Hulk

### Titles

The Green One, The Pioneer in Gamma Radiation, The Big Guy, Doc, Force of Nature on Legs, Man With Breathtaking Anger Management Issues, The Beast, The Big One, The Other Guy, Green, Monster, Green Sasquatch, Big Green Guy, Jade, Jaws, Green Snowman, Dull Creature, Incredible Green Guy, Grandmaster's Champion, Beloved Champion, Astonishingly Savage, The Defending, Dumbest Avenger, Hot-Headed Fool, Real Fire, Raging Fire, Strongest Avenger, Green Fool

### Abilites

Genius-level intellectSuperhuman strength

Superhuman durability

Healing factor

### Allies

The Avengers, Planet Hulk, The Defenders, Sakaar (against will, briefly), The Revengers

### Enemies

The Black Order, Grandmaster, Absorbing Man

## Area Info

### Location

Worldwide

Doctor **Robert "Bruce" Banner** is a renowned scientist and co-founder of the Revengers and more importantly Avengers.

Bruce is a scientist who was highly respected for all his work in the fields of Biochemistry, Nuclear Physics, and Gamma Radiation. Having been tasked by General Thaddeus Ross to find a way to recreate the Super Soldier Serum which had originated Captain America, Banner conducted an experiment with Gamma Radiation. However, when an exposure to high levels of Gamma Radiation instead of Vita Radiation went awry, the mild-mannered scientist had found that when angered or provoked, he would transform into the huge, rage-fuelled, nearly mindless and green-skinned monster known as the **Hulk**.

## Powers and Abilities

### **Transformation**

Bruce Banner subjected himself to a combination of a recreated version of the Super Soldier Serum and an exposure to high levels of Gamma Radiation, in an attempt to develop a result similar to the original Project Rebirth from World War II. As a result, Banner is able to transform into Hulk when his heart rate increases to high levels or he loses control of his emotions. And as Hulk, Banner is a giant green-skinned humanoid with immense strength fueled by his rage, meaning the angrier he gets the stronger he becomes, and is one of the most powerful beings on Earth. According to Samuel Sterns, the transformation is triggered when an electric pulse generated on the amygdala (when Banner loses control or the pulse is induced) increases the gamma radiation of Bruce's cells. Betty Ross' reagent allows the cells to absorb the energy temporarily, which then abates, resulting in a chemical reaction that produces a myostatin primer. When Hulk transforms back into Banner, the excess muscle mass and energy is dissipated. The total time of transformation falls anywhere between seconds to several minutes, depending on the initial adrenaline surge, which will be determined by the original stimulus. Despite Banner's initial inability to control the transformations, he managed to attain some level of control through training and practice, and Banner's consciousness is buried within Hulk, influencing his behavior to a very limited extent. Shortly before being part of the Avengers, Banner became able to trigger his transformations at will, remaining angry in a controlled state, which allowed Hulk to be much smarter and self-controlled in battle. However, the more stressful or provoking his surroundings, the more difficult it is for Hulk to become calm enough to transform back into Banner, which lead to the Natasha Romanoff using her “lullaby” technique to calm Hulk at the end of each battle. Despite Banner previously being able to control Hulk, his alter-ego was slowly becoming more self-aware and developing a mind of his own. After the events of Sokovia, Hulk left Earth and became a gladiator on Sakaar, keeping Banner suppressed for two years. After meeting Thor, Banner re-emerged and, despite realizing that transforming again would mean that he might not change back, willingly unleashed Hulk to aid Thor and the Asgardians. Following this battle, Hulk fought Thanos one-on-one and was effortlessly defeated. Hulk has since refused to come back, tired of being used to fight for others, leaving Banner to fend for himself.

#### **Superhuman Strength**

Hulk´s primary power is his immense superhuman strength. Hulk's strength increases with his anger, thus making it essentially Immeasurable. His incredible strength allows him to rip steel apart as if it were made of paper, to break vehicles with a single punch, stop a speeding Humvee in its tracks by stomping it into the ground, leave a dent after punching a wall made of an extremely durable silicon-carbide Vibranium alloy[17], kill a massive Leviathan with a single punch, do a powerful thunderclap to stop a military helicopter from blowing up, or catch a HYDRA tank struck by Thor during the Avengers assault on the HYDRA Research base in Sokovia, proceeding to not only hold it, but also lift and throw it a considerable distance as well. In combat, Hulk often uses his strength to throw heavy objects (like cars, forklift trucks, HYDRA tanks for example) or his smaller opponents in order to defeat his enemies, such as when Hulk threw a human-sized Emil Blonsky more than 40 feet away with a single kick or when he hurled Loki around repeatedly while holding him by the leg. Overall, few individuals have been able to match or surpass Hulk's strength, such as: the Abomination, who despite his greater base level of strength ultimately succumbed to Hulk's when he endangered the life of Betty Ross, angering him enough to overpower the gamma monster. Thor, who Hulk was able to hit hard enough to cause his nose to bleed, send flying with a punch, and upon growing angry, managed to almost overpower him in the Contest of Champions, although he was himself almost overpowered after Thor gained his full powers, Iron Man, who had to develop a special Hulkbuster armor to battle him in case of need and still needing Hulk to calm down to overpower him, Fenris, who had managed to contend with Hulk in their battle, but was ultimately hurled into outer space by Hulk, Surtur, whom Hulk was able to slightly stagger with a leaping blow, before Surtur effortlessly swatted Hulk away, and Thanos, who Hulk managed to surprise and stagger with his blows; however, Thanos effortlessly strike him with various blows and knock him out, leaving him unconscious for a short amount of time.

#### **Super Leaps**

Hulk's strength also extends to his legs, allowing him to leap great distances, such as when he traveled from Brazil to Guatemala in a single night, covering at least from 1500 to 1600 miles in over 7 to 10 hours, or great heights with precision, such as when reached the top of Stark Towerfrom ground level in a single leap, or when he caught Iron Man in mid-fall when Stark came back through the Wormhole over New York City. Hulk reaches eye level of Surtur in a single bound, the fire giant being around 800 meters tall at this point of his restoration. Hulk is also near the far end of the Bifrost while Surtur is closer to the center of Asgard when he performs this leap, meaning he covers a tremendous distance both vertically and horizontally.

#### **Superhuman Durability**

Hulk is able to withstand blows and attacks of considerable force; even high caliber bullets bounce off him and flames cause him little damage. His bone, skin, and muscles have an extreme density and he possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, pain, and disease. Hulk also withstood multiple energy blasts from Chitauri weaponry, extreme cold in the Arctic, great impacts from heights of several miles (though the impact knocked him unconscious, forcing him to revert back into Banner). In addition, Iron Man noted the amount of gamma radiation Banner was exposed to would have killed him if it had not given him the ability to transform into Hulk. Only beings with incredible force or extremely powerful weapons can harm him, such as when Hulk was painfully pierced by Abomination's skeletal spikes, was later painfully pierced by Fenris' teeth, when a blow from Thor wielding Mjølnir knocked him out for a moment and when Thanos badly beat him. While Hulk did survive quite a few blows from the Hulkbuster with little discomfort, he got a tooth knocked out in the confrontation. In addition, Hulk's durability is also tied to his anger level - during the fight against the Hulkbuster, he slightly calmed down, which slightly reduced his durability after witnessing the destruction that he caused in South Africa, allowing Iron Man to use the advantage, hammering Hulk with a massive punch, which sent him flying into a tall building, knocking him out. Similarly, during the Contest of Champions when Thor sent Hulk flying with a strike from the Sakaaran hammer, Hulk was further enraged to the point that he managed to block the next hammer blow with a single hand. However, after Thor had his powers fully enhanced (from a vision of Odin's spirit), Hulk was visibly dazed by a single lightning-charged blow from Thor. Hulk's skin was also pierced and noticeably wounded by Fenris who bit him several times, forcing Hulk to throw him into the void. When fighting Thanos, Hulk managed to withstand many blows from the Mad Titan, though he was noticeably stunned and was soon pummelled into submission, to the point where the Hulk refused to transform back anymore.

#### **Superhuman Stamina**

Hulk has substantially greater endurance than a normal human, allowing him to run and fight for a long time. His enraged state, during a fight, allows him to maintain peak output for hours on end and still continue to become even stronger as his anger escalates.

#### **Enhanced Speed**

Regardless of his size, Hulk's superhuman strength of his legs allow him to run at speeds that are far beyond the natural physical limits of a human being. He also possesses enhanced reflexes and agility proportionate to his size, but his large size can still be exploited by smaller foes to use to their advantage.

#### **Regenerative Healing Factor**

Should he receive damage that penetrates his extreme durability, his biology has a very high rate of cellular regeneration. Grievous bodily harm has also proven to be a trigger for Banner's transformations, and he has recovered from otherwise fatal injuries sustained in his normal form. Banner said he tried to put a bullet in his mouth but the "other guy" merely spit it out. Hulk also has an enhanced immune system; Samuel Sterns described that a synthesized sample of Banner's blood would make humans impervious to diseases. These attributes make him extremely difficult to kill, even if he is in his human form. Mere moments after his fight with Fenris in which Hulk suffers a deep puncture wound in his leg, no wound or scar tissue is seen.

### **Genius-Level Intellect**

In his Bruce Banner persona, he is one of the smartest humans in the world, being on par with Tony Stark's own level of intellect and being rivaled only by Erik Selvig, Hank Pym, Doctor Strange, Shuri, and Helen Cho. Hence, Banner achieved his doctorate at Harvard, and, prior to the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, worked as a biochemistry and radiophysics professor as Culver University. Indeed, Phil Coulson once compared him to Stephen Hawking, and Banner is one of the few modern scientists famous and prominent enough to be pictured in the science lab of Midtown School of Science and Technology. Banner is also fairly disciplined in emotional intelligence, particularly in meditative breathing techniques and anger management, due to his experience with attempting to control and reign in his Hulk persona.

#### **Master Scientist**

Banner is ingeniously resourceful and brilliant in many different fields of science, notably biochemistry, and bioorganics, as well as both atomic and radiophysics, being a former professor at Culver University, and one of the world's most renown scientists overall. Indeed, even fellow genius Tony Stark admired Banner's brilliance, claiming that the latter's work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled, while Nick Fury referred to Banner as the world's foremost expert in gamma radiation. In addition, Stark needed Banner's assistance in downloading J.A.R.V.I.S. into the Visionandroid, due to Banner also being the world's foremost expert in the discipline of bioorganics. Tony himself admits to Banner surpassing him in the fields of radiophysics, particle collisions, and bio organics.

#### **Master Engineer**

Banner, while not quite on par with Tony Stark, is an extremely skilled engineer, computer scientist, and robotics technician. Hence, Banner was able to help Stark construct the Hulkbuster, create the Ultron AI, and download J.A.R.V.I.S. into the Vision android.

#### **Physician**

Banner possesses enough medical knowledge to help the sick and injured while living in India.

#### **Expert Tactician**

Banner has over the years become an expert in developing strategies to go unnoticed and run from the government, military, and even S.H.I.E.L.D. by using his intellect to quickly evaluate his surroundings and develop feasible escape strategies. As such, Banner also became quite skilled at going undercover.

#### **Multilingualism**

Banner speaks his native English, as well as some Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese. However, he only demonstrated a fluency in Hindi, while in Kolkata, and had notable trouble with Spanish and Portuguese while in South America, occasionally mixing up words. According to his S.H.I.E.L.D. file, Bruce can speak English, Latin, Portuguese, Malay, and Punjabi.

#### **Pilot**

Despite admitting himself that he does not know how to fly ships, Banner was nevertheless shown able to fly a couple of aircrafts, this being the Quinjet and an alien spaceship known as the *Commodore* just well enough to avoid any severe damage, although he struggles first. He also was able to pilot the Hulkbuster armor effectively despite having never used it before.

### **Martial Artist**

Banner learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and basic meditative breathing techniques in Brazil from a martial arts expert. By the time of the Battle of Wakanda, Banner seems to have undergone a considerable improvement in skill, as he is able to defeat many Outriders and even hold his own and eventually best Cull Obsidian.

## Gallery

### Assault on Sokovia

#### **Sun's Getting Low**

Photo of **Hulk** and Black Widow during the Assault on HYDRA (Sokovia)

**Backstory**: Natasha Romanoff has discovered a way to calm down the Hulk and uses it during the end of the Invasion

### Hiding in Plain Sight

Image was taken during the era of Bruce's life where he was hiding from the government and attempting to control the other side of him