| [Edit]
The Hulk (Dr. Robert Bruce Banner), sometimes referred to as The Incredible Hulk, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Hulk first appeared in Incredible Hulk 1 (May 1962). He has since become one of Marvel Comics' most recognized superhero characters.
After nuclear physicist Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he created, he is transformed into the Hulk, a raging monstrosity. The character, both as Banner and the Hulk, is frequently pursued by the police or the armed forces, often as 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.
He 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.
top
Publication history
|
Dr. Bruce Banner is a nuclear physicist working to develop a new type of weapon called a "gamma bomb", a nuclear weapon with a high gamma radiation output, for the U.S. Government. On the day that the bomb is tested, he notices a teenager, Rick Jones, on the test site. Banner saves the young man, but the countdown proceeds. Banner is caught in the blast and absorbs an enormous dose of gamma radiation. Rick takes Banner to a hospital; it's there that he first transforms into the Hulk in a fit of rage.
The Hulk's skin color 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. 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. 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 states that the Hulk had been gray at the time of his creation. Incidentally, Iron Man is another early 1960s 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. Another method was shown in Fantastic Four 12 (Mar, 1963), featuring the Hulk's first battle with the Thing; Banner uses a gamma ray machine of his own design to intentionally transform into the Hulk. Many early Hulk stories involve General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross trying to capture or destroy the Hulk with his U.S. Army battalion, the Hulkbusters, at his side. Ross' daughter, Betty, loves Banner and criticizes her father for pursuing the Hulk. General Ross' right-hand man, Major Glenn Talbot, also loves Betty and is torn between pursuing the Hulk and trying to gain Betty's love in a more honorable way. Rick Jones serves as the Hulk's friend and sidekick for a time. Later, another teenager, Jim Wilson, also befriends the Hulk.
Marvel published only six issues of the original Hulk series before canceling 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. 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 re-titled 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
Peter David became the 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 but 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. In issue 377, Doctor Leonard Samson engages the Ringmaster's services to hypnotize Bruce Banner and force him, the Savage Hulk (Green Hulk) and Mr. Fixit (Gray Hulk) to confront Banner's past abuse at the hands of his father. Upon finally facing this abuse, a new, larger and smarter Hulk emerges and completely replaces the "human" Bruce Banner and Hulk personas. This Hulk is a culmination of the three aspects of Banner. He has the vast power of the savage, green Hulk, the cunning of the gray Hulk and the intelligence of Bruce Banner.
In 1998, David followed editor Bobbie Chase's suggestion to kill Betty Ross. In an interview in Wizard: The Guide to Comics, 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 David left the Hulk, Marvel hired Joe Casey as a temporary writer. Casey brought the character in the direction that Marvel had requested earlier, making the Hulk mute, but his short run found little critical success, and he ended the series. Marvel then hired John Byrne for a second volume of the series, re-titled Hulk, with Ron Garney penciling. Byrne wrote of his plans for the first year, 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 returned to The Incredible Hulk with the arrival of Paul Jenkins.
Jenkins wrote a story arc in which Banner and the three Hulks (Savage Hulk, Gray Hulk, 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 John Ryker, a ruthless military general in charge of the original gamma bomb test responsible for the Hulk's creation and is 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. He 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" that the Hulk had 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. •
In the 2006 storyline "Planet Hulk" by Greg Pak, after the Hulk destroys much of Las Vegas, a secret group of superheroes (called the Illuminati) traps the Hulk and rockets him into space to live a peaceful existence on a planet uninhabited by intelligent life. After a trajectory malfunction, the Hulk travels through a wormhole and crashes on the violent planet Sakaar. Weakened by his journey through the wormhole, the Hulk is sold as a slave. In a gladiatorial arena, he makes a deadly enemy when he scars the emperor's face. The Hulk overcomes great odds to become a gladiator, a rebel leader, and a conqueror.
Starting May 2007, the Hulk will be the focus of a Marvel event called World War Hulk. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada claims it will affect everyone and rival Civil War in impact, although be smaller in volume of titles. It will be written by Grek Pak and pencilled by John Romita, Jr.•
|
top
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 Jekyll and 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 as such, 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.
top
Incarnations
|
The Hulk initially is characterized as a separate entity from Bruce Banner, a distillation of his 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 is 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 – The core personality, he 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 Hulk, whereas his alter-egos seem to be able only to transform into Bruce Banner.
Savage Hulk – He possesses the mental capacity and temperament of a young child, and typically refers to himself in the third person. Savage Hulk often claims that he wants to be left alone, and 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. He has average intelligence, although he occasionally displays knowledge and intellectual ability normally associated with Bruce Banner. He is hedonistic, cunning, arrogant, crafty, and distant with a hidden conscience. In most of his Las Vegas appearances, he appears only at night. According to the Leader in Incredible Hulk Vol. 1, 333, the Gray Hulk persona is strongest during the night of the new moon and weakest during the full moon; this aversion to sunlight and moonlight vanished when the Gray Hulk's night-induced transformation trigger is 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.
Merged Hulk/The Professor – The merger of Bruce Banner and the Savage and Gray Hulks in Incredible Hulk 377 (written by Peter David). The Merged Hulk is later ret-conned 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 is even prone to uttering "Hulk smash!", which is the Savage Hulk's most common catchphrase. The Merged Hulk is 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 Bruce Banner. The Professor personality is defined during Paul Jenkins' run as a "revelation" that the Merged Hulk is not actually a merger of the three personalities but rather a separate personality altogether. Unlike the Merged Hulk, the Professor is physically distinguished by having a pony tail, which the Merged Hulk did not. Jenkins justified this by ret-conning 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 Doc Samson with her observations of the Professor and Doc Samson validated them, despite events presented in previous issues to the contrary.
Devil Hulk - The Devil Hulk is the malevolent personality of Bruce Banner, personifying all of Banner's resentment at the way he is treated by the world. He is also one of the Hulk's enemies, constantly threatening to escape confinement in Banner's mind and destroy the world that has tormented and abused them, simultaneously leaving nothing intact that Banner holds dear. He first appeared when Banner was dying of Lou Gehrig's Disease, Banner using a machine to travel into his own mind and make a deal with the three dominant Hulks that they would gain control of his body once the disease became too much for him to bear. The Devil Hulk was revealed at this point, but he only escaped a short while afterwards, when the machinations of General Ryker shattered the barriers keeping the Devil Hulk imprisoned. Fortunately, he was contained long enough for a cure for Banner's condition to be found, before finally being contained in Banner's subconscious by Banner, the Savage Hulk and Joe Fixit, the Professor Hulk remaining out in the real world to help scientists such as Doctor Samson and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four find a cure for the disease.
|
top
Powers and abilities
The Hulk possesses immense levels of physical strength. The most well-known incarnation, the Savage Hulk, possesses the greatest potential for immeasurable superhuman strength, often depending on his emotional state. His strength level is commensurate with his anger, spawning the famous quote: "the madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets." During the Secret Wars limited series, he is shown supporting a 150 billion ton mountain range, although at the time he was using leverage to help support it. At his peak during the fight against Onslaught, Jean Grey "turned off" Bruce Banner, bringing out the true Savage Hulk. In Onslaught: Marvel 1, after trading blows with the Hulk, Onslaught angers him to a point where he was able to then destroy Onslaught's armor. In Marvel Comics Presents 52, the Hulk shatters an asteroid twice the size of the Earth with a single punch. The Hulk possesses highly developed leg muscles and is able to leap several miles at a time. In Incredible Hulk vol.2 33, he is shown covering a distance of 1,000 miles in a single leap. In Incredible Hulk vol.2 254, he is shown leaping into a low-Earth orbit with a single leap. In Tales to Astonish 73, the the Leader, unsuccessfuly, attempts to discover the limits of the Hulk's strength using his advanced technology. Doc Samson makes a similar attempt in Incredible Hulk vol.1 228, also without success.
The Hulk is depicted with a large degree of invulnerability and superhuman stamina. He is shown withstanding the impact of high-caliber artillery shells, falls from orbital heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury and resisting extreme temperatures, poisons, and diseases with no ill effect. The Hulk demonstrates in Incredible Hulk vol.1 440 that he is capable of withstanding a, ground zero, nuclear explosion. Despite his body's high resistance to injury, it is possible to injure the Hulk. However, the Hulk can regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with far greater efficiency than an ordinary human. His healing powers, much like his physical strength and resistance to injury, increase during periods of heightened emotional stress. In Incredible Hulk vol.1 398, for example, all of the Hulk's skin and most of his muscle tissue are flayed from his body. He fully regenerates the destroyed tissue within a few minutes.
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 (see Incredible Hulk Vol. 1,
top
Allies
She-Hulk – Also known as Jennifer Walters, she is Bruce Banner's cousin, whom he gives an emergency blood transfusion when she is critically wounded.
Rick Jones – A teenager whom Banner saved, causing Banner to be caught in his life-changing explosion.
Jim Wilson – A friend of Bruce Banner and sometime sidekick. He was the first character in mainstream comics to be HIV positive. Is deceased due to full-blown AIDS (Incredible Hulk
Doc Samson – The Hulk's occasional psychiatrist. Also happens to be a gamma-powered strong man with a working knowledge of nuclear biology.
Tony Stark – He is in League with Doc Samson and aids him.
Jarella – The Hulk's lover from another planet. Deceased.
Warbound from Planet Hulk
Miek - A meek insectoid who becomes king of his freed people before transforming into a behemoth.
No-Name, the Broodspawn - Sole survivor of a pack of Brood warriors that landed on Planet Sakaar
Elloe - Daughter of a high ranking Sakaaran official whom the Red King tries for treason
Hiroim - a fallen "Shadow Priest"
Caiera, the Oldstrong - former personal bodyguard to the Red King, betrayed due to the Red King's desire to destroy the Hulk
Sam Wilson – He has defended the Hulk on a few occasions due to the Hulk's comforting his nephew, Jim Wilson, during his last moments alive.
top
Enemies
Absorbing Man - Thor villain, able to magically "absorb" the properties of things/people he touches
Tyrannus - Would-be world conqueror and long-time Hulk villain, once possessed the body of the Abomination
The Red King – The emperor of the planet Sakaar.
Major Glenn Talbot – Betty Ross' ex-husband, a military officer who tries to kill Bruce Banner and destroy the Hulk.
Wendigo - A large savage cannibalistic monster.
Zzzax – Electricity-based villain
top
The Maestro
The Maestro is a version of the Hulk from an alternate future timeline, approximately a hundred years into the future, combining Banner's intelligence with the Hulk's more malevolent aspects. After a nuclear war kills almost all of Earth's superhumans and brings the world to the brink of extinction, the Maestro seizes control.
Gray haired and balding, the Maestro is clearly older than the Hulk - but is also significantly stronger, due to the radiation he has absorbed since the war. He rules the city of Dystopia, built to his own designs and protected by radiation shielding. Brutal soldiers with hi-tech equipment keep the "peace" and impose the Maestro's iron will. The Maestro himself dwells in a grand palace, where a Bacchanalian atmosphere reigns. Other gamma-irradiated beings, She-Hulk (now calling herself "Shulk") and the Abomination, survived the war and seem to have conquered other areas of the world.
Not long after the war, an elderly Rick Jones encounters the reality-hopping mutant Proteus, who is possessing the body of an alternate reality Hulk from the year 2099. Proteus intends to discard his current body and possess the Maestro. Jones, unaware of his plan, provides a weapon created by the X-Man Forge, which might be able to kill Maestro. However, the plan fails when Maestro is warned by the Exiles, who are pursuing Proteus. Proteus possesses a new host and flees to another world, breaking the Maestro's neck during his escape.
Years later, the Maestro, fully recovered from his injury, encounters a time-travelling Genis-Vell and Spider-Man 2099. Manipulated by the supervillain Thanatos, the three battle - but Captain Marvel and Spider-Man eventually return to their own time, with no consequence for Maestro.
Acquiring Doctor Doom's time machine, the rebels opposing Maestro (led by Rick Jones) eventually decide to bring the 'Professor' Hulk forward from the past, hoping that he can defeat Maestro. The Hulk agrees to help them and confronts the Maestro, but loses due to the Maestro's greater experience, as he is able to predict the Hulk's moves in combat (Although the Hulk does manage to deliver a few good punches). The Maestro breaks Hulk's neck to immobilise him, then tries to persuade the incapacitated Hulk that he should side with his future self, telling him that nothing will change when he returns home and he will still be persecuted.
After the Hulk's recovery, the two of them clash once more, but, despite the Hulk's best efforts, the Maestro is still far too powerful for him. At the last minute, the Maestro is defeated by using Doom's time machine, sending him back to the time and place that the Hulk was created - ground zero during the testing of the atomic Gamma Bomb, the only bomb that the Hulk knew the ground zero location of (It was speculated that such an explosion was the only thing that could kill the Maestro). Appearing next to the bomb itself, Maestro is seemingly killed in the same moment that creates the Hulk, but some degree of his consciousness still remains, tied to the skeletal fragments at the Gamma Bomb site.
Eventually, the Hulk learns that the "homing sense" which has always allowed him to locate ground zero, his "birth" place, is actually finding the Maestro's spirit and remains. The Maestro has also been absorbing gamma radiation from the Hulk each time he returns to the site, gradually restoring himself. When the Hulk returns from the Heroes Reborn universe, radiating vast amounts of energy, Maestro finally absorbs enough radiation to restore himself to life, although in a weakened and emaciated form.
Shortly thereafter, Maestro is captured by Asgardian trolls, who place his soul into the Asgardian Destroyer. As the Destroyer, he battles the Hulk - but as the Hulk and Maestro share the same DNA, Hulk is able to enter the Destroyer and defeat the weakened Maestro, who is seemingly killed by an avalanche.
Creator Peter David has stated that the Maestro is intended to be an evil and insane alternate Hulk - not a separate personality within Bruce Banner.
top
The End
The Incredible Hulk: The End one shot, set almost two hundred years into an alternative future, portrays Bruce Banner as the last human, the sole survivor of a nuclear war. In the aftermath of the war, Hulk retreated to a cave - emerging to find that the only other life left on earth was a swarm of mutated (and extremely dangerous) cockroaches. Banner, now extremely elderly, has gained a little of the Hulk's regenerative ability, but has lost his will to live. Hulk, on the other hand, is still not ready to die, even transforming himself as Banner finally dies. leaving him sitting on a deserted mountain as he reflects on how, at last, he is alone.
top
Ultimate Hulk
|
A version of the Hulk appears in the Ultimate Marvel series, first in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
In Ultimates, Banner works for S.H.I.E.L.D., attempting to re-create the super-soldier formula that created Captain America. When Captain America is recovered from a block of ice, Banner's funding seems likely to be cut. The team forms without Banner's input, but S.H.I.E.L.D. faces heavy criticism for its extensive budget and lack of purpose. Banner, ridiculed by members of the Ultimates and rejected and taunted by his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross, combines Captain America's blood with the Hulk formula, and injects it into himself (Ultimates 4). He becomes a grey-skinned Hulk that tracks down Betty Ross, destroying everything in his path and murdering hundreds of people. The Hulk overpowers the Ultimates until the Wasp fires her bio-electric sting directly into his brain, which changes the Hulk back into Banner, who is restrained and imprisoned in the S.H.I.E.L.D. base the Triskelion - in a cell Banner had designed.
During a fight with an invading alien race called the Chitauri, Captain America orders that Banner be thrown from a helicopter high in the air. Captain America uses Banner's jealousy to make him fight the Chitauri commander, whom the Hulk pounds to a pulp and then eats. Captain America then tells the Hulk that the aliens had called him a "sissy-boy", and Hulk destroys an entire fleet of spaceships. After top-secret information regarding the Hulk/Banner connection is leaked to the press, Banner is convicted for the deaths of the more than 800 people who died in his New York City rampage and sentenced to death. After consuming a sedative of some description, designed by Hank Pym, his unconscious body is left on a ship in the ocean. Just before a nuclear weapon detonates, Banner wakes up and transforms into the Hulk. It is implied that Hank's sedative deliberatly wore off too soon, and Bruce makes a secret phonecall to thank Hank Pym after the incident.
Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk shows that after travelling through France, Ireland and India, seeking a means to control the Hulk within, Bruce Banner finally arrives in Tibet, seeking the the Panchen Lama whom he hopes can reveal the true relationship behind Banner and the Hulk. In Ultimates 2 11, Bruce Banner appears in Washington D.C. He lets a giant robot step on him and mentions being "in touch with his inner sociopath" before ripping the robot in two. He then continues to aid the Ultimates against the Liberators in issue
|
top
Marvel Zombies
The Marvel Zombies series, set in an alternate world, features the Hulk as one of its main characters. Like almost every other superbeing on the planet, the Hulk has been affected by the zombification virus - although he retains his strength and invulnerability, he no longer heals, does not feel pain and now craves human flesh.
The zombie Hulk's transformations are controlled purely by his appetite - after feeding, he transforms back into Banner (also a zombie) until the hunger returns. As Banner is much smaller than the Hulk, one such transformation also causes his stomach to burst.
Hulk later succeeds in killing the Silver Surfer and is one of the zombies who devours the Surfer's corpse, absorbing some of its cosmic powers by doing so. He is actually the first to consume the Silver Surfer by biting off his head. When they later kill and consume Galactus himself, enhancing their powers even further, Hulk and the other five remaining zombies are able to leave the earth and seek food elsewhere. Ravaging and devouring entire planets, the six zombies eventually become the cosmic threat known as The Galactus.
top
House of M
In the alternate reality of House of M, Bruce Banner had disappeared in Australia, where he befriended an Aborigine tribe, and attempted to control his dark side. When the mutant rulers of the Earth attacked his tribe he retalliated, and eventually conquered Australia with the aid of Advanced Idea Mechanics, most notably his former college girlfriend Monica Rappaccini, her daughter Thanasee, Dr Isaac Aaronson, and his son Adam.
top
1602
In the Marvel 1602 setting David Banner is introduced as a courtier at the court of James VI of Scotland. When James becomes king of England, he sends Banner to the New World to kill Sir Nicholas Fury, who has betrayed the crown by saving the "witchbreed" (mutants). In the same way as Bruce Banner saved Rick Jones, David dives in front of Peter Parquagh when the Anomaly that has affected the universe explodes. The radiation of the Anomaly transforms him into the Hulk.
top
2099
In Marvel 2099, the Hulk is John Eisenhart, a selfish film producer in "LotusLand" (future Hollywood). He is inadvertantly exposed to gamma radiation by the Knights of the Banner, who intend to create a Hulk of their own. As the Hulk, Eisenhart finds himself representing freedom to a closed-off society.
top
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 featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Sub-Mariner 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 featured 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, the show used stock transformation scenes which include Bruce Banner transforming back with his clothing somehow restored intact. The She-Hulk and the Leader made an appearance in the show. This series featured Stan Lee as a narrator. Bruce Banner and the Hulk also appeared in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode, "Spidey Goes Hollywood."
In 1996, Marvel Studios and Saban Entertainment brought the Hulk back to animated form in the animated series The Incredible Hulk, with Lou Ferrigno providing the voice 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.
The television show Saturday Night Live uses the Hulk character in several sketches. In the March 17, 1979 episode hosted by Margot Kidder, Lois Lane and Superman hold a dinner. One of the guests is the Incredible Hulk, played by John Belushi as a rude and offensive boor. In the November 21, 1992 episode hosted by Sinbad, Chris Farley plays the Incredible Hulk in a sketch about Superman's funeral. Farley's Hulk protests the suggestion of his giving a eulogy in broken English but then puts on a pair of glasses and delivers an erudite, impassioned farewell. In the December 17, 1994 hosted by George Foreman, Tim Meadows appears as Bruce Banner, who repeatedly has laboratory accidents and then changes into the Hulk, played by Foreman, who proceeds to further trash the laboratory before asking for the sketch to end because of its boring repetition.
top
Movies
In 2003, Ang Lee directed a film based on the Hulk for Universal Pictures. Eric Bana played Bruce Banner, and the Hulk was created with special effects. Here, Banner's father, David Banner (played by Nick Nolte), is partly responsible for the Hulk's origin as before Banner was born, he experiments on himself and passes his mutated genes onto his son. When Banner grows up, believing his real parents died (this is only half-true, as only his mother dies and his father is incarcerated for thirty years), he saves a co-worker from being killed by gamma radiation and takes the impact of the rays instead, mysteriously surviving the onslaught.
The Hulk causes a lot of destruction, wounding Glenn Talbot, killing his father's mutated dogs in battle, makes a path of danger from the Desert Base to San Francisco, and finally in a final battle against his insane father who had morphed into an amorphous cloud of energy. General Ross decides to end the battle by having one of his soldiers drop a gamma bomb at the site of the battle, ending the confrontation. It kills and disintegrates David, with the Hulk/Banner presumed dead from the event, but it is revealed at the very end of the movie that he did survive and is living as a secret doctor in South America, protecting the innocent from any intruders.
In 2006, the Hulk appears in the animated movie Ultimate Avengers, which is based on the comic book The Ultimates. The second Ultimate Avengers movie was released on August 8, 2006.
A second Hulk movie is in pre-production and scheduled for release in 2008. Titled The Incredible Hulk, it will be directed by Louis Leterrier. At the 2006 Comic-con Incredible Hulk panel, Letterier revealed that Abomination will be the villain.•
top
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, Bruce Banner's voice is performed by Neal McDonough, who voiced the character in the 1996 animated series. In Ultimate Destruction, the 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 is battling the Abomination (the real villain) in a final showdown, his goal is to protect the dam the Abomination wants to destroy until every soldier has evacuated. Some of these 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 game for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube.
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. His strength and defences in Marvel vs. Capcom is a focus on advance players.
Hulk is one of the first revealed characters in Marvel Universe Online, a new MMO for PC and Xbox 360, but it is still in early development .
Hulk is set to play a role in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but had to be left out as a playable character because of the character's current licensing agreement with Sierra Entertainment.
top
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 Incredible Hulk roller coaster at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.
top
Bibliography
The Incredible Hulk Annual
The Incredible Hulk 12–76, 77–present (Marvel Comics, March 2000–September 2004, January 2005–present)
Collections
|
|
