海角大神

One of the most surprising developments in The Avengers, based on early reviews and reactions, is that the Incredible Hulk is finally awesome on the big screen. In fact, it has been said on more than one occasion that the Hulk聽 steals the entire show.

Perhaps as a result of that success, Marvel鈥檚 President of Consumer Products, Paul Glitter, recently talked about Guillermo del Toro鈥檚 upcoming television adaptation of The Hulk聽 and spinning it off as a major motion picture in 2015. Scroll down for details.

According to Paul Glitter, courtesy of Forbes:

鈥淸After spinning 'Hulk'] off to a stand-alone [television] program next year, [Marvel will support said program with a big-budget feature film in 2015].鈥�

Aside from the character being well-received in The Avengers, why has Marvel decided to move forward with a third Hulk film when the last two were tepid successes at best 鈥� and when Kevin Feige recently claimed they had no plans to do so?

Says Glitter:

鈥淗is sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner.鈥�

Buh? His sales are up in a 鈥渕ajor鈥� way? What sales are those exactly? If he鈥檚 referring to the comic books, The Incredible Hulk and The Hulk placed 37th and 87th, respectively, in March direct market sales. Now, direct sales are admittedly not the be-all, end-all in terms of comic book $$$, but they are indicative of demand for a title.

Sure, it鈥檚 fair to say that both those books are up from where they were last year (marginally, in The Hulk鈥榮 case), but if you compare them to where they were two years ago, they鈥檙e down. Three years ago? Way down. Four years ago? Way, way, way down.

Perhaps the most telling statement from Glitter was one to do with branding:

鈥淭here are many opportunities for brands to align with the big commercial in the sky [Glitter鈥檚 term for blockbuster movies], but we want to develop sustainable relationships [with our promotional partners].鈥�

Of course, there鈥檚 nothing wrong with making as much money as possible on these films, but I think it鈥檚 fair to say that we鈥檙e lucky Marvel chose Joss Whedon to bring The Avengers to the big screen 鈥� that is, someone who cares as much about the characters he鈥檚 developing as he does the money he鈥檚 receiving. Hopefully, the next Hulk film will be just as fortunate.

Ben Moore blogs at Screen Rant.