Is there a valid reasoning for Hulk's strength?

I mean, I know it's comics and all, and I'm probably looking to deep into this, but I'm curious.

Why does the Hulk have such unbelievable strength? How can radiation waves give you infinite strength and durability? If it were so easy, why isn't the army using this technique to create super soldiers? (I'm still referring to the marvel universe.) It just doesn't seem probable that gamma waves can give you enough power to go head to head with gods and heralds.

the same way a radioactive spider bite gives you spider-powers.

and the same way a lightning bolt + random chemicals gives you super speed

The same way being an alien gives you power to rival literal deities. Or a robot can copy the powers of just about anything. Or a science experiment can destroy pure energy.

I mean, being an alien is feasible though.

Being on a planet that has much more gravity than Earth would logically give you enhanced attributes on a planet with less gravity.

I see what you mean. But Spiderman's powers are far more toned down than thor's. He doesn't have godlike powers or anything.

But the flash....has an admittedly more stupid origin than even the Hulk. Probably one of the most idiotic origin's I've ever heard of.

I believe powerlevel actually matters more than origin. I mean take Scarlet Witch at her best for example. A mutant had that much power.

Breathing in Hard Water? #JustAJayGerrickThing

@the_last_kryptonian: Being an alien from a planet with higher gravity is an interesting one, lots of studies have been made of long term health risks to humans living on the moon or even mars, both only have a mild reduction in gravity...sure you can jump higher to start off... But your body would stop working the same, the gravity needed to pull your blood to your feet would be less, so your heart would need to work less hard, tour bones would receive less blood and entropy as would your muscles, if the stress on your heart and all the other medical risks were survived you would be no stronger then the life forms that were on the planet... The risk then is returning to The higher gravity planets, where you will be incredibly weak and fragile.

Someone life, say superman, would need to work out incredibly hard every day to stay in shape, just as a human would if they lived on the moon...

:)

Hulk is a mutant, technically all radiated heros are... He is a one off and they say so in the comics and the films all the time.

Yes, but let's not forget that Superman's body operates like a plant. He isn't like humans, he doesn't need to eat, sleep, or even need oxygen.

His incredible power is derived from yellow sun energy.

It's still silly, but makes more sense than the Hulk ..

I mean, with the Hulk, you have a normal human, who became irradiated with gamma waves, and is now somehow infinitely strong.

And I don't mean your normal every day superhuman strength. I mean planet busting, god killing, herald fighting type of strength. It just seems too far fetched for the Hulk's incredible power to derive from mere gamma waves. Hulk being mutated by something cosmic seems more credible to me IMO.

Let's say the gamma radiation allows him to absorb, process, and use ambient gamma radiation in such a way to increase his strength. So any excess radiation from the sun, Banner soaks it in, and when his adrenaline gets pumping, that acts as a catalyst, putting that gamma to use, increasing his musculature, and changing his color to accommodate. Due to his mental issues, this other version of himself has an entirely different mind, the Hulk.

And AS the Hulk, in his altered form, his energy absorption is far more efficient, as are his adrenal glands, increasing more and more as stress increases. The angrier he gets, the more adrenaline is put out into his system. The more adrenaline is put into his system, the more energy is catalyzed into strength.

So he can go all 'SMASH YOU!' because he's effectively a self fueling engine of destruction.

When Hulk's all tuckered out, and as his adrenaline wears off (such as during sleep or prolonged periods without stress/physical activity), all that mass/energy burns up without adrenaline catalyzing it, effectively 'decaying' back to default Banner.

... Yeah, I've got no idea what I'm talking about.

@the_last_kryptonian: do you mean plant? Because a plant needs all the things you listed that superman doesn't, research into plants in space has also been done ;)

But your agreements good and also works with the hulk, the valid reasoning is that some heroes absorb radiation for strength, that would kill most animals, but for comic book science reasons these heros are made stronger by. That which would kill us.

Edit: who's to say his bomb wasn't cosmic? It is the power and heat of a star in an atomic bomb, I don't know enough about Bruce Banners research into bombs... Only that he is described as the worlds greatest expert in the field.

But the Sun is VERY far away. Even on Earth we barely receive enough energy from it to power anything significant without about a million solar panels. (I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea.)

Though, your opinion makes a lot of sense now. I actually think this theory seems plausible, but Hulk absorbing enough gamma radiation from the sun to make him that powerful seems a little far-fetched, but not as much so as before.

Perhaps Banner/Hulk has mutated such that he absorbs ambient energy, then converts and processes it as a much more energy rich form for use? Meaning he absorbs gamma/whatever radiation, then internally changes it into something with much greater energy for his use, similar to how we digest food for energy and nutrients.

The Hulk is meant to be a freak example, a one in one hundred billion incident, much the same vein as Molecule Man. So the idea goes that gamma radiation mutated and unlocked something within Bruce Banner, something that wouldn't work for others the same way. As I understand it, Hulk's transformation actually connects him to another dimension and that the angrier he gets the more efficient he becomes at utilizing that energy and that that reality is essentially limitless, he has no worry of ever expending too much energy. So Hulk's internal source for power and energy is actually inter-dimesnional.

Others have attempted to recreate the conditions that produced the Hulk, but never to the same success, and many of the big successes such as She Hulk were because she possessed the "same" - similar genes as him, but even then that only kept her from dying and in the story She Hulk doesn't have the same strength and power potential as the Hulk. Other attempts to reproduce the Hulk have also worked but only up to a very limited lifespan and for enormous price tag. I think AIM was the last, they had a serum that allowed for Hulk like ability for about 15 minutes. I know there are large holes as far as the credibility and validity of ideas explained above but yeah from what I know of my extensive Marvel reading, the Hulk transformation was never meant to be considered easy. More like a rare freak incident and Banner being an anomaly in himself already. So many unknown conditions making it hard to replicate successfully or as easily. Molecule Man originally was in a lab accident as well and he became even more powerful than the Hulk heh heh.

Cuz comics!

If you've ever fought someone extremely angry you would know that they seem stronger than usual, but they're also less rational and make "unintelligent" swings.

There is no valid reasoning and there doesn't need to be any.

Comics........

It's a comic book.

When it comes to comics, I can usually take outlandish powers/physics with a grain of salt, but anything that claims to be "unlimited" is just ridiculous, even by comics standards. Hulk can't have "unlimited" strength, eventually, the dude's gonna burn out, same with Flash having "unlimited" speed.