There have been some truly awful Thors over the years. In researching this column (yes, I do research. It involves watching a lot of cartoons) I was reminded of how difficult it can be to bring a character like Thor to the screen. Things that work well in the comics, such as his faux Shakespearian dialect or his long, girly hair, just don’t really translate that well unless done properly. You either have to go all the way, and adapt the comic character as is (will only work in animation), or you have to make some pretty drastic changes somewhere.

To pick a prime example, check out Eric Allan Kramer’s awful turn in nineteen eighty-eight’s The Incredible Hulk Returns. While the original Hulk TV series was absolutely brilliant, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno’s return to our screens in several low budget TV movies left a lot to be desired. Of the three, and opinions are divided, but in this writer’s opinion, this first one was the worst. Yes, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured a completely uninspired version Daredevil, but the Thor who showed up in Returns, and had his ass handed to him by the Hulk, was, at best, a one note joke. An Asgardian warrior who relished battle, women and drink. There was no nobility to the character, and he was incredibly difficult to sympathise with. He also looked bloody stupid.

So, as with last week’s look at Iron Man, we’re faced with a dilemma. There are few truly great Thors, and not a whole lot of good ones to choose from either. Still, I did manage to find five who, at the very least, could be considered adequate. Four of the men on this list deserve their places. This first guy though, I’ll admit, is mostly there to fill out the numbers...

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With the recent reveal that Cable will be returning after 'dying' during X-Men event, Second Coming, we now have some more information about the direction that his return will take. It seems that Cable will be taking on The Avengers in an attempt to safeguard his 'daughter', Hope, and her future prosperity. With this mini-series being written by man of many lives, Jeph Loeb and drawn by fan favourite Ed McGuinness I pose the question; Is Cable the new RULK?

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There are two good reasons to pick up Incredible Hulk #1 when it relaunches in October; Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri. One is a writer who has taken Marvel by storm, taking well known characters to places they've never been before, the other is a legendary artist who made a name for himself on the X-Men and was one of the famous seven that went on to form Image comics and then Top Cow. Need I say more?

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Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turned into the Hulk. But chances are if you’re reading this, you already knew that. In this, part two of part five of my regular column, I’m looking at the actors who have played Banner, and giving you who I think are the five best.

Last week, when we looked at the Hulk, there was only one man who received any votes at all. Lou Ferrigno was, unanimously, picked as the best Hulk ever. But while there’s a clear favourite when it comes to the Hulk, the voting for Bruce Banner was much more varied. Four actors were very much in the running, with Eric Bana, Bill Bixby, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo all fighting for your top spot. Normally in this column, this is the point where I’d tell you exactly which one was your favourite. Not this week though. As it happens, I concur with your number one, and since it was so tight, I thought I’d try and keep you in suspense. Bana, Bixby and Norton all feature on this list. Ruffalo, much as I love him and awesome as I think he’ll be, doesn’t place here, much as Andrew Garfield didn’t for Spider-Man, simply because we haven’t seen him yet. Anyway, on with the list, and a man who got no votes from you at all.

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Wait, part 5-1? What are you playing at PJ? What does that even mean? Well, it’s quite simple. In this week’s column, I’m looking at the ever Incredible Hulk. Hulk is a unique character when it comes to his screen outings. The characters featured in these columns so far have, with the possible exception of Wolverine, all had dual identities. However, when it comes to the actors who have played them, each actor has taken on both the secret identity and their more heroic alter-ego. Of course, when it comes to the Hulk, this just isn’t possible. So different is the Hulk to Bruce Banner, that by necessity, the two have always been played by different actors, with only one exception, to the best of my knowledge.

As such, I’m splitting this column in two. This week I’ll be looking at Hulk, while next week will be devoted to Banner. So, who did the people of the internet vote as their favourite Hulk? Not as many actors have played the Hulk as some of the other heroes I’ve covered, but even so, only one actor received any votes at all. It’ll come as no surprise to learn that it was the one and only Lou Ferrigno.

Just a quick note, for the purposes of this list, I’ve excluded any actors playing the grey Hulk, as he’s technically a different character, and to the best of my knowledge, has only ever been played by two actors anyway (Michael Donovan, who was excellent in the role, and Travis Willingham). So, on with the five best Green Goliaths!

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Well that’s that done, on with the review. This week is a look back at a darker time for the Marvel universe; it’s a book set bang smack in the middle of Dark Reign. Once again it features a number of stories so I will be focusing on them each listing the writers and artists and giving information of what to pick up after each story and how we got to where the story starts.

The Book is “The List” it was published originally in 2009 and was collected in a nice book that has some great stories in it. When these stories originally came out I only picked up the Uncanny X-men version as it became clear that it was essentially a jumping on point book for other titles. The list is something that Norman “Green Goblin” Osborn creates to make life easier for him and contains the following things to do:

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Another day, another tease from the comic book movie world, anyone would think there was some kind of mass media, movie/comic book event happening on the West Coast of the USA...

Shiny.

Okay, it's time for the crappest game of Hangman in the history of crappy Hangman. Today Marvel released the above image with the below text:

"Megastars Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness (HULK, Superman/Batman) reunite this December for an action packed story of epic proportions. Want to know what it is? Find out in two weeks at the Cup O’ Joe Panel (Saturday, July 23rd at 2:45PM PST) during Comic Con International in San Diego!"

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Link: http://marvel.com/news/story/15733/marvels_the_avengers_begins_production

Yeah I know, I got excited when I saw the headline too, what we've got is a little less than mind blowing; four chairs and CGI SHIELD logo but wait those chairs say Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk, characters we already knew were in the movie!

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Link: http://www.marvel.com/

January 2009 see's the DVD release of Hulk vs Thor, continuing Marvel's trend in direct to DVD animated features. Previous releases include Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2, Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange (my personal favourite), Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow and the upcoming Hulk vs Wolverine. For your viewing pleasure we've also posted the Hulk vs Wolverine trailer just here.