and the director, Louis Leterrier, want a longer, more explanation filled movie) she says that Ed wants this film to succeed, that he really believes in it. One of the panel members suggests that we read this week's Entertainment Weekly in which Ed Norton's side is revealed and hopefully all this can be put to rest. Unfortunately, I never get to ask my questions.... 1. As much as I love what I have seen, I am very disappointed by the "reimagining" of the Abomination's appearance. Perhaps, the general movie-going public is oblivious to the Abomination's existence, but to those of us, who have followed the Hulk's comic book adventures as children, the Abomination is our most beloved villain. I mean----why not include his trademarked ears?!?!?!? 2. I am happy with the inclusion of long-time Incredible Hulk supporting character, Dr. Leonard Samson. Will we see a gamma induced transformation come his way in The Incredible Hulk II ? The reason that I didn't get my chance at the mike was because of the surprise appearance of Lou Ferrigno, who got a standing ovation! Lou was invited to sit on the panel. Director Leterrier states that he dislikes "cameo" walk-on appearances in films. He says Lou will actually have a role in the film and that some of it is quite funny! Hopefully, we will see a stare down between the two Hulks! Leterrier then talks about fans constantly asking if this Hulk will speak & he looks at Ferrigno. Lou says that he thinks it had always been a mistake not to have Hulk speak in the TV show. Leterrier asks him if he wants the job now? ***Now we don't know if Leterrier was joking or not. He did say that, "you guys really want to hear Hulk say "Hulk SMASH!", don't you?" This of course met with lots of applause! We'll see! I really hope that they realize that the Hulk is not mute in any way & allow him to speak in this film!**** At the conclusion of Leterrier's discussion with Ferrigno, they had Lou roar----"Hulk SMASH!!!" That really met with a round of applause! Things that were gleaned from the panel.... - Leterrier had many, many images from The Incredible Hulk comic books through the years posted all around his office for inspiration. He said that while viewing the film the other day that he was quite happy that each and every image has made the cut into the film! -Leterrier stated that not only was the comic book used as source material and inspiration, but also was the TV show. The whole panel went on glowing about Bill Bixby's work and how it truely set the tone for what is to come. -Leterrier said that he was working with the composer on the score this past week and that it is very, very good....STAR WARS good! The panel then announced that they would show us the previously unseen new trailer for The Incredible Hulk! They also said to wait about 15 seconds before leaving to see something that has been rumored for months (and leads me to believe the connection between future Marvel films that I have talked about earlier!) The trailer opens. It includes footage from the teaser trailer, scenes from the little preview we had seen earlier, and more new Hulk scenes. The one scene that I loved was a shot of Betty and Hulk sitting together, perched on a cliff, perhaps talking? That comes directly out of this issue, drawn by Dale Keown and fulfills the director's pledge of including actual scenes from the comic! As the trailer closes, the lights stay down and we are in for a very short tease... On the screen, we see General Ross, sitting alone at a table in some rural bar. A well dressed man enters and walks over to Ross. It's Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (Iron Man)! He says that he hears that Ross needs some help with "his problem." Ross says, "my problem? What about YOU'RE problem?" The crowd goes nuts! The lights return. The panel is over and we are told that the new Hulk movie poster will be available at the Marvel booth. The End! Call Me... HoldyourfireAl
