Hulk Vs

Do you see that on the cover? TWICE THE CARNAGE! Awesome. Hulk Vs is really two shorter films combined, "Hulk Vs Wolverine" and "Hulk Vs Thor", complete with their own titles and credits. Or as they might also be called, "Hulk and Wolverine Fight Some Random X Villains and Also Deadpool I Guess" and "Thor and Loki Save Asgard from Loki's Own Dick-Like Behavior Involving the Hulk" respectively. It was actually animated by Madhouse, a Japanese studio, and the result is a slightly different (and less messy, if also less smooth) look for the project.

Hulk Vs Wolverine is the shorter of the two features and begins with a pretty decent fight between the two characters. Much more blood than I expected from an animated Marvel movie, which definitely enhanced what they were going for. I understand the desire to keep things okay for the kiddies, but it really strains the disbelief when Wolverine plunges three blades directly into a person's chest and they all come out dry as a bone. The movie then jumps around a bit, briefly portraying another take on Logan's origin (oh boy) and then having him and Banner facing off against a group of mutants including Sabretooth and Deadpool. The latter is played by Nolan North, who does a decent job with a goofy script for the character, though it's not really an interpretation of the character I liked. Even when he's not getting wildly changed for no reason like in the Origins movie, he never seems to come off right when people give him a voice. He's basically a jerkier Spider-Man with guns. Yeah, Deadpool talks a lot, but he's also mentally and physically scarred as all hell. And why is he so skinny here? It's just not the Deadpool I remember reading. Oh well. There's a bit of plot and a lot of fighting, and the movie ends without actually resolving its central premise. Not bad, not great.

Hulk Vs Thor was a bit better. It begins with Loki summoning Bruce Banner from Midgard, using spells to separate him from the Hulk identity, and then merging with it to take on Thor. The two fight for a while (making the title even more of a lie, since it's really Loki in Hulk's body Vs Thor), but eventually Loki loses control of Hulk, who goes on a rampage all over Asgard. It's kind of a cool idea, and they do some decent stuff with it. Thor and Loki have to team up to somehow get Banner back into Hulk, and they actually interested me in Banner's struggles with the burden of his alter ego for what seems like the first time in a while. There's some pretty solid animation, and I had a better time watching it than the first one. Thor's pretty cool, man!