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This is the two-disc special edition with the Wolverine film and extras on Disc One and the Thor film and extras on Disc Two.
The Main Characters
--The Hulk (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) is a super-strong behemoth that gets stronger the madder he gets.
--Wolverine (voiced by Steve Blum) is a mutant with an enhanced healing factor and retractable claws from each hand made of adamantium. He is deadly.
--Thor (voiced by Matt Wolf) is the Norse God of Thunder. He is always with his Uru hammer, Mjolnir and is as strong as a god should be.
The Setting
The first film (vs. Wolverine) is in the Canadian outback, while the second one takes place in Asgard.
The Films
Hulk vs. Wolverine (37:00)
Wolverine gets wind of Hulk in Canada and tries to stop him. They have a bloody battle, which is ended when Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and Deadpool tranquilize Hulk. The appearance of those remind Wolvie of his Weapon X days. It appears that Weapon X wants Hulk to use as a weapon and they got him. So Wolverine vows to stop them, and must fight them all off one by one, with the help of Hulk, of course. It's the classic Stan Lee storyline, two heroes meet through a misunderstanding and fight, then team up at the end.
Hulk vs. Wolverine Review
I thought that because this was so short it wouldn't be all that good, but it was. The animation was slick and there was tons of violence which fit within the story. Weapon X fit in very well, and the villains were very well written. Deadpool really was the merc with a mouth here, and even Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike were written well. The Weapon X portion was awesome and was done very closely to the Windsor-Smith version. In fact, if this is what they are heading towards with the Wolverine Origins film, it should be in good shape. I loved the open ending, as well as the end credits with old comic covers of Hulk/Wolverine issues.
Hulk vs. Thor (45:26)
Asgard is home to the Norse gods, including Odin, the all-father. Every winter he must rest, in something called the Odin-sleep. That is when evil descends upon Asgard and that is when Thor saves the day. Loki doesn’t like this and brings Bruce Banner in to finally defeat his step-brother. Loki takes control of Hulk and separates him from Banner and attacks Asgard. Loki loses control of the beast, and Hulk is left to rage to his own devices. Things get worse when Loki kills Banner. Now, Thor and Loki must head to Hela to retrieve the soul of Banner to return both of them to Earth.
Hulk vs. Thor Review
First off, the introduction to Asgard was awesome and explained perfectly. The animation is completely different from the Wolverine story. This reminds me a lot of the old Hobbit animated films, like a classic animation almost.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Audio Commentary 1
Chris Yost and Craig Kyle, comic book writers maybe best known for New X-Men recorded this commentary. They actually wrote this cartoon and that explains why it was so well-written. They mention the opening was a nod to the Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine comic and then joke about it only having two issues released. They talk about the designs of the characters looking like Joe Mad, which I can see. They talk about the x-23 tease featured in here. They mention the sequel to this fight will be in the Wolverine and the X-Men television show. This was a really good commentary.
2) Audio Commentary 2
This was recorded by Frank Paur (Supervising Director), Kevin Altieri (Storyboard Artist) and Butch Lukic (Storyboard Artist). These three worked on Batman: TAS together. They talk about how this was influenced by Hulk #181 (Wolverine's first appearance in comic books for those who didn't know). They talk about who designed the costume and throw out legendary names like Cockrum, Romita and Trimpe. I didn't think this was a terribly interesting commentary.
3) This is Gonna Hurt: The Making of Hulk vs. Wolverine (20:09)
Kyle and Yost talk about writing the film, as well as homage’s used in the film of great Wolverine covers and moments. Deadpool was never done in animation before, so Kyle and Yost were excited to use him. Once the writing was done, it was set to have this thing animated. The actors who did the voices of the characters are mentioned, and Steve Blum talks about voicing Wolverine. Fred Tatasciore, who voiced Hulk, makes an appearance on this thing as well. Nolan North, voice of Deadpool, loved bringing the merc with a mouth to life. Decent making of for a 37-minute cartoon.
4) Fan Frenzy: Hulk vs. Wolverine - 2008 Comic-Con (8:02)
This premiered at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con and we take a look at that premiere. We see the fan reaction from the first and last scene as well as comments from Kyle, Yost, the voice of Hulk and one of the producers. This was the Q&A session, with the Questions cut out and just written out onscreen before the answer. One interesting thing they mentioned was that they think of this as the first in a series of Vs. movies, and I wonder if any other ones will be coming down the pike.
5) First Look: Wolverine and the X-Men (5:45)
This is the newest X-Men animated series with the main focus being on Wolverine. Yost and Kyle are writing this one as well. The animation looks sharp and it seems they will be using the comic book stories and it looks great. I'll be buying these DVD's when they release it.
6) Trailers
We start with the Wolverine and the X-Men Trailer that started off the disc (2:11) followed by: Iron Man Game (0:32), Hulk Game (0:32), Ultimate Avengers (1:55), Doctor Strange (1:54), Speed Racer TOS (1:35), and Shaun the Sheep (0:48).
---Disc Two---
1) Audio Commentary 1
Chris Yost and Craig Kyle recorded this commentary. The beginning is used to mimic the journey that Banner takes. Yost jokes (I hope) that he doesn’t know anything about these characters. Yost says that for him, Simonson was the guy in the annals of Thor writers. Both guys mention how hot the Enchantress looked. Another interesting commentary from these two. I hope they recorded some of the Wolverine & The X-Men DVD’s, too.
2) Audio Commentary 2
This was recorded by Frank Paur (Supervising Director), Sam Liu (Director) and James Peters (Storyboard Artist). This was a decent commentary. I enjoyed having it on but it wasn’t terribly informative. They talk about some scenes, talk about the art, and the standard stuff you might expect.
3) Of Gods and Monsters: The Making of Hulk vs. Thor (18:24)
Everyone was stoked to make this, but really, would anyone admit they weren’t stoked to work on it? They talk a bunch about the voice actors on here, especially the guy who played Loki and the voice of Hulk. They also about the two different looks of the films.
4) Jack Kirby + Thor (4:46)
How could you talk about Thor and not talk about the man who first drew Thor, and almost all the other great Marvel characters, Jack Kirby.
5) First Look – Thor: Tales of Asgard (4:41)
This appears to be a new long-form film for Marvel, and it seems to be based on the comic book mini-series from a few years back. That was an awesome mini-series and if they keep that charm and writing here we should be in good shape. I don’t know how popular Thor is so I hope this DVD can sell well.
6) Trailers
This is the same as Disc One.
B) Audio/Video
Both films are in widscreen 1.78:1 ratio and in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Both look great. Even with the different animation styles the colors are very vivid. The sound serves its purpose, too.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
Just the regular DVD case with no liner notes to speak of.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
The same set of previews start off Disc One and Two. You get: Disaster Movie (1:10), Ultimate Avengers 2 (1:39), Iron Man (Animated) (1:25), Next Avengers (2:06), Speed Racer: Fast Track (0:17) and Wolverine and the X-Men (2:11). I have to say, Marvel released a real winner here. I’ve had complaints with some of the previous animated films they’ve released but they’ve kept it simple here. It’s amazing how a good story can translate into any area of film, even straight to DVD animated releases. Yost and Kyle did just an awesome job capturing the spirit of Hulk, Wolverine and Thor on here and the animation is right on par with that story quality. The grittiness of the Wolverine story to the grandiose epic that is the Thor story, each animated film is different and it perfectly fits the story. The two features are brief, but it told what it needed to tell and not having time constraints (it needs to be 70 minutes) made for a better film. They didn’t stretch things out or add in pointless scenes to make it to a certain time limit. Wolverine was 37 minutes and kicked ass. There were some great extras on here, too, that really fleshed out the disc. Marvel was off to a slow start in the animated department and were soundly getting pummeled by the excellence that is DC Animation, but they finally have a collection that can stand up against New Frontier and Doomsday.
Overall Rating
10.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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