io9: american gladiators

Rumors Put Marvel At The Bottom Of The Casting Barrel

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:30:00 PDT

An off-handed comment from Jason Statham to the L.A. Times has sparked speculation that Statham could play blind lawyer/superhero Daredevil. Famed Daredevil artist Frank Miller, who was sitting there when Statham made the comments, said he approved of the casting, further fueling the speculation that the duo could collaborate at some point. In other terrible superhero casting news, blond American Gladiators star Titan (aka Mike O'Hearn) says he's auditioning to play World War II super-soldier Captain America. After Ed Norton and Robert Downey Jr., it's hard to believe Marvel will stoop to casting a reality TV show star as the Sentinel of Liberty. And as for Statham, I'm as eager as anyone to see Ben Affleck's terrible Matt Murdock buried forever, I'm not quite desperate enough to reach for Statham's trademark growl/smirk. [LA Times and Slashfilm]

Hulk vs. Hulk on Gladiators

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:30:00 PDT

I'm not saying that the makers of the new Incredible Hulk movie are getting desperate, but when one of your big PR pluses is getting Lou Ferrigno to show up on American Gladiators, you may want to rethink your strategy. Ferrigno, who has a cameo in the new Hulk - hopefully not as a security guard working with Stan Lee - will team up with Gladiators host Hulk Hogan on the June 9th episode of the show.

Admit it: you can imagine the "Hulk versus Hulk" trailers on NBC right now, can't you? And they're not just going to stop with premiering a brand-new 60-second clip from the movie in order to remind people that there's more to Marvel's summer movies than Iron Man. Says Hollywood Reporter:

For the episode, the show's Los Angeles Sports Arena will be revamped with Hulk theming. About 1,000 pairs of Hulk Hands will be given to audience members to wear throughout the episode, and some also will wear Hulk masks. Gladiators will likewise use Hulk Hands while competing in the Gauntlet.
The arena's water will look green. Titan will be green. There will be green lighting, green graphics, green balls for Powerball. Pretty much everything will be green.

And then fans can go and pick up a copy of the current Hulk comic where he's... red.

Wait, that can't be right.

Nonetheless, such gamma-powered overkill suggests that NBC/Universal may be worried that fans still don't know about the reboot Hulk franchise, and with the movie coming out in just over two weeks, that's got to be making some people very nervous indeed. Nervous enough to give away 2000 Hulk Hands, in fact.

American Gladiators Hulks up [Hollywood Reporter]

Posthuman Mutants Penalized for Evolving on "American Gladiators"

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:40:03 PST

American Gladiators returned to the airwaves this season, bringing us one step closer to reality television featuring amped up posthumans beating the ever-loving crap out of normal folks with real weapons. While the Gladiators are using padded Nerf-esque weapons now, we can only hope that later they'll be given bladed weapons and clubs to attract more viewers. Yesterday NBC announced that they've been testing all of the gladiators for steroid usage. Why are they persecuting these innocent pharmaceutical cyborgs, who are only trying to evolve?

The American Gladiators aren't competing in a professional sport, so why do they need to be subjected to weekly pee-in-a-cup sessions? If they want to amp themselves up with human growth hormone and horse steroids, then shouldn't it be their own business? These people are trying to stop the puny humans from winning the dough, so they need to be able to crush them, just like the Hulk.

We say, bring it on and give us an all-steroid using cast that doles out massive doses of punishment in order to keep the cash in their coffers. These are American GLADIATORS, for pete's sake. They have names like "Crush," "Venom," and "Mayhem. They're supposed to be huge and scary. Plus, are they testing any of the regular joe contestants? And what about host Hulk Hogan?

NBC Testing Gladiators For Steroid Use [TV Squad]