Although I didn’t read the books, I knew the basic story of Planet Hulk in that the Illuminati (Tony Stark, Professor X, Dr. Strange, Reed Richards, Black Bolt and Namor) exiled the Hulk in a spaceship and that he escaped and crashed on the faraway planet of Sakaar, where he was enslaved and turned into a gladiator. He got a little Spartacus action going, got the girl and crushed the bad guy. Of course this is all before World War Hulk where he returned and proceeded to get the mother of all paybacks.
There’s one word in the previous passage that stands out after seeing the trailer for the new animated adaptation, Planet Hulk: Gladiator. Because, minus the mechanical slug and the mouth with tentacles and the various alien lifeforms that Hulk pounds into meatsauce, that’s basically what we have here. If the Red King asks Caiera if he is not merciful, then I’ll know somebody’s been borrowing a little too heavily from somebody else. Nevertheless, I kinda dug the Hulk vs. films and this looks to be more of the same, so I’ll probably downlo- uh…rent from an established retail or online outlet the disc when it comes out in 2010.
Thanks to Ibad for the tip.