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This page covers the Marvel comicbook hero Hulk also known as The Jade Giant , The Green Goliath , Green Scar , Sakaarson , Bruce Banner , Jolly Green Giant , Jade Jaws , Joe Fixit , Maestro , World Breaker , The Professor , War , The Incredible Hulk , Two Hands , Harkanon , Holku , Haars , The Eye of Anger . If this is not the page you were looking for check here.
Dr. Bruce, or Robert Banner, becomes the Incredible Hulk, a creature of limitless strength whenever the Doctor is angry or excited in some way.
Origin
Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was born to Dr. Brian Banner and his wife Rebecca. Rebecca loved her son very much, but her drunken husband, Brian, was jealous of the attention Rebecca gave to his son. Brian also thought that Bruce wasn't human due to genetic modifications Brian had made to himself. One day Brian killed his wife and was placed in a mental institution. Bruce would grow up hiding all his pain and live with his aunt Mrs. Drake.
Dr. Robert Bruce Banner grew up to be a brilliant scientist and would start working for the US Defense Department, in charge of an experimental gamma bomb.
Bruce Banner
At a government test facility, Banner risked his life to save a teenager, Rick Jones, who had been dared to sneak onto the facility while a test was being conducted on the gamma bomb. Banner told a colleague named Igor Satrsky to hold the test, but Igor was a soviet agent and did no such thing hoping for Banner's death and the end of his project. During the rescue, Banner's body was irradiated by the gamma blast and combined with his own unique genetics lead to the birth of the Incredible Hulk. Banner became a giant, grey version of The Hulk ,but only at night (and later became the more common, savage, green Hulk whenever he was angered or agitated). Banner's first adventure was when he was captured by the Russian villain, The Gargoyle, who was informed of Bruce's transformation by Igor(who was arrested for trying to steal Banner's gamma research). The Gargoyle wanted to know the secret of The Hulk so he could reverse his horrible radiation-damaged face. In return for his help he set Banner and Rick Jones free. Jones would soon become Bruce's sidekick travelling with him and attempting to handle the Hulk's rage. Because of the lack of control over the Hulk, he became a menace and was chased by the military being lead by General Thunderbolt Ross. However, Banner would gain some control over the Hulk with radiation treatments and becoming a founding member of the Leader, Abomination, Rhino and The Wendigo.
On a trip to see his cousin and a lawyer in Los Angeles, Jennifer Walter, she was shot by a henchman working for Nicholas Trask for defending a thug of his, Lou Monkton, whom he was framing for murder. All Bruce could do to save his cousin was give her a blood transfusion. Because of this, she was turned into the heroine She-Hulk.
After being captured by Leonard Samson (Doc Samson), the two discovered that the only way to cure Bruce of the Hulk was that the two would have to separate their bodies. They each gained their own body and personalities and the Hulk became an even greater threat without Banner's restraint. Banner would soon create a team called the Hulkbusters to track down and stop the Hulk. Banner soon chose this time to ask Betty Ross to marry him.
During the wedding Banner became sick. It was revealed that the two needed each other or they would die due to losing molecular cohesion. After being weakened by his sickness, The Hulk was captured by the Avengers. Accepting that the only way to stop the Hulk and save her husband, Betty asked the Avengers to spare the Hulk. With some help from The Vision ,the two were joined together again, but the strain allowed the first Grey Hulk to gain control of their body and Rick for a time became a Hulk himself but was soon cured.
This Hulk spent some years in Las Vegas were he acted under the Name of Joe Fixit or Mr. Fixit. This Hulk was a street smart wise-cracking thug. He also started a relationship with Marlo Jones. Fixit was soon thought dead after a Gamma Bomb was detonated over the Hulk by The Leader. However he was actually saved by Jarella and taken to her world to help her and other wizards defeat the Grand Inquisitor. In return, he was given a spell that would allow him to remove Banner.
He became a enforcer for Michael Berengetti at his casino. During this time, Marlo would soon leave him and marry Rick ,and Banner wasn't seen for months. Later, with help from Samson and the Ringmaster's hypnosis, Banner confronted his other sides as well as two other personalities called Guilt Hulk and Devil Hulk, which represented Banner's guilt over his family and Banner's Hatred of the world. However Banner was soon able to gain control and created a merged form. This Hulk was as strong and colored like the Green had Banner's Intellect and Fixit's street smarts. This Hulk would lead a super heroes team called Pantheon and he was stronger and bigger than the other Hulks in a calmed state. Betty also died around this time due to dying from gamma radiation poisoning that resulted from her time with the Hulk and was pushed over the edge by a transfusion from the Abomination as revenge.
However, due to the effects of ALS, Banner once again lost control. Banner setup a "time-share" with the Hulks and was soon cured by the Leader. However the Green Hulk's rage was emerging even in Banner's human form and feared his control. This soon became a forgotten fear as during Onslaught's first attack he asked Jean Grey to release the Savage Hulk's rage to battle Onslaught which caused him to destroy Onslaught's body. Bruce ,however, was also one of the heroes that was thought lost after the battle as he was split from the Hulk, and the Hulk was left in a unfeeling cold intelligible version that soon became one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.
However Banner once again gained control after coming forth from his own Hell after gaining self realization. Also, Hulk would team-up with the Defenders as he had done many times to battle Yandroth. They defeated him but he placed a deathbed curse on them so that in times of crisis, they would team-up again.
After M-day Hulk travelled to Alaska. He was found by Nick Fury who wanted his help defeating Godseye, a Hydra space weapon . However the Godseye was actually a rogue SHIELD weapon
Planet Hulk
Grey Hulk
Recently Hulk was tricked by Nick Fury and the Illuminati into going into space to shut down a rogue Hydra satellite called Godseye , which turned out to be one of SHIELD's own which was going to set off all nuclear bombs on Earth and had the power to match it's enemies strength. However it exploded after it couldn't match the Hulk's strength despite trying.
They sent Hulk farther into space in order to land on a lifeless planet in which Hulk could live quietly without harming any other beings. This ship instead went through a wormhole leading Hulk to the planet Sakaar, a harsh war-filled planet. Weakened by traveling through the wormhole, Hulk was enslaved as a gladiator to fight for the entertainment of the notorious Red King.
Hulk VS Caiera
As a gladiator, Hulk was able to take his rage out on his opponents like never before. As the Hulk continued to win, he began to win the admiration of the population. Unbeatable, Hulk and a small band of gladiators were promised freedom if they completed a number of challenges, a ploy by the Red King to have the Hulk killed without losing the admiration of his people. Facing down and conquering each task they were given, Hulk and the other gladiators became Warbound and escaped the Red King into the wild. Furious, the King sent his armies after the Hulk, then sending his personal bodyguard Caiera the Oldstrong. Caiera was surprised by the Hulk as she had not encountered anyone as strong as she was. Finally the King sent out a plague of spikes to infect the Warbound. Hulk was captured by the Red King and was forced to fight a mind controlled Silver Surfer. The Hulk was angered by this and during his battle, freed the Silver Surfer (who soon freed the others). Refusing to go back with the Surfer, the Hulk stood against the Red King. After Miek evolved and Caiera joined the Hulk, they went to battle the Red King. The Red King knowing he could not stop the Hulk tried to rupture the surface of the planet. The Hulk however force the plates back together. Hulk defeated the Red King and became ruler of Sakaar. During his rule, Hulk won the respect and admiration of his newly found subjects.
World War Hulk
The Hulk has defeated the Red King and has become the new king of Sakaar. The Hulk has married Caiera and they are expecting a child. Sadly the ship that brought him there exploded. It killed millions including Caiera and their unborn child. The Hulk blindly blames the Illuminati and wants revenge. The Hulk’s fury sent his power to a new level(his power was increased by the warp core explosion) and his rage caused him to almost kill Brood Queen No-name and Korg during training. After arming himself and traveling to Earth, his first stop was the moon, he went there to defeat Illuminatus member, Black Bolt. During the battle, Black Bolt whispered, attacking the Hulk with sound blasts. However this version was able to withstand the blast and defeated Black Bolt. The Hulk then lands in Manhattan. He broadcasts his image over the city demanding that the Illuminati be brought to him and that the people leave the city. Hulk leaves Manhattan to attack Illuminatus member,Professor X at the X-Mansion because the Professor was not present at the decision in which it was decided that the Hulk should be exiled to another planet(although the Professor does admit that he wouldn't have agreed on making the punishment a permanent exile).Despite the best efforts from the X-Men, the Hulk defeats them all, but the arrival of Juggernaut forces him to leave. It wasn’t until Mercury showed him graves of X-men who died due to M-day. It was the the decimation that made him decide to spare Xavier and travelled back to Manhattan. When he arrives, he is attacked by a group called the Gamma Corps. The team is made up of gamma powered super soldiers who hate the Hulk for their own reasons.He stopped the battle by tricking them to follow a false cause.
Once the dead line is up, the Hulk is faced against Iron Man (in his new “Hulkbuster” armor),his cousin Jennifer ,and other heroes ,and S.H.E.I.L.D agents. Iron Man tries to stop the Hulk with S.P.I.N technology ,but it was unknowingly sabotaged by Initiative trainee Hardball. The Hulk defeats Iron Man and destroys Stark Tower in the process. Hulk soon fights Ghost Rider but leaves when he realizes Hulk isn’t an enemy. Hulk and his Warbound soon battle the Avengers, Doc Samson and the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic plans to trick Hulk into seeing the image of the Sentry ,but the Hulk isn’t fooled and beats Richards and the Invisible Woman who along with the President tries to contact the real Sentry but he refuses to answer. He then plants obedience disks (like the ones used on him when he was a gladiator on Sakaar) on his captured heroes. The Hulk soon meets Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora, Carmilla Black (the current Scorpion), and Angel along with some human supports. They attempt to help the Hulk ,but he refuses even after they help him and his Warbound beat General Ross and the U.S. armed forces. The Hulk then turns Madison Square Garden into a gladiator arena.
Doctor Strange attempts to make contact with Bruce Banner but when he finds him, he learns that he too loved Caiera and he is bonded to his new personality. The Hulk then crushes Strange’s hands. After Echo, Ronin and Iron Fist are defeated by Hiroim and Elloe, Strange invokes an evil demon named Zom. Strange’s hands are replaced with maces and he defeats Hiroim and Elloe and says "Strange Smash". Tony Stark is then able to contact Dum Dum Dugan and tell him that he has to send everything to The Negative Zone if the others fail.
Hulk soon battles Strange. However Strange is having a hard time controlling Zom during his battle. Strange is knocked from the stadium into a crowd of onlookers. Hulk is then knocked into a building by Strange, which causes it to collapse on the Hulk and some civilians. Strange rushes to help but finds the Hulk protecting the people. Then the Hulk defeats Strange when he finds Strange doubting his control.
Back at the Garden, Hulk has Iron Man, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Strange fight a giant Squid like alien. They beat the monster by working together but then are forced ,by the Hulk, to fight each other. The first fight was with Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic. Reed beats Tony and is then ordered to kill Stark. However the Sentry is watching everything and leaves his mountainside retreat saying 'it's time to play God'.
The Hulk decides to let the two heroes live but will destroy New York after stating this was for justice, not murder, so that they can live in shame. The Sentry soon shows up and the two begin to fight. The attack destroyed the stadium forcing Hulk and his Warbound to save the bystanders. Their battle is so great that they both are weakened back to their human states. The Sentry then hits Bruce with a weak punch that causes him to fall. Bruce is then awoken by Miek, which causes Bruce to transform back into the Hulk. Miek tries again to kill Hulk but ends up impaling Rick Jones and reveals that he allowed all the people on Sakaar to die. He tells Hulk that he knew the ship was sabotaged by the Red King ,but informed Hulk that he was a warrior not a peacekeeper. Miek is then attacked by Brood and Hulk. Hulk then killed him and his rage is so strong that every footstep began that began to break Earth apart and release dangerous energies. Iron Man then fires satellites that weaken gamma radiation. Banner is being kept in a coma in and a base located three miles underground with his other Warbound members who have been taken into custody. Then a mysterious long- haired man being appears on Sakaar’s surface who is revealed to be Skaar, the Hulk’s thought dead son.
New Hulk
Hercules and Amadeus Cho are still on the run as fugitives. Bruce has come out of his coma and is being held by the military and there is an investigation into the appearance of a new Hulk. This Hulk is Red and is currently fighting a creature resembling one of Hulks long time enemies, Abomination. This creature calls itself A-Bomb and it is none other than Rick Jones.
Powers
Hulk Smash
The Hulk's strength is based on his emotional level at the time. The more relaxed he is, the weaker he becomes, and therefore the more angry the Hulk is the stronger he becomes. For this reason, The Hulk has a nearly limitless level of superhuman strength. He has been known to destroy mountains, aircraft carriers, support the weight of continents during Tectonic shifts, and dent Adamantium with his bare hands. His strength allows him to leap over several hundred miles. He has been known to leap into Earths lower orbit. He also has an incredible healing factor, and some believe that most of Hulk's invulnerability stems from an incredibly fast regenerative ability. The healing factor may also attribute to the Hulk's ability to survive for an untested length of time without air or food. He is also able to withstand the rigors of space unaided. It also gives him an extended life span. In several alternate realities, the Hulk outlives all other life on earth. The main reason the Hulk doesn't have Banners personality, like the other gamma radiation characters who retain their personality, is he had an abusive father, and repressed it.
Hulk also has various different personas such as: Savage Hulk, Grey Hulk and Professor Hulk. They have variations in power-levels, especially in intellect.
Banner himself, along with some Hulk incarnations, possesses a genius level scientific intellect.
The numerous personalities in his mind, as well as the single-minded rage that the Hulk radiates, has also made him immune to mind control.
Significant Feats
Hulk has displayed numerous feats of strength such as: lifting and moving the Blob whom can increase his center of gravity, knocking down someone 10x stronger than Thor with one arm, breaking Superman's grip and throwing him into space, defeating the entire X-Men roster single handedly, smashed an asteroid twice the size of the Earth with a single punch, lifting a mountain which weighed 150 billion tons, breaking Doctor Strange's crimson bands of Cyttorak, overloading the Absorbing Man, reflecting Gladiator's eye beam back into his eyes which was describe as being hotter than the center of the sun, able to withstand a lightning bolt from Storm or a nova burst from the Human Torch or a powerful energy blast from the Silver Surfer (Thanos or the High Evolutionary or Galactus). These are just a few of the amazing feats of the Hulk. He has out-powered and defeated foes such as , Rhino, Thing, Wendigo, Iron Man, Thor, Hercules, Wonder Man, Colossus, Abomination, and many others.
Although his strength is almost unsurpassed, the Hulk is not unbeatable. On many occasions in the early Hulk comics, Wolverine is shown to have beaten him while he was still in the Hulk mode. Not only Wolverine but also Juggernaut ,who when using the powers of Cytorrak is an unstoppable force, has beaten him.
Alternate Realities
UltimateHulk
Earth-1610
Ultimate Hulk is the by product of Bruce injecting himself with the combined formula of Captain America's blood and Hulk formula.
Earth-9200
Earth-9200 is an alternate future timeline, approximately a hundred years into the future, called Dystopia where Hulk has taken the name Maestro. Maestro combines Banner's intelligence with the Hulk's more malevolent aspects.
Earth-295
In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Bruce Banner never was exposed to the Gamma bomb. He was a scientist for the human high council and became a weapons specialist. But Bruce wanted to become more powerful and be more than a human scientist, so he became loyal to Mikhail Rasputin, one of Apocalypse' Horsemen, who gave Banner mutant specimens for his experiments. With his research, he became "the Thing", a being similar to the Gray Hulk.
Earth-2149
In the Zombieverse, Hulk has turned most other heroes into zombies. He is also one of few heroes who ate Galactus and gained his cosmic power.
Earth-928
Main article: Hulk 2099
Earth-9997
In the Earth X reality, Hulk and Bruce Banner have separated, and Banner has become a blind child, who can only see through the Hulk's eyes. The Hulk is now a gorilla-like behemoth. Baby Bruce can control the Hulk's movements.
Earth-58163
In the House of M reality, Hulk is the president of Australia.
Earth-873
In Earth-873, Hulk was a member of the Weapon X team that appeared in Exiles. He was killed by Hyperion.
Earth-7812
In this reality, Rick Jones became the Hulk instead of Bruce Banner.
Earth-982
Hulk is still active in the MC2 universe. He now has the combination of all attributes of his alter egos: The strength of the Savage Hulk, the attitude of the Grey Hulk ,and the intelligence of the Professor Hulk. When Loki brainwashed the old heroes, Hulk was one of them. When he was released from his mind control, he was horrified because of what he has done and grabbed Loki, while being banished in Limbo by Thor. Hulk guaranteed Loki that he will make his life in Limbo very miserable.
Earth-8311
Bruce Banner and the Hulk are turned into a rabbit and is named Bruce Bunny and the Hulk Bunny.
Earth-12
In this reality, the Hulk is a member of the Exiles and is a friend of Mimic.
Earth-1298
In the Mutant X reality, Hank Pym and Stingray have stated that Bruce has been cured and that he is no longer a member of the Avengers. It was later revealed that Mystique has been masquerading as the Hulk.
Appearances in Other Media
The Hulk has starred in two cartoon series, an iconic live-action 1970s TV show (with Bill Bixby as "David" Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk). The live-action versions give the Hulk alternate origins; the TV show had Banner attempting to tap into human potential by deliberately exposing himself to gamma rays.
The Hulk: In 2003, a live action film was released in which The Hulk was portrayed as the genetically-modified product of his mad father's experiments and gained his superhuman powers after suffering exposure to medical nanobots and gamma radiation. Bruce Banner was played by Eric Bana though the Hulk himself was CGI.
In this film, Bruce is always seen as the victim and is forced into a rage against his will when a scientist uses technology to increase anger levels in Banner's mind...hoping to get a sample of the Hulk's DNA. However, this attempt is unsuccessful and Banner gets out of control.
General Thunderbolt Ross sends all the military has at the Hulk but gets no results so when they eventually track him down to San Francisco he realizes that their only hope is his daughter, Betty, calming Bruce down.
So on the streets of San Fransisco, an enraged Hulk stands, surrounded by armed men in armored vehicles...all of them ready to fire. Yet Bruce is not watching them, he looks at Betty as she comes to him. Slowly, the beast reverts to his human form and embraces Betty...ending the terror.
The Incredible Hulk: An upcoming film set for a June 13, 2008 release is to portray a new Hulk as to fit in with Marvel's newest line-up of movies and will feature Abomination as the villain and have a cameo appearance of Tony Stark.
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