Guillermo del Toro and Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick are teaming up to create a new Hulk for ABC. Furthermore, del Toro will redesign the Hulk using prosthetics, puppetry, and CGI. Bring on the green body paint!
According to Deadline, both men are executive producing the show along with del Toro's managing partner Gary Ungar and Marvel's Jeph Loeb and Joe Quesada, Del Toro will be in charge of the Hulk's look, which will draw from previous depictions of the character in the comics and TV show — the new look apparently has a few "wild tweaks." As for the story, it will begin with the Hulk's origin as the ambitious Bruce Banner. Says Deadline:
Physicist Bruce Banner, whose alter ego is the green and raging Hulk, will be in his mid-twenties, less reactive and more energized as the world is still his oyster [...] Del Toro and Eick will break the story for the pilot script together, sharing story and created by credit. Eick will write the script, with del Toro attached to direct subject to his availability.
At this point, it looks like ABC is gunning for a Fall 2012 release date to peg the show to the release of The Avengers movie. Between this, The Walking Dead, and the upcoming Wonder Woman TV series, it looks like comic book television is in the midst of a new renaissance. This team-up could definitely make the show sing, and as much as I'd like to see del Toro totally revamp the character, I imagine they'll have to tamp down the weirdness to reel in the casual Hulk fans. Also, they'll have to avoid the monster-of-the-week plotting which can be tempting with a character like the Hulk. Otherwise, the show might look something like this...
And hey, if the Hulk TV show isn't your thing, there's always Vivid Entertainment's Hulk porn, which was announced yesterday.