Episode #9 - Mortal Bounds
Original Airdate November 17th, 1997

With a Gamma Virus spreading throughout Detriot, Betty travels to the state to help study the virus. Realising she is in over her head, she tells Donald Blake that Bruce Banner is needed to cure the victims. Realising that The Hulk needs to be tracked down Blake calls is forced to call upon The Mighty Thor for help!

Credits
Story By: Greg Blair
Written By: Bruce Reid Schaefer
Directed By: Ernesto Lopez
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Sae Rom Productions
Guest Starring: Neal McDonough as Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk, Genie Francis as Betty Ross, John Rhys-Davies as Thor, Mark L. Taylor as Dr. Donald Blake, Richard Moll as Abomination and Mark Hamill as Gargoyle.

Review: Now this is a cool episode. Much like Innocent Blood, this episode features a guest star previously used on Fantastic Four, in The God Of Thunder, Mighty Thor!

I liked the Fantastic Four’s version of Thor, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him appear here. I think both this show also did a great job with Thor. A nice colourful design, great dialogue (cease thy savagery, brute!) and an absolutely outstanding voice in John Rhys-Davies made this a guest star to remember. Given how strong Thor is, I was expecting some great fight scenes between him and Hulk, and I wasn’t disappointed! The fight in the tunnel was one of the best fights in the entire series!

I thought Gargoyle was used well here. I’ve always liked Gargoyle, it’s just a shame he was saddled with The Leader in the majority of his appearances. Abomination is here too, and used pretty effectively. No longer a mindless drone, he’s simply aching for a rematch with The Hulk. Richard Moll voices the brute but surprisingly uses the exact same voice as the one he gave Two-Face over in Batman. Given the actors tremendous range, I was slightly perplexed by this choice, but props to him, it did fit the character. I also got a kick out of hearing Hamill and Moll (The Joker and Two-Face) together. By the time this aired by me, Batman had long left my TV screen.

In all honesty, I could’ve done without the cure segment for Banner in Gargoyles cave. I don’t really think it added anything to the story, and the explanation of how it couldn’t be repeated again didn’t really fly with me, but it did only take up a few seconds, so it’s forgivable. I did like Gargoyle giving the last of the vaccine to Betty though. I’ve always though Gargoyle wasn’t quite evil; after all, he only wanted to cure him. Words will never describe how good Mark Hamill was in this role; he added so much to it.

I really liked this episode’s conclusion. Whilst I’ve could see the Hulkbusters coming a mile away, I loved seeing the homeless man help Bruce onto the train. I thought it was a nice little touch – not everyone is out to get Banner.

There’s no denying this is a quality episode. It’s a shame that, at current time of writing, not too many folks will have seen it.