Producing their own films internally was one of the wisest decisions Marvel Entertainment has made in a good long while. Before debuting their studio with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel’s track record was hit-or miss. X-Men 2 was fantastic, the Spider-Man films were fun, and the first couple Blades were okay, but then there were the absolute atrocities of Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider, the first Hulk and the third X-Men. The hopes were high for Marvel’s independently-produced direct-to-DVD animated features… until they were released.
The first two Ultimate Avengers features were an insult to their source material. The Invincible Iron Man was better, but still a convoluted mess, and I’ve been sitting on a shrinkwrapped copy of Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow for over a year. I’d all but given up on the line, but I can’t help being excited for next week’s release of Planet Hulk. For one, this feature is based on quite possibly my favorite superhero story of the past decade. Also, hell, just check out some sweet footage:
First, the trailer shown off at San Diego Comic-Con last summer:
So the basic setup is this: Hulk smash, right? That’s what Hulk do. Hulk’s friends (Iron Man, Dr Strange, Black Bolt, Professor Xavier, Reed Richards and Namor) decide that for the safety of both the Earth and Hulk, it would be best to exile Hulk to an uninhabited planet where he can’t, well, smash anyone. Hulk gets pissed, as Hulk is wont to do, and smashes the ship, veering off-course to an entirely different planet. Getting kind of rad, right? Just a bit? How about this sweet scene of Hulk’s arrival to the strange planet of Sakaar and his not-so-friendly welcoming committee:
(If this video embed doesn’t work for you, click on it to watch on MTV’s site, it’s a bit moody)
This is where Planet Hulk becomes less traditional superhero soap opera and more escapist sci-fi/fantasy. The barbaric planet throws Hulk into gladiatorial battle, wherein we meet a surprisingly deep cast of characters stuck fighting against and beside Hulk for their freedom:
Oh, but that’s only the beginning. Then we get into whether Hulk is the prophesied savior of Sakaar and other non-smashable problems. Ooh, it’s a good fantasy story.
Like I said above, Planet Hulk hits shelves in Blu-Ray and DVD formats next tuesday. I think I may be back on board with Marvel for this one.
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