Hulk (comics)
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- This article is about the comics book character and "The Incredible Hulk" redirects here. For other uses, see Hulk.
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.
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.
The Hulk's skin is gray in The Incredible Hulk #1, a decision made by Stan Lee, who wanted a color that did not suggest a particular ethnic group Comics Buyer's Guide #1617 (June 2006) 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. Starlog #213 (July 2003) 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.[[Citing sources 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. Three Hulks emerge from Banner's psyche, 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 , 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[[Citing sources citation needed]], making the Hulk mute, but his short run found little critical success,[[Citing sources 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,[[Citing sources 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 potting 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. [link]
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
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.
- Joe Fixit - The Gray Hulk (though possibly not the original) works for a time as a Las Vegas enforcer called "Joe Fixit". Joe Fixit 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 Joe Fixit's appearances, he appears only at night. According to the Leader, the Joe Fixit persona is strongest during the night of the new moon and weakest during the full moon. Although he is the smallest of the Hulks, Joe Fixit towers over the average human. He dresses in tailored suits.
- The Professor - The Professor is created by the merger of Banner and the Savage and Gray Hulks in Incredible Hulk #377. A later story retcons this, with Doc Samson claiming that he released another incarnation from Banner's mind, despite the original issue's showing Samson as having little control over the process. The Professor is an associate and leader of the team of superheroes called the Pantheon. This form is devoid of most of Banner's emotional hang-ups but can still be prompted into insane rage; when he kills the Leader, he is destabilized enough for the Savage Hulk to re-emerge. The Professor possesses Banner's intelligence, Joe Fixit's cunning, and the Savage Hulk's strength. The Professor is green and is the largest incarnation. Despite his exaggerated musculature, he looks like a large human and walks normally. Peter David, who created the Professor, considered him to be a unification of the existing personalities;[[Citing sources citation needed]] Paul Jenkins, the first writer to refer to this personality as "the Professor", however, considered him a separate personality that is able to co-exist and even communicate with the other personalities.
- The Maestro - The Maestro is a version of the Hulk from a future timeline when he has conquered a world which brought itself to the brink of extinction through nuclear warfare. The Maestro's skin is darker than usual, and his hair is gray and balding on top. Due to the increased radiation from nuclear fall-out, the Maestro has about twice the strength of the Professor, and his strength still increases with rage, making him more powerful still.
Powers and abilities
The Hulk possesses superhuman strength and can lift many 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 in excess of 100 tons. During the Secret Wars limited series, he is shown briefly supporting an entire mountain. The Hulk can cover great distances by leaping, a few miles in a single bound. The Hulk can also grow stronger by absorbing radiation.
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. The Hulk can also see and hear spectres, such as the astral form of Doctor Strange.
The Hulk can also adapt to hostile environments. He has the capacity to breathe underwater and move quickly between depths without ill effects. Writers have explained this as arising from a gland that makes an "oxygenated perfluorocarbon emulsion."
Related characters
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.
- 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
- The Thing
- Marlo Chandler
Enemies
- The Leader - As intelligent as the Hulk is strong.
- The Abomination - Stronger than the Hulk.
- The Maestro - A future incarnation of the Hulk. Deceased.
- Thunderbolt Ross- Betty's father, a military leader often on the hunt for the Hulk.
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,[[Citing sources 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".
In 1996, Marvel Studios and Saban Entertainment (producrs 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
In 2003, Ang Lee directed a film based on the Hulk for Universal Pictures. In it, Eric Bana played Bruce Banner/The Hulk.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.
Video games
The Hulk appears in video games for many different systems, including the Atari 2600, 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 ', the Hulk's voice is performed by Neal McDonough. The Hulk is also in a cutscene in the ' game for the PS2, X-Box and Gamecube.
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
- The Incredible Hulk #1–6 (Marvel Comics, May 1962–March 1963)
- Tales to Astonish #59–101 (Marvel Comics, September 1964–March 1968)
- The Incredible Hulk #102–474 (Marvel Comics, April 1968–March 1999)
- The Incredible Hulk Annual #1–20 (Marvel Comics, 1968–1994)
- The Incredible Hulk #-1 (Marvel Comics, July 1997, ISSN 0274-5275)
- Hulk #1–11 (Marvel Comics, April 1999–February 2000)
- The Incredible Hulk #12–76, #77–present (Marvel Comics, March 2000–September 2004, January 2005–present)
- Hulk Weekly #1–69, Marvel UK title published between 1979–1981. Featured new material produced by the likes of Paul Neary and Steve Dillon.
References
External links
- [Official webpage at marvel.com]
- [Official Marvel UK Store]
- - Marvel Database Project
- [Marvel Picture Store]
- [A fan site with extensive Hulk information]
- [Radical Entertainment's Hulk Games website]
- [One of Stan Lee's Best]-Article on the Incredible Hulk's Popularity
- [Hulk's Blog]
- [The Hulk Library]
- [Gamma Base - An Online Hulk Resource]
- [The 1982 Incredible Hulk Cartoon @ Toon Zone]
- [DRG4's Incredible Hulk the Animated Series Page (1996)]
- [Hulk Angry] Incredible Hulk fan site with wallpaper fan art section and comic book covers starting at the 1962 number one issue.
- [Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards]
- [HulkNews.com - Featuring the latest news, reviews and information on all things Hulk]
- [Hulk: "Lonely Man"] Fan comic with CG artwork.
- [The Incredible Hulk Message Board]
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