No Surrender Cinema: The Trial of the Incredible Hulk

Fresh off of San Diego Comic Con and an abundance of superhero related news, it’s Marvel Team Up time once again here at Bulletproof Action! This edition of No Surrender Cinema brings us to the big city, hot on the trail of Dr. David Banner, who has once again been framed for a crime he didn’t commit. How will his green-skinned alter ego fare in a court of law? Maybe a Man Without Fear named Matt Murdock will be able to help! Let’s find out in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk!

The last time we saw David Banner (in The Incredible Hulk Returns) he had found love, settled down, and hadn’t had a Hulkout in years. That all changed after an encounter with Thor, but the two superheroes were able to resolve their differences and combine forces to save the day. Knowing that no one around him would be safe now that his transformations were regular occurrences again, David fled the new life he had built and returned to his nomadic ways. The Trial of the Incredible Hulk begins with a bearded David doing hard labor and getting pushed around by a roughneck who doesn’t realize he’s tempting fate. Banner decides that cooler heads need to prevail and heads off in search of new surroundings, unaware that the city he lands in is under the control of one Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin! 

As soon as David Banner arrives in town, trouble finds him in the form of two of the Kingpin’s goons, who wind up on the same subway train with him and a few other passengers. One of those passengers, a woman named Ellie Mendez, is accosted by one of the men, and that’s when Banner steps in to prevent anything worse from going down. His bravery is rewarded with a beatdown, but within seconds Banner’s eyes start glowing and the film morphs into an episode of Incredible Hulk: SVU when the green giant shows up to stop the impending sexual assault by tossing the bad guys around. Hulk flees the scene once his work is done, but his transformation back into Banner leads to him being arrested and wrongfully accused of being the man who put hands on Ellie Mendez.

Luckily for David, a blind lawyer by the name of Matt Murdock believes that he’s innocent and that there’s more to the story. Matt does some digging on David’s behalf, and realizes that Ellie’s accusations are part of a bigger scheme by The Kingpin and that she remains in danger also. Murdock returns to Ellie’s room later that night not as a lawyer, but as a superhero, because in case you didn’t study up on superhero history, Matt Murdock is Daredevil, The Man Without Fear! Dressed in black instead of his trademark red and looking more like a super ninja of sorts (a look that was lifted for the Daredevil Netflix series), Murdock has been defending the city against Fisk both in the courtroom and under a mask, and winds up back in Ellie’s hospital room just as her nurse (a Fisk plant) attempts to kill her. Daredevil dispatches of the nasty nurse and disappears into the night, but it’s not long after that encounter that Ellie is kidnapped by The Kingpin and used as bait to lure Daredevil into a trap.

So Kingpin’s trying to kill people, Daredevil is out for justice, and our main character is…just sitting in jail? Yup, poor Dr. David Banner has seen better days, because he’s stuck behind bars for a good chunk of the film’s runtime! The next time we see Lou Ferrigno in green body paint is during a courtroom scene where the stress of the trial trigger’s Banner’s transformation, but it’s a swerve and it’s only a dream sequence! The dream startles Banner enough that it causes a real life Hulkout, and we see the after effects of Hulk ripping through the prison walls. This was an NBC Television Movie after all, so watching Hulk smash his way through the building just wasn’t in the cards (or the budget). Since our friend Hulk got impatient with his lawyer and did nothing to help the fugitive status that stuck with him since the original TV series, it looks like David Banner is back on the run. However, before the sad walking away music starts to play, he’s found by Daredevil. In order to keep David’s trust in him, DD reveals himself as Matt Murdock to David and provides him (and we the viewers) with his origin story, but David is still hesitant to reveal too much about himself to his new friend. Still, it’s enough for the two men to become reluctant allies and attempt to save Ellie, which ends up with Daredevil outnumbered and beaten (thanks to a noise machine that has a crippling effect on his powers). Luckily for him his new friend isn’t far behind, and when David sees Daredevil getting ganged up on, it’s only a matter of time before The Incredible Hulk comes to his aid.

Hulk rescuing Daredevil from Fisk’s men is a great scene and a pivotal point in the story (in addition to the action sequence, this is where Matt discovers David’s secret), but shockingly and unfortunately, this would be the last time we’d see ol’ greenskin on screen for the rest of the film! What some may not know is that while this film was meant to carry on the story that started in The Incredible Hulk TV series, this was also a backdoor pilot for a proposed Daredevil series! That’s why the third act, where you would think we’d see the two superheroes engage in an all out war in Fisk’s tower, is all about Matt Murdock recovering from his physical and emotional wounds. Angered by his beating at the hands of Fisk’s goons, Matt begins to doubt his crime-fighting career, but a little extra motivation from David helps rekindle the fighting spirit. The two men make good on their promise to save Ellie, but really it’s Daredevil’s time to shine, with Banner taking a backseat to the action and remarkably maintaining his composure. 

The Trial of the Incredible Hulk marked the first time we saw a live-action Daredevil, and it would be the last until Ben Affleck put on the mask in 2003, since the intended television series spinoff never saw the light of day. It’s too bad, because Rex Smith made for a fine Matt Murdock/Daredevil, and his portrayal of the character was more true to the comics than Thor’s was in the previous Hulk film. Trial kept things open ended for Daredevil to continue his war with The Kingpin, and it also felt like had the show gotten off the ground we’d have seen Daredevil and Hulk joining forces once again. Nowadays we’re spoiled by the connections that the Marvel Cinematic Universe and related television series have, but I can tell you that in 1989 seeing something like this play out before my eyes was a HUGE deal. Not only did we never get Daredevil as a weekly series, but the Hulk film that followed this one, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, was the last time we’d see the character until Ang Lee’s film version hit theaters, also in 2003.

It’s a known fact that I’m a huge fan of The Incredible Hulk character, and I count Daredevil as another one of my favorite superheroes too, so this film is an easy recommendation. That said, there are a few lulls in the story due to the lack of our favorite monster hero. The Hulk here is essentially the setup guy for Daredevil, although Smith’s work in the role eases some of that disappointment. John Rhys-Davies as Wilson Fisk is another pleasant surprise, and he plays Kingpin as an intelligent, articulate crimelord who relies more on his underlings to do his dirty deeds instead of using the brute force he’s known for in the comic books. As someone who has been reading Daredevil comics nearly as long as I’ve been a fan of The Incredible Hulk, I was satisfied with the Made For TV version of the villain. 

So before you throw on Disney+ for your next superhero binge session, you might want to check out this slice of old school superheroics. The Trial of the Incredible Hulk is free to stream on Tubi and easy to come by on physical media (you can get a double feature of this and The Incredible Hulk Returns pretty cheap), so give this one a watch sometime. BIll Bixby has always been a fantastic actor and his work as Banner is top notch, and the live adaptations of Daredevil and Kingpin work within the limitations of the budget and production. Anyone entertained by superhero films and television should check this one out, even if you consider it a curiosity watch. While you do that, I’ll be over here trying to figure out how Hulk managed to stay clean shaven during his transformations while Banner was walking around with a beard.