Character profile
Hulk
Robert Bruce Banner
Hulk is the strongest there is.
Biography
Bruce Banner is a nuclear physicist who threw himself in front of a gamma bomb to save a teenager and absorbed a dose that should have killed him. Instead it fused him to something older and angrier. Stan Lee has said the Hulk was built by mashing Frankenstein's monster into Jekyll and Hyde, and the original 1962 Hulk was grey and only emerged at night, a horror character before he was a superhero.
The Hulk's power scales with his rage, which makes him the only character in Marvel with no functional upper limit. He has torn apart planetary crusts, held together tectonic plates, and in World-Breaker mode created seismic events measured from orbit. Every writer who tries to define his ceiling ends up describing a floor instead. That is intentional; the character is a metaphor for uncontained anger, and uncontained is the load-bearing word.
Banner himself is one of Marvel's most acute portraits of trauma. His father Brian was violent, his childhood was a nightmare, and the personalities that emerge from him, Savage Hulk, the mob-enforcer Joe Fixit, the calculating Doc Green, the protective Devil Hulk, are the dissociated shards of that damage. Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk made the subtext text by rebuilding the book as body horror: Banner cannot die, and something at the bottom of the gamma spectrum will not let him.
Vital statistics
- Real name
- Robert Bruce Banner
- Also known as
- The Incredible Hulk, Green Goliath, Joe Fixit, World-Breaker, The Devil Hulk, Doc Green
- Species
- Human mutate, gamma-irradiated
- Place of origin
- Dayton, Ohio
- First appearance
- The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962)
- Created by
- Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
- Affiliations
- Avengers, Defenders, Warbound, Illuminati (as subject), Pantheon
- Groups
- Heroes Avengers Anti-Heroes Defenders
Power grid
Intelligence6
Strength7
Speed3
Durability7
Energy5
Fighting4
Rated 1–7 on the classic Marvel power-grid scale.
Powers
- Limitless Strength
His strength increases with his emotional state, with no demonstrated cap.
- Near-Invulnerability
He has walked out of nuclear detonations, orbital re-entry, and Adamantium blades.
- Gamma Regeneration
He regrows organs and limbs in seconds, and Immortal Hulk established he reassembles from near-nothing.
- Thunderclap
Slamming his palms together produces a shockwave that levels city blocks.
- Leaping
He covers miles per jump, which functions as flight at ground level.
- Gamma Sense
He can perceive radiation sources and, in some incarnations, astral presences.
- Immunity
Gamma saturation makes him resistant to disease, toxins, and most sedatives.
- Banner's Intellect
As Bruce Banner he is one of the seven smartest people on Earth in nuclear physics and biochemistry.
Abilities
- World-class nuclear physics and gamma radiation research
- Advanced biochemistry, engineering, and mathematics
- Field-improvised medicine and fabrication
- Personal combat training acquired as Doc Green and Professor Hulk
- Guerrilla survival across years as a fugitive
Weaknesses
- Calming down, which reverts him to a vulnerable Banner
- Psychic and illusion attacks that target Banner's mind
- Adamantium and vibranium, which he cannot break
- Absorption powers that drain his gamma energy
- The personalities inside him, which do not agree
Comics history
The Hulk's first series lasted six issues before cancellation, and he survived through Tales to Astonish and the Avengers, whose second issue he quit. Peter David then wrote the character for twelve consecutive years starting in 1987, the longest single run on the title, giving us Joe Fixit in Las Vegas, the merged Professor Hulk, the Pantheon, and Future Imperfect, where Banner meets his future self, the Maestro.
Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan's Planet Hulk in 2006 exiled him to Sakaar, made him a gladiator and a king, and then World War Hulk brought him back to Earth to systematically break the Illuminati members who deported him. That two-year arc is the basis for large parts of Thor: Ragnarok.
Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's The Immortal Hulk (2018-2021) reinvented him as horror, with the Green Door, the One Below All, and a Banner who resurrects every time he is killed. Bruce has also been Doc Green, the Totally Awesome Hulk's predecessor, a Horseman of Apocalypse, and the Starship Hulk in the Guardians era.
MCU appearances
| Title | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| The Incredible Hulk | 2008 | Edward Norton's solo film, MCU introduction |
| The Avengers | 2012 | Mark Ruffalo takes over; the Loki beatdown and the New York fight |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | The Hulkbuster fight in Johannesburg and self-exile |
| Thor: Ragnarok | 2017 | Sakaar, the Grandmaster, and the Champion fight with Thor |
| Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | Loses to Thanos and refuses to transform again |
| Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | Debuts Smart Hulk and performs the restorative snap |
| She-Hulk: Attorney at Law | 2022 | Trains Jennifer Walters and reveals a Sakaaran son |
On screen
Allies
- Rick Jones
- Betty Ross
- She-Hulk
- Doc Samson
- Amadeus Cho
- Korg
- Thor
- Valkyrie
Enemies
- Abomination
- Leader
- Thunderbolt Ross
- Absorbing Man
- Maestro
- Red Hulk
- Bi-Beast
- U-Foes
Weapons & equipment
- His fists
- Thunderclap shockwave
- Improvised battlefield debris
- Stretch-fabric purple trousers
- Gladiator armour of Sakaar
- Nano-tech Iron Man gauntlet (Endgame)
Trivia
- The Hulk was grey in his first appearance. Colourist Stan Goldberg could not keep the grey consistent, so Stan Lee switched him to green from issue two onward.
- Marvel later used the grey skin canonically for Joe Fixit, the Hulk personality who worked as a Las Vegas mob enforcer.
- Peter David's twelve-year run on The Incredible Hulk is the longest by a single writer on the title.
- Bruce Banner's middle name was David for a period because the 1977 TV show renamed him David Banner, and Marvel briefly played along.
- In Future Imperfect the Hulk's evil future self, the Maestro, rules a nuclear wasteland from a trophy room of dead heroes.
- World War Hulk exists because the Illuminati, including Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic, shot him into space without a vote.
- The Hulk quit the Avengers in Avengers #2, which makes him the fastest exit of any founding member.
Famous quotes
Hulk smash!
Hulk is the strongest one there is!
That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry.
Puny god.
Leave Hulk alone.
Timeline
- 1962
Debuts grey in The Incredible Hulk #1 after the gamma bomb test.
- 1963
Co-founds the Avengers and quits in the second issue.
- 1977
The Incredible Hulk television series makes him a global household name.
- 1987
Peter David begins a twelve-year run and introduces Joe Fixit.
- 1992
Future Imperfect introduces the Maestro.
- 2006
Planet Hulk exiles him to Sakaar, where he becomes a gladiator king.
- 2007
World War Hulk brings him back to punish the Illuminati.
- 2018
The Immortal Hulk reinvents the book as sustained horror.
- 2019
As Smart Hulk he wields the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame.
Gallery
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Frequently asked
How strong is the Hulk at his limit?
There is no established limit. His strength scales with rage, and World-Breaker Hulk has generated planet-threatening seismic force. Writers deliberately avoid a number, because the character's premise is that anger has no ceiling.
Why was the Hulk grey originally?
Stan Lee wanted a colour that read as inhuman without belonging to any ethnicity, and grey fit. Printing inconsistencies made it look different on every page, so the switch to green came in the second issue. Marvel later retconned grey into Joe Fixit.
How many Hulk personalities are there?
The main ones are Savage Hulk, the childlike rage state; Joe Fixit, the grey mob enforcer; the merged Professor Hulk with Banner's intellect; Doc Green, coldly rational and ruthless; and the Devil Hulk, protective and monstrous in equal measure. Immortal Hulk framed them explicitly as dissociated identities from childhood abuse.
Why is there no solo Hulk sequel in the MCU?
Universal Pictures retains distribution rights to standalone Hulk films from the 2008 deal, which is why Marvel Studios uses the character in ensembles and other people's titles instead. Ruffalo's Hulk has appeared in Avengers films, Thor: Ragnarok, and She-Hulk rather than a solo picture.