Hulk vs. Thor et Wolverine

Hulk vs comprises of two "epic" battles (and I use quotes lightly and meaningfully) as he faces off with Wolverine and Thor, two other Marvel comics staples that he's faced off against many times - indeed the introduction to Wolverine was in a Hulk comic by Len Wein - and what happens when SMASH! becomes the proverbial name of the game here. But there is and there isn't so much smashing all the time. This may be good in some cases, but when the cover emphasis such a SMASH EVERYTHING IN SIGHT thing with the Hulk, it becomes a minor let-down when the Hulk and Wolverine only face off for about, oh, ten minutes out of the relatively short 36 minute running time, and while there is much more Hulk SMASH in the Thor movie, it also isn't as much fun as Wolverine really is.

Why is this? One thing that Wolverine gets right, and it's fascinating to see the short animated film get this right and not at ALL in the theatrical 2009 feature, is Deadpool. He's introduced here as being apart of the Weapon X program, and as the '(Mercenary) with the Mouth', he's awesome here. He's witty and sarcastic and kinda mean but in a fun killer way (kinda like one of the Warner brothers from Animaniacs or something, I got a Yakko vibe off him), and whenever he's on screen he steals the show even away from someone like Wolverine who as animated here can hold his ground too. The basic idea is that Wolverine is brought to the woods to stop a "monster" from tearing stuff up, sees Bruce Banner, he hulks out, they fight a little... and then it goes into this Weapon X sub-plot, more about Wolverine's origin (sort of) and other things, and while Deadpool made it better and it became more entertaining, the Royal-Rumble aspect seemed lacking until near the latter part of the short.

The Thor short is a little more clever in its set-up: here, Loki, Thor's nasty younger and jealous brother, brings Bruce Banner to Asgard for an express purpose, to have him Hulk-out and kick Thor's ass while under his control (he has some kind of magical power to do this, don't ask me why). There is an odd-sorta-interesting twist that didn't make a lot of sense (then again I've yet to read a lot of Hulk comics) where Banner is actually pulled out of the Hulk's body with magic once he turns into the Hulk and then watches with horror as the Hulk (un, not Banner-Hulk, just Hulk-Hulk) not only tries (but obviously doesn't) kick Thor's ass into oblivion, but Asgard as well.

I did like that aspect about Hulk being let loose by Loki's incompetence and arrogance and that Thor was the only one to stop him, but it also doesn't make for a lot of fun as everything is taken so seriously. Some of the animation in this segment is also better than in Wolverine, so there is that. Bottom line, for Hulk/Wolverine/Thor fans, there's a little of something here for you all, and for the Hulk/Thor combo there's a lot of action and destruction - almost too much, but where would Hulk be without being such a destroyer of things - but each film also suffers from some problems. So it's worth checking out, and since it's on video only there's no other way to really see it, but unless one's a die-hard or starting to really get into Marvel animated work (and to be fair they're underrated up against work by DC animated) it's not worth rushing immediately to see.

Let's be clear Hulk Vs is not a movie, it's a compilatation of two marvel shorts one being Hulk vs Thor and the other Hulk vs Wolverine.

Both shorts are relatively well made, the first involving Loki controlling the Hulk in order to defeat Thor and crush Asgard which is decent enough and family friendly.

Hulk vs Wolverine see's Logan sent in to take on the monster that has destroyed a town but there is more to the tale and we'll see Sabretooth, Deadpool, Lady Deathstrike & Omega Red join the fight. This one was surprisingly gory by comparison.

Both are passable but nothing to get excited about. An actual movie featuring all these characters would have made more sense.

The Good:

Great fight sequences

Loyal to the comics

The Bad:

Animation isn't great

Wolverine is stupidly buff

Successfully makes everyone look weak compared to Hulk

One of the endings is pretty dumb

In two stories Hulk's power is pitted against two other Marvel superheroes. In the first film Thor is targeted by the evil Loki, who harnesses the power of Hulk to destroy Thor, only to find that the beast is harder to control than first though. In the second story Wolverine is called in by the military to deal with an out of control Hulk, only to find he has more familiar problems to face.

I'm not a massive fan of Marvel characters generally but a friend sent me this DVD thinking I would like it so I figured I should be polite and accept the gift. Personally my preference is for darker, more adult stuff from my comic books but I can enjoy this sort of thing to as long as it is well done. It will be a matter of personal taste but for my money hulk is a pretty weak character that the last two film version have shown to be difficult to do much with other than produce big noisy effect sequences. This is the case here again as, although he is the title character, both of the films really belong to the other characters. This therefore makes it more a matter of whether or not you like the two characters.

Thor never worked for me as a character and I never liked the world of Nordic Gods or Thor as a character – not helped either by how colourful and clean he is. The Thor film is pretty weak as it is based heavily in this world and filled with lots of "thee" and "thou" dialogue that just seems silly. The action sequences are simple enough but the plot didn't engage me and just seemed to be noisy and pointless stuff. I guess this is very much personal taste and some will love it but for me the saving grace of the DVD was the second film.

I am sure there are people who do not like Wolverine as a character but I am yet to meet them and this film reflects the style of the character that I have come to know through the odd comic book and the films. The story here is better and the setting of the military industrial complex as the background is a lot less silly. It helps that this film also has real action with violence, thrills and urgency. The animation is also better as, although it is the same US-TV style, there is more blood and more shading than in the Thor film. I also liked the cast a lot more here and, like everyone says, the inclusion of Deadpool was a great thing that gave great comedic relief throughout the film.

Hulk V's is an enjoyable DVD though but for my money it is limited by the first of the two films. The Thor one is too simple and filled with characters, scenarios and dialogue that I just didn't like. This is not the fault of the film though because I just don't get Thor generally so for those that do the film will play differently. The Wolverine film is worth it though as it is darker, has a better story, better action, more humour and just a good amount of "edge" to it that makes it more than cartoons of pumping up things hitting one another. Fans will lap it up no doubt but to me the DVD is good enough for the casual viewer thanks to the Wolverine film.

The DVD has two relatively short stories, Hulk vs Thor & Hulk Vs Wolverine. Hulk vs Thor is the best of the two & the action is off the charts. The story is well conceived & well executed & the animation is good (not great but good). I'd give a brief synopsis of Hulk vs Thor but I'm afraid it would give to much of the plot away.

Hulk Vs Wolverine,is also pretty good in its' own right, but the fight scenes between Hulk & Wolverine aren't nearly as extensive as in Hulk vs Thor. And much of the story has to do more with Wolverine, his past & all the troubles that come with it (meaning SaberTooth, Lady DeathStrike, etc..). The ending is quite inconclusive & kind of a disappointment. And in case anybody is thinking "kiddie cartoon", guess again! It's got plenty of blood & violence to warrant it's PG-13 rating. Definitely one for the fans.

Rating 9 Large Green Fists out of 10

whats more to say about this. normally these marvel cartoons are too kiddy-fied for the kids, but these cartoons are something special especially the Hulk Vs Wolverine film. You get to see everything in here, blood, limbs being sliced off etc. By far this is the most entertaining cartoon to watch and due to its more mature content the grown-ups will enjoy it too.

The Hulk vs Thor is in my opinion not as good or as violent as the Hulk vs Wolverine cartoon but its still worth watching to get to know more about the characters on Thor's side of the Marvel universe.

Lenght of the cartoons may be short at 40 mins each but these are all out action packed with less talk and more smashing.