How Much Money Did WWE Have to Pay Marvel for Hulk Hogan's Name?
Hulk Hogan is one of WWE's biggest money-making draws of all time, but his name infamously came with a price. Because of the similarities to The Incredible Hulk, Hogan's persona in the WWF caught the attention of Marvel comics in the mid-80s. Eventually, the comics company, Hogan and the wrestling promotion reached a very particular legal agreement, one that prevented Hogan from being presented in any way that resembled The Hulk (he couldn't wear purple or green, couldn't be referred to as just "Hulk" or have "incredible" as a nickname) and forced the WWF to pay a portion of Hogan's merchandise revenue, money for each of his matches and 10% of earnings made off of Hogan's name.
The original deal was only set for 20 years and eventually carried over to WCW when Hogan made the jump there, though he started going by Hollywood Hogan in 1996. This deal has been well-documented in the past, but it was recently brought up by Kevin Nash on an episode of the Kliq This podcast.
"It was Marvel, and [WWF] paid, I wanna say one hundred grand, to use the Hulk trademark," Nash said while discussing a number of trademarks (h/t 411Mania). He also talked about how valuable the nWo trademark wound up becoming — "[WWE] owned the nWo. So we got a percentage of that from the WWE. The faction makes way more money than 'Kevin Nash' does. The nWo was the homerun. If I could pick owning either the nWo trademark solely 100%, or owning 'Kevin Nash' in the realm of wrestling? I'll take the nWo."
Chris Hemsworth on Playing Hulk Hogan in a Biopic
Ironically, Hogan and Marvel became connected again when it was announced that Chris Hemsworth, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was announced to play Hogan in a biopic directed by Todd Phillips. Not much has been said about the project since its initial announcement, though Hemsworth was asked about it in an interview with ComicBook earlier this year.
(Laughs) That film's a while away. That's sort of in the development stage you know, and if that comes to fruition, great. Todd Phillips is brilliant. Haven't ripped any shirts off yet, but you'll be the first to hear about it when I do," Hemsworth said.