For those of us who love The Incredible Hulk TV show of the 70’s, what made the show realistic, and left the Hulk movies so unsatisfying, is the Hulk was played by a real guy, champion weight lifter Lou Ferrigno.
Sure you can grow somebody to insane sizes with CGI, but again, the fact that the Hulk was a real guy who was much bigger than David Banner, played by Bill Bixby, made the show a lot more real.
At that time, it should also be mentioned that body-building wasn’t as well known of a phenomenon as it is today.
We see all kinds of insanely muscular gym rat guys on TV and at the newsstands in the sports section today, but back when the Hulk was on TV, Schwarzenegger was just starting to break through with the movies Pumping Iron and Stay Hungry, and body builders were also just starting to break through in movies and TV shows like Ah-nold and Lou.
So the other day I’m at the newsstand, and I see the Mark Ruffalo Hulk starring back at me on the magazine rack. “GET HUGE LIKE THE HULK With Our Real-Life Routine!”
Even though he got that huge with the help of computer animation, with the release of The Avengers, The Hulk made the cover of Muscle & Fitness, who promise to show you how to Hulk out in the gym.
The issue also has another article, “Train Like the Avengers!,” which includes the workouts of Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Robert Downey Jr. Of course, whenever an actor commits to make an action intensive film, getting in hardcore shape with a trainer is a given, especially with the superhero flicks.
The modern day Hulk has to get so big, that a mere Gold’s Gym denizen wouldn’t be realistic enough for today’s audiences, which is a shame, because again, as silly as it is to see Lou Ferrigno today with that carpet wig, green blank eyed contacts, and green skin, it was much more real seeing an actual real guy Hulking out.
Still, early word of mouth says The Avengers Hulk is the best big screen Hulk yet, and maybe with enough time in the gym, we can get that big by the time the next Avengers flick rolls around.
