She-Hulk (lost production material of unreleased live-action Marvel film; 1995)

She Hulk is an unreleased 1990’s live-action film based on the Marvel superheroine of the same name (also known as Hulka) and was to have been played by Brigitte Nielsen with Larry Cohen as the director.

Production

The character of She-Hulk was first introduced in Savage She-Hulk #1 (1980) and made her television debut in the eleventh episode of the very short-lived animated series The Incredible Hulk (1982-83). In the end of the 1980's, Bill Bixby, the original actor of Bruce Banner for The Incredible Hulk TV series, teamed up with the television department of independent production company New World Pictures to produce a series of telefilms that picked up where the series left off after its cancellation in 1982 and played a lot more with the Marvel crossover appeal that. the original show always lacked The third and final installment, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, was to feature a major appearance from She-Hulk, though its unknown what actress was considered to play the part. Ultimately, she was cut out of the final draft for the film, though She-Hulk's story in the entertainment industry did not end there.

Despite the generally poor reception of DotIH, New World Productions did not want to throw the towel in just yet as they still owned the rights to Marvel characters and sure enough, Marvel Comics ended up buying New World's "Family Filmworks" division. In 1991, work began on a potential She-Hulk TV series with Jill Sherman Donner, writer and producer of several episodes from the original Hulk series, hired to produce it. After many rough drafts were rejected, she completed the first draft for the pilot known as "Metamorphosis." In the script, assistant district attorney Jennifer Walters is haunted by the murder of her parents during childhood and vows to prove that a respected businessman is actually a criminal mastermind. She takes a forced vacation to the Caribbean where she runs into Bruce Banner, who is revealed to have faked his death and is now living as a pool boy. While cousins in the original comics, in this film, both Banner and Walters aren't as they have somewhat of a romantic tension. Upon getting shot by a hitman hired by the evil businessman, Banner's doctor friend convinces her to give Jennifer a blood transfusion that ultimately transforms her into the She-Hulk; a plot-point that was borrowed from Death where Bruce gives a Russian spy a blood transfusion. Filming began in the Virgin Islands in 1991 with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno reprising their legendary roles as the scientist and his inner-demon. The role of Hulka was given to

At some point in the mid-1990’s, American independent production company New World Pictures, whose “Family Filmworks division had already been acquired by Marvel in 1992, set out to make a ‘‘She-Hulk’’ film with B-movie master Larry Cohen (It’s Alive, The Stuff) in the director’s chair, Carl Gottlieb (screenwriter of the first three Jaws movies) in charge of writing, and Brigitte Nielsen attached to play both She-Hulk and her normal persona, Jennifer Walters. Its unknown what the general storyline for the film was, though it most likely been a retelling of her origin story where she is given a diluted version of Hulk’s powers during an emergency blood transfusion while managing to keep her normal personality intact; unlike with the original Hulk and Bruce Banner (her cousin) who constantly clashed with each other.

Cancellation

While production got farther than most scrapped Marvel films, She-Hulk was never released or finished and though no reasons have been given as to why, it might have been due to the less-than-stellar reputation that Marvel-based movies had at the time (ie. Howard the Duck, Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four). The only remaining pieces of production memento that points to this film’s existence include a poster that went for sale on eBay and publicity stills of Jennifer’s two alter-egos. On November 12, 2020, the green leather costume that Brigitte Nielsen wore in the photo shoots resurfaced in the Icons & Legends of Hollywood auction held by Profiles in History. It went for a bid between $800-$1,200, though its unknown if anyone actually walked home with it. Given that most of the items in the catalog were identified as coming from Planet Hollywood’s collection, its possible that the costume came into possession of the theme restaurant chain.

On December 10, 2020, Marvel Studios announced they were starting production on a comedy series for Disney+ named She-Hulk with Tatiana Maslany set to play Jennifer Walters, along with Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth set to reprise their roles as Hulk and the Abomination respectively. It is set to be released sometime around 2022 and Kevin Feige has stated that she will appear in future MCU movies.

External

• The Wikipedia page for She-Hulk. Retrieved 9 Aug ‘21