In the Hulk comic book Dr. Banner's first name was Bruce though
in the television series the producers and writers had changed
his name to David Banner. And many years ago I had read online
that the name "Bruce" had a gay connection and that it really
was not a good name for any leading male character in the
movies or T.V. So can anybody please explain the name change?
Lorenzo In Sunny Arizona
"I am James "Sonny" Crockett!"
And many years ago I had read online
that the name "Bruce" had a gay connection and that it really
was not a good name for any leading male character in the
movies or T.V.
No, that isn't it.
The reason for the change was two-fold:
1. Ken Johnson doesn't like alliteration in names Bruce Banner, Betty Brant, Reed Richards etc He regards these kinds of names as fake and too comic-book.
The second reason is actually more important:
2. His son is named David, and he wanted to name a character after his son.
The nonsense about Bruce being a 'gay name' was made up by Stan Lee.
The nonsense about Bruce being a 'gay name' was made up by Stan Lee.
Changing his name to David is stupid any other way because Bruce Banner's actual first name is Robert (thus, his full name is Robert Bruce Banner). They could've easily called him Robert Banner if they had issues with alliteration or the so-called gay fear that Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno suggested. That way they could've still honored the source material while cutting out whatever issues the producers had with the name "Bruce".
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Bruce_Banner_(Earth-616)
William Dozier, who produced the 1960s Batman series with Adam West also apparently hated comics. This is in part why that particular series was a campy, pop art comedy instead of something decidedly more grim and complex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGNqGMVAnUM
https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/archives-air-141-batman-hate-mail-william-dozier-papers
https://nerdist.com/article/how-66-tv-show-saved-batman/
https://batman-on-film.com/batman-1960s-tv-series-main/
I think you answered your own question, didn't you? Bruce was considered too feminine (or questionable) at the time, although one wonders if that was (or was not) related to Bruce Wayne and the ambiguous nature of the relationship between Batman and Robin (or implication of such in SNL). I guess only the writers could tell us for sure, though. Anything else would just be conjecture.
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"Can we all just parachute down from Cloud Coo-coo Land?" Jimmy-Better Call Saul
I think you answered your own question, didn't you? Bruce was considered too feminine (or questionable) at the time,
That may be the case, but there are many names that have gone through the "rotation" of being classified as "not appropriate" for a specific gender. I am from Generation X and I know that many boys were bullied for names like Leslie (unisex), Brandy (unisex, but usually feminine), Bruce and Brandon (both masculine in the US) and Jacques (almost always associated with being gay).
I think it's difficult to know what is real and what is put out for publicity sake with these kind of questions. Unless an insider is willing to spill the beans, nobody really knows which way is up.
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"Can we all just parachute down from Cloud Coo-coo Land?" Jimmy-Better Call Saul
It is not difficult at all to know.
The name was changed from 'Bruce' to 'David' because Kenneth Johnson doesn't like the alliteration of 'Bruce Banner', and thought the name sounded 'too comic book', and he wanted to name a character 'David' to honor his son 'David Johnson' who had recently died.
Thanks for sharing.
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"Can we all just parachute down from Cloud Coo-coo Land?" Jimmy-Better Call Saul
But Bill Bixby is an alliterative name BB, whats the point in doing it if he wanted to change everything?
shareThere are famous Bruces like Bruce Jenner but nobody knew Bruce Willis, Bruce Campbell or Bruce Boxleitner at the time.
shareIronically, "Bruce" is Bruce Willis' middle name. His full name is Walter Bruce Willis.
shareI do sort of like this show but let's be honest, the people in charge of it hated the comics and wanted to go as far off the basis of the comics as possible. My mom was a big fan of this show and when I watched the 80s Hulk cartoon as a kid which is based off the comics she was turned off by the whole thing because it was nothing like that show and she wasn't even aware he was a comic book character well before that show.
Similar things happened with the Spider-Man Live Action show they did at the same time. They had a character that was basically Betty Brant but they called her something else. Then again they also didn't even do his origin like the comics in that show. Uncle Ben dies offscreen of cancer before he's bitten by the spider. Then when he gets his powers he automatically just uses them for good. Of course they never bothered trying to adapt a lot of characters from the comics in that show.
No Flash Thompson, Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, Norman Osborn, or Harry Osborn and no plans to ever do them. The whole show was similar to the Hulk show in that they mainly just had Spider-Man fighting against normal human criminals who had no powers and were just generic kind of bad guys you'd see in a cop show at the time. The most comic book it got was having a scientist clone Spider-Man and he wasn't even someone that really even knew Peter Parker. And this clone of Spider-Man was really just an evil servant of the scientist.
Bruce Lee was totally gay!
shareDavid used a different last name that began with a B every week. He should have used the name David Bruce one week. I don't think he did.
shareThe reasons for the name change is hypocritical because Bill Bixby is a alliterative name and there are famous Bruces like Bruce Jenner but nobody knew Bruce Willis, Bruce Campbell or Bruce Boxleitner at the time.
shareI've just watched the first episode and at Banner's funeral - after Elaina dies and they are both supposedly killed by the Hulk - his headstone reads "David Bruce Banner".
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Well make the most of it; you never know when it might be gone.
In the comics his full name is Robert Bruce Banner.
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