With the booming success of
Spider-Man (1994) and
X-Men (1992) on FOX, UPN wanted a piece of
Marvel Studios's animation success, and so a new series was commissioned. Given the popularity of the character, and most of Marvel's heavy hitters were either already on FOX, or had been done before, at this point in time, it simply had to be The Incredible Hulk. Marvel entrusted The Incredible Hulk to Supervising Producer
Tom Tataranowicz after he helped overhaul the syndicated
Fantastic Four (1994) and
Iron Man (1994) to more critical approval in their second seasons, and gave the Hulk a backdoor pilot attempt in both shows.