Eerder deze week zagen we een eerste indruk op The Hulk, die een belangrijke rol gaat spelen in de Marvel Studios superheldenfilm The Avengers van regisseur Joss Whedon. Het is na Hulk (2003), waarin de Hulk gespeeld werd door Eric Bana, en The Incredible Hulk (2008), met de titelrol door Edward Norton, de derde keer in 10 jaar tijd dat we een digitale Hulk gaan zien. In The Avengers is het Mark Ruffalo die de rol op zich neemt.

Tegenover Los Angeles Times sprak Kevin Feige, producent van de film en de hoogste baas van Marvel Studios, over het groene monster die maar moeilijk om kan gaan met zijn enorme krachten en emoties. Over de grootte en het ontwerp van het nieuwe uiterlijk van de Hulk zei Feige het volgende:

"He'll be about the same size he was in 'The Incredible Hulk' [which was about 9 feet tall] or maybe a little bit smaller. His muscles won't be quite as cut. We figure he's been the Hulk now for a few years and [his physique is changing]. He's not as cut or as ripped as he was in 'The Incredible Hulk.' The most important thing is that face. As you can already see in that concept painting, it is -- more than any Hulk that's ever been done in live action -- a Hulk that let's you see the actor in there. You will be able to see Ruffalo in there. That was a big revelation for us. It's just a concept painting, but in that you can see the [influence of Marvel Comics pioneer and original Hulk artist Jack] Kirby, as people have already pointed out, but also, and equally important in this case, Ruffalo's eyes and his cheek structure. It is him."

Feige gaat ook in op de relatie tussen alter-ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner en de krachtige en groene anti-held, die in de eerdere films vaak ver van elkaar stonden:

"Hulk was Hulk, he's not any one actor and Hulk should look like Hulk. It was like Iron Man's armor, in a way, it wouldn't change depending on the actor wearing it. But we've taken a different approach because Hulk is Banner and, frankly, we came to question our approach. Why are we not doing it this way? So we did a few designs that put Ruffalo into it, and we immediately saw how much more you feel for the creature. When you keep that connection going between Banner and the Hulk and you have characters around him trying to reach Banner inside -- 'Bruce, calm down,' and all of that classic Hulk stuff -- it means more if you see the same actor throughout. I think before it was something we thought might look silly. We were nervous about getting it good enough [via visual effects] to work. Frankly, it was the same way we were nervous early on about making Steve Rogers skinny for 'Captain America.' Is this going to look disturbing? Is this going to look silly? In the end, we got that one right. We're going to get this one right."

Hieronder nogmaals de complete concept-art van alle Avengers, inclusief The Hulk.

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