Happy 50th Birthday Incredible Hulk : NPR Happy 50th Birthday Incredible Hulk Embed Embed Happy 50th Birthday Incredible Hulk Happy 50th Birthday Incredible Hulk Embed Embed Heard on Morning Edition Fifty years ago this month, comic book artists Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the Incredible Hulk to the world. The Hulk is the volatile alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner, a physicist who's inadvertently exposed to radiation. As a result, whenever Dr. Banner gets angry or upset, he transforms into a giant, raging monster, capable of stunning feats of strength. DAVID GREENE, HOST: 50 years ago this month, two comic book artists Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the Incredible Hulk to the world. For those who are not up on their superheroes, the Hulk is the volatile alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner, a physicist who's inadvertently exposed to radiation. As a result, whenever Dr. Banner gets angry or upset, he transforms into a giant, raging green monster, capable of stunning feats of strength. In the late 1970s, the Hulk got his own television show on CBS, although he was known as David Banner, not Bruce.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SERIES, "THE INCREDIBLE HULK) UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Dr. David Banner, physician, scientist searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. GREENE: That television series ended in 1982, but the Hulk starred in several made for TV movies and in an animated cartoon. He also appeared on the silver screen, most recently in this year's blockbuster hit, "The Avengers." (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE AVENGERS") TOM HIDDLESTON: (as Loki) I have an army. (SOUNDBITE OF AN EXPLOSION) ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.: (as Tony Stark) We have a Hulk. GREENE: Fifty years old and still going strong. You better wish him a happy birthday, otherwise he might get angry. (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE AVENGERS") MARK RUFFALO: (as Bruce Banner) You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. GREENE: Well put, Dr. Banner. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: And I'm Renee Montagne. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. The Incredible HULK: A Comic Book History The Incredible HULK: A Comic Book History “A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” --Mahatman Gandhi A feature on the Hulk's history, his powers and abilities, his different personalities and incarnations. Request made by BiggerG : "Poll,you should do a thing on Hulks different colors/aliases/and personalities" Who is the Hulk? The Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, a scientist working on a gamma bomb. During a test run on the bomb he noticed a young boy on the test range.

He rushed out into the test site and heroically pushed the boy into the protective trench, saving him from the blast. As a result, Bruce was exposed to extreme amounts of gamma radiation that altered his DNA structure, causing him to become a monster of incredible power whenever he became angry. His sometimes girlfriend, Betty Ross, seems to be the only thing to calm the Hulk back into Banner form, and he is often pursued by her father, General Thunderbolt Ross, who seeks to stop the Hulk's rampages, hoping to bring the Hulk to justice or destroy him altogether. Because of this, Bruce is often on the run, trying to find a cure for his problem and keep calm as much as he can. What are his Powers and Abilities? Note: Due to the nature of comicbooks his powers along with his appearance, is in a constant state of flux. Below is a list of powers and abilities he had, whether this is still true in his present incarnation in any media remains to be seen. The Hulk is one of the most powerful beings in the universe since his powers increase with his rage, because of that he is capable of matching the power of beings like Thor and Silver Surfer.

Transformation: The process by which Banner usually transforms into the Hulk is presumably the result of a chemical catalyst, like adrenaline or could be a psychological trigger. Superhuman Strength: The Hulk possesses the capacity for vast levels of physical strength. Superhuman Speed: Regardless of his size, Hulk's super humanly strong legs allow him to run at speeds that are far beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete. Superhuman Stamina: The Hulk's body counteracts fatigue poisons that build up in his muscles during physical activity. In an enraged state, he is capable of exerting himself at peak physical capacity for several days before fatigue begins to affect him. Superhuman Durability: In addition to great strength, the Hulk's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. The Hulk's skin is impervious to conventional blades, adamantium and vibranium being amongst the very few metals that are truly capable of piercing his skin. The Hulk is capable of withstanding high caliber bullets, explosives, pressures extremes, falls from orbital heights, just to name a few. Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his high resistance to physical harm, it is possible to cause the Hulk injury.

However, he is capable of regenerating damaged or destroyed areas of his body with far greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Resistance to Psychic Control: In many instances, the Hulk has demonstrated great psychic resistance as a side-effect of his rage and the multiple personalities inside his mind. Immunity to Diseases and Viruses: The Hulk is immune to all known Earth-based diseases and viruses. He can operate under intense conditions for extended periods of time due to his body not developing fatigue toxins quickly. Superhuman Leaping Ability: The Hulk is able to use his highly developed leg muscles to leap great distances. While calm, he is capable of leaping roughly 3 miles. However, as he becomes enraged, his strength increases considerably, which means he can jump much farther than usual. On more than one occasion, the Hulk has nearly jumped into orbit. Adaptation to Hostile Environments: There have been several instances in the past where Hulk has not only spent extended periods of time in oxygen-less outer space without suffocating, but he has also moved his mouth and spoken in these environments. The Hulk's body is capable to adapt itself to new inhospitable environments whenever it is necessary.

Underwater Breathing: The Hulk has been seen on the ocean floor a number of times so that he is capable to breathe due to his body developing a gland which creates an oxygenated perfluorocarbon emulsion which fills his lungs and equalizes the pressure. Astral Form Perception: The Hulk has the unique ability of being able to see "astral forms"--or ghosts. Gamma Radiation/Energy Manipulation and Emission: Not usually a power associated with the Hulk, but there is enough evidence that Hulk possesses at least a limited ability to manipulate forms of energy, particularly gamma radiation. The Hulk's body works like a "gamma battery" by creating and radiating gamma energy. Who are the Different Incarnations of the Hulk? Bruce Banner suffers 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; there are hundreds or possibly thousands of other Hulk personalities, but only a few major versions have been seen to date. 1. Gray Hulk The original Hulk was gray in his first appearance.

Stan Lee, the Hulk's co-creator, intended to make the Hulk's skin gray, but since the printers of that time (1962) did a mediocre job with that color, he changed it to green. Though many writers then on tried to explain the color change, and hence we get the different personalities and incarnations of the Hulk. 2. Savage Hulk The most well-known personality of Hulk, he has childlike levels of intelligence and curiosity, he longs for friendship and love, and is prone to violent fits of rage. The Savage Hulk is usually unaware that he is actually Banner, whom he sees as a different person and an enemy. This personality is stronger than most. 3. Mr.Joe Fixit This identity lacks Bruce Banner's scientific knowledge and intellect, but Mr. Fixit is exceptionally clever and crafty, with selfish motives and desires, with a similar knack to violence. His height and original strength level are lower than those of the Savage Hulk. 4. Merged Savage and Gray Hulk After the Heroes return storyline there appeared Hulk with that merges the Savage and Gray Hulk personae. This happened when Banner had control over the Hulk's personality after using his Gamma Projector.

This Hulk persona displayed the cunning intellect of the Gray Hulk and the raw power of the Savage Hulk 5. Merged Bruce Banner, Savage and Gray Hulk This Merged Hulk demonstrated aspects of Banner's intelligence, Joe Fixit's cunning, and the Savage Hulk's size and strength. The Merged Hulk was 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 Banner. 6. The Professor The Professor personality though similar to the Merged Hulk was a separate personality altogether like Fixit or Savage Hulk. The Professor is the representation of Banner's ideal self. He distinguishes himself from other incarnation by having a pony tail. The Professor is the largest of the three primary Hulk incarnations and he also possesses a higher base strength level. While in a calm emotional state, the Professor is capable of lifting about 100 tons. However, unlike the other Hulk incarnations, Bruce Banner subconsciously installed a type of safeguard within the Professor. When the Professor's anger reaches a certain level, he will transform back into Bruce Banner, though with the mind and personality of the Savage Hulk.

Due to this safeguard, the Professor is ultimately the weakest of the three primary Hulk incarnations despite being the physically largest. 7. Maestro The Maestro is a version of the Hulk from a future timeline when he has conquered mankind after it had already been brought to the brink of extinction through nuclear warfare. The Maestro's green skin is darker than that of the other green skinned incarnations, and his hair is gray and balding on top. Due to the increased radiation from nuclear fall-out, the Maestro is significantly stronger than the Merged Hulk, and his strength still increases with rage, making him more powerful still. The Maestro's base strength level is considerably greater than that of the other primary Hulk incarnations, including his younger self. The Maestro's body absorbed the ambient radiation of the nuclear fallout, dramatically increasing his strength. While calm, the Maestro can lift well over 100 tons. 8. Mindless Hulk This identity showed itself when Banner's influence has been completely removed. He has a bestial look and his intellect is that of a primitive human, but he is capable of showing complex emotions like love or friendship. 9.

War Taken by Apocalypse, the hulk submitted to the Villains offer of removing his mental and emotional vulnerability. Using celestial technology Apocalypse transformed Hulk into his horseman, War. 10. Guilt Hulk Known as "The Beast", the Guilt Hulk is another of Bruce Banner's personae, though this one created by his regret. The Guilt Hulk originally manifested itself in Banner's mind as his father and tormented him by forcing him to relive memories of his traumatic childhood. Eventually, the Guilt Hulk was defeated by Banner himself. The Guilt Hulk later returned after Betty's death, albeit much more powerful because of Banner's emotionally fractured state. After beating the Professor and Joe Fixit, the Guilt Hulk was eventually put down after the Savage Hulk joined forces with his other incarnations; Banner believes it has been destroyed. Due to its monstrous size, the Guilt Hulk was physically very powerful. It also possessed claws and spikes all over its body. The Guilt Hulk also showed the ability to breathe fire on one occasion. 11. Devil Hulk Malevolent and destructive, this identity is kept submerged deep within Banner's psyche, but it's constantly struggling to escape and take over.

He broke the psychic chains that restrained him, increasing the possibility of his manifesting physically. 12. Green Scar Green Scar is a cunning and more powerful version than the previous incarnations. His rage is at its most focused, due to meditation training by his ally Hiroim. This incarnation has extremely high durability. He has had training in combat arms, including broadswords, spears, and battle shields, and is a capable leader and strategist. Another source of the Green Scar's strength in comparison to other versions was his lack of inner conflict, if not alliance, with Bruce Banner. 13. Wendihulk On a storyline involving wendigos Bruce Banner, Grey Hulk persona was bitten by a wendigo later he transfomred into the "Wendihulk" who ends up attacking his other heroes present at that time. The heroes managed to cure Hulk and drive away the Wendigos 14. Dark Hulk The Dark Hulk is a manifestation of an entity that took control of the Hulk. Bruce battles for control of the Hulk. Dr. Strange joins Namor against the Dark Hulk and lures him back to his sanctum, where the entity is sucked back into its own dimension. 15.

Captain Universe Hulk Captain Universe, suffering from memory and power loss, bonds with Bruce Banner and recruits him to assist in finding the scientist who knows the most about the uni-power. 16. Blue Hulk This Hulk was given a "water breather elixir" by a scientist of Atlantis, the side effect of this elixir was his skin turned blue. There's probably a lot more, I didn't consider versions outside the 616 universe. (Though you have to pardon me, because to be honest I'm not really familiar with half of the version of hulks here, so whether they are part of the main continuity, is up to the bigger geeks out there to determine. Visit the comment section for any corrections and additions in this article.) Live Versions 1. The Incredible Hulk (TV series) The Hulk in this series was far inferior to the Hulk from the comics (he had no bulletproof skin and was only strong enough to smash down doors, walls and hold a car compressor). The show ran from 1978 to 1982. Hulk was played by Lou Ferrigno 2. Hulk (2003) Hulk here and later reiterations are all computer generated.

This version unlike the one in the comics grows larger as he gets angrier. 3. Incredible Hulk (2008) This is sort of a soft reboot from the previous adaptation. A whole new casts are involved, and the setting of the story is patterned from the TV show. The Hulk here is a closer representation from the comics. 4.Avengers (2012) Mark Ruffalo will take over Edward Norton who was portraying Hulk's Alter Ego, Bruce Banner in the previous movie. This would be in continuity with The Incredible Hulk(2008). It is reported that the Hulk's face will resemble that of Ruffalo's. (Which makes me think of the Professor Hulk above, So, I'm hypothesizing that this new version might have Banner's intellect, which I think will give us fans something different to watch). sources: Everytime Hulk smashes its always fun for us fans This is the 7th article in my Comic Book History series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW. Note: Any error in the article above, if any, just blame it on my age, humanity and ignorance.

Just be sure to check the comment section for the corrections, any error I made will surely be pointed out and corrected by much bigger geeks (because there will always be a bigger geek out there). -This has been PollMaster inviting you to the geekside. The Incredible Hulk (comic book) | Mental Block Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia The Incredible Hulk (comic book) 639pages on Share This article isn't very deep... Help us take it deeper under trance! This article is in need of clean-up. Help it conform to the standards of the other pages on the wiki! issue of the long running comic book by marvel. The Hulk is a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). Throughout his comic book appearances, the Hulk is portrayed as a large green humanoid that possesses near limitless superhuman strength and great invulnerability, attributes that grow more potent the angrier he becomes.

Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, a socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved physicist who physically transforms into the Hulk under emotional stress and other specific circumstances at will or against it; these involuntary transformations lead to many complications in Banner's life. When transformed, the Hulk often acts as a disassociated personality separate from Banner. HULK 168 Hulk (Bruce Banner) - Marvel Universe Wiki: The definitive online source for Marvel super hero bios. Hulk (Bruce Banner) Robert Bruce Banner Aliases Annihilator, Captain Universe, Joe Fixit, Mr.

Fixit, Mechano, Professor, War, Bruce Bancroft, David Banner, David Bixby, Bob Danner, Bruce Jones, Bruce Roberts, David Blaine, the Green Scar, Green Goliath, Jade Giant, Bob, World-breaker, Sakaarson Identity Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) Significant Issues See OHOTMU Bibliography ; Working with the Red Hulk against Intelligencia (Fall of the Hulks: Gamma, 2010); Captured by the Intelligencia (Incredible Hulk #608, 2010); Hulk returns (Incredible Hulk #610, 2010) Occupation Unemployed, former nuclear physicist Known Relatives Betty Ross Banner (wife, deceased), General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (father-in-law), Jennifer Walters ( She-Hulk , cousin), Morris Walters (uncle), Elaine Banner Walters (aunt, deceased), Brian Banner (father, deceased), Rebecca Banner (mother, deceased), Lyra (daughter), Skaar and Hiro-Kala (sons) Group Affiliation Formerly Avengers , Defenders , Fantastic Four , Pantheon , Horsemen of Apocalypse , Warbound Education Banner has a PhD in

 Nuclear Physics.

The various Hulk personas have demonstrated different intelligence levels, from brutish to average to the same level of intelligence as Banner. Physical Attributes 5' 9½" (Banner); 6'6" (gray Hulk); 7' – 8' (green/savage Hulk); 7'6" (green/Professor Hulk) Weight 128 lbs. (Banner); 900 lbs. (gray Hulk); 1,040 – 1,400 lbs. (green/savage Hulk); 1,150 lbs. (green/Professor Hulk) Eyes Brown (Banner); Gray (gray Hulk); Green (green/savage Hulk); Green (green/Professor Hulk) Hair Brown (Banner); Black (gray Hulk); Green (green/savage Hulk); Green (green/Professor Hulk) Powers The Hulk possesses an incredible level of superhuman physical ability. His capacity for physical strength is potentially limitless due to the fact that the Hulk's strength increases proportionally with his level of great emotional stress, anger in particular. The Hulk uses his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Hulk has been known to cover hundreds of miles in a single bound and once leaped almost into orbit around the Earth.

The Hulk can also use his superhumanly leg muscles to run at super speeds, although his legs have limitless strength he does not have limitless speed and once he reaches a certain speed his legs become too strong and destroy the ground giving him no friction to run on, therefore he jumps to travel. The Hulk can slam his hands together creating a shock wave, this shock wave can deafen people, send objects flying and extinguish fires. His thunderclap has been compared to hurricanes and sonic booms. The Hulk has shown a high resistance to physical damage nearly regardless of the cause, and has also shown resistance to extreme temperatures, mind control, nuclear explosions, poisons, and all diseases. In addition to the regeneration of limbs, vital organs, and damaged or destroyed areas of tissue at an amazing rate. The Hulk also has superhuman endurance. The Hulk's body also has a gland that makes an "oxygenated per fluorocarbon emulsion", which creates pressure in the Hulk's lungs and effectively lets him breathe underwater and move quickly between varying depths without concerns about decompression or nitrogen narcosis. Abilities Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test.

When Banner is the Hulk, Banner's consciousness is buried within the Hulk's, and can influence the Hulk's behavior only to a very limited extent. Weapons While on Sakaar Hulk fought with gladiator's weapons Paraphernalia "Caught in the blast of gamma radiation, brilliant scientist Bruce Banner is cursed to transform in times of stress into the living engine of destruction known as THE INCREDIBLE HULK. " Contents 15. Total Chaos Childhood Trauma Robert Bruce Banner was the son of an alcoholic who deeply hated him. Banner's mother showed much affection for her child, who returned her love, but this only served to fuel his father's rage. Dr. Brian Banner was an atomic physicist who worked on producing clean nuclear power as an energy source, but he was afraid his exposure to it mutated his son's genes. Bruce showed signs of high intelligence at an early age which strengthened his father's belief. Brian became abusive to Bruce and when his mother intervened, Brian murdered her. He frightened Bruce to keep quiet, but his own bragging landed him in a psychiatric institute. As a child Bruce was withdrawn, possibly developing a split personality to help deal with his pain and rage. His only happiness came from spending time with his cousin Jennifer Walters .

Bruce found it hard to develop friendships and often found himself on the receiving end of physical abuse at the hands of school bullies. One such incident sparked him to build and plant a bomb in the basement of his school. The bomb was a dud, and Bruce was expelled, but the military took notice of his genius. Eventually, Bruce earned a doctorate in nuclear physics and started a career with them. Man or Monster File:Acotilletta2--Hulk beginning 2.jpg Supervising the trial of an experimental gamma bomb that he designed for the U.S. Defense Department at a nuclear research facility in New Mexico, Bruce selflessly rushed to the rescue of an ignorant teenager who had wandered onto the testing field as the countdown ticked inexorably toward zero. After shoving young Rick Jones to safety in a nearby ditch, Bruce was struck full-force by the bomb blast. He survived, but was irradiated by the deadly gamma energy. At first, Banner would transform into the brutish gray Hulk only at sunset, and revert to human form at dawn. Eventually, his changes into the childlike green Hulk came to be triggered by the release of adrenaline when he was intensely excited, no matter what time of day.

The green Hulk possesses little of Banner's memory and intelligence, and is easily enraged; making him a menace to society. Since Banner's initial transformation into the Hulk, military forces commanded by the implacable General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross – Bruce's one-time benefactor – have hunted him continually. Hulk continued to make more enemies within the military such as Major Glenn Talbot as he and Bruce constantly competed for the affections of Ross' daughter, Betty . For a short time, Banner successfully treated his condition with radiation and was able to maintain enough of his own personality when he became the Hulk to control himself in that form. Subsequently, he earned the government's favor by destroying the alien Metal Master and received a presidential pardon. Friends and Foes A founding member of the Avengers Not long after Hulk was baited into a trap by the Asgardian trickster, Loki , into destroying a train trestle. This would lead to the first instance where Hulk became a team player . Beside the occasional group endeavors, Hulk has teamed-up with many others that didn't think he was so bad. Spider-Man , Power Man and Iron Fist have partnered with Hulk on several occasions.

Even brutes like the Thing and scrappers like Wolverine identified with Hulk and have allied with him almost as many times as they've fought against him. Not only has Hulk befriended those in the super-hero community, but he has managed to form bonds with regular people such as "Crackajack" Jackson and Jim Wilson . Unfortunately for the Hulk, there are many who used his limited intelligence against him and attempted to manipulate him for their own selfish means. Vile menaces like the Leader , Tyrannus , and Captain Omen . When Hulk proved to be too hard to control, they sent their minions like Aquon and Mogol to confront him physically. Enemies came in all shapes and sizes, ranging in power levels. From mere humans like Devastator , to evolved beings like the Inheritor , to monstrous powerhouses like Glob , Hulk always found a way to prevail – even against those who masqueraded as friends such as his old physics professor, Geoffrey Crawford – later known as Ravage . Multiple Personality Disorder Gamma-powered psychiatrist Leonard "Doc" Samson captured the Hulk and successfully separated Banner and his alter ego. Without Banner's psyche to restrain him, the Hulk became a greater danger than ever before.

Realizing there was only one way to reign in the Hulk, Banner agreed to merge with the monster. But the stress of the re-integration fractured Banner's subconscious, creating the street-smart gray Hulk. During this time, he spent several years in Las Vegas, sometimes operating as an enforcer calling himself Mr. Fixit (or "Joe Fixit.") The smart-mouth Fixit was an ill-tempered, wise-cracking, thuggish brute whose personality resembled that of his father and the fraternity boys who surrounded him in college. It was also at this time that Joe Fixit began his a short-lived relationship with the future wife of Rick Jones, Marlo Chandler . In this state of the Hulk, Banner again found himself changing into the Hulk at night and into his human form in the light of the day. Soon after, the swirling mess of persona and mentalities took their toll on the ever-flustered mind of Dr. Banner, and a battle for supremacy and control took place in Banner's subconscious. With assistance by the Ringmaster and his hypnotic abilities, Doc Samson tapped into the subconscious of Banner and reached his separate incarnations.

Through this hypnosis, Banner, the green Hulk, and the grey Fixit all aligned to face their true inner demons-- Banner's unresolved issues with his abusive father and the murderer of his mother. With this realization, Banner was able to fuse these mentalities together, finding peace of mind. However, a green but intelligent version of the Hulk emerged. He had the mentality of Dr. Banner but the body and abilities of the Hulk – later nicknamed the Professor. Although Banner had his dominant personalities merged together, there were a number of other personas running through his mind including that of a "Devil-Hulk." Pantheon Trial of Agamemnon It was during this time the Professor was recruited into the Pantheon , a group determined to end war, famine and pestilence on the Earth . His exploits with the team ranged from posing as gangsters in Las Vegas, taking down individuals like the enigmatic Mr. Frost , to renewing old grudges with powerful foes such as Madman while forming new enemies as the amphibious android, Piecemeal , to battling enemies from beyond the stars. During this time, Hulk also traveled forward in time and met his future self, the Maestro .

However, once it was discovered Agamemnon , immortal founder of the Pantheon, betrayed them to an alien race called the Troyjans , Hulk quit the group. Sometime later, the Pantheon was hired by Henry Gyrich to capture the Hulk, but they secretly wanted him to join their ranks again. They faked the Hulk's death as a show of good faith, but he still declined their invitation. Harmless to Horseman As War When Dr. Banner realized he must once again keep his temper in check, he triggered a fail-safe within his subconscious. Any time he let his rage loose, the mentality of the savage green Hulk would soon take over, albeit in the form of Banner's human body. Without the strength of the Hulk and filled with the Green Goliath's rage and belief of his old abilities, he proved to be a great danger only to himself. This was, however, not to last. During the assault of the being known as Onslaught , the Hulk asked Jean Grey to let the green Hulk loose from its mental prison in order to use his maximum potential and abilities to defeat the menace. In a strange twist, Banner became divided.

Half physically went away to a parallel world created upon Onslaught's defeat, where he once again became the savage green Hulk. The other half that remained on Earth was a cold, somewhat unfeeling but intelligible version of the jade monster. This version of the Hulk also found himself allied with Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) , who made Hulk into War – one of his Four Horsemen. This only lasted until War injured Rick Jones, and Hulk's guilt rejected Apocalypse's programming. Devastating Loss The surly version of the Hulk remained in this state, never changing until much later when the two Hulk fragments re-merged, and Banner and Hulk split their time and existence. The Maestro returned after absorbing enough radiation to re-form his body after suffering a previous defeat from Hulk, but was beaten again. He reestablished a connection to his wife, Betty, but was left a broken man after her death due to radiation poisoning. Banner blamed himself, believing it was Betty's prolonged exposure to him that caused her death, but he discovered the Abomination had injected her with his radioactive blood. Hulk would later bludgeon his archenemy into a bloody pulp, nearly killing him.

Planet Hulk After the events of the M-Day , Banner sought refuge and peace in Alaska, where he lived as a hermit loosely connected to the town community. He was eventually tracked down by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. , who required his help in defeating the Hydra space weapon called the Godseye which could detonate all the nuclear bombs in the world. Sent up as the Hulk, he discovered that the Godseye was actually a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that could match the strength of any enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Godseye found that though it could try, it could not match the increasing power of the Hulk, and it exploded. A S.H.I.E.L.D. commissioned space shuttle was sent to retrieve the Hulk, or so he believed. Seizing the opportunity to be rid of the Hulk, a group of superheroes known as the Illuminati decided to jettison the shuttle into space, to a planet with no intelligent life forms. Unfortunately, there was a navigation error, and the Hulk landed on Sakaar , a place full of barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled over by a corrupt empire.

The planet was situated near a portal, which gave it access to several different cultures and technologies. The trip made him vulnerable, and it wasn't long before he was subjugated by the Red King . Hulk was forced to fight, but he eventually brought peace to the savage planet. Hulk was proclaimed the Green King, and all those on Sakaar worshiped him and his Queen, Caiera . She told her king that she would bear him a child, and it seemed that the Hulk's life of running and fighting was over. However, the Hulk was not destined for a happy ending as the ship that brought him to that world soon exploded, seemingly killing both his wife and unborn child sending Banner into a rage like no other. He and his Warbound journeyed to Earth seeking revenge on the planet's heroes for their part in Sakaar's destruction. World War Hulk Once they arrived, the Hulk crushed Black Bolt on Attilan and took the city of New York as his battleground. Iron Man , Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange all fell before the Hulk and his Warbound too. Even old sparring partners such as the X-Men as well as new threats like the Gamma Corps couldn't even slow the Hulk's rampage .

Iron Man called upon the combined power of various satellites to finally put an end to Hulk's war. Banner was taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and was placed three miles below the Mojave Desert. The Warbound was also placed in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, but they escaped after saving New York from being split in half by an expanding chasm the Hulk created. The Coming of the Red Hulk While Banner was incarcerated at Gamma Base, a new mystery revealed itself when long-time Hulk foe, the Abomination, was found murdered in his homeland of Russia. A team comprised of Iron Man, General Ross, Samson, She-Hulk and Commander Maria Hill went to investigate only to determine the only suspect that could have done this was the Hulk. The perpetrator soon revealed himself on a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier , and it was indeed a massive creature referring to itself as the Red Hulk . This new incarnation of the Hulk decimated the likes of She-Hulk, Iron Man, Thor , and even Rick Jones in his new powered up identity named A-Bomb. Banner was set free when the conflict between the Red Hulk and A-Bomb caused a big enough earthquake to damage his prison.

The potential threat to Banner's life triggered his transformation into the Green Goliath, and the Hulk wasted no time in confronting his new nemesis. The Hulk was caught unprepared for the Red Hulk's fighting style. He was defeated in their first meeting - suffering a broken arm in the process - but the outcome was much different during their second clash. The Hulk found a potential weakness in the Red Hulk and exploited it. Once the Red Hulk was beaten, the Hulk left before he could find out the Red Hulk's true identity. However, Banner had been spending his time trying to track down the Red Hulk before he can do anymore damage. On his journey, Banner ended up in Las Vegas where the Hulk had to team up with Sentry , Ms. Marvel , Moon Knight and even Brother Voodoo to quell a pack of Wendigos from devouring everyone inside a casino. Defenders / Offenders War Grandmaster's Defenders Collector's Offenders The Grandmaster came to Hulk with a proposition: if Hulk chose to participate in a game and won, Grandmaster would bring his love, Jarella , back to life. Hulk agreed and was told he could pick a group of allies to aid him in the game.

Hulk chose his former teammates in the Defenders: Namor , Doctor Strange, and Silver Surfer . When the time came to meet their opponents, the Collector appeared with the Red Hulk, and his team: Baron Mordo , Terrax and Tiger Shark - now known as the Offenders . With the game underway, a member of each team was paired up on separate battlefields, but each couple was too evenly matched. In an unexpected turn of events, the Red Hulk impaled the Hulk on a trident, killing him. Grandmaster would eventually resurrect the Hulk to attend to an out of control Red Hulk, but he would still be left broken-hearted over the loss of his beloved Jarella – much to the satisfaction of his red nemesis. Fall of the Hulks Banner became a captive of M.O.D.O.K. and the Intelligencia , and quartet of heroes attempted to infiltrate the underground base to free him. They uncovered that at the end of Hulk's war with the heroes of Earth, the satellites Stark used to end the Hulk's rampage were hacked into by M.O.D.O.K. for the sole purpose of interfacing with Banner's irradiated cells.

With this information, and the help of a seemingly traitorous General Ross, M.O.D.O.K. intended to create an army of gamma-powered soldiers. They already caused Doc Samson to develop an evil split personality, transformed Rick Jones into the monstrous A-Bomb, and created the Red Hulk. When Samson turned on his group and attacked She-Hulk, leaving Ben Urich and Peter Parker to fend for themselves against the Red Hulk, an enraged Banner released his alter-ego to save them. The battle between the Hulks left the base in ruins, but it appeared it would be the last time these behemoths would ever clash again. The Red Hulk used his power to absorb radiation to drain Hulk dry, leaving Banner unable to ever transform into the Green Goliath again. Taking Hulk out of the equation so soon wasn't initially part of the plan, but that was only the start of the Intelligencia's master stroke . World War Hulks Hulks strike back Unable to summon his incredible strength to combat his foes, Banner had to rely mainly on his son, Skaar , to do as he was told. Skaar had come to Earth to kill his father but without Hulk around, he wound up aiding Banner.

Amadeus Cho , She-Hulk, A-Bomb, his recently discovered daughter, Lyra , and a bevy of other heroes were also working with Banner to defeat the Intelligencia. An unforeseeable event occurred when the Intelligencia put their plan in motion and transformed an army of A.I.M. soldiers into Hulks and marched them into the nation's capitol – the ray used to transform the soldiers also created "Hulked-Out Heroes." Following a chaotic battle, Banner and the rest of the world's smartest men managed to revert the all of the Hulks and M.O.D.O.K. back to normal humans, but the cost was too high. The radiation taken from the soldiers' bodies was brought back to the Intelligencia's ship, the Hellcarrier , but its machinery couldn't contain it for long. The only thing on the planet able to absorb it all was Banner. Samson attempted to help undo some of the damage he caused and sacrificed himself in the process. Immediately following the absorption process, Banner became the Hulk once again, and Skaar was finally going to get the fight he'd been longing for. During the brawl Skaar accidentally placed several innocents at risk.

Hulk saved their lives, proving he wasn't the monster Skaar or Banner made him out to be. Father and son finally reconciled and decided to act as a family. Dark Son With the threat of the Intelligencia behind him Banner began to make amends with his makeshift family, but Betty wanted no part of it. The more Bruce pushed the more she spurned his advances and eventually transformed into her Red She-Hulk persona and vaulted away. Banner followed suit and pursued as the Hulk which only led to a clash titanic enough to grab the attention of Steve Rogers and his Avengers . It was at this time Hulk discovered he had another son – Skaar’s twin brother, Hiro-Kala , who was racing toward Earth with the planet K’ai in tow. The Hulk took his family into space to stop Hiro-Kala before the planets collided, killing everyone on both. While Hulk’s allies dealt with Hiro-Kala’s forces, Hulk confronted his son with the hope he could reason with him. He soon found out his second son was evil and cruel, and the only thing he understood was violence.

Still, Hulk could not bring himself to kill his own flesh and blood, so Skaar sealed Hiro-Kala in a rock tomb, leaving him imprisoned on K’ai for the foreseeable future. K’ai was brought back to its point of origin, the Microverse , by Arcturus Rann and the Enigma Force . Total Chaos As Hulk was dealing with his errant son the Chaos King was busy trying to plunge the universe back to the nothing before time and space began. Only Hercules and a select few had the power to oppose him, but they were rapidly losing ground. Dr. Strange appeared before Hulk and requested aid. The Hulk returned to Earth and was immediately assaulted by an enemy long-thought dead – the Abomination, now a servant of the Chaos King. To make matters worse Dr. Strange fought at Abomination’s side, possessed by Zom , and the two were seeking Marlo Chandler, A-Bomb’s ex-wife and the only person on Earth to have been touched by death and live. The dead had returned as servants of the Chaos King to fight the Hulk, but fallen allies rose to help him. Samson, Jarella and even Banner’s mother stood by his side, but one parent’s return signaled the resurrection of his father.

Hulk had to face his personal demons alone as his new family contended with an army of undead enemies, but before long they were all united in defending Marlo. It almost seemed as if the Chaos King’s forces would overwhelm the heroes until Marlo tapped into the power within her and returned all of the Chaos King’s allies to the grave, and Hercules restored the universe to the way it was before the assault. After seeing how some of the heroes were rewarded for their assistance, Hulk was angered his family did not receive anything for their service. He journeyed to the new Mount Olympus where the Greek gods were restored to power and challenged Zeus , demanding his family be given the opportunity to live normal lives as their reward for their part in saving existence. Zeus gladly accepted the challenge but once he realized Hulk was only looking to sacrifice his own life for the lives of others, Zeus stopped fighting and decided to teach hulk a lesson through torture. Hulk was saved by Hercules and his family, but having to live with his own tortured soul proved to be punishment enough. Hulk (Marvel Comics) | VS Battles Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia ~ Robert Bruce Banner Summary The Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). Throughout his comic book appearances, the Hulk is portrayed as a large green humanoid that possesses immense superhuman strength and great invulnerability, attributes that grow more potent the angrier he becomes. Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, a socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved physicist who physically transforms into the Hulk under emotional stress and other specific circumstances at will or against it; these involuntary transformations lead to many complications in Banner's life. When transformed, the Hulk often acts as a disassociated personality separate from Banner. Over the decades of Hulk stories, the Hulk has been represented with several personalities based on Hulk and Banner's fractured psyche, ranging from mindless savage to brilliant warrior, and Banner has taken control of the Hulk's form on occasion. Banner first transforms into the Hulk after being caught in the blast of the gamma bomb he invented while saving Rick Jones, a youth who had wandered onto the testing range. Powers and Statistics Tier : High 5-A.

Likely 4-B when sufficiently enraged Name: Robert Bruce Banner; The Incredible Hulk; The Green Scar; The Sakaarson; The Worldbreaker Age: Unknown at time of death Classification: Human Mutate Powers and Abilities: Superhuman strength, superhuman speed, superhuman endurance, superhuman stamina , regeneration (Mid-High. His future self, the Maestro, eventually regenerated from being blown to powder), multiple personalities that make him highly resistant to psychic attacks and soul-based attacks, mystic senses (He can perceive spirits), his strength and general power levels are directly proportional to his anger, or, as the old saying goes, "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets" , can create massive shock waves with thunderclaps, as Banner he has a genius intellect that can create incredibly advanced technologies, can absorb dark magic and dimensional nexus energies to grow stronger, immune to nuclear and radiation -based attacks and can absorb their power, extremely resistant to transmutation and other such matter manipulation powers, can touch energy as if it were solid and tangible, limited Reactive Evolution (His body has adapted to breathing underwater), resistant to unwilling teleportation Attack Potency : Dwarf Star level ( He caused this much destruction in his clash against Red She-Hulk ).

Likely increases to Solar System level when sufficiently enraged (He has consistently been portrayed as comparable to Thor , has matched the full power of The Sentry , and empowered a force field that temporarily halted the Celestial Exitar, who was much larger than the Earth) Speed : Massively FTL+ Combat speed and Reactions (Scaling from Thor . Has also consistently shown to keep up with Sentry , Gladiator , Hyperion , and Silver Surfer ) Lifting Strength : Stellar. Increases exponentially with rage (Capable of supporting the weight of a star, holding tectonic plates together, lifting and throwing mountains, pushed a 10x stronger than normal warrior's madness Thor towards the ground with one arm, separated spheres of matter and anti-matter, etc.) Striking Strength : Class XGJ (Capable of creating earthquakes across the entire Eastern Seaboard with a mere footstep, smashing asteroids and planetoids to pieces, has destroyed planets, and broken through planet-moving energies). Likely increases to Class XPJ when sufficiently enraged (Physically overpowered Onslaught , matched the full power of the Sentry, and has overpowered Thor on various occasions). Durability : Dwarf Star level.

Likely increases to Solar System level when enraged (Among other things, he has withstood magical energy measured as 100 times stronger than Hercules ' most powerful blows). Regeneration makes him extremely difficult to kill, as his healing factor was once depicted as powerful enough to bring his future "Maestro" self back to life from being reduced to powder. Stamina : As long as he remains angry, it is virtually limitless Range : Greater than human melee range due to his size, thunderclaps can reach up to kilometers in every direction, by attacking the ground he can reach potential planetary range Standard Equipment: Nothing notable Intelligence : As Hulk, most incarnations are not very bright, but capable of surprisingly clever battle tactics. World War Hulk has adult human - level intelligence and is even more clever in battle. As Banner, he is one of the most brilliant scientists on Marvel earth, rivaling the likes of Tony Stark, and Reed Richards. Banner is recognized as THE premier expert on radiation. Claimed to be one of the eight smartest people on Earth. When in an intelligent stare of mind, he is proficient in martial arts, due to training from Iron Fist .

Weaknesses: If he is not sufficiently enraged, he transforms back to Bruce Banner, with only base human stats (although he has shown the ability to maintain the transformation in varying emotional states), and can be KO'd depending on the circumstances. Notable Attacks/Techniques: Thunderclap: A term used to refer to a large shock wave created by a character with sufficient, superhuman strength violently clapping their hands together. These attacks can be incredibly destructive and lethal, sometimes equaling nuclear bombs or hurricanes. Notes: -The Hulk causing a multiversal earthquake; destroying a pocket universe; defeating Zom, who was once presented as more powerful than Dormammu ; and having his power measured as infinite by the Pre-Retcon Beyonder are generally considered as outliers. If they were not, he would have been considered as High 3-A at his peak. That said, his power level per definition depends on his rage, so it isn't completely certain. -Before making any changes to this page, please read the Power-scaling Rules for Marvel and DC Comics . Others Fight takes place on Asgard from the comics and starting distance is 300 meters. Speed is equalized and both are bloodlusted. Victory via deat...

2017-01-15T02:00:48Z <div class="quote">Stick695 wrote:<br />did you just say thor = hulk strength wise? lol</div> <br />Do you k... 2017-01-08T20:54:20Z Thor rarely actually uses his hax sadly, so I think this battle may be harder than we think. Hulk has been depicted as having a slight advant... 2017-01-08T22:16:50Z stumbleupon Email Comment “Banner feels the Hulk has been stolen from him. He wasn’t aware of anything that was going on. He didn’t make the decision to separate; the Hulk did. He just woke up one day and a good portion of his brain and personality had been stolen away. That, of course, doesn’t sit right with him. He wants to know who did it and wants it back,” Aaron explained. “So Banner is hung up on the Hulk. The Hulk was an accident. Banner built a bomb and just happened to get caught in its explosion, which brought this thing out of him.

At the end of the day though, the Hulk is still the most significant thing he’s done over the course of his life. The Hulk was something that he told himself for years he had to get rid of, but now that he’s rid of it he can’t really think of anything else that he wants.” Banner’s desire to recover the Hulk leads him to experiment on a variety of animals, turning them into green-hued, gigantic, super strong man-beasts. In “Incredible Hulk” #3, two of Banner’s creations tracked down and attacked the Hulk leading the Jade Giant to decide to take Banner down once and for all. At the end of the issue Banner caught wind of the Hulk’s coming attack and readied his army of creations for battle. “I wanted a book filled with big crazy monsters for Hulk to punch in the face. I also liked the idea of Banner getting hung up on the idea of trying to recreate the Hulk in the world around him as well as trying to turn himself into the Hulk again and failing, thus driving himself deeper into madness,” Aaron said.

“So issue #4, the first part of the next arc, is actually story subtitled ‘Island of a Thousand Hulks.’ The idea that Banner has become a version of H.G. Wells’ Doctor Moreau and creating hulked out beast-men makes for an interesting fight.” The arc that begins with “Incredible Hulk” #4, on sale January 11, features art by Whilce Portacio and revolves around the Hulk and Banner duking it out. Banner will be backed up by his army of monsters and the Hulk will have allies as well. In “Incredible Hulk” #3 the Hulk agreed to work with Amanda Von Doom and her agents Mister Gor and B.R.A.I.N. as a member of the Mad Squad, the U.S. Government’s top secret anti-mad scientist squad. “Once I knew I was taking Banner into full on deranged mad scientist territory I liked the idea of a group of all new characters whose primary objectives are to hunt and kill mad scientists. You saw a little bit of them in this first arc. They play a very big role in the second arc and they’re a lot of fun to write,” Aaron said.

“Taking Igor from ‘Young Frankenstein,’ basically, and turning him into James Bond was a blast. “Amanda Von Doom is another character that will continue to be explored. She’s quite adamant that she has no relation to Doctor Doom, but is that true?” Aaron continued. “So we see the Mad Squad fly into action against Banner in the second arc with Hulk at their side. Even beyond that arc they’ll continue to be a part of Hulk’s world.” Many Hulk fans are curious about what sort of role Amanda Von Doom will play in the Hulk’s world moving forward, especially considering she’s a strong, attractive woman and given Hulk has fallen for those types before. “Is Amanda the Hulk’s type? That’s an interesting question and another one that will be explored,” Aaron said. “She certainly seems to have taken a liking to the Hulk. So far that hasn’t been reciprocated, but that could definitely change in the coming months.” The Amanda Von Doom-Hulk dynamic could also become incredibly complicated in the months ahead when the Hulk finds himself confronting one of his and Banner’s great loves, Betty Banner, now the Red She-Hulk.

“Given how things play out over the course of the Hulk versus Banner arc, you will definitely see Betty come back in a big way,” Aaron explained. “I don’t have any plans yet for the other Hulk characters, but there will be a big Hulk-Red She-Hulk confrontation coming in the next few issues.” The Hulk-Banner showdown that kicks off the next year of stories in “The Incredible Hulk” will be a big one with lasting consequences for the stories arriving later in 2012. “There will be huge fall out as things continue to evolve and change in the relationship between these two characters. We’re not going to gloss over things and suddenly have them hugging each other,” Aaron remarked. “The Hulk-Banner relationship is going to continue to get uglier and weirder as things move forward.” “The Incredible Hulk” #4 by Jason Aaron and Whilce Portacio is on sale January 11, 2012. By: 1000+ images about Who's Drawn The Best Hulk? on Pinterest | Red hulk, Incredible hulk and Todd mcfarlane Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Who's Drawn The Best Hulk?

295 Pins1.42k Followers The Passion of Asian Hulk: A Generation of Keyboard Warriors Assumes Power and Responsibility - The Daily Beast The Passion of Asian Hulk: A Generation of Keyboard Warriors Assumes Power and Responsibility Marvel’s new Asian hulk, Amadeus Cho, is the living embodiment of nerd culture. Welp, I called it . I said that of all the demographic types in American society that best suited the alter ego of the Incredible Hulk—the emotionally repressed brainiac with a whole lot of rage ready to suddenly unleash at an unexpected moment—a young Asian-American dude would be the best choice. And they listened . Details aren’t forthcoming yet, but the man who’s long held the Hulk as his secret identity, middle-aged white dude scientist Bruce Banner, is going to somehow transfer this power to his former sidekick, Korean-American teenager Amadeus Cho.

I’m obviously stoked that one of Marvel’s most iconic superheroes and the one I most identify with personally is going to be an Asian guy—and not just any Asian guy but the kind of gifted Asian teen I grew up as—and that the book is going to be a Korean-American lead character written and drawn by Korean-Americans ( Greg Pak , Amadeus Cho’s creator, as writer, and Liberty Meadows’ Frank Cho as artist). But I’ve done a lot of thinking about my analogy of “model minority rage” to the Hulk’s saga since I wrote that piece proposing an Asian Hulk last year. And my excitement is complicated. I do hope that the Amadeus Cho version of the Hulk is, as the comic’s title states, “Totally Awesome,” but I also hope that it shows how crappy being the Hulk can be. Of course the fact that the Hulk is a burden and a curse as much as it is awesome has always been integral to the Hulk’s character, and one of the most successful of Avengers: Age of Ultron’s plot elements was reminding us of this fact.

But the impact of this is lessened when you’re dealing with a character that was introduced to us as the Hulk who has, in the audience’s eyes, always been the Hulk. The biggest difference between Amadeus Cho and Bruce Banner is that Amadeus Cho is, unlike Bruce Banner, an adolescent child, which makes his becoming the Hulk part of his coming-of-age story and much more of an obvious puberty metaphor. The second-biggest difference is that Amadeus Cho is a pre-existing character, unlike Bruce Banner, who’s had a whole well-developed persona for Avengers fans that’s only now being complicated by throwing the Hulk transformation into the mix. That highlights certain things about the Hulk’s character that I’d argue have always been there but now come into sharper relief, and are especially relevant not just for young Asian male nerds but for nerds and self-perceived underdogs in general.

Amadeus Cho is a beloved character partly because up till now he’s always had the luxury of being a sidekick—specifically, he’s been the intellectual backup for heroes defined by their brawn, first as the sidekick to the original Bruce Banner version of the Hulk, then to Marvel Comics’ version of Hercules after Bruce Banner was imprisoned following the “ World War Hulk ” arc. (I could explain the details, but we’d be here all day.) You’re familiar with this archetype, even if you hadn’t encountered Amadeus Cho himself before: The smart guy who serves as the tough guy’s backup. Microchip to The Punisher. Kato to The Green Hornet. Q to James Bond. It’s an appealing role for nerds to project ourselves into, especially underage nerds. The brainy sidekick gets to play a critical role in the fight without directly exposing himself to mortal danger and bloodshed. But more importantly, the brainy sidekick gets to play a critical role in the fight without taking responsibility for the fight. Q, after all, doesn’t kill people. He gives James Bond amazing gadgets that are highly effective at killing people, but it’s Bond who pulls the trigger.

Being the “ voice with an Internet connection ” in an action movie is a great job—it’s a kind of backseat driving, where you get to constantly observe and comment on the action but nothing is ultimately your fault because you’re not the one on the field. Pundits, critics, thinkpiece writers, a huge chunk of the millennial generation, myself included, have taken to making a living telling other people what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong while rarely doing anything ourselves. The thing about Amadeus Cho is his heroics are deeply morally ambiguous, but he gets to stay morally clean. It’s Bruce Banner who has to deal with the fact that his “heroic” alter ego is a barely controllable rage monster who finally “goes too far” after declaring war on the entire Earth and leveling most of the Eastern Seaboard in his climactic attack on New York City. It’s left to Bruce’s fans to decide whether or not he’s still redeemable after this action (keeping in mind that such an event would, realistically, lead to millions of deaths, even if comic book logic tells us if we don’t directly see anyone die then there must’ve miraculously been no fatalities).

But Amadeus Cho remains steadfastly loyal to his friend Dr. Banner, swearing to help set him free even after SHIELD imprisons the Hulk for crimes against humanity. This is charming and endearing in Amadeus, even though he’s standing up for a war criminal and mass murderer—because he’s just a kid, and loyalty is admirable in kids. His loyalty is a virtue; the sins of the Hulk are for Bruce Banner to bear, not him. Marvel The same went for Cho’s stint as the sidekick for Hulk stand-in Hercules, who’s less prone to rage-fits than the Hulk or the original, mythological Hercules (who murdered his own wife and kids ) but still all-too-easily emotionally manipulated by the sinister god Ares, much like his Norse counterpart Thor’s relationship with his brother Loki. Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily DigestStart and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat SheetA speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet.

We will not share your email with anyone for any reason The goddess Athena tells Amadeus that the age of strength is over and the age of wisdom is at hand, and tries to make Amadeus the new champion of the gods in Hercules’s place, saying Hercules’s time is over. Amadeus’s story arc is about him refusing to do this, fighting to save Hercules from his fated death, using all of his intelligence to figure a way out of Athena’s challenge to become the champion of the gods. This is Amadeus being noble, yes. And loyal. And humble. But it’s also him being scared. In my earlier article I said it’s stifling being put in the box of “brain trust,” the nerdy expert resource other people call upon to give them advice before they go out and make the big decisions. But it’s just as comfortable as it is stifling, and it’s a place the great nerds of history have frequently retreated to in order to duck responsibility for their actions. Dr. Bruce Banner was, after all, loosely based on Dr. Oppenheimer , the father of the atom bomb.

Hulk’s origin story consists of Banner working tirelessly on the fictional “gamma bomb,” a horrifying weapon of mass destruction, telling himself that he’s only doing his job and that he himself is innocent of any wrongdoing as long as other men pull the trigger. Then a teenager named Rick Jones stumbles into the gamma bomb test site and, for the first time, Banner takes personal responsibility for the life his creation might take and runs into the test site to save him. Banner gets Jones to safety just in time but is himself caught in the blast—and is transformed by the gamma rays into a living weapon of mass destruction. Oppenheimer famously spoke the words “ I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds ” upon the first successful A-bomb test. The conceit of the Hulk was making this quotation literal, forcing the creator of the bomb to take responsibility for the destruction his creation wrought in the most intimate, personal way possible, erasing the distance between inventor and invention entirely, fusing the man and the weapon unwillingly into one being. That, on some level, is what the Hulk is about: nerdy brainy guys living in an ivory tower being forced to take responsibility for the consequences of their thoughts and actions.

Guys who like to play “devil’s advocate” and talk about things from the abstract remove of “rationality” being brought face-to-face with the bloody, visceral reality of the abstractions they discuss. The Hulk is about the exhilaration but also the terror of discovering that the dividing line between you, the rational intellectual observer reading the newspaper and tsking at the bloodshed and warfare that happens “over there,” are not so different from those scary angry men with guns who kill people. That you and they are of the same species, that the idea that your education and civilization makes you fundamentally different from them is a lie. That you are responsible for what the men with guns do. The Hulk asks: What if Milton Friedman woke up one day finding his pulse pounding and his muscles clenching as he shoved dissidents out of an airplane in order to achieve the economic “ Miracle of Chile ” he so drily and avuncularly took credit for as a result of giving advice to Pinochet from miles away? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, what if dorm room socialists who wear Che-branded apparel found themselves holding a rifle and carrying out Che’s bloody “ pedagogy of the wall ” on Batista’s collaborators?

What if the suit-and-tie-and-flag-pin set from the Project for the New American Century found themselves in the pandemonium of Fallujah or the hellhole of Abu Ghraib? What if Internet armchair revolutionaries calling for mass insurrection had to physically pick up a brick and fling it through a store window amid a haze of tear gas? What if those of us who use our brains and our words and our fancy theories to call for massive social change had to be the physical vessels of that change—of the rage and the violence and the bloodshed that that change inevitably entails? What if we nerds had to own and experience the hot, bloody implications of our cold, bloodless arguments? Keep in mind this story has a long pedigree in comics. It may be the first long-form superhero story ever—Superman’s first long-form adventure, “ Revolution in San Monte ” (in Action Comics #1 and #2) is about Superman kidnapping an arms dealer and forcing him to fight in the front lines of a foreign war he helped foment. Comics and superheroes have at the core of their DNA the theme that you have more power than you think you have and you need to take responsibility for it.

From Bruce Banner turning himself into the Hulk to Hank Pym (Tony Stark in the movie) creating the malevolent AI Ultron to the wise words Uncle Ben told Peter Parker just before he got bitten by that radioactive spider: “With power comes responsibility.” But Spider-Man teaches the most palatable, watered-down version of that lesson. Peter Parker is only indirectly responsible for his uncle’s death because of inaction, not action—he chooses to use his powers selfishly to make money, he fails to stop some random robber, and that robber ends up shooting someone he loves. The Hulk’s power is much more terrifying, much more immediate, and so is the responsibility he must take. The Hulk is a reminder that as cerebral and rational as you might think you are, you’ve got the same fear and hatred inside you as everyone else. You’re not above the rest of the human race; you’re an animal too, driven by rage, and the moments when you think you’re peak “rational” and “detached” are the moments your hidden rage may be driving you most. I feel like we geeks are living in a time and place where we need to grow up but haven’t yet.

Our idea of “With power comes responsibility” is the Spider-Man version of it; we’re afraid of being pettily selfish, of “selling out,” of not being as awesome as we might be. We grew up in a world where the really scary people were the people who held the old-fashioned kinds of power: politicians, generals, arms dealers, people who owned heavy industry and heavy munitions. We grew up in a world where our passions—computers and software and abstract cool mathematical algorithms—were toys, and where Google’s “Don’t be evil” really meant “Don’t be lame.” Don’t sell out. Don’t slap ads all over your search engine and make it a crappy search engine that will be out-competed by someone else’s. Don’t cripple your software with DRM that makes it less useful than it could be. Don’t compromise your awesomeness for the sake of boring suits who don’t get it. But now we live in an era where tech drives the economy and runs the world, where it’s the people in charge of the old-fashioned mechanisms of power who fear the pimply kids tapping on keyboards.

We live in an era where nerds drive the culture, where they earn incredible wealth, and where they have free rein for all their hubris. “Don’t be evil” means one thing when you’re only as powerful as Spider-Man, the wisecracking teen superhero who shoots webs. When you’re the Hulk—“ the strongest there is, ” capable of destroying cities with an errant punch, it’s much harder to live up to. And the people who now are the “strongest there is” in our world frequently show they haven’t outgrown their adolescent pique, their hissy fits aimed at “taking down” people who cross them, their puerile and shortsighted appetites , their general carelessness and irresponsibility . This past year has shown the deep-rooted faults of this “nerd culture” we’ve created, how the supposed value we place on rationality and logic does nothing to dampen our rage and entitlement and irrational tendency to lash out at those weaker than us, whether it be through individual mass shootings or distributed, crowdsourced mass harassment campaigns .

Amadeus Cho’s got a tough lesson to learn when he assumes the mantle of the Hulk, and it’s one my fellow nerds need to pay attention to. You can’t escape your rage. You can’t eliminate it—it’s what powers you, it’s what makes you who you are, it’s what gives you the strength to do what needs doing and fight the foes worth fighting. But you can’t let it control you. It’s an amoral force that’s as capable of destroying the things you love as it is the things you hate. It’s something you must learn to control through emotional maturity, through empathy, through patience—the hardest thing in the world to learn, something that won’t be made easier by all the genius intellect in the world. Up till now Amadeus Cho has been a nerd stand-in for the kind of nerd we’d like to be, a kid who still hasn’t grown up, a gadfly who can stand in the background and be the conscience in the ear of movers/shakers/decision-makers like Bruce Banner and Hercules, commenting on what’s wrong with the world without being part of it. That time is over.

Amadeus is becoming a man now—a big, green, hulking man, a man who has to take responsibility for his own mistakes. Our generation is the Hulk now; our generation is become Death—not just “disruptor” but destroyer of worlds. It’s terrifying and scary and painful. And it is, at the same time, Incredible, as well as Totally Awesome. You can’t have one without the other. READ THIS LIST Hulk Comics - Incredible Hulk Comics | Midtown Comics Hulk You won't like him when he's angry! The Hulk is a superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962. He possesses superhuman strength and great invulnerability, which grow more potent the angrier he becomes. His alter ego Bruce Banner is a mild mannered scientist, who was caught in gamma radiation blast that gave him his powers. Over time, Hulk has battled a number of villains, including his arch nemesis The Abomination. Find Hulk comics, collectibles, graphic novels, and more from Midtown Comics!

Question: In comic books who is the alter ego of the Incredible Hulk?
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