20 facts you might not know about 'Hulk'

In 1990, the last Incredible Hulk TV movie based on the 1970s show aired. That same year, producers Avi Arad and Gale Anne Hurd started developing a movie featuring the Marvel character as well. It ended up at Universal in 1992, and stayed there throughout the production process.

Marvel’s Stan Lee and screenwriter Michael France were brought on to work on Hulk early in the process. France was given the chance to write the script. Universal pitched the idea of having the Hulk fight terrorists, but France rejected that concept.

France came and went, and John Turman, a writer who was a fan of the Hulk comics from back in the day, was brought on. Turman gave the script a pass, and then several more. Ultimately, Turman would write 10 drafts of Hulk. While Universal didn’t like any of his scripts enough to green light, elements from his story made it all the way until the end product.

While a script wasn’t locked in, Hulk found itself a director in Joe Johnston. He didn’t last on the project very long, though. Johnston was hired in April 1997 and dropped out in July 1997 to director October Sky.

Jonathan Hensleigh — then the husband of Hurd — was originally brought on the project as a producer. When Johnston was hired, Hensleigh was given a chance to take a pass at the screenplay because he had worked on Johnston’s hit Jumanji. After Johnston dropped out, though, Hensleigh pitched himself to direct, and he was able to get the role…for a while.

Zak Penn was given a pass on the Hulk script once Hensleigh was signed on as the director. He didn’t end up with a credit, but he would make good use of his time on Hulk. Penn has a "story by" credit on 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, and a couple ideas from his Hulk script ended up in The Incredible Hulk as well.

After years of preproduction, in 1997, Hensleigh decided to write an entirely new script. In this version, Bruce Banner does some experiments on three convicts, turning them into insect men. This was the version that was going to end up in production with Hensleigh as the director.

Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams did a pass on the screenplay. Then, the team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski took a crack at it. In December 1997, Hensleigh’s production of Hulk was going to begin filming in Arizona, with a release date set for summer of 1999.

Pretty much immediately, Universal pushed the start date back on Hulk. They then put the movie on hiatus in March 1998, worried about the budget and getting cold feet about Hensleigh directing. Hensleigh took a pass at writing a script that would have a lower budget. However, Hensleigh suddenly found himself burnt out. Tired of rewriting the script and calling his film preproduction a “wasted nine months,” Hensleigh dropped out of the project.

After Hensleigh dropped out, France was brought back once again to tackle the script. He found the process frustrating, saying that Universal’s brass were split on whether or not the movie would be a sci-fi action film or a comedy. France has even said that he heard Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey were being bandied about to star.

After another couple screenwriters took a shot, Ang Lee was brought on to direct. He brought his producing partner James Schamus with him. Lee did not like any of the scripts he was seeing, so he had Schamus write yet another version. Lee cited many different influences for his movie, including King Kong, Frankenstein, Faust, and Greek mythology.

Schamus made a play to get solo credit on the screenplay after all this chaos. Of course, the Writers Guild of America has a say in arbitrating these decisions. Somebody had to read all the scripts to help decide who would get credit. The person who did that for Hulk? None other than Michael France. In the end, Schamus, France, and Turman would share credit.

Several actors were bandied about to play Banner, and also the Hulk. Tom Cruise and Billy Crudup apparently both turned down the role. So did Edward Norton, who reportedly didn’t like the script. Notably, Norton would end up playing Banner in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.

When Eric Bana was hired to play Banner, he was not an expected choice. The Australian actor was unknown in America. He was starting to get some buzz for starring in the Australian film Chopper, which Lee had seen. In fact, Chopper is why Lee hired Bana. This came after Bana almost landed another comic book role. Bana had lost out to Nicolas Cage to play Ghost Rider.

At one point, Bruce Banner’s father and the character The Absorbing Man were both in the film. However, Lee decided he would simplify matters by combining the character. Banner’s father, played by Nick Nolte, was given the powers of The Absorbing Man in the movie.

In the comics, the Hulk is Bruce Banner. In the 1970s TV show, though, his name was changed to David Banner. Purportedly, this was because Bruce was considered too “effete” of a name. In a nod to the show, Nolte’s character is named David Banner.

Mychael Danna, who had done composer work on Lee’s films in the past, was given the role of providing the score for Hulk. Lee wanted a non-traditional superhero movie score, and Danna provided one, using African drumming, Arabic singing, and Japanese influences as well. This was too much for the studio, who rejected the score. They then brought in heavy hitter Danny Elfman, who liked Danna’s work and used some of it in his own score anyway.

People were excited for a Hulk movie! The film made $62.1 million domestically in its opening weekend, a new June record at the time. It then proceeded to drop a staggering 70 percent in its second weekend, which was also a record for a film that made over $20 million. Audiences and critics proved torn on the film, and it has a 62 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Hulk would end up making $254.4 million worldwide off of a budget of $137 million, which counts as a disappointment for a big movie like this.

When Bana signed on to play Banner and Hulk, he signed a three-picture deal. During product on Hulk, a 2005 release for a sequel was being considered, and Schamus started working on a script, which would have featured the villain the Abomination. In the end, though, Universal never moved forward with a sequel.

As we’ve alluded to, there was a new Hulk movie in 2008. This one was attached to the MCU. Gone were Bana and Lee, with Norton starring and Louis Leterrier directing. However, Norton lived up to his reputation as being, um, “highly opinionated” about the moviemaking process. As such, when Hulk was brought back for The Avengers, Norton had been replaced by Mark Ruffalo. In July 2021, Bana explained to Vulture why Hulk frustrated him and why he'd never want to revisit the character.