Our ongoing look back at sci fi / fantasy TV shows that were cancelled way too soon or pilots that never made it to series.
The Marvel comics characters Thor and Daredevil have become major players in the MCU with the former having three solo movies so far (and a fourth in the works) while also appearing in all the Avengers movies, and the latter having had his own series that ran for three seasons and who could be about to re-emerge in the MCU. But both characters previously had tryouts back in the late ’80s when they appeared in two separate Incredible Hulk movies that acted as back-door pilots for potential television shows (and those movies could have also led to the return of the Hulk to his own series). Neither went to series, but if they had it would have been interesting to consider how that would have impacted the MCU twenty years plus later.
In 1988’s The Incredible Hulk Returns, Bruce Banner has been working at a research institute for two years and has managed to keep his alter ego under control during that time. He is developing a Gamma Ray transponder that he hopes will cure him of the Hulk forever. One of Banner’s former students, Donald Blake, approaches him and reveals that he has become bonded to the mythical Thor after discovering the God of Thunder’s hammer while on an expedition in Norway. Odin had banished Thor to Earth long ago, and now Blake can summon him using the hammer (they exist together as opposed to the comics where Thor replaces Blake when he is summoned). Criminals steal the Gamma Ray transponder leading to Banner/Hulk teaming up with Blake/Thor to recover it. This movie definitely took a lot of liberties with the Thor character, especially by using him quite often for comic relief. But The Incredible Hulk diverged notably from its source material and still produced a classic sci fi series, so it would have at least been interesting to see the direction they would have gone with the character if he had been picked up for his own show.
The next year brought The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and that introduced Matt Murdock/Daredevil. In this film, David Banner heads to a city to find work, but it is under the influence of crime boss Wilson Fisk (played by John Rhys-Davies!). Banner gets into an altercation with two of Fisk’s men on the subway which causes him to turn into the Hulk. Banner is blamed for the incident and arrested, and Matt Murdock is appointed as his attorney. Murdock learns that Banner is the Hulk and then reveals his own secret identity of Daredevil. The two then team up to foil Fisk’s attempts to take full control of criminal activities across the city. This film also took liberties with the source material, but this version of Daredevil was closer to his comic book origins than either the Hulk or Thor. And the movie established a much stronger setup for a series based on the Man Without Fear. (Fun fact: this film also had the first of Stan Lee’s cameo appearances in Marvel-based movies.)
Buy The Incredible Hulk Returns / The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk on DVD Amazon.com
Sadly, neither that nor Thor progressed into their own shows. The Incredible Hulk movies drew decent ratings (a third and final film—with no guest heroes–would follow in 1990), but apparently not sufficient for network execs to greenlight the back-door pilots. If one or both had gone to series, would the characters have had crossovers since NBC owned the rights to all of them? This was definitely an early opportunity to establish an on-screen Marvel Universe of sorts, but NBC passed on the chance just as CBS did back in the late ’70s (more on that at this link). Through the years, neither of the renditions of the two Marvel characters have received much positive recognition, so perhaps it was for the best they did not continue into their own shows. And the broadcast nets had a particular aversion to genre entries in the ’80s and into the early ’90s, so their chances of lasting past a single season were not good. But if one or both had gone to series, they could have caused a significant shift to the direction of the MCU down the road, especially if they had been successful.
The Incredible Hulk Returns
Aired: May 22, 1988
Starring: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Eric Kramer, Steve Levitt
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk
Aired: May 7, 1989
Starring: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Rex Smith, John Rhys-Davies
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