Origin and identity of the Hulk
The Mass, the Incredible Hulk or, more commonly just the Hulk, there are three definitions of the same character created in 1962 by the famous Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It was in that year, just six decades ago, when the first issue of a comic book bearing the name of a hero who at times seemed to be more aligned with the forms and customs of a supervillain hit the newsstands: cakes like bread, violence unleashed , superhuman strength and little regard for what he destroys around him.
In those early adventures of the Hulk, the adventures of Dr. Bruce Banner are those of a kind of Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde modern who transforms into a beast when he suffers a fit of rage. It is, as you can imagine, the contrast of a weak and emotionally reserved character against another who unleashes all his titanic power in order to preserve good and protect the world from the threats that lie in wait for it. Which are not few.
How is the superhero born?
When the Hulk appears in the comics, the general lines of the character are already outlined. Robert Bruce Banner is a scientist working on a Gamma radiation bomb for the United States Army. In one of the tests something goes wrong and Bruce realizes that a young man named Rick Jones has entered the testing field. In a last ditch attempt to save him, he manages to push him into an area shielded from the blast with such bad luck that Banner is exposed to near-deadly amounts of that radiation. From that moment on, his DNA will be altered and he will have two personalities.
Throughout his history, Bruce Banner not only became a strong giant full of green muscles, but also from Marvel they played on some occasions to paint it a striking gray color. Over time he will discover that only the daughter of General Thunderbolt Ross, Betty Ross, is able to return him to normal when the beast appears.
Hulk’s life will never move around the acceptance of the accident he suffered and one of his main missions will always have to do with finding a cure that prevents him from transforming into The Mass. Remember that in avengers endgameMarvel decides to keep Hulk with the transformed aspect but with the head, calm, and pretty much the same personality as Bruce Banner in a fun crossover seen previously in the comics.
Superpowers
Hulk is not just muscles and those who have followed the character throughout his history will know that the importance of Dr. Bruce Banner is essential. We are not talking about a normal human being, but of a privileged scientific mind. The famous Norman Osborn (Green Goblin) will say of him that he is «a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured in any known intelligence test», since he has experience and skill in fields such as biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine and nuclear physics. Thanks to that talent, he will participate in some projects with Tony Stark, for example.
The Hulk’s main superpower is superhuman strength that allows him to strike with inordinate power, or move quickly on virtually any surface. He can’t fly, but he almost doesn’t care because with several strides he is capable of rising up a skyscraper or disappearing over the horizon while his pursuers (General Ross almost always) are left with a span of noses unable to follow him.
There are many theories about how we could translate that Hulk force into a tangible measure in our world, but what almost everyone who has followed the character agrees on is that if you have a limitation it is due to the influence of the mind of Bruce Banner, which remains active in the most critical and violent moments of the green giant. Even so, it is possible to read in many comics that this potential has “no finite element inside” and that it “would even be capable of destroying entire planets.”
hulk transformations
Throughout 60 years of comics Hulk fans have seen him turn into different characters. It is common in Marvel to launch different stories, with characters that change their history and, above all, their appearance and environment, so there is no single Hulk. But there are several.
- Savage Hulk: We can affirm that it is the version that we all know, the one from the movies or the television series, which tiredly repeats phrases like “Hulk crushes”, “No one is stronger than Hulk” or “The more furious the Hulk, the stronger the Hulk gets. ”. He is, so to speak, the Avenger that we all have in mind and, according to his creators, the most powerful of all.
- Gray Hulk: also known as Mr. Fixit or El Reparador because it was born from a misprint that at the beginning of the series appeared on the pages with different colors. Over time, Marvel decided to revive this gray version and give it its own characteristics, such as greater intelligence and, yes, a smaller size and destructive force. He belongs to the teenage era of Bruce Banner.
- The teacher: We owe this version to Leonard Samson and a mental apparition of Bruce Banner’s own mother which resulted in a cross between the green and gray Hulk. The result is a kind of much smarter, left-handed, tank-top-wearing, confident hero.
- Mindless Hulk: On paper we are facing the most savage Hulk of all since there is no trace of Dr. Bruce Banner left in his head. He is a machine of total destruction, without any feeling and that devastates anything that is put in front of him.
- Hulk-Banner: it is a very particular version of the beast with the body of Banner.
- hulk-banner: In this transformation, the scientist commands the beast despite keeping the green and muscular appearance, so he has less strength than other versions of the superhero. I’m sure you know her avengers endgame but it has its origin in his encounter with The Almighty in the Secret Wars, where he helped fight the supervillains gathered around Dr. Doom.
- Teacher: It is a version of the future who is, in turn, one of the worst supervillains of the Hulk himself, who has an older appearance, almost like an old man, but despite these appearances he maintains his strength and power.
- Demon hulk: it is a mind state of the Hulk that has ever tried to take control to end all of Humanity. Fortunately, both what remains of Bruce Banner and the other versions of the character have placated him to prevent him from manifesting.
- Hulk Beast: Moved by Bruce Banner’s resentment and guilt, this version never manifested itself thanks to the will of the Doctor himself, who managed to placate and corner her.
- World War Hulk: Banished from Earth by the Illuminati, this version of the superhero developed after a long forced stay on the planet Sakaar. When he left, he vowed to return to Earth for revenge. Trained by Hiroim, the Hulk would come to defeat the Avengers themselves, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and even Doctor Strange with his infinite power.
hulk enemies
The enemies of the Hulk are counted by dozens but we are going to keep the five that we can consider as the most important. And they are:
- Teacher: We have already told you about him, he is the Hulk from a future in which a nuclear war has ended all the heroes on Earth and has given him a power that has allowed him to become the ruler of the entire planet.
- U-Foes: they are the dark variant of the Fantastic Four and is made up of the villains Vapor, Vector, X-Ray and Ironclad.
- Leader: and finally we have Samuel Stern, a character who acquires superhuman intelligence after suffering… you know what? Indeed! A discharge of gamma rays that will lead him to face the Hulk to try to destroy him as the only way to complete his evil plan for world domination.
- Angmo-Asan, the Red King: this villain of planet-hulk, and ruler of the planet Sakaar, will face the Hulk and will be defeated but will not die. He will have a second chance as a cyborg.
- Abomination: Bruce Banner, in his desperation, tries to end his nightmare with a machine capable of bombarding his body with gamma rays. Things will not turn out as he expected since Emil Blonsky (a KGB agent) will appear on the scenewho will be the one to suffer the lethal exposure and which will turn him into a beast almost as savage as the Hulk.
Hulk’s loves
Despite the fact that when Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk he doesn’t know anyone, Have you been in any kind of romantic relationship? with familiar characters from comics. The most recognized are, without a doubt:
- Black Widow: in some passages of the MCU, Bruce Banner will be attracted to Natasha Romanoff and, apparently, no relationship will be finalized. Surely one day we will know what happened between them.
- Betty Ross: General Ross’s daughter, as we have explained, is the only one capable of tempering the anger that shakes the Hulk when he destroys everything in his path. Over the years they got married (in the comics).
- bereet: It is about an alien from the planet Krylor, from Andromeda, who was attracted to Banner’s mind. She finally left the Earth and the thing did not happen to majors.
- Marlo Chandler: She was the girlfriend of the gray Hulk when he was a hitman known as Joe Fixit, but when she discovered his past as a superhero, she cut her losses and the relationship ended.
- Kate Waynesboro: hired as a lab assistant where Bruce worked, it is eventually discovered that is a SHIELD agent sent to watch to Banner. The lack of control over the Hulk would lead Kate to leave him… that is, another love that she did not work out.
- Jarella: princess of the subatomic world of K’ai, she was one of Hulk’s great loves since they ended up getting married, even accepting Bruce Banner’s beast transformations but Crypto-Mqn crossed their paths and ended this beautiful dream by killing her. Quite a disgrace.
Some curiosities about the Hulk, do you know them?
If you think you know everything about the Hulk, we are going to reveal some small curiosities that you may not know about the Marvel character. Behold:
- In planet-hulk we can see how Bruce Banner’s alter ego reaches the throne from the planet Sakaar, banished by the Illuminati from Earth.
- Hulk, believe it or not, has two children from his relationship with Caiera: one similar to Bruce Banner and the other heir to the mother’s magical power. Both were conceived during Hulk’s stay on Sakaar.
- Lou Ferrigno, actor who played La Masa in the legendary series of the 80s, put the hulk’s voice on Avengers Age of Ultron.
- In the 1970s, Wolverine debuted in the Hulk comics as one of his enemies, though over time the two ended up fighting on the same team.
- Hulk became red tooin addition to the already mentioned green and gray, although the one who transformed was not Bruce Banner, but General Ross.
- The Hulk has a repressed part of the Hulk’s own mind that is known as the Kluh, which came to be seen in the events of AXIS. Can you imagine the power of him?
- Although it premiered in 1962, a year later was about to disappear when his comic series was canceled because its creators saw him as too inconsistent. Fortunately, that measure was not permanent.
