Planet Hulk trailer.

For years, the Lionsgate Marvel cartoons have been the B-movie variations of Warner Bros's DC Animated Universe. Granted, Marvel started the direct-to-DVD PG-13 adaptations beforehand, but there's no question which ones were the art and which were the crafts. But most of the Marvel animated features have a certain pulpy charm, such as when an evil alien leader advises Captain America to "prepere to die... for the last time!". The recent Hulk Vs. Wolverine was a pretty perfect 35-minute distillation of the labored narrative that X-Men Origins: Wolverine tried to tell so poorly last May. It was quick, violent and gory as hell, and relatively witty.

Anyway, last I heard, the 'young Thor learns to be Thor' origin story was supposed to be out in April of this year. No shame in waiting, as the project looked about as boring as unbuttered toast. The next project seems a bit more promising, as it seems to be a direct adaptation of the recent 'Planet Hulk' Marvel Universe event from a couple years back. While the narrative seems to crib a bit from Gladiator, and I wasn't aware that the Hulk bled green, it still looks like 70-minutes of Hulk smashing the hell out of anyone stupid enough to get in his way. And sometimes that's all you want out of something like this.

Scott Mendelson