24 Years Before The Avengers, Hulk & Thor Teamed Up In This Forgotten Movie That Revived a Marvel Era

The friendly rivalry between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) has become one of the most reliably entertaining dynamics in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From their seismic first clash aboard the Helicarrier in The Avengers to the full-blown gladiatorial brawl on Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok, the God of Thunder and the Jade Giant have perfected an odd-couple rhythm built on bruised egos, mutual respect, and an unspoken competition over who is, in fact, the strongest Avenger. That chemistry didn’t start on MCU, though. More than two decades before Hemsworth ever locked eyes with a computer-generated Hulk, the two heroes crossed paths in a scrappy made-for-TV adventure that brought a beloved Marvel era roaring back to life.

The first live-action crossover between Hulk and Thor happened in The Incredible Hulk Returns, a television movie that aired on NBC on May 22, 1988. The film reunited Bill Bixby’s ever-fugitive Dr. David Banner with Lou Ferrigno’s green-skinned Hulk for the first time since the original Incredible Hulk series ended in 1982, promising to continue one of the most successful Marvel adaptations ever. Designed to breathe new life into the franchise, the movie kicked off a trilogy of standalone Hulk TV features that would also include The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and The Death of the Incredible Hulk. More importantly, this first movie introduced a live-action Thor to the screen for the very first time.

The First Live-Action Thor Was Way Different From the One in the MCU

Played by Eric Allan Kramer with a boisterous energy, The Incredible Hulk Returns‘ Thor wasn’t a god from another realm as Marvel Comics established decades prior. Instead, he was an ancient Viking warrior, banished centuries ago by Odin into a mystical hammer, waiting for a “noble soul” to set him free. That noble soul arrived in the form of Dr. Donald Blake (Steve Levitt), a former student of David Banner’s, who stumbles upon the hammer and, by reading its inscription, unleashes a leather-clad warrior ready to crack skulls and down mead.

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The creative liberties taken with the source material were, to put it gently, extreme. In the comics, Donald Blake is a mortal guise adopted by Thor himself, a lesson in humility imposed by Odin. In The Incredible Hulk Returns, Blake is just a regular doctor who suddenly owns a semi-magical roommate. Kramer’s Thor also doesn’t share a body with Blake, simply appearing whenever Blake hoists the hammer and calls his name. In addition, the hammer is never called Mjolnir, just “the hammer of Thor,” and it’s an unadorned sledgehammer with a leather wrist strap. Finally, costume-wise, Thor wears a fur vest, a brown tunic, work boots, and a helmet that wobbles during fight scenes, with the classic red cape conspicuously absent.

Within the movie, Thor is written as little more than a comic relief and a convenient sparring partner for the Hulk. As expected from a comic book crossover, a brief but memorable scuffle between the two giants sets the stage for an eventual team-up against a mercenary outfit trying to steal a gamma-ray projector. While a far cry from the MCU era, the team-up is nevertheless fun, as Thor’s reckless confidence bounces off Banner’s haunted demeanor. Plus, Kramer plays Thor with a contagious enthusiasm that elevates a shallow script. His chemistry with both Bixby and Levitt is easy and warm, and there’s a scrappy charm in watching this bargain-bin demigod learn to care about the modern world. 

Like The Trial of the Incredible Hulk a year later, which tried to spin off Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk Returns was constructed explicitly as a backdoor pilot for a Thor television series. The ending sees Thor and Blake walking off into the night, hammer in hand, ready for further adventures that would never come. NBC passed on the series, and Kramer’s Thor would never summon thunder again. That’s unsurprising, given the character’s muddled mythology and bargain-basement aesthetic made a weekly series a tough sell, especially stacked against the era’s glossier action shows. Still, for fans of the original Incredible Hulk series, seeing Ferrigno return to the role he defined was a major event, and the movie’s tone faithfully matches the spirit of late-’70s television Marvel.

The Incredible Hulk Returns is available to stream for free on Plex and The Roku Channel.

Have you ever watched The Incredible Hulk Returns? What do you think a Thor TV series starring Eric Allan Kramer would have looked like? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!