Published Jun 28, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT
Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.
In 1977, Marvel hero the Hulk's greatest catchphrase entered the pop culture lexicon. But it wasn't written by the character's creator, Stan Lee, nor was it penned by any of his '70s successors at Marvel. Instead, it came from the TV adaptation that truly made the Hulk, and Marvel as a whole, household names: The Incredible Hulk.
Almost a full 50 years later, you know the line, even if you haven't seen the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television show, which kicked off with a pair TV movies in 1977 before a five-season run on CBS that lasted until 1982. At this point, so far removed from its origin, there are people who have probably heard the quote, even repeated the quote, without knowing its from Hulk.
"Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." The iconic dialogue, spoken by Bixby's David Banner in the pilot for The Incredible Hulk, and then was subsequently included in the opening credits for the ongoing series. This helped it reach cultural ubiquity in the '80s and onward, and outpace even "Hulk smash" as the Marvel hero's greatest quote.
Which is why it might surprise people that it didn't come directly from the pen of Stan Lee. In fact, the line was written by Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the Incredible Hulk series for CBS and director of the pilot. Though Johnson doesn't have Lee's name recognition, his impact on pop culture through his television work is profound in its own right.
Kenneth Johnson Was The Mind Behind The Live-Action Hulk's Greatest Quote
The "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry line" was delivered by series lead Bill Bixby, who played the Hulk's alter ego David Banner in The Incredible Hulk. It's been referenced countless times over the past half century, in TV, movies, and music, and just about every medium possible. The veiled threat perfectly establishes Banner's character in the show: a man who doesn't want to unleash the monster within.
It was a creative stroke of genius by a creator on the upswing of a prolific career. Writer/director Kenneth Johnson had parlayed a job on The Six Million Dollar Man into creating the spin-off series, The Bionic Woman, in 1976. The next year, he developed The Incredible Hulk for television. This was a watershed moment for Marvel and pop culture. Along with The Amazing Spider-Man (which lasted just two seasons) Hulk helped raise Marvel's profile with general audiences the way Batman had for DC in the '60s.
"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" feels like a line Stan Lee would've written, which is why it's so fitting for the character. Unlike its predecessor Batman, or its contemporary Spider-Man show, The Incredible Hulk, the TV series, captured the essence of its hero better than most superhero adaptations up to that point.
"You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry" Is The Pinnacle Of Kenneth Johnson's Lauded Pop Culture Legacy
After The Incredible Hulk, and several more TV projects, Kenneth Johnson carved his name into pop culture history again with the original V. miniseries in 1984. He later added another landmark sci-fi series to his resume with Alien Nation in 1989. In addition to his work as a creator, he also worked consistently as a writer and director for decades, up to his retirement circa 2009.
Millennials will know Johnson best as the director of Disney Channel Original Movies Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and Don't Look Under the Bed.
Fittingly, his last writing credit was on the shortlived V. remake. Still, of all Johnson's lasting contributions to pop culture, it's still fair to say "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry," that single line of dialogue from The Incredible Hulk's first two-hour TV movie in 1977, is his most significant claim to fame.
Stan Lee and Kenneth Johnson reportedly clashed behind-the-scenes during the production of The Incredible Hulk, but Lee came to praise Johnson later on for his work adapting the character. And he never said so, but one has to suspect Stan Lee was at least a little bit green with envy that it was Johnson who coined Hulk's most legendary line of dialogue.
What do you think, Hulk fans? Is there any quote that actually tops "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry"?
Release Date 1977 - 1982-00-00
Directors Frank Orsatti, Reza Badiyi, Sigmund Neufeld Jr., Jeffrey Hayden, Barry Crane, Kenneth Johnson, Larry Stewart, Kenneth Gilbert, Jack Colvin, Ray Danton, Michael Preece, Alan J. Levi, L.Q. Jones, John McPherson, Bill Bixby, Bernard McEveety
English (US) ·