Incredible Hulk (1982) Complete Animated Cartoon Series

The Incredible Hulk is an animated television series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.

The series ran for 13 episodes on NBC in 1982, part of a combined hour with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (as The Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spider-Man). Unlike the previous live-action The Incredible Hulk television series from Universal in the 1970s, this series was based upon the Hulk comic books and was able to portray the more fantastical elements of the comics as sticking to his true name and origin as well as featuring the return of the original characters in his life, all of which the live-action series refused to show. It featured stories faithful to the source material from Marvel. In addition, new recurring characters were created for the series including the Hispanic family of father Rio and his youthful daughter Rita.

Plot

The series focused on Dr Bruce Banner's attempts to cure himself of his transformations into the Hulk, and the Hulk defeating various monsters and villains whilst fending off the army's attempts to subdue and capture him. This was the second Hulk animated series: in 1966, the Hulk appeared in 39 seven-minute segments as part of TV's The Marvel Super Heroes.

The 1982 Incredible Hulk series featured accompanying narration by Hulk co-creator Stan Lee. Some of the same background music tracks were used for Dungeons & Dragons. Boyd Kirkland, who became a writer/director for Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: Evolution, was one of the layout artists for The Incredible Hulk.

Production

The character design for both Bruce Banner and the Hulk were based on the artwork of Sal Buscema, who penciled the Incredible Hulk comic during the 1970s and 1980s. There is also the more frequently remembered quirk that whenever the Hulk transformed back to Bruce Banner, his clothes would miraculously return to normal. Also, the series would frequently reuse the same stock sequences when Banner transformed into the Hulk.

The series did have a number of changes to avoid censorship issues with a younger audience, including arming the troops at the army base with futuristic sci-fi-style weaponry.