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The Incredible Hulk is like the Marvel Action Hour played inverse. After a wonderfully rich, dark and complicated first season the show quickly pandered to a more juvenile audience and forced She-Hulk into every episode in an effort to bring in young female viewers. That it was not cancelled after the first season proved that superhero cartoons could transcend juvenilia and go for something far richer in tone.
Sure, Batman: The Animated Series was proof positive that a darker, more adult slant to super heroics could turn out magic, but we’re talking about Marvel here. As much as I love them, and I do, they tend to aim at the hearts and minds of twelve-year-old boys.
This is why it was so nice to see Bruce Banner actively engage with Betty Ross in numerous episodes, and to see Betty Ross be something other than the damsel-in-distress forcibly shoved off to the sidelines and trotted out as proof of Banner’s heterosexuality. Superheroes have a way of coming off as eunuchs in brightly colored spandex in several cartoons and films.
The intro to The Incredible Hulk was dark and disturbing enough to let you know that we’re dealing with a show that aims to explore its characters scarred and eternally broken psyche. Once we get into the second season we deal with episodes involving She-Hulk wearing a bikini and fighting bad guys at an amateur model fundraiser. It makes as much sense as that sentence did. If only the tone and artistic sensibility had been fostered for the subsequent season maybe it would have lasted longer. Another case of studio interference killing a show before it had the full chance to flower.
