Back to a time when Marvel was not yet that with a Hulk adventure shot for television in which the green giant crossed paths with Matt Murdock alias Daredevil!
Let’s remember a time when Marvel was looking to break into television and creating pilots by pairing the hugely popular Hulk with other superheroes hoping to launch series. Today, The Trial of The Incredible Hulk.
As usual, Bill Bixby (who plays David Banner from the Hulk series) tries to revive interest in the green monster by combining it with a new character, this time Daredevil. This new TV movie takes place after the events of Return of the Incredible Hulk, but never refers to them.
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In this new story, David Banner arrives in a city plagued by mob boss Wilson Fisk. On site, only a superhero fights against this gangster: Daredevil. One evening, David witnesses an assault, intervenes in the form of the Hulk and, creating panic, is arrested by the authorities. He must go to court and meets on this occasion the blind lawyer Matt Murdock.
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Rex Smith as Daredevil
Eventually, there is no trial as the Hulk takes control of Banner and breaks out of prison. He meets Daredevil and together they fight against Fisk.
Something quite rare so far in the “David Banner universe” (see this other Marvel of shame), the TV movie shows quite violent scenes, like when Daredevil is beaten up by Fisk’s men. The latter is also played by John Rhys-Davies alias the interpreter of Gimli in The Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson version.
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John Rhys-Davies in Wilson Fisk
The TV movie seems loosely inspired by the comics Daredevil #163 written by Roger McKenzie and released in 1980, in which Hulk rubs shoulders with the blind vigilante. The concern is that in the end, the two characters have very few scenes together. Above all, if Banner is there, Hulk is almost absent from the feature film. As for the “trial” of the title, it is a single scene, moreover dreamed up by Banner, contributing to disappoint the spectator, who has come to attend the trial of the green giant.
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The Trial of The Incredible Hulk is a disappointment. For the time, Daredevil is rather badass, but the rather banal plot and the cruelly lacking means end up making the feature film a failure, because the first meeting of the two superheroes could (due) have been much better.
Despite a very correct reception of this pilot, the ratings, below those of the Return of the Incredible Hulk, do not lead to the launch of a Daredevil series. Such a project will not see the light of day until 2015 with Charlie Cox in the title role. She will be so successful that the character, still played by Cox, will later join the universe of Disney’s Avengers.