Hulk TV Series Stalled, Says del Toro

Today at the Television Critics Association, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was cornered about the [...]

Director Guillermo del Toro

Today at the Television Critics Association, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was cornered about the long-delayed Incredible Hulk television series he's supposed to be developing for ABC. Announced some time ago, the show has been leapfrogged into development by Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. and, while del Toro has remained upbeat about the project in the past, many fans had started questioning whether it would ever happen. Even more after Marvel's The Avengers, in which The Hulk plays a huge role and for which Mark Ruffalo drew a ton of praise. It seemed unlikely that Ruffalo could be attracted to the TV series, which would have put Marvel Studios in the unenviable position of trying to counter-program a film franchise and a TV series that featured different takes on the same character, featuring different actors but (more likely than not) existing in the same continuity. Today, del Toro confirmed that the show is going nowhere fast, and the timing...well, it's suspect. "After The Avengers there's been complete radio silence," the director said. "I had one more meeting after Avengers with Jeph Loeb from Marvel and he said, 'We're working on it, we're waiting for a writer,' he gave me the name of the writer and their resume and I said, 'That sounds great, let's wait for him' because we had delivered a teleplay and I haven't heard since then." Asked what other comics properties might appeal to him, it seemed that the filmmaker--who was recently contacted about Star Wars but turned it down--might be hesitant to wander back into Marvel's waters again right away. He said, "I only like monsters. I think Morbius is great. Even though he's a relative of Swamp Thing, Man-Thing was great. I like the weird ones, frankly. And if I have to chose weird superheroes, Dark Universe is my cup of tea." By that, the folks at Indiewire think he means DC's Dark family of books, including Swamp Thing, Justice League Dark and others. A few months ago, del Toro confirmed rumors that he was pursuing a film called Heaven Sent at Warner Brothers, which sounded suspiciously like a Justice League Dark film adaptation. While Marvel has denied interest in revisiting The Hulk in a feature film anytime soon, it's possible that rumors to the contrary could have played a role in delaying the series.

0comments