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This article is about the comics book character and "The Incredible Hulk" redirects here. For other uses see Hulk.
Hulk
File:HulkGreenScar.png
Incredible Hulk as "The Green Scar"
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Incredible Hulk v1 #1 (May 1962)
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoRobert Bruce Banner
Team affiliationsWarbound, Rick Jones, Avengers, Defenders, Secret Defenders, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Sentry, The Order
Notable aliasesJoe Fixit
The Green Scar (on Planet Sakaar)
War (one of Apocalypse's horsemen)
AbilitiesVast Superhuman strength, stamina, and durability. Regenerative healing factor. Ability to see and communicate with astral bodies. Radiation absorption. Transformation. Strong resistance (but not immunity) to mind control.

The Incredible Hulk is a fictional character who lives in the Marvel universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Incredible Hulk # 1 in May 1962. Nuclear physicist Dr. Bruce Banner is caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he had created and is transformed into the Hulk, a raging monstrosity. The character, both as Banner and the Hulk, is often pursued by law enforcement or the armed forces, often a result of the destruction he causes. While the coloration of the character's skin varies during the course of its publication history, the Hulk is most often depicted as green.

The Hulk is featured in a number of animated series, a feature film directed by Ang Lee, and a long-running television series and spin-off television movies starring Bill Bixby as Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk.

Publication history

The Incredible Hulk v1 #1 (May 1962), Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is a scientist working to develop a new type of weapon called a "Gamma Bomb" for the United States Government. On the day that the bomb is tested, Banner notices teenager Rick Jones on the test site. Banner saves the young man, but Banner's assistant Igor, a Soviet spy, attempts to kill Banner by allowing the countdown to proceed. Banner is caught in the blast and absorbs an enormous dose of gamma radiation. Jones takes Banner to a hospital where he first transforms into the Hulk.

File:Incrediblehulk1.jpg
Cover to The Incredible Hulk #1. Art by Jack Kirby.

The Hulk's skin color is gray (to the color blind) in The Incredible Hulk #1, a decision made by Stan Lee, who wanted a color that did not suggest a particular ethnic group [1] Colorist Stan Golberg, however, insisted to Lee that the coloring technology at the time could not present the color gray clearly or consistently, resulting in different shades of gray, and even green in the issue. So in issue #2 and after, Goldberg colored the Hulk's skin green. [2] Reprints and retellings of the Hulk's origin during the next two decades feature him with green skin from the beginning, but in 1986, issue #324 reveals that the Hulk had been gray at the time of his creation. Incidentally, Iron Man is another early-`60s Marvel character who has a gray coloration in his first issue (Tales of Suspense #39) but whose color changes in the next issue; in Iron Man's case, he became gold-colored.

In early stories, Banner becomes the Hulk at sunset each day, but he later transforms whenever he becomes angry or panicked. Many early Hulk stories involve General Thunderbolt Ross trying to capture or destroy the Hulk, with his "Hulkbuster" U.S. Army battalion at his side. Ross' daughter Betty loves Bruce Banner and criticizes her father for pursuing the Hulk. General Ross' right-hand man Major Glenn Talbot loves Betty and is torn between pursuing the Hulk or trying to gain Betty's love in a more honorable way. Teenager Rick Jones serves as the Hulk's friend and sidekick for a time. Later, another teenager named Jim Wilson also befriends the Hulk.

Marvel published only six issues of the original Hulk series before cancelling it to free space on the publishing schedule in order to give the Nick Fury character his own series, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. Shortly after the official cancellation notice was issued, creator Jack Kirby received a letter from a college dormitory stating that the Hulk had been chosen as their official mascot. Kirby and Lee realized that their character had found an audience in college-age readers—a demographic comic book publishers had almost entirely ignored.[citation needed] They featured the Hulk in numerous guest appearances in other series and added him to the founding ranks of the Avengers. The Hulk was then given a regular backup feature in Marvel's ongoing series Tales To Astonish. After several years, the series was retitled The Incredible Hulk due to the character's popularity, (# 102) and it ran until March 1999, when Marvel restarted the series with a new issue #1.

Peter David became writer of the series in 1986, beginning a run that lasted nearly 12 years. David's run altered Banner's pre-Hulk characterization and the nature of Banner and the Hulk's relationship. Originally, Banner was written as a normal (albeit shy) man whose negative emotions (the normal, repressed anger that all humans have) found expression through the Hulk. David, however, turned Banner into a victim of multiple personalities who had serious mental problems long before he became the Hulk. David expanded on an earlier story that establishes that Banner had suffered child abuse, writing that it fostered a great deal of repressed anger within the character, which in turn triggered a latent case of multiple personality disorder.[volume & issue needed] Three Hulks emerge from Banner's psyche,[volume & issue needed] the Savage Hulk, Joe Fixit, and the Professor, a merger of the Savage Hulk and Banner.

In 1998, David followed Editor Bobbie Chase's suggestion to kill the Betty Banner character. In an interview in Wizard: The Guide to Comics,[volume & issue needed] David reveals that his wife had recently left him at the time, providing inspiration for the storyline. Marvel executives used Betty's death as an opportunity to push the idea of bringing back the "Savage Hulk". David disagreed, and the disagreement quickly led to David and Marvel Comics parting ways. When Peter David left the Hulk, Marvel hired Joe Casey as a temporary writer. Casey brought the character in the direction that Marvel had requested earlier[citation needed], making the Hulk mute, but his short run found little critical success,[citation needed] and he ended the series.

Marvel hired John Byrne for a second volume of the series, retitled "Hulk", with Ron Garney penciling. Byrne wrote of his plans for the first year,[citation needed] but creative differences led to his departure before the first year was over. Erik Larsen briefly filled scripting duties in his place, and the title of the book soon was returned to The Incredible Hulk with the arrival of Paul Jenkins. Jenkins wrote a story arc in which Banner and the three Hulks (Savage, Gray and the Merged Hulk, now considered a separate personality and referred to as the Professor) are able to mentally interact with one another, each personality taking over their shared body. He also created General Ryker, who was in charge of the original gamma bomb test responsible for the Hulk's creation and was planning to create similar creatures.

Bruce Jones followed as the series' writer, and his run features Banner using yoga to take control of the Hulk while pursued by a secret conspiracy and aided by the mysterious Mr. Blue. Jones focused on a horror theme with the Hulk as a fugitive, influenced by the classic TV series. Jones appended his 43-issue Incredible Hulk run with the Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks limited series, which Marvel published after putting the ongoing series on hiatus.

Peter David, who had initially signed a contract for a six-issue Tempest Fugit limited series, returned as writer when it was decided to make the story part of the ongoing series instead. David contracted to complete a year on the title. "Tempest Fugit" reveals that Nightmare has manipulated the Hulk for years, tormenting him in various ways for "inconveniences" the Hulk caused him. After a four-part tie-in to the "House of M" crossover and a one-issue epilogue, David left the series once more, citing the need to do non-Hulk work for his career's sake. [1]

In Incredible Hulk vol.2 #88, S.H.I.E.L.D. tricks the Hulk into fighting a weapon the agency has lost control of. Hulk destroys the weapon but is launched into space. In issue #91, the first installment of the "Planet Hulk" storyline, the Hulk views footage of Reed Richards and Tony Stark telling him that for Earth's sake, they are sending to a planet devoid of intelligent lifeforms, where he can live out his days in peace. Due to an equipment malfunction, the Hulk's ship enters a wormhole and deposits him on the planet Sakaar, where he is forced in gladiatorial slavery.

Personality and behavior

The Hulk is the alter ego of Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a genius in nuclear physics. As a result of exposure to gamma radiation, Banner often becomes a large, superhumanly strong green creature.

Although the Hulk is usually classified as a superhero he and Banner share a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like relationship. In his most well-known incarnation, the Hulk has little intelligence or self-control and can cause great destruction. As a result, he has been hunted by the military and other superheroes and Banner considers the Hulk a curse.

In recent decades, comic book writers have portrayed the character as a symbol of inner rage and Freudian repression. The Hulk's existence has been retroactively explained as an after-effect of child abuse and latent multiple personality disorder.

Incarnations

File:Hulks.jpg
The four main Hulk incarnations. Clockwise from top left: Bruce Banner, the Savage Hulk, the Gray Hulk, and the Merged Hulk

The Hulk initially is characterized as a separate entity from Bruce Banner, a distillation of his human anger that gradually develops its own personality and memories separate from Banner's. Due to retroactive continuity established by writers Bill Mantlo and later Peter David in the 1980s, Banner was said to suffer from "multiple personality disorder", which stems from the abuse he suffered as a child. The Hulk has many incarnations, each representing a different aspect of Banner's psyche.

  • Bruce Banner - Bruce Banner, the core personality, is an emotionally repressed genius whose mind is so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test. Banner can transform into the different versions of the Hulks, whereas his alter egos seem to be able only to transform into Bruce Banner.
  • Savage Hulk - The Savage Hulk possesses the mental capacity and temperament of a young child and typically refers to himself in the third person. He often claims that he wants to be left alone. The Savage Hulk is usually depicted as green-skinned and heavily-muscled with a loping, ape-like gait.
  • Gray Hulk/Joe Fixit - The Gray Hulk (though possibly not the original) worked for a time as a Las Vegas enforcer called "Joe Fixit". The Gray Hulk has average intelligence, although he occasionally displays knowledge and intellectual ability normally associated with Banner. He is cunning, crafty, hedonistic, arrogant, and distant, with a hidden conscience. In most of Las Vegas appearances, he appears only at night. According to the Leader,[volume & issue needed] the Gray Hulk persona is strongest during the night of the new moon and weakest during the full moon. This aversion to sun/moon light vanished when the Gray Hulk's night-induced transformation trigger was later removed. Although he is the smallest of the Hulks, the Gray Hulk towers over the average human. He prefers to dress in tailored suits.
  • The Merged Hulk/The Professor - The Merged Hulk is the merger of Banner and the Savage and Gray Hulks in Incredible Hulk #377 (written by Peter David). The Merged Hulk was later retconned into The Professor. The Professor, rather than being a merger of the three core personalities, was interpreted as a fourth, separate personality that represented Banner's ideal self. The primary difference between the two is that the Merged Hulk demonstrated aspects of the Banner, Grey Hulk and Savage Hulk personalities (also possessing Banner's intelligence, Joe Fixit's cunning, and the Savage Hulk's size and strength), while the Professor did not. The Merged Hulk was even prone to uttering "Hulk will smash!", which was the Savage Hulk's most common catch phrase. The Merged Hulk was an associate and leader of the team of superheroes called the Pantheon. Despite his exaggerated musculature, the Merged Hulk had a relatively normal looking face, resembling that of Banner. The Professor personality was defined during writer Paul Jenkins' run as a "revelation" that the Merged Hulk was not actually a merger of the three personalities but rather a separate personality altogether. Unlike the Merged Hulk, the Professor was physically distinguished by having a pony tail, which the Merged Hulk did not. Jenkins justified this by retconning into the Hulk's continuity a new character named Angela Lipscomb (modeled after Jenkins' own girlfriend) who knew more about Bruce Banner than even Doc Samson. Lipscomb confronted Samson with her observations of the Professor and Doc Samson validated them, despite events presented in previous issues to the contrary.
  • The Maestro - The Maestro is a version of the Hulk from a future timeline when he has conquered mankind after it had already been brought to the brink of extinction through nuclear warfare. The Maestro's green skin is darker than that of the other green skinned incarnations, and his hair is gray and balding on top. Due to the increased radiation from nuclear fall-out, the Maestro is significantly stronger than the Merged Hulk (as demonstrated in the "Hulk: Future Imperfect" mini-series), and his strength still increases with rage, making him more powerful still. Creator Peter David has stated on his various message boards that the Maestro was intended to be simply an insane evil alternate version of his Merged Hulk and not a separate personality within Banner.

Powers and abilities

File:Hulk mount.jpg
Hulk holding up a mountain. Cover for Secret Wars #4, by Mike Zeck.

The Hulk possesses superhuman strength and can lift 85 -90 tons at his "base" strength level; however, the Hulk's strength increases proportionally to his level of anger or emotional distress. Of the Hulk's incarnations, Joe Fixit is relatively the weakest and the Savage Hulk the strongest at their base levels. When enraged, the Hulk can easily lift well in excess of 100 tons. During the Secret Wars limited series, he is shown supporting a 150 billion ton mountain, though he did have leaverage on his side. The Hulk can cover great distances by leaping, a several miles in a single bound. In a fit of rage, The Hulk nearly jumped into orbit. The Hulk can also grow stronger by absorbing radiation.

File:Hulk heal.jpg
Hulk's healing factor.

The Hulk is depicted with an high resistance to physical damage. He is shown withstanding the impact of high-caliber artillery shells, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury and resisting extreme temperatures, poisons, and diseases with no ill effect. In addition, the Hulk's body regenerates damaged or destroyed areas of tissue at an accelerated rate. Similar to his strength, the Hulk's durability increases with his emotional stress.

In addition to his physical power and healing ability, the Hulk demonstrates the ability to "home in" on the desert base where he was empowered.[volume & issue needed] The Hulk can also see and hear spectres, such as the astral form of Doctor Strange. . There is further evidence that the Hulk is highly resistant to telepathic abilities; for instance, he is the only being in the Marvel Universe who still remembered the Sentry after Robert Reynold's wiped all memories of himself from the world.

The Hulk can also adapt to hostile environments. He has the capacity to breathe underwater and move quickly between depths without ill effects.[volume & issue needed] Writers have explained this as arising from a gland that makes an "oxygenated perfluorocarbon emulsion."[volume & issue needed]

Allies

  • She-Hulk - Jennifer Walters, Banner's cousin, whom he gives an emergency blood transfusion when she is critically wounded.
  • Rick Jones - Young teenager whom Bruce Banner saved, causing Banner to be caught in his life changing explosion.
  • Jim Wilson - Friend of Bruce Banner & sometime sidekick. Was the first character in mainstream comics to be HIV+. Deceased due to Full Blown AIDS (Incredible Hulk #420).
  • Doc Samson - The Hulk's psychologist, has superstrength caused by the length of his hair.
  • Betty Ross - Banner's love interest. Deceased.
  • Jarella - The Hulk's lover from another planet. Deceased.
  • Warbound
  • Wolverine
  • The Thing
  • Marlo Chandler
  • Sam Wilson - Has defended the Hulk on a few occasions due to the Hulk's comforting his nephew Jim Wilson during his last moments alive.

Enemies

  • The Rhino - A criminal who is almost as strong as the Hulk.
  • The Sandman - His body turns into sand and has tried to kill the Hulk.
  • Zzzax - A humanoid creature has often shocking against the Hulk's life.
  • Glenn Talbot - Betty's ex-husband, a military officer who tried to attack and destroy the Hulk.
  • The Leader - As intelligent as the Hulk is strong.
  • The Abomination - Originally was created stronger than the Hulk.
  • The Maestro - A future, more powerful incarnation of the Hulk.
  • Thunderbolt Ross- Betty's father, a military leader often on the hunt for the Hulk.

Ultimate Hulk

Main article: Ultimate Hulk

A version of the Hulk appears in the Ultimate Marvel titles, in the The Ultimates. In the Ultimates, Bruce Banner attempts to recreate the super-soldier formula that created Captain America, but creates a formula that turns him super-strong and brutish. When Captain America is recovered from a block of ice, and Banner's funding seems likely to be cut, he supposedly uses the formula on himself to give the Ultimates a villain to defeat so they would be viewed as heroes by the public instead of a waste of taxpayer money. Bruce was also suffering from his repeated failures to create a super-soldier formula and his girlfriend Betty Ross abandoning him and dating Freddie Prinze, Jr.. As he tells Betty over the phone, "To tell you the truth... I just wanted to be big again." The "Ultimate" Hulk combines the Savage Hulk and Joe Fixit thrown in. He is primarily a creature of anger with more intelligence and direction, demanding revenge on those who had wronged Banner. He is also capable of vices beyond wrath, particularly lust; he tells Betty that during his rampage that he was "horny as hell". He is also prone to gluttony and has the habit of devouring the people he killed in his berserk rampages.

Hulk in other media

Television

The Hulk started out in television as part of the Marvel Super Heroes animated television series in 1966. The 39 (10-minute) episodes were shown along with those feeaturing Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Submariner episodes based on early stories appearing in the Hulk and Tales to Astonish series.

The most famous TV adaptation is the live-action The Incredible Hulk TV series and its spin-off TV movies, starring Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk.

After the live-action show ended in 1982, the Hulk returned to cartoon format with 13 episodes of The Incredible Hulk, which aired in a combined hour with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. The series features more characters from the comics than the live-action series, including Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross. Typical of many superhero cartoons of the era,[citation needed] the show used stock transformation scenes which include Banner transforming back with his clothing somehow restored intact. The She-Hulk and the Leader make an appearances in the show. This series features Stan Lee as a narrator. Bruce Banner and the Hulk also appear in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Spidey Goes Hollywood".

Main article: The Incredible Hulk (1996 animated series)

In 1996, Marvel Studios and Saban Entertainment (producers of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) brought the Hulk back to animated form, with Lou Ferrigno returning to role of the Hulk. The first season's stories are exceptionally dark, but in 1997, the show's name changed to The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk and featured She-Hulk in several episodes with the Gray Hulk. The series became much lighter during this season and was cancelled quickly. The show aired briefly on ABC Family following the release of the live-action movie in 2003.

Film

Template:Spoiler In 2003, Ang Lee directed a film based on the Hulk for Universal Pictures. In it, Eric Bana played Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Here, Banner's father, David Banner, was half responsible for the Hulk's origin as when Bruce was an infant, he injected him with radioactivity, while pretending to give him a flu shot. When Bruce grew up, believing his real parents died (this is only half true, as only Banner's mother died and his father was incarcerated for thirty years), Bruce saved his friend from being killed from gamma rays but took the impact of the rays instead. The gamma rays would have likely killed Bruce if his father didn't inject him with radioactivity when he was younger. Hulk caused most destruction, wounding Glenn Talbot, killing his father's mutated dogs in battle, made a path of danger from the Desert Base to San Francisco and finally in a final battle against his insane father. General Ross decided to end the battle by having one of his soldiers fire a missile from a jet in the water where the battle took place, ending the confrontation. It killed and disintegrated David; Hulk/Bruce was presumed dead from the event. It was revealed at the very end of the movie he did survive and is living as a secret civilian in South America and would protect the innocent from any intruders. Template:Endspoiler In 2006, the Hulk appeared in the animated movie Ultimate Avengers, which is based on the comic book The Ultimates. The second Ultimate Avengers movie is scheduled for release in summer 2006.

2008 is scheduled release date of the second live-action movie, The Incredible Hulk. The movie is still in pre-production.

Video games

The Hulk appears in video games for many different systems, including the Sega Genesis, SNES, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and personal computer. Most are based on the comics, although the more recent releases draw primarily from the 2003 movie. In Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, the Hulk's voice is performed by Neal McDonough. In the Ultimate Destruction side of the Hulk, Hulk is so uncontrolled that he will kill even innocent civilians in his path and the Desert Base soldiers that dare fight him. As much as the Hulk sounds like a villain, he is merely an uncontrolled creature. Sometimes the Hulk can be a hero as one time when he was battling the Abomination, the real villain, in a final showdown, his goal would be to protect the dam the Abomination wants to destroy until every soldier has evacuated. Some of those soldiers fly off in jets, in which the Hulk can easily use as weapons to target the Abomination, but that is the player's decision. The Hulk is also in a cutscene in the Marvel Nemesis: Rise Of The Imperfects game for the PS2, X-Box and Gamecube.

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Fighting Game Moves/Capcom/Hulk

In addition to his own games, the Hulk appears in several fighting games by Capcom, starting with Marvel Super Heroes in 1995 and including the Marvel vs. Capcom series. The version of the Hulk appearing in these games closely resembles the Professor.

Themed products

Hulk-themed products include action figures, clothes, jewelry, video games, cards, pins, posters, cars, games, lunchboxes, toys, pinball machines, all types of collectibles and even the Hulkbuster roller-coaster at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

Bibliography

Collections

References

  1. ^ Comics Buyer's Guide #1617 (June 2006)
  2. ^ Starlog #213 (July 2003)

Template:Avengers members

Preceded by
Abraham Kieros as War II
 As War III, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #456 (July 1997) – Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #457 (August 1997) 		Succeeded by
Deathbird as War IV
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