The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)

It's been two years since David Banner (Bill Bixby) burst his shirt and trousers. He's in a stable relationship and working on a gamma transponder that could potentially rid him of his alter ego forever, but a face from his past upsets the apple cart, and pesky reporter Jack McGee (Jack Colvin) is on his trail again.
Both a continuation of The Incredible Hulk TV series and a backdoor pilot for a Thor series that never happened (herein played by Eric Kramer), the movie flits between serious drama (Banner) and light-hearted nonsense (Thor). The beardless Asgardian has a memorable scene that teases a poetic soul, but mostly he's simply a larger than life hero who also happens to be a fish out of water. Ultimately, it's a standard hero team-up that both goes against the established grain of the Hulk series and respects its enduring melancholy.

2½ troll remarks out of 5