Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)

Bill Bixby always wanted to give the incredible hulk a concluding season; he was a person who wanted closure even more so than fans, the opportunity to do a television movie with Nicholas Hammond who played Peter Parker in the television series ‘Amazing Spiderman’ was once on the table.  Bixby help led the way to get a deal made, the problem became time,  it was 1983, and Lou Ferrigno’s film career had taken off, with two theatrical released Hercules movies and contract with another movie at that time. The window to shoot the movie was lost, and so was invested interest. When licensed contracts were up with CBS, Bixby was able to get on board and sell a picture deal with NBC with the interest that the television movie would be a backdoor pilot should enough interest get made and the network decides to pick it up.  Unfortunately, neither of the team up films got picked up for a series, but fans got a glimpse of the world of DareDevil , twenty-six  years before

Netflix made their streaming debut. With Matt Murdock in his black ninja outfit trying to take down Wilson Fisk the King Pin, with characters like Turk running around the streets of New York.  This film brought forth 3 important firsts, it was the first time the character of DareDevil was in black, he was later given a black outfit about four years later in the man without fear series by Frank Miller and Trial of the incredible hulk was the first ever cameo appearance by Stan Lee, he played a juror in the jury box.  It was also the first and only time the Hulk wore his trademark purple shorts when flipping the Jury box.

The year is 1989, and Trial of the Incredible Hulk hit the small screen just one month before the theatrical release of Tim Burton’s Batman.  It was a golden era for the comic book fans, which only got better with the exploding popularity of comic books at the start of the 1990s. The Return of the Hulk showcased the first ever live action team up of superheroes and opened the eyes of a potential possibility of exploring this untapped world. There would be future television movies to follow, Fox had Generation X, and CBS attempted a Justice League of America television movie (that aired only overseas), both received less than stellar reviews, trial was not a critical darling, but it has become a beloved fan favorite over time.  

This would also mark Bill Bixby’s third attempt as director for a film, he had directed many television episodes for various series in the past in addition to being just a seasoned actor.  It was also the boom of VHS, with camcorders and decks being so affordable, the concept of video being everywhere and consumer friendly did not escape him as a director.  He wanted to showcase this awareness and almost vicariously through John Rhys-Davies’s Kingpin who took on the role of a film director; that mirrored the composting interests of Bixby the Director.