Look — it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s an other comic book hero jumping off the big screen to return to TV!
Cult fave director Guillermo del Toro (the “Hellboy” movie franchise) and David Eick (“Battlestar Galactica“) are about to finalize a deal that would create a new TV version of Marvel’s “The Hulk” for ABC, reports industry gossip site Deadline.com.
Although it’s still in the earliest stages of development, ABC hopes to have the series on its fall 2012 schedule.
The series is expected to be an origin story featuring a twenty-something Dr. Bruce Banner and his alter-ego, a less angry, but still big and raging green Hulk.
Eick will write the pilot script, with Del Toro directing and determining the Hulk’s new look. In a nod to traditionalists, the Hulk is likely to be reminiscent of its portrayal via Lou Ferrigno’s biceps in the 1978 to 1982 TV series, “The Incredible Hulk,” and what fans have seen in the comic books, along with some unexpected alterations.
It will be brought to life with a blend of prosthetics, puppetry and CGI, using resources made available through the joint collaboration between Marvel TV and ABC Studios — both owned by Disney.
There’s also “very early talk” circulating around Warner Bros., about reviving the Caped Crusader on TV, too.
A source told Comicbookmovie.com that the studio is interested in creating a new live-action TV Batman instead of doing a third Batman movie without director Christopher Nolan. (His “The Dark Knight Rises,” starring Christian Bale, is due in theaters in 2012.)
According to the source, this TV reboot would be a way to “re-introduce The Joker as a completely new version and not step on Heath’s [Ledger] memory/version.”
It would also be geared towards a young adult audience, much like Warner Bros.’ “Smallville,” the long-running Superman origin series now in its 10th and final season on the CW.
Warner Bros. has attempted two previous Batman spin-offs, the 2002 series “Birds of Prey” on the WB, about Batman and Catwoman’s daughter, and 2008’s abandoned “The Graysons” for the CW, an origin story for Dick Grayson, aka Robin.