Marvel is swinging for the fences with its first live-action television project since being acquired by Disney, putting forth a new TV incarnation of the incredible Hulk devised by two fairly exciting names: Gullermo del Toro, the director of the Hellboy movies, Pan's Labyrinth, and Blade II; and David Eick, an executive producer of Battlestar Galactica and creator of the spinoff, Battlestar Galactcia: Blood & Chrome. The pair will co-create the new Hulk series and co-write its pilot episode, which del Toro may direct if he's available. The show is expected to debut on Disney-owned ABC sometime in 2012, after the release of Marvel's The Avengers movie, which also features the Hulk.The Hulk TV news comes courtesy of Deadline, who also report that Hulk alter-ego will be younger than in recent versions -- more like mid-twenties -- and "less reactive and more energized, as the world is still his oyster." It's too early to talk casting, but the star of this Hulk TV show will be the fourth actor in eight years to portray the Green Goliath.

As for the depiction of the Hulk himself, Deadline wrote that the creature will be somewhat reimagined by del Toro, who is of course a monster fetishist of the highest order, having recently overseen designs for Peter Jackson's forthcoming The Hobbit films based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Unlike the character's appearances in the most recent Hulk films, where he was 100% CGI, del Toro's beast will be a mixture of prosthetics, puppetry and computer tricks.

"I have always been attracted at the combination of comic book heroics and monsters, Jack Kirby's Demon or Kamandi or DC's Deadman or Marvel's Dr. Strange, Morbius, Metamorpho, Mike Mignola's Hellboy, etc," Del Toro said.

For his part, David Eick is in familiar territory, having worked in franchise television for much of his career, such as the Battlestar Galactica series as well as Bionic Woman and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. His and del Toro's pitch to ABC and Marvel (including Joe Quesada and Jeph Loeb) was well received.

"I've enjoyed the challenging, rewarding process of revisiting beloved characters," he said. Eick called The Hulk "one of the crown jewels of the Marvel world for generations" and said it was a "dream opportunity to join one of my all-time filmmaking heroes, Guillermo del Toro, in a faithful but unique retelling of the primal, emotionally-rich tale of one of my all-time comic book."

One has to wonder about the timing of this announcement, which comes just one day after Vivid Entertainment confirmed production of its, er, anticipated The Incredible Hulk: A XXX Porn Parody.

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