The Incredible Hulk has been a titular character in Marvel’s roster for over 50 years, and the giant green brute has been developed into one of the strongest entities across the medium. His strength continues to amaze fans, as the Hulk’s feats always manage to exceed his previous undertakings.
However, while super-strength and the Hulk go hand-in-hand, there are many other layers to the character that make him far more intriguing. Are Hulk and Bruce Banner really one-in-the-same? Does Bruce Banner control the Hulk, or does Hulk control Bruce Banner? These are just a few common questions about the Hulk that can be addressed.
10 How Strong Is The Hulk?
The self-proclaimed title of being the “strongest one there is” does not waiver in the literal sense when the Hulk makes such declarations. Having no absolute upper limit, the Hulk’s super-strength is said to be infinite as he only grows stronger the angrier he becomes. Even at his calmest, he can lift a commercial airplane that weighs almost 100 tons.
9 Why Does Anger Or Stress Trigger A Transformation?
Out of all the emotions that could trigger Bruce’s transformation, why is it that stress and anger grant him such godly levels of power? Aside from the Celestial’s experiments, Bruce Banner’s childhood was mired in abuse at the hand of his father, Brian Banner. And although he would receive love and affection from his mother, this abuse would also fall onto her. Attempting to leave with Bruce, Rebecca would be confronted with Brian Banner which gravely results in her death. This scarred Bruce’s childhood, forcing him to repress his feelings of anger and frustration in his psyche. It wouldn’t be until he was caught in the Gamma Bomb of his experiment that this anger and frustration would manifest into a giant creature with unlimited strength.
8 How Smart Is Bruce Banner?
The rampaging alter-ego of Bruce Banner is regarded as the core tenant of the character, while the immense intelligence of Bruce is often considered an afterthought to those outside of the comic book medium. However, while Bruce’s intelligence fluctuates throughout the comic books, it would be foolhardy to ignore that Dr. Banner in the MCU has seven Ph.D.’s in different fields. Ranging from nuclear physics to more prominently gamma-radiation, Bruce Banner is one of the top minds Marvel has to offer, and both Tony Stark and Reed Richards have requested the help of Dr. Banner on multiple occasions.
7 Why Didn’t The Gamma-Blast Kill Him?
One would think that being blasted with the impact of a bomb is enough to eviscerate the human body, so it's shocking that Bruce Banner managed to emerge as a hulking behemoth after being caught in the blast of his nuclear gamma bomb. Eons ago, the genes of mankind were meddled with by an ancient race of extraterrestrial beings called Celestials, and these experiments split mankind into three off-shoot races of powerful Eternals, Deviants, & humans whose genetic potential would grow with time. It would be this ancient modification to the human genome that would prevent Bruce from dying and instead unlocked a genetic mutation that manifested as the Hulk.
6 Who Controls Who?
A common idea behind the Incredible Hulk is that both he and Bruce Banner are one and the same, and when people hear one name, they tend to think of the alter ego. However, it should be known that the Hulk has his own motivations separate from Banner, and it’s only when those motivations align that the Hulk allows himself to become the dominant alter-ego.
While Banner has blocked the Hulk from accessing his intelligence, on several occasions the Hulk has refused to revert into his Banner form. This leads people to wonder if Banner turns into the Hulk, or if it's the Hulk who turns into Banner. The answer is neither. The Hulk and Bruce perform at their peaks when they work in tandem in a form of yin and yang. Bruce is a deadman walking, narrowly escaping death without the Hulk, while the Hulk without Bruce is an aimless destructive brute.
5 Why Is There A Green Hulk & A Grey Hulk?
The green complexion of the Incredible Hulk is an iconic part of the character as that, and his towering stature, have made him one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. However, he wasn't always green, as his 1962 debut would have him depicted in a grey and dull color.
For one, Stan Lee didn’t want to assign any ethnic group to the Hulk, but this was also because a printing malfunction could not stay consistent with the color scheme, resulting in the Hulk’s green skin. Stan Lee coalesced the two personas by stating that Grey Hulk initially manifested after Bruce was hit with the Gamma Bomb.
4 What Would Realistically Happen In The Gamma Blast?
As previously established, in earth’s infancy, the god-like aliens dubbed the Celestials would meddle with the human genome, resulting in a sub-sect of the human species capable of acquiring abilities somewhere down the evolutionary line. This is why Peter Parker didn’t die of radiation poisoning, and why Bruce Banner, who by all standards of measurement should’ve been annihilated in the blast, unlocked his hulking persona.
However, in Warren Ellis’s Ruins, which depicts a realistic world where the heroes’ accidents result in horrific ends, Bruce Banner is morphed into a ginormous mass of bursting tumors presiding the Gamma Blast.
3 How Expansive Is Bruce Banner’s Story?
Although the inner workings and development are often overlooked, the Incredible Hulk is a pillar in the comic book community whose tenure has kept him popular and prominent for nearly 60 years. The mythos behind Bruce Banner is one of the most expansive that Marvel has to offer, having him interact on the ground level but also elevating him to cosmic proportions. Since his debut, a multitude of “Hulks” have manifested from Bruce Banner, some who match his intelligence with his strength, and others who depict him as a hulking demon. Al Ewing recently elevated him beyond the cosmic scope, having the gamma experiment revealed to be a doorway for The One Below All, the antithesis to The One Above All.
2 How Many Versions Of Hulk Exist?
A common misconception is that the Incredible Hulk is and has always been a simple-minded brute with a knack for destruction. However, due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, Bruce repressed his emotions and developed a slight multiple personality disorder. This would result in various incarnations of the Hulk manifesting, separate from his most commonly known “Savage Hulk” form.
From an intelligent Doc Green or Grey Hulk who dubs himself Joe Fixit to a literal devil hulk named Kluh, at least a dozen different versions of Bruce Banner’s Hulk can manifest at any time given the circumstance. As stated, Al Ewing’s recent run on the character saw him introduce the newest Hulk, Immortal Hulk, an incarnation of Hulk who can’t and never will die.
1 What's The Hulk’s Greatest Feat?
Writers have come and gone over the Hulk’s 60-year tenure, but the Hulk is still going strong. While the limits of credulity are stretched in what feats the Hulk can achieve, suspending disbelief is a part of comic books, and the brute does some pretty cool things. From nearly causing the eastern seaboard to be destroyed with mere footsteps to fending off the Celestial Exitar, perhaps the greatest feat is during Incredible Hulk: Heart of the Monster, when the Hulk absorbs an abundance of gamma radiation compounded with a new level of rage. He not only grows to colossal proportions, surpassing his already towering stature, but also breaks the dimensional barriers of the Dark Dimension.