Robert Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic physicist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated their child. Brian never wanted children because of what happened to him and his sisters Susan and Elaine Banner. An alcoholic, and a very, very angry man, Brian was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son.[2] These factors led to Brian abusing Bruce physically. One of the people who helped Bruce cope with Brian's tantrums was his maternal cousin Jennifer Walters, with whom Bruce used to spend summers in the public library reading for hours, losing themselves to books.[32]
Bruce's life reached a turning point when Brian murdered Rebecca, and was placed in a mental hospital after being removed from his father's negative influence. After that, Bruce was raised by his aunt and father's sister, Susan Banner, who understood his great pain and rage over his childhood sufferings. Susan raised Bruce with love and care, as if he were her own child. Susan never wanted to deal with her brother after what he had done to Bruce and Rebecca. Bruce, grew up as a highly withdrawn, intellectually gifted youth, in fact, a child prodigy.[33]
As a young student, Bruce first met another student with a brilliant mind; Tony Stark. Ever since, they both attended Dr. Derenik Zadian's "Forward Thought Conference" at Oxford University. This would lead to a life-long scientific rivalry between the two. They also became best friends. They eventually teamed up and joined the Avengers.[38]
Eventually, as an adult and a genius in nuclear physics, Banner wished to pursue philanthropic brands of science, but couldn't receive any financial funding for his projects,[38] and thus in lack of other options, went to work at a United States Defense Department nuclear research facility at Desert Base, New Mexico. There Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and his daughter Betty Ross. Banner and Betty eventually fell in love with each other. Banner designed and oversaw construction of the "Gamma Bomb" or "G-bomb," a nuclear weapon possessing a high gamma radiation output.[39]
The Hulk
Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground test detonation of the Gamma Bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to delay the countdown while he tried to escort the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing, confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench.[39]
Before Banner could get himself to safety, the Gamma Bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation reached the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to frequently transform into the vastly powerful, green-skinned, humanoid monster whom General Ross named "the Hulk."[39]
At first Banner changed into the Hulk at sunset and reverted to human form at dawn. However, Banner's body eventually changed so that his transformations into the Hulk were triggered by the release of adrenaline when he became intensely excited or angry, no matter what time of day or night it was.
Usually the Hulk possessed little of Banner's memory and intelligence and was easily enraged. While the military attempted to contain the Hulk, he thwarted their every attempt, with Rick Jones, feeling responsible for Banner becoming the Hulk, trying to help keep him away from the military. The Hulk ultimately thwarted an attempt to destroy America by the Gargoyle, another being mutated by gamma radiation. The Hulk changed back into Banner and help cure the Gargoyle, who helped Banner escape back to the U.S., where, with the help of Rick Jones, he maintained his identity as the Hulk a secret and attempted to keep the Hulk contained at night.[39]
Early Adventures
When Bruce next turned into the Hulk, his skin was green, a skin tone that remained the most constant for the Hulk. Banner became a target of the so-called Toad Men, who sought to invade Earth. Although at first their attempts to exploit Banner's intelligence made him appear to be a traitor to his country, Banner was able to use his might as the Hulk to thwart the Toad Men's invasion and thereby clear his name.[40]
In an effort to control his transformations, Banner began using a Gamma Ray Projector to force transformations into the Hulk and Banner vice-versa; however his Hulk persona was reluctant to transform back into Banner.[40] After the Hulk was shot into space and passing through a radiation storm Rick Jones briefly found himself able to control him. They worked together to stop the Circus of Crime. Jones' control over the Hulk faded away. The Hulk's transformations were not limited to nightfall after this adventure.[41]
The Hulk vs. the Thing!
The Hulk next foiled a hoax perpetrated by the Russian agent Boris Monguski (Mongu) aimed at trying to learn the secrets of the Hulk's strength,[42] saved Betty from the underground ruler Tyrannus, and battled the Chinese General Fang.[43] When Gamma Base was the subject to sabotage, the Hulk was blamed and the Fantastic Four were called in to deal with him. This led to the first of many clashes between the Hulk and the Fantastic Four's Thing. In the aftermath, the scientist Karl Kort was ultimately held responsible.[44] Shortly thereafter, the Hulk prevented Metal Master from invading Earth.[45]
The Sentry
The Sentry met the Hulk and found that somehow his powers soothed the Hulk's raging temper. They were partners for a time, battling the Sentry's eternal enemy, the Void. Eventually Sentry had to erase his existence from the minds of the world, and the Hulk forgot about his one-time partnership with the Sentry for many years.[46]
The Avengers
The Hulk became a pawn of Loki, who tricked the Hulk into battling his half-brother, Thor. This plot was foiled, leading to the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp joining forces to form the Avengers and defeat Loki.[17] The Hulk was a founding member of the group and together they clashed with Doctor Doom.[47] The group's mistrust in him became apparent when they were manipulated by the Space Phantom, prompting the Hulk to quit.[48] The Avengers began hunting down their unpredictable former ally. the Hulk found an ally in the Sub-Mariner, and clashed with the heroes, Thor in particular,[49] but the Hulk was defeated and disappeared in the water.[50]
The Hulk soon resurfaced in New York City seeking revenge against the Avengers, clashing with them as well as the Fantastic Four, leading to a rematch with the Thing. The battle ended with Hulk being swept away in the New York harbor.[51] The Hulk resurfaced back in New Mexico, where he was tricked by the Avengers into aiding them in preventing the Lava Men's attempt to eradicate human life on Earth's surface.[52]
While hiding out in a cave near Hollywood, the Hulk was disturbed when the Green Goblin's plot to use the Enforcers to kill Spider-Man encroached into his hiding spot, leading to a brief clash between the Hulk and Spider-Man before the Hulk fled the scene.[53] Later, the Hulk was manipulated into battling his former Avengers comrades, Giant-Man and the Wasp, by their enemy, the Human Top.[54]
Back at Gamma Base
Banner continued his stint as a scientist at Gamma Base. Meanwhile, General Ross suspected Banner of being a spy and having some sort of connection with the Hulk. The base soon became the target of the Chameleon who had been hired to steal a new experimental robot tank designed by Banner.[55] Banner's attempt to stop the spy was complicated by the arrival of Lt. Glenn Talbot, who shared General Ross' suspicions, at Gamma Base.[56] When the military decided to move Banner and his tank to another base, the Chameleon's employer, the Leader, deployed his Humanoid to steal it. The Hulk battled the Humanoid and prevented it from stealing the device, but Banner himself was arrested by the military under suspicion of having something to do with this attempted theft.[57] Banner remained a prisoner until Rick Jones revealed Banner's double identity to the President of the U.S., earning him a pardon.[58]
Banner went to Astra Island with his new experimental Absorbatron device. The island was attacked by Leader's Humanoids, but Hulk defeated them.[58] The battle ended with Banner being captured by Communist agents. Banner refused to work for the Communists and the Hulk freed himself and the other captured scientists.[59] Thanks to the sacrifice of one of these scientists, the Hulk was able to fight his way out of Russia and ended up in Mongolia.[60] There Banner was picked up by thief Kanga Kahn, who attempted to hold Banner for ransom for safe return to America. Glenn Talbot, believing him to be a traitor, was sent to retrieve Banner,[61] but the Hulk left Talbot behind and returned to the U.S., where Banner was arrested.
Banner was again pardoned by the President and was allowed to return to Astra Island for another test.[62] The Leader's Humanoids attacked again, and the Hulk and the Absorbatron were once again captured.[63] Banner used one of the Leader's devices to bring the army to the site. By the time they arrived, Hulk had sent the Leader fleeing. The military drove the Hulk back, only to find a seemingly dead Banner when they searched the site of the battle.[64][65]
Rick Jones stole Banner's body and attempted to revive him in his lab. Another bombardment with the Gamma Ray Projector triggered a transformation into the Hulk, but for the first time ever, Banner's mind possessed the Hulk. This came at a cost: if the Hulk ever reverted to Banner, he would die due to a shrapnel fragment lodged in his brain. The Leader showed the power of the stolen Absorbatron to potential buyers by sending a gigantic Humanoid to attack Gamma Base.[66] The Hulk and Rick Jones were knocked away from the battle when General Ross fired his new "Sunday Punch" missile destroying the giant Humanoid. When the Hulk and Rick sought refuge in one of Banner's secret labs the military followed them. Banner sent Rick out to hold up the military during an air strike. The Leader teleported the Hulk away, seeking to form an alliance with him. The military assumed that their assault had atomized the Hulk.[67]
The Hulk refused to ally himself with the Leader. Realizing something was wrong, the Leader bombarded him with more gamma radiation and removed the shrapnel from his brain. He then sent the Hulk to the Watcher's home planet in order to steal the Ultimate Machine.[68] There the Hulk clashed with the Amphibion, an alien who also sought the Ultimate Machine; after the Hulk had bested the Amphibion in combat, he was returned to Earth. The Leader took the Ultimate Machine from the Hulk and attempted to use the device. The Leader's plan backfired, as the machine seemingly killed him.[69]
Learning that Rick Jones was a prisoner of the military for refusing to reveal the Hulk's true identity, the Hulk attempted to seek a Presidential pardon for his friend. In Washington, D.C., he was ironically attacked by the last weapon Banner had invented for the military: the T-Ray.[70] The T-Ray transported the Hulk to the distant future of Earth-6676, a post-apocalyptic world ruled by King Arrkam. There, the Hulk battled his enforcer, the Executioner. Ultimately, the effects of the T-Ray wore off and the Hulk was returned to his native Earth-616.[70]
Outed As the Hulk
Rick Jones, believing Banner dead, revealed the Hulk's true identity to General Ross and Glenn Talbot.[71] Learning that the Hulk was alive and well, Talbot hounded the Hulk again with Banner's replacement, Konrad Zaxon. This prompted Rick to also tell Betty about Banner's double identity.[72] Ultimately, the Hulk killed Zaxon for trying to use the Hulk as a battery for weapons he hoped to use to take over the Earth. The military chased after the Hulk, not knowing of Zaxon's true plans.
The Hulk, fleeing from Captain America, had a brief clash with Hercules.[73] Then, the Hulk was used as a pawn by Tyrannus who was then at war with another underground dweller, the Mole Man, over the Fountain of Youth.[74][75] Later, the Hulk was caught in the middle of the Secret Empire agent Boomerang's attempt to steal the new Orion missile, taking Betty as his prisoner. The Hulk managed to defeat Boomerang and then repeatedly battered him to an unrecognizable stoop saving Betty.[76] The Hulk sought out the Avengers in New York, only to be hounded by the authorities.[77] While in New York, the Hulk was hounded by Spider-Man who sought to capture him in an attempt to earn membership in the Avengers, a mission in which he would fail due to his sympathy for the Hulk.[78]
Number One of the Empire attempted to use the Sub-Mariner to destroy the Hulk; however, this plot failed and Number One accidentally blew himself up. A spy for the Empire sent the Orion Missile off its testing course to impact with New York City.[79] Banner redirected the missile to explode harmlessly in the ocean.[80] Getting into a battle with the Leader's Hulk-Killer android, the Hulk eventually short circuited the Hulk-Killer, although Rick Jones was injured in the fight.[81] For his part in stopping the Orion Missile from destroying New York, the Hulk was hailed as a hero and received a full Presidential pardon; however, the media frenzy frightened the Hulk off. The Hulk was attacked by Boomerang, seeking a rematch, seemingly ending in Boomerang's death.[82]
A Menace Once More
The Stranger attempted to use the Hulk to wipe out most of humanity hoping that the survivors would build a better world before leaving for the stars.[83] Not wishing to be a menace, Banner attempted to kill himself with a powerful burst of gamma radiation. Banner was arrested by Glenn Talbot and locked up, leaving the spy Emil Blonsky to be mutated into the Abomination. The Hulk battled the Abomination, whom the Stranger found more useful to his goals.[84]
The Hulk attempted to force the Silver Surfer to take him into space.[85] The Hulk was next captured by hunters in the employ of the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary attempted to advance Banner's evolution by ten million years to use him to keep his invading New Men at bay.[86]
The Hulk was then tricked into helping the Lords of the Living Lightning capture Gamma Base. The Hulk turned against them for threatening Betty and put an end to their organization. In the aftermath the Hulk was once again believed to be dead.[87] The Hulk fell under the control of the Puppet Master who had him attack Rick, estranging him and the Hulk for a time, and then sent him after the Sub-Mariner. Coincidentally, this was at a time after Namor had been exiled from Atlantis and was seeking an alliance with the Hulk. The clash between the two ended in a giant tsunami that ruined the Puppet Master's base and reverted the Hulk to Bruce Banner. Not recognizing the Hulk in his human form, the Sub-Mariner returned to the sea.[88]
Loki once again attempted to use the Hulk as his pawn, transporting him to Asgard, leading to a clash with the Warriors Three, the Executioner, and an army of Trolls. Odin banished the Hulk into the deep reaches of space[89] where he clashed with the Space Parasite.[90]
Hunted by Everyone
The Hulk was captured by the US military, now fully backed by his longtime ally, Rick Jones. Banner was targeted by the newly restored Rhino, who was seemingly killed in a fuel truck explosion.[91] Briefly back in human form, Banner was shot by crooks, but he transformed back into the Hulk when being chased by police. The Hulk next battled the Missing Link, an irradiated prehistoric man sent to attack America by Chinese communists. The Link was seemingly destroyed in an explosion when it reached critical mass despite interference from Glenn Talbot, Nick Fury and his Russian counterpart Yuri Brevlov.[92][93] During this battle, Rick Jones was injured by the Hulk and then taken in by Captain America to become the new Bucky.[94]
Attracting the attention of the Mandarin, the Hulk was tested by the villain who hoped to work with him, but the Hulk rejected the offer,[95] trashed the Mandarin's castle, and escaped.[96] The Hulk accidentally freed the evil Inhumans led by Maximus, who attempted to overthrow Black Bolt's rule of Attilan. The Hulk wanted nothing to do with their rebellion and easily trounced them. Black Bolt offered the Hulk a place with the Inhumans, but after realizing that the other Inhumans feared him, the Hulk left the hidden land.[97]
After a battle against Fin Fang Foom,[98] the Hulk was dogged by the Chinese military. The Hulk hitched a ride on an experimental rocket which crashed in the Antarctic. Banner awoke in the Savage Land and got captured by the Swamp Men who attempted to sacrifice him until he was rescued by Ka-Zar.[99] Hulk clashed with the alien robot Umbu the Unliving and destroyed it with Ka-Zar's help and saved the Earth. Banner suffered from exposure to Umbu's radiation.[100] Having detected the destruction of Umbu, the Galaxy Master captured the dying Banner and revived him. The Hulk battled the Sagittarians on a distant world[101] and the seemingly destroyed the Galaxy Master, freeing its slaves.[102]
Many (Un)Happy Returns
The Mandarin sent the Sandman against the Hulk, resulting in the Sandman being fused into glass. The Hulk was once again captured by General Ross.[103] With the Hulk in captivity, the Leader returned alive and well and offered his services to neutralize the threat of the Hulk once and for all. To this end he trapped the Hulk in a Plasticine prison.[104] Betty freed the Hulk, but by then it was too late to stop the Leader from attempting to use the base's nuclear weapons to jump start World War III.[105] Although Bruce Banner stopped most of the missiles, the Leader launched a second one, prompting Banner to become the Hulk again to stop it.[106]
Rescued and restored to health by Lady Dorma, a rival for Namor's affections. The Sub-Mariner defeated the Hulk in underwater combat when Mistress Fara convinced the Sub-Mariner that Dorma was romancing another man.[107] Washing up on the shores of Costa Salvador, Bruce Banner found that the island had been taken over by Maximus and his evil Inhumans. The Hulk clashed with them, and Maximus retreated.[108] Fleeing to Florida, the Hulk ended up battling the Glob, a creature the Hulk would destroy before realizing it was much like him.[109]
No Happiness for Bruce Banner
Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four developed a cure for Banner's condition that worked to a degree. Banner gained the ability to transform into the Hulk at will while maintaining his intelligence. Vowing to never become the Hulk again, Banner proposed to Betty, who accepted.[110] Sadly, the Leader recruited the Rhino and fired a gamma ray during Bruce and Betty's wedding, again causing Banner to turn into the Hulk. The Hulk clashed with the Rhino and the Leader, hospitalizing General Ross and destroying his home. The Hulk escaped, and Glenn Talbot vowed to Betty that he would destroy the Hulk.[111]
Returning to the desert, the Hulk was sought out by the X-Men who were seeking one of Banner's inventions that could heal their injured leader, Professor X. Although they briefly clashed, Banner returned long enough to give the X-Men what they needed to save their leader.[112]
Banner agreed to work with Glenn Talbot to try and stop a radioactive comet threatening Earth. This meteor turned out to be the Absorbing Man, whom the Hulk defeated.[113] Banner's body was captured by a cult that sought to release their demonic masters, the Undying Ones. The Hulk was sent into the realm of the Night-Crawler along with Barbara Norris. Doctor Strange came to the Hulk's aid to stop the Undying Ones. Barbara Norris sacrificed herself so that the two heroes could escape.[114]
The Hulk once again became a pawn in the ongoing war between Tyrannus and the Mole Man. This time Tyrannus attempted to win the Hulk's cooperation by making him befriend his robot Mogol. When the Hulk learned that the creature was really a robot, he considered it a betrayal and destroyed him, and left Tyrannus' realm.[115] Trying to get the surface, the Hulk nearly caused a massive earthquake by effecting fault lines on the west coast, leading to a clash with his old team, the Avengers.[116] The Hulk was targeted by the Leader who revived the Glob and sent him after the Hulk in a plot that ultimately ended in failure.[117]
Rick Jones sought out his old friend to find a way to separate himself from the Kree soldier Captain Marvel, but a student protest set Banner off, leading to a clash with Captain Marvel.[118] Another former colleague, Dr. Raoul Stoddard, succeeded in splitting the Hulk from Banner, sending the Hulk on a rampage to destroy Banner.[119] The Hulk fled the military and hid out in the slums of Los Angeles and befriended the young Jim Wilson while Banner, the military and Iron Man attempted to track down the Hulk in order to re-merge Banner and the Hulk.[120] After again merging the Hulk with Banner, the military asked Jim Wilson to stay with them to keep the Hulk under control. Wilson was also targeted by the terrorist organization Hydra who also sought to control the Hulk. This plot ended in failure; however, Jim was seriously injured. Betty Ross suffered a nervous breakdown from the stress of dealing with Banner's double life as the Hulk.[121]
Have Hulk, Will Travel
The Hulk ended up in the nation of Morvania and helped the resistance remove its dictator, Václav Draxon.[122] Trapped in the future and seeking revenge against the Avengers, Kang the Conqueror sent the Hulk back in time to World War I to kill the Phantom Eagle. The Hulk foiled this plot and successfully returned to his own time.[123]
The Hulk and the Abomination were enslaved by Xeron and traveled the stars to hunt down and kill the creature known as Klaatu.[124] Although the Abomination attempted to kill the Banner/Hulk, the crew's captain Cybor seemingly slayed Klaatu. The Hulk and the Abomination clashed, sending them crashing back to Earth.[125] The Hulk clashed with the Sandman, who tried to force a blood transfusion with Betty to stop himself from turning into glass. The defeated Sandman lost in a whirlpool, while Betty was transformed into glass as a result of the transfusion.[126]
In the South American nation of San Diablo, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer were recruited by the Sub-Mariner into a group called the Titans Three to destroy a weather control device that threatened Earth.[127] This led to a clash with the Avengers until the Sub-Mariner's scientist Ikthon could repair a flaw in the device. Confused, the Hulk fled the scene.[128]
The Leader sought to exert the Hulk to the point where the monster would die of a heart attack. He created psycho projections and led him towards the hospital where Betty Ross was, threatening to shatter Betty's fragile glass form. Thanks to interference from Jim Wilson, the Leader's plot was foiled.[129]
The Hulk was captured by the military with aid from Mister Fantastic and Charles Xavier; however, he was teleported away by the insectoid Psyklop. Psyklop sought to shrink the Hulk down in size and use him as a power source to bring his masters, the Dark Gods, to Earth. The Avengers interrupted, causing the Hulk to shrink out of sight[130] and get transported to the Microverse world of K'ai. On K'ai, the Banner persona was restored, and the Hulk joined a rebellion led by Jarella against the evil warlord Visis. The Hulk and Jarella formed a relationship and they were prepared to wed when Psyklop found the Hulk and brought him back to Earth. With his savage state restored, Psyklop's base was smashed and the Hulk escaped.[131]
With vague memories of his adventure on K'ai, Banner was taken back to the military when psychiatrist Leonard Samson came up with a dual solution for curing Banner and restoring Betty to human form. Samson was successful in this; however, he used the siphoned gamma radiation to mutate himself into a gamma spawned Adonis. Samson romanced Betty Ross, making Banner so jealous that he purposely bombarded himself with gamma radiation and again became the Hulk to fight Doc Samson. When Betty vocalized concern for Samson over the Hulk, the Hulk fled the scene.[132]
The Hulk became the new pet project of the Parrington family. The Hulk was targeted by the Enchantress, who turned the Parringtons' daughter Samantha into a host for Valkyrie to battle the Hulk. The plot ended in failure and Samantha reverted to normal.[133] His next rampage through New York made Banner the subject of a military manhunt. He was rescued by Doctor Doom,[134] who smuggled Banner into Latveria in order to exploit his brilliant mind and then sent the Hulk out with a bomb in order to annex neighboring countries into Latveria. This was opposed by Doom's childhood love Valeria, and led to a battle between Doom and the Hulk. The Hulk fled when he realized Valeria could have been harmed if the fight continued.[135]
Doctor Strange recruited the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer to stop Yandroth from setting his Omegatron to destroy Earth. They formed a loose knit team of heroes known as the Defenders. The Hulk answered a call from the Avengers to help to stop Ares and the Enchantress from fulfilling a prophecy that would have given him mastery over the entire world.[136] The Hulk later ended up in Egypt, where he was talked into taking a part in a movie being filmed there. Banner was fired from the movie set and was caught in the middle of the Horusians God-Spawn battle, destroying their champion, the Colossus.[137]
Project: Greenskin
The US military built Project: Greenskin, aka Hulkbuster Base, as a specialized facility to capture the Hulk. Upon its construction, General Ross was replaced with a robot by the Leader. The Leader was disguised as Glenn Talbot in the hopes of not only destroying the Hulk, but replacing the President and Vice President with robot duplicates.[138] The Hulk foiled the Leader's plot, and in the aftermath of the battle, Doc Samson lost his powers. The Hulk fled into the desert, briefly encountering a mirage city that would vanish as quickly as it appeared.[139]
The Hulk was again captured by the military and cured by Peter Corbeau. Jarella transported herself to Earth to seek the Hulk. She was followed by an assassin sent by Lord Visis. To save her, Banner re-exposed himself to gamma radiation and again became the Hulk. When it was determined that Jarella's presence on Earth risked the planet's destruction, Jarella willingly returned to K'ai.[140] Sedated at Project: Greenskin, the Hulk battled the High Evolutionary's exiled New Man, the Inheritor, when the creature came seeking radiation to prolong its evolved state.[141] When the Hulk came across Lorna Dane, he confused her for Jarella and captured her. Lorna was saved by her fellow X-Man, Havok. Betty heard Bruce calling out for Jarella, prompting her to begin a romance with Glenn Talbot.[142]
Banner sought out Henry Pym in Washington D.C. to find a means to shrink small enough to return to Jarella's world. There, Banner learned Pym's talk had been canceled; this enraged him so much that he transformed into the Hulk, who went on a rampage. The Hulk ultimately saved Washington from Senator Morton Clegstead who, while trying to find a cure for cancer via gamma radiation, had mutated into a massive pile of ooze.[143] Returning to the Nevada desert, the Hulk was captured by Project: Greenskin and S.H.I.E.L.D. Banner was put on trial for the Hulk's rampage in Washington, D.C. Lawyer Matt Murdock (secretly Daredevil) represented Banner.[144] It seemed likely that the Hulk would be sentenced to death until Reed Richards offered to try and cure Banner with his Nega-Gamma Gun; however, this only strengthened the Hulk further, allowing him to escape.[145]
The Hulk broke into Pym's lab and consumed one of his shrinking formulas. This caused him to shrink to miniature size, and he was captured by the Chameleon, who was then working for Hydra. The Hulk attempted to escape Hydra's clutches with the help of Ant-Man; however. the unstable formula shrank him down to the Microverse.[146] As he shrank down to size, he ruined the fantasy world created by the Shaper of Worlds for the former Nazi Kronsteig.[147] Finally reaching Jarella's world, the Hulk, with Banner's intellect restored, again helped Jarella overthrow Visis. Pym's formula then wore off, sending him back to Earth.[148]
The Defenders
The Hulk was reunited with his fellow Defenders fighting Dormammu in Rutland, Vermont,[149] stopping Xemu the Titan's attempt to change children into members of his long dead race,[150] and lastly foiling a plot by Necrodamus to sacrifice the Sub-Mariner in order to free the Undying Ones.[151]
The Hulk was reunited with Jim Wilson, after which he learned of Betty's coming marriage to Glenn Talbot. He was forced to battle a Leader-controlled Rhino.[152] The Rhino and the Hulk were launched into space and ended up on the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth, where they were embroiled in a battle between the New Men. During this adventure the Hulk met Counter-Earth's Bruce Banner, who was married to Betty Ross and had a son, Bruce Jr. The conflict ended with the Hulk and the Rhino being shot back to their own Earth.[153] With their ship blasted out of the sky en route to Earth, General Ross forced the Abomination to go out and keep the Hulk away from Betty and Glenn's wedding. The Abomination lost the fight, but he succeeded in his task. Learning that Betty was heading to Niagara Falls, he pursued her.[154]
The Hulk got sidetracked when he was recruited by Doctor Strange to rejoin the Defenders in searching for the Silver Surfer, clashing with Calizuma.[155] The group ended up in the realm of the Undying One, battling their leader the Nameless One and rescuing Barbara Norris.[156] They next clashed with the Enchantress and Executioner, ending with Barbara being revived as the Valkyrie.[157] The Defenders were then called to clash with the Omegatron, which, with the Valkyrie's aid, they destroyed.[158]
The Birth of the She-Hulk
One day Banner went to visit his beloved cousin, Jennifer Walters, who had become a Los Angeles-based lawyer. At that time Walters had been defending a hood named Lou Monkton, whom gangster Nicholas Trask had framed for murder. While Walters drove Banner to her home, one of Trask's henchmen shot her. To save his cousin's life, Banner improvised an emergency blood transfusion. The transfusion of Banner's blood mutated Walters, causing her to become the She-Hulk.[159]
Separated From the Hulk
The Incredible Hulk
Leonard Samson captured the Hulk[160] and succeeded in separating Banner's psyche and atomic structure from the larger atomic structure of the Hulk. The Hulk's body, with all personality and memory removed, was inert until Samson stimulated the brain within the body. This new incarnation of the Hulk escaped and became a greater menace than ever before.[161]
Banner became leader of a new Hulkbusters task force which he headed from Gamma Base.[162] Banner finally married Betty Ross, believing himself free of the curse of the Hulk.[163] During the honeymoon, Bruce became gravely ill and was hospitalized.[164] Due to his separation from the Hulk, Bruce's body began to lose molecular cohesion. The Hulk's body soon followed suit and he was defeated by the Avengers.[165] With the aid of the synthezoid known as the Vision, Bruce was re-merged with the Hulk. The original Hulk persona assumed control of the body;[166] however, the reintegration was unstable, and an attempt to stabilize, and possibly cure, Bruce in a nutrient tank resulted in the Hulk returning to his original gray incarnation who only manifested at night.
Rick Jones absorbed the excess gamma radiation and became a light green Hulk-like creature when he was pushed into the nutrient bath by General Ross, who was attempting to sabotage the experiment and kill the Hulk.[167] Bruce reasoned the best way to cure Rick was to use the machine from the Hulk's Cave to change himself into the Hulk. Little did he know that this was a subliminal suggestion placed by the Hulk himself, who, once free, smashed the machine to avoid turning back into Banner. Complicating matters, the Leader arrived, having followed the Hulk in hopes of regaining his faded intellect. When he found the machine destroyed, the Leader made a deal with the now-smarter Hulk to transfer Rick Jones' gamma radiation into himself. Shortly after, a dishonored Thaddeus Ross managed to take control of the energy creature Zzzax. Ross and Jones were defeated and the radiation energy was transferred from Jones to Sterns which caused an explosion in the lab leading to the Leader's supposed death.[168]
Ground Zero
Little did either the Hulk nor Banner know that the Leader had survived, and sent the vampiric Half-Life after him. The Hulk tore off Half-Life's limbs close to daybreak before the villain could pull himself together.[169]
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Council decided they had enough Gamma bombs so that Banner was no longer required and ordered Agent Quartermain to murder him. The mutant bounty hunters X-Factor managed to locate the Hulk and freeze him in place before placing a call to S.H.I.E.L.D. After transporting the Hulk back to Gamma Base, Quartermain went against the orders of the Council before blowing up several large explosive charges that wiped out Gamma Base. Quartermain took Banner and Rick Jones away from S.H.I.E.L.D. While on the way to the government stash of gamma bombs, Betty Banner was released from the Leader's captivity to help stall them. She revealed that she was pregnant with Banner's child. The Hulk decided to keep Betty safe, despite her being Bruce Banner's wife, not his. The quartet made their way to the government facility, but they found out -- too late -- that the Leader's henchmen Rock and Redeemer had already taken a gamma bomb. When the Leader detonated the gamma bomb in Middletown with the Hulk at ground zero, the Hulk was assumed to be dead.[170]
In reality, the Hulk had been transported to Jarella's world moments before the detonation. There, the Hulk helped a group of minor wizards to overthrow the "Grand Inquisitor" in return for a spell which was promised to rid him of Bruce Banner for good.[171]
Joe Fixit
When the Hulk returned to Earth, he took a job as an enforcer at a casino. Calling himself Mr. Fixit, the Hulk spent several months without reverting to human form. It was during this time that he met and dated Marlo Chandler, who would one day marry Rick Jones. Banner eventually returned and the Hulk's life as Mr. Fixit soon came to an end through the machinations of the Maggia.[172]
Multiple Personas
Banner found Betty working in a convent when he was attacked by Prometheus, an agent of a team called the Pantheon. The stress and anger of being unable to get to Betty caused the Savage Hulk persona to resurface and sent Bruce's psyche into turmoil. The Grey Hulk managed to keep the Green behind a mental door, but knew that since he had been unleashed once, it was only a matter of time before the Savage Hulk would take over.[173]
When the Hulk was needed to fight the Super Skrull, the Grey Hulk convinced Banner to bring him out instead of the Savage Hulk. The Gray Hulk managed to outsmart the Super Skrull and managed to save Betty. Inside Banner's mind, the Gray Hulk and the Green Hulk were fighting for dominance. Through hypnosis, Samson created the green intelligent "Merged" Hulk - an integration of Banner's separate personalities.[13]
The Pantheon
This incarnation of the Hulk joined the Pantheon. The Pantheon were led by Agamemnon, an immortal offspring of an Asgardian and a human. Unknown at the time was that centuries earlier, Agamemnon had offered any of his offspring to the alien Troyjans in exchange for the ability to pass his godhood down to his descendants.[174]
As a favor to their friend Jim Wilson, the Hulk and Rick agreed to help out at an AIDS benefit concert with Rick headlining and Hulk providing security. The concert was disrupted by the drug-addicted assassin Speedfreek, who was sent to kill one of the concert's attendees. Jim was stabbed defending the man, and the Hulk got rid of Speedfreek before he could kill anybody.[175]
During one of his missions with the Pantheon, the Hulk fought alongside a rebel force in Trans-Sabal against both S.H.I.E.L.D. issue Mandroids and the government mutant team X-Factor. Tran-Sabal's dictator Farnoq Dahn had promised the US government energy assistance if they helped him keep his place as unchallenged ruler. He was exposed as a psycho when he tried to win the war by tying a mother and child to two separate missiles and threatened to launch them if the Pantheon did not withdraw. The Hulk and X-Factor, working together, stopped him. The tyrant was forced to face his people for the crimes he had committed, but most of them still saw him as a god and bowed at his feet. He was then shot and killed by a traumatized Rick Jones.[176]
Pantheon member Atalanta was shot down in the Himalayas by the Troyjan warrior Trauma, and the Hulk, Ulysses, and Hector were sent to find her. Trauma found Atalanta and confessed his love to her before the Hulk showed up and brought down an avalanche on top of him.[177]
During this time Marlo was killed by a woman posing as Rick's mother. Because the Leader shared a mental bond with Rick, he offered to bring her back to life. The Leader attacked the Pantheon's headquarters, The Mount, using both his gamma soldiers and the U-Foes to distract the Hulk so that he could ask Agamemnon for help against Hydra. Agamemnon agreed to help and the Hulk left in anger. Agamemnon betrayed the Leader by sending the Hulk to Freehold in order to kill him. The Hulk crashed into Freehold during the middle of the Hydra invasion and when the Leader was trying to resurrect Marlo. Overcome with anger, the Hulk ignored Rick's pleas to stop and destroyed the machine because he thought that the Leader was lying and taking advantage of his grieving friend. The Leader was seemingly killed in the battle. The Hulk knocked the helmet off of Redeemer, saw the resurrected General Ross, and realized his mistake.[178]
When Agamemnon felt it was time to venture out into the world to reconnect with the common people, he appointed the Hulk as his replacement. On his first mission as leader he traveled to the Amazon to investigate a new company that was cutting down the rain forest. There, he was jumped by the Juggernaut who was working as an enforcer for the New World Order (NWO) and their leader, the Red Skull. The Hulk was captured and brainwashed into fighting the Avengers, believing that the Juggernaut was Banner's own abusive father. The Hulk was able to shake off the mind control when the Juggernaut praised him and he realized that Banner's real father would never have shown such kindness. The psychic backlash released the creature Piecemeal from his holding container.[179]
The Hulk began showing signs of instability when he began referring to himself as "Hulk" or "the Hulk" instead of "Bruce." As a favor to a former Pantheon member Perseus, the Hulk traveled to Loch Ness to investigate reports of a monster in the lake, which turned out to be Piecemeal. The Hulk was about to defeat him when the Madman interfered. After Perseus was killed, the Hulk killed Piecemeal and appeared to kill the Madman, but no body was found. Using his new power as leader of the Pantheon, the Hulk led a strike against a maximum security prison to free an ex-girlfriend who had been falsely imprisoned.[180]
Trauma returned and kidnapped Atalanta to make her his bride. With the help of the Silver Surfer and the Starjammers, the Hulk and the Pantheon attacked the Troyjan home world. Upon arriving they were all shocked when Trauma's father, the Troyjan leader, Lord Armageddon, told them the truth about Agamemnon. If they tried to take Atalanta back, then the Troyjans would take back the extended lives of the entire Pantheon. The Hulk, not caring about the deal, attacked Trauma, accidentally impaling Trauma on his own shoulder spike. With his last words, Trauma pardoned the Pantheon and asked his father to let them all leave in peace.[181]
Maestro
You don't know what lies ahead for you. I do. Listen to me, Bruce... they're going to take it all away. You're going to end up with nothing and no one. Why go back to that... when you can stay here and have everything
The Hulk was taken into the future by Rick Jones' granddaughter Janis to fight his future self, Maestro. Maestro was a tyrant who had killed all the heroes and villains on earth and named himself emperor of the post-apocalyptic world. He had the intelligence of Banner and was twice as strong as the Hulk. Maestro was killed when the Hulk sent him back in time to ground zero at the moment the gamma bomb that created him had gone off. After killing Maestro the Hulk was sent back to the present, haunted by the thought of losing control and becoming Maestro.[182]
Betty Moves In
Soon after this, Rick and Marlo were married. At the wedding Betty told the Hulk that she wanted to move into the Mount to be with him. After the wedding, the Hulk was attacked by the disgraced Skrull warrior Talos the Tamed. In an effort to gain back some honor, Talos wanted to be killed by Earth's strongest warrior. The Hulk refused to fight because of how well his relationship with Betty was going and he did not want to risk losing his temper again. Later, the Hulk received news that his old partner Jim Wilson was at an AIDS protest that was getting out of control. He took him back to the Mount to give him treatment, but despite the advanced technology, Jim still died.[183]
The Trial of Agamemnon
Having discovered the truth about Agamemnon, the Hulk and the rest of the Pantheon made him stand trial. Agamemnon resurrected all of the dead Pantheon warriors to kill everyone in the Mount. Agamemnon tried to escape, but he was instead killed by Atalanta, which brought an end to the undead warriors. Achilles, still loyal to Agamemnon, tried killing teammate Ulysses, but the bullet ricocheted and hit Betty. The Hulk became so angry that he reverted to Bruce Banner's body with the Hulk's brain. Even in his human form he gave off enough gamma radiation to make Achilles vulnerable, and Ulysses killed him.[184]
Betty's Death & Resurrection
The Pantheon fled their former base, and the still mindless Bruce was taken into custody and temporarily placed in the care of Doc Samson while Betty was treated for the bullet wound. Nick Fury took Banner into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody because he was a fugitive. During Bruce's transport, Betty died and her soul was given the chance to go to heaven. First she wanted to visit Bruce to see if he still loved her. He calmed down when he saw her and was able to transform and escape. After seeing how important she was to him Betty decided to live and returned to her body. The Hulk visited the destroyed Mount and saw a hologram set up by Paris, telling him that he was now the leader of the Pantheon and that the Hulk had been fired from it.[185]
Living In Florida
Living under the last name Danner, the Hulk and Betty moved to a small town in Florida. To hide his green skin, the Hulk wore bandages all over his body and claimed to be a burn victim. Soon after their move a child was killed by a gigantic shadowy figure, and the Hulk was suspected of the crime because of his size. Upon investigation, the Hulk found out that the true killer was a deranged old man living in the everglades with the Man-Thing, and rescued a child. A few days later the Hulk and Betty offered their help to a young pregnant homeless girl. While at the clinic protesters attacked, and the girl was shot and killed. The Hulk offered the girl's father his help in bringing her killer to justice. They learned the killer was just a kid who had accidentally shot her when someone pushed him. The father revealed himself to be Speedfreek and tried to kill the kid. The Hulk hurled a car battery at Speedfreek, which covered him in battery acid, burning most of the skin off his face and causing him to flee.[186]
The Hulk learned that the Abomination was fighting cops in the sewers of New York and decided that it was his problem. The homeless were being cleared out because the police commissioner was working for a drug lord who needed the sewers for new drug routes. While the Hulk confronted the Abomination, the cops used the opportunity to clear out the homeless by killing almost all of them. The Abomination snapped and started killing all the cops, then took his battle with the Hulk to the surface. They crashed through the Daily Bugle before the Abomination jumped onto a news copter and crashed it. He used the opportunity to escape while the Hulk was distracted.[187]
Ghosts of The Future
An army squad led by Matt Talbot captured Betty. After the Hulk saw Matt shoot Betty in both legs, he went so far over the edge that he reverted to his Banner form, and Banner was taken into custody. During a jailbreak Bruce, still with the mind of the Hulk, ran towards a grenade and nearly died when it went off. He was able to transform into the Hulk before he could be killed, but a shrapnel fragment was left in his brain, extremely hindering his intelligence.[188]
Seeking a device to remove the shrapnel, the Hulk traveled to the Leader's Freehold. With the Leader dead, the hidden arctic sanctuary Freehold had been placed in the care of Omnibus. Omnibus believed that there would eventually be a nuclear war that would kill everyone on Earth so he decided to speed it up by ordering terrorist attacks across the world to cause strain on global relations. He had also mentally controlled many high ranking government officials including Talbot which explained his insane behavior. Jailbait overheard Omnibus' plan and exposed him to the people of Freehold and he was sentenced to death. The Hulk decided that the best way to save the world would be to pose as Maestro and claim to be the man behind the terrorist attacks. A psychotic Thor was sent to defeat him. It was a close battle until an atom bomb was dropped on top of them. The Hulk was believed dead by most of the world, but he had actually used a hidden Pantheon base to survive.[189]
Traveling through Alaska, the Hulk ran into Janis and took her to an unused Pantheon, He was then mentally ordered by Onslaught to find and kill Cable. Cable and Storm were able to free the Hulk from Onslaught's control, and they joined the rest of the heroes in New York for the battle against Onslaught. The Hulk and Banner were separated after he destroyed Onslaught's body. Banner was among the heroes who sacrificed themselves to destroy Onslaught,[190] and the Savage Hulk was again unleashed on the world. Banner was seemingly killed when Onslaught was destroyed, but like all the other heroes who had seemingly sacrificed their lives, Banner had actually been transported to the Counter-Earthpocket dimension created by Franklin Richards.[191][192]
In this new pocket-universe, Banner and the new heroes were reborn. He lived a new life where he had gone to State University with Reed Richards, Victor von Doom, Tony Stark, and Henry Pym. Along with Tony's friend Conner "Rebel" O'Reilly they formed the Atomic Knights of the Round Table. Banner worked with them on an exosuit project; however, none of them could decide how to use it. Banner shifted his focus to gamma radiation research instead. After university, he began working for Stark Industries.[193]
Stark Industries became a target of the terrorist organization, Hydra, secretly funded by Victor von Doom. At the time Banner was creating a gamma bomb for the military which Hydra set off with Banner inside. The resulting explosion mutated Banner into a new incarnation of the Hulk. He clashed with Stark in his new persona as Iron Man.[194] The Hulk escaped and was later manipulated by Loki to attack the newly formed Avengers at their Avengers Island headquarters. The battle injured many of their members, decimated their base, and caused a breach in its power supply, the powerful gamma core.[195] The Hulk aided the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the Avengers in containing the breach and saving the eastern United States from destruction.[196][197]
The Hulk and his cousin, Jennifer Walters, sought the aid of Leonard Samson to find a means to stabilize the Hulk's mutation. Samson, also mutated by gamma rays, received a blood transfusion to stabilize his mutation, and Jennifer impulsively took a transfusion as well mutating herself into the She-Hulk. They joined together as the Hulkbusters and offered their services to Tony Stark.[198]
The Hulk aided the world's heroes in stopping Galactus.[199][200][201][202] The Hulk also aided the world's heroes when the Counter-Earth dimension was briefly merged with a universe from a distant cosmos (designated Earth-50) to create Earth-13 and prevented an invasion from the Skrulls and the Negative Zone before the proper status quo was restored.[203][204][205][206]
Back on Earth
While Bruce Banner was reborn into a new life on Counter-Earth, the Savage Hulk, again freed from Banner, still existed independently on Earth. The Hulk's body began giving off radiation equivalent to a nuclear bomb. The army found that anything that came within five feet of him would be melted by radiation. Betty showed up and the Hulk broke free. Moments later Jason the Renegade stepped from the shadows and shot the Hulk with a Pantheon gun which caused the soldiers to panic and begin shooting. The Hulk laughed off the bullets and escaped with Janis, leaving Betty in tears.[207]
The Pantheon had become a democracy and had outvoted Paris to bring the Hulk back into the group. Paris approached Henry Gyrich with a proposition to take down the Hulk for good. The Pantheon attacked Janis and appeared to kill the Hulk, but what he really destroyed was actually nothing more than a mindless cloned body the Pantheon had created. The Hulk destroyed their ship and headed towards Washington, D.C., with Janis, where she told the military that the Hulk would not run any longer. If they attacked him, then he would attack a major city in retaliation.[208]
While he was traveling through the Midwest, the Hulk and Janis were attacked by the Thunderbolts, whom he easily defeated. He then destroyed a dam to fulfill his promise of retaliation. The Hulk began having chest pains that would force him to keel over in pain, although at the same time he was physically becoming more powerful. Doctor Strange found that because of his split from Banner, excess energy from an alternate universe was channeling through him that could destroy the universe.[209]
Under extreme emotional stress, the Hulk returned to the Gamma Base where he had been created. He was ambushed by the newest person placed in charge of capturing the Hulk, Colonel Cary St. Lawrence. The Hulk considered this the ultimate invasion of privacy because he considered the Gamma Base "his place." He was about to kill her when he had the idea to take over an island in the Florida Keys which he renamed Hulk Island. He saved the inhabitants from a hurricane, and they grew to respect him.[210]
A few days after the hurricane, Janis showed up with an alternate incarnation of the Hulk who had come to Earth when the Hulk was teleported away by Doctor Strange. He offered his help to the Hulk, but the shrapnel in his brain was making him angry at everything; thus, he fought him until he was taken back to his own time.[211]
The Hulk was manipulated by Apocalypse into becoming one of his Horsemen. The Hulk agreed to serve Apocalypse if he would remove the shrapnel from the Hulk's brain. He battled the Absorbing Man and the Juggernaut, but they had been sent by the NWO with Rick and Janis Jones to stop this new incarnation of the Hulk, who was using the power of the Celestials. He nearly killed the Absorbing Man and the Juggernaut, but Rick jumped in and the Hulk swung at him. Seeing the crippled body of his best friend caused the Hulk to break free of the mind control and flee in shame.[212]
The alien Mercy sensed the Hulk's desire for death and sent him on a path to fight Mr. Hyde, but the Hulk wanted a good death and refused to be killed by what he considered an unworthy foe. Wanting to help put the Hulk out of his misery, Mercy sent him to one of his deadliest enemies, the Abomination. Sulking through New York, the Hulk found the Abomination, but because of all the damage done to his own brain, he hallucinated that he was in the Abomination's place and began letting out all his built-up rage from the last few months on him.[213]
Heroes Return
By this point, the Celestials had come to judge which universe would live and which one would die: Universe-616 or Franklin Richards' Counter-Earth pocket dimension. They sent their agent Ashema to Earth to show Franklin Richards his handiwork and force him to choose between one world and another.[214]
At this point, the Hulk on Earth-616 was on a rampage through New York City, bringing Doc Samson, Hercules, Spider-Man, and the Thunderbolts together to try and stop him. Meanwhile on Counter-Earth, the Banner-Hulk was on rampage through New York City as well clashing with the Thing and Thor. Doctor Strange found a link between the trans-dimensional energies coming from the Hulk's body and from Franklin Richards' mysterious blue ball. Bringing the ball into close proximity to the Hulk caused both him and Spider-Man to be transported to Counter-Earth; there, the two Hulks clashed, attracting the attention of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Doctor Doom. It was decided that to save both realities from destruction, all the Earth-616 heroes would have to return to their native world. Both the Hulk and Banner were brought back with them. When they breached the gulf between both worlds, the Hulk and Banner were merged back together again.[215]
Self Destruction
After finally being reunited with Banner, the Hulk was transported to the site of his birth, the gamma bomb test site. The strain on his body was slowly killing him, and he was giving off massive amounts of radiation that were sufficient enough for the Maestro to absorb and return to life. Maestro was taken by trolls to be the newest mind to inhabit the Destroyer.[216]
Bruce and General Ross were attacked by the Destroyer and his troll minions. During the battle the Destroyer stepped in a pool of the Hulk's blood. It recognized that the Hulk and Maestro were the same being and drew the Hulk's mind inside of it. The Hulk was able to outsmart Maestro and crush him under a rock slide. Bruce was brought back to Gamma Base, where he established some kind of control over the Hulk, started rebuilding his life with Betty, and made peace with her father, General Ross.[217]
Later, the Troyjans attacked and Bruce and agreed to meet with their leader, Lord Armageddon. After seeing Bruce leave with the aliens, the press believed that he had heroically sacrificed himself to save the president's daughter. Armageddon wanted the Hulk's help in resurrecting his son Trauma with the device the Leader had previously used to bring Marlo back to life. The device needed a very large gamma power source in order to work and he planned on sacrificing the Hulk to do it. Bruce refused, but the Hulk agreed and stepped into the machine. During the process, however, the Hulk gave off too much radiation and incinerated Trauma's body. Armageddon agreed to live in peace out of fear of punishment from the Silver Surfer, but after the Hulk left, he leveled Freehold and killed everyone living there, including the gamma beings Jailbait and Hotshot. Bruce was given a secret pardon for his crimes as the Hulk for saving the president's daughter.[218]
Death of Betty Banner
Just when everything started going right with the Hulk, Betty nearly died due to gamma radiation poisoning that resulted from her time with the Hulk. Bruce was able to find a cure using his blood in a transfusion. But then she was pushed over the edge by the transfusion when the Abomination secretly switched it with his blood instead as revenge. Bruce went insane and tried to kill himself seconds after Betty was pronounced dead. Doc Samson stopped Banner, but he later transformed into the Hulk and escaped from Gamma Base. Banner began coming up with elaborate scenarios to kill himself, but he would always transform into the Hulk seconds before death.[219]
With Betty dead and Bruce believed to have killed her, General Ross again started to hunt the Hulk. Bruce figured out the truth behind Betty's death when he went to the homeworld of the Watcher and was given infinite knowledge. He returned to Earth to get revenge on the Abomination, but he let him go. Confronting General Ross, Banner told him that they were both to blame for Betty's death.[220]
Mental Cure
Due to the deteriorating effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the chaos ravaging his mindscape,[221] Banner struck a deal with the Hulk's three dominant personalities--the Green Hulk, the Gray "Joe Fixit" Hulk and the "Professor" Hulk--essentially to time-share their existence in return for stabilizing his fractured psyche and providing him with release from his disease.[222] Despite the intervention of General John Ryker,[223] Bruce was able to retain control until the Leader provided the means to cure Bruce,[224] using genetic samples taken from the corpse of Brian Banner and added to the Hulk's DNA by Ant-Man. The transformation back into Bruce Banner triggered a catalytic reaction that repaired the damage to Bruce's cellular structure and cured the disease.[225]
The Order
The original Defenders, including the Hulk, re-formed when Yandroth surfaced again to menace the world. Though the heroes defeated his plan, Yandroth used his sorcery to levy a deathbed curse upon their heads, binding them to come together in times of crisis.[226] The curse magnified the egos of the cursed quartet until they became mentally unstable. They became the Order, seeking to end all threats to the Earth by taking control of it. Other heroes fought them, and the energies unleashed by the battle were harnessed to resurrect and further empower Yandroth. Coming to their senses, the Defenders stopped fighting and Yandroth was reduced back to his human form, defeated, and imprisoned.[227]
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, since it was unable to duplicate Banner's unique ability to channel gamma energy even if it could duplicate the energy itself, and it exploded.[228]
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 lifeforms. Unfortunately, there was a navigation error, and the Hulk landed on the planet Sakaar, a world filled with barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled by a corrupt empire. The planet was situated near a portal, which gave it access to several different cultures and technologies. The Hulk was captured and became a gladiator. The Hulk subsequently ushered an uprising, overthrowing the current regime.[229]
Installing himself as king, the Hulk met and fell in love with a queen named Caiera Oldstrong. Together, they ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity for Sakaar. Caiera became pregnant with the Hulk's child, but died when the shuttle that brought the Hulk to Sakaar suddenly exploded, killing millions of people.[230] Driven to new heights of rage and fury, the Hulk swore revenge against the Illuminati, whom he held responsible for the death of Caiera Oldstrong. With his allies, the Warbound, the Hulk rode atop the prow of an alien warship as it set course for Earth.[231]
Reaching the moon, the Hulk defeated the Illuminati member Black Bolt -- who was actually a Skrull impersonating Black Bolt -- not the real one. The Hulk then proceeded to New York City, where he demanded that the city be evacuated and the presence of the Illuminati. As the time limit for the evacuation of New York had passed, the Hulk defeated Iron Man, and Avengers Tower was destroyed in the process.[232]
The heroes engaged the Hulk and his Warbound, but were defeated. After the Hulk became allied with Hercules, Namora, and the Angel, General "Thunderbolt" Ross called in the U.S. Army to dispatch the Hulk.[233] Despite the army's best efforts, including the use of adamantium bullets, the Hulk instead defeated them. Alongside his Warbound, he transformed an area near Madison Square Garden into a gladiatorial arena.[234]
Doctor Strange, mystically invoking a powerful old enemy, Zom, battled the Hulk. Barely holding back the demon Zom, Doctor Strange began to exhibit some of the demon's own traits. Strange sent the Hulk crashing into a building that crumbled upon him and the innocent bystanders who had gathered to watch the fight. The Hulk had protected the innocent bystanders. Distraught by his actions almost killing innocents, Doctor Strange stopped fighting, and, uncaring, the Hulk gave Strange a lesson on control and pummeled him into the ground.[215]
After implanting "obedience disks" in all of the captured heroes, the Hulk set Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man into the arena. The Hulk had them fight each other. In the end the Hulk spared them, declaring he intended justice and not murder. The Hulk planned to destroy New York City and leave the Illuminati to their shame. Soon, a nearly insane Sentry arrived on the scene and a cataclysmic battle ensued between him and the Hulk. Sentry unleashed forces that nearly destroyed what was left of New York, but ultimately, it was a stalemate between the two. The Hulk then briefly reverted to Bruce Banner, and the Sentry reverted to Bob Reynolds. In their human forms, Bruce Banner was able to knock out Bob Reynolds.[195]
Warbound member Miek impaled the Hulk's longtime friend Rick Jones, and revealed that he had intentionally allowed the mass deaths on Sakaar to happen, knowing they were caused by former followers of the Red King and not the Illuminati. The Hulk and the BroodNo-Name attacked Miek in retaliation. Betrayed and enraged, the Hulk unwillingly began releasing energy that threatened the Eastern Seaboard, and prompted Tony Stark to activate a series of satellite devices that opened fire and eventually left the Hulk in his Bruce Banner form, whom the devices rendered unconscious. S.H.I.E.L.D. imprisoned Banner in a facility three miles underground, and the other Warbound members were placed under U.S. custody.[235]
Red Hulk Incident
While Banner was incarcerated at Gamma Base, a new mystery revealed itself when the Abomination was found murdered in his homeland of Russia. The perpetrator soon revealed himself as a massive creature referring to itself as the Red Hulk. This new incarnation of the Hulk decimated the likes of the She-Hulk, Iron Man, Rick Jones in his new powered-up identity of a creature named A-Bomb, and even Thor.[236]
Banner was set free when the clash between the Red Hulk and A-Bomb caused an earthquake that damaged his prison. The potential threat to Banner's life triggered his transformation into the original green Hulk, and he wasted no time in confronting his new nemesis. The Hulk, caught unprepared for the Red Hulk's fighting style, was defeated in their first meeting and suffered a broken arm in the process, but the outcome was much different during their second meeting where the Hulk found a potential weakness in the Red Hulk and exploited it. Once the Red Hulk was beaten, the Hulk left without finding out the Red Hulk's true identity; however, Banner began spending his time trying to track down the Red Hulk before he could do more 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 Wendigo from devouring everyone inside a casino.[237]
Skaar
Meanwhile, on Sakaar, the Hulk's thought-dead son, Skaar, had risen. Skaar was progeny of Hulk and Caiera the Oldstrong. After Caiera's death a cocoon containing Skaar fell into the lake of fire. After a period of time, Skaar emerged from the cocoon, appearing to be the age equivalent to a human preteen. He quickly grew into what seemed to be an adult. Skaar wanted revenge on the Hulk was because he felt the Hulk had abandoned him and his world to death.[238]
Skaar was exiled from his planet and was warped to Earth. Skaar confronted his father, who was then in his savage persona. Skaar was disgusted with his father's diminished intelligence. The Hulk engaged Skaar in a fight, which created a fissure that endangered a nuclear power plant. The Warbound were trying to prevent a nuclear catastrophe when they were unexpectedly aided by the Hulk and Skaar. Skaar, using the Oldpower, sealed the containment building and saved the workers at the plant. Skaar subsequently impaled the Hulk and left, claiming he would come back when he was worth killing.[239]
Defenders vs. Offenders
Sometime later, the Grandmaster came to the Hulk with a proposition: if the Hulk chose to participate in a game and won, Grandmaster would bring his love, Jarella, back to life. The Hulk agreed, and was told he could pick a group of allies to aid him in the game. The Hulk chose his former teammates in the Defenders: Namor the Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange. When the time came to meet their opponents, the Collector appeared with the Hulk's nemesis, the Red Hulk, and his team -- consisting of Baron Mordo, Terrax, and Tiger Shark -- and known as the Offenders. The Grandmaster gave the Savage Hulk Bruce Banner's mind and had each team member transported to the times and places from which the Hulk had gathered the Defenders. The Hulk faced off against the Red Hulk in Atlantis, where the Red Hulk pierced the Hulk's heart with a cosmic energy-charged trident. The Hulk was eventually revived by the Grandmaster, and he knocked out the Red Hulk with one punch.[240]
Hulk No More
Afterwards, Banner was captured by A.I.M., and was detained underneath Gamma Base to be used to create a gamma-powered super-soldier program, headed by M.O.D.O.K. and backed by General Ross. M.O.D.O.K. was responsible for the creation of the Red Hulk, Rick Jones' transformation into A-Bomb, and the evil split personality of Doc Samson. The plot was uncovered by the She-Hulk. To infiltrate an A.I.M. base, Jennifer recruited reporter Ben Urich to help uncover the truth, and Urich, in turn, recruited Peter Parker to aid in photography. A battle soon interrupted the tank containing Banner, causing him to transform into the Hulk. When the two Hulks clashed, the Red Hulk used his radiation absorption abilities to steal the gamma energy from inside the Hulk, preventing him from ever becoming the Hulk again. As the base reached critical mass, the defenseless Bruce Banner was rescued by a now-intelligent A-Bomb.[241]
In the aftermath of the explosion, Norman Osborn sent Ares to learn if Banner could still turn into the Hulk. When Ares attacked Banner, Rick rushed to his defense, but was quickly defeated. Ares was soon outsmarted by Banner, and he was locked inside a room built to hold the Hulk. After evading Ares, Bruce and Rick parted ways.[242]
Training Skaar
Banner confronted Skaar in the Mojave desert. After much deliberation, Skaar grudgingly agreed to allow Bruce Banner to train him on how to defeat the Hulk, should he ever return.[243] Bruce lured the Juggernaut into fighting Skaar,[244] and then Wolverine and Daken.[245] Soon after, the pair encountered Norman Osborn's Femme Fatales, Victoria Hand and Ms. Marvel.[246] Bruce discovered Betty Ross was alive, and was immediately attacked by a Harpy who turned out to be Marlo Chandler.[247] The pair come to the aid of the Fantastic Four, who were in the middle of a battle with the Mole Man and later Tyrannus.[248] Later on, Bruce saved Skaar from Doctor Doom.[249] Bruce and Skaar tried to protect Hank Pym from the Leader, but in this, they failed.
Bruce absorbing Gamma Radiation and Cosmic Radiation.
Bruce then assembled his own group of Avengers to try and save Betty.[250] Betty, who was angry with him for having married another woman, was used by the Leader to distract Bruce so that he could "hulkify" many A.I.M. marines and heroes. Bruce was captured by the Leader and hooked up to a virtual reality machine.[251] He was unwilling to leave the virtual world until he was convinced by Doctor Doom, who was also trapped. When Bruce escaped, he was saved from Doctor Doom by the Red She-Hulk, who was stabbed by Skaar and turned out to be Betty herself.[252] The Leader escaped and the Cathexis Ray Generator machinery was reversed, and all the radiation from the Hulked-Out Heroes returned back to the Helicarrier. Bruce then absorbed all the energy to contain it at the behest of Reed Richards. Doc Samson died trying to help. The Helicarrier crashed, and from the rubble, there emerged a new incarnation of the Hulk, who came to be called the Worldbreaker Hulk.[253]
Skaar had his chance to fight the Hulk at last. During the confrontation, the Hulk rescued innocent bystanders endangered by their fight. Skaar reacted to this act of compassion by ceasing his assault, but the Hulk continued his, causing Skaar to revert to human form. The Hulk was reminded of Banner's own abusive father and reverted to human form as well, recognizing that he would never be able to continue that fight without Bruce becoming Brian Banner. Banner apologized and embraced his son, and Skaar accepted his love.[254]
Return of the Worldbreaker
Scorched Earth
The Red Hulk set himself up in the White House, planning to take over America. However, the Hulk showed up to foil his plan. After having Ross imprisoned in Gamma Base, Steve Rogers released him to stop the Leader's and M.O.D.O.K.'s joint contingency plan, called Scorched Earth. Banner was put in charge of countering the program and learned how to shut it down with clues from the depowered M.O.D.O.K.. Banner assisted the Red Hulk and shut down the Living Supercomputer running Scorched Earth, not knowing that this was a distraction created by M.O.D.O.K to cover the trail of his cloned successor, M.O.D.O.K Superior.[255]
The Hulk Family
The Hulk family, composed of Skaar, Korg, A-Bomb, the Hulk, the She-Hulk, the Savage She-Hulk, and the Red She-Hulk all went into seclusion, ignoring the attempts of the government to bring them out of hiding. The Hulk's other son, and Skaar's twin, Hiro-Kala, set his sights on Earth, planning to destroy it with the planet K'ai. Hiro-Kala was confronted by his father. Skaar used his own old power to seal Hiro-Kala in a sphere of stone. Hiro-Kala was merged with the Worldmind to create a miniature sun, to use the Old Power to warm K'ai.[256]
Heart of the Monster
After a wishing well's power was unleashed, the Hulk found himself facing some of his mightiest foes. One of them was the alien warlord Arm'Cheddon. He defeated and depowered the She-Hulk and A-Bomb as part of his revenge scheme against the Hulk. He then revealed that he had reconfigured his power-channeling abilities so that he could channel the Hulk's energy; the stronger the Hulk got, the stronger he got. When the Red She-Hulk interfered with the conflict, he hit her with the full force of his power. In a rage, the Hulk defeated Arm'Cheddon.[257]
Fear Itself
Nul, Breaker of Worlds.
When the Serpent was freed by Skadi, he called seven hammers to Earth. The Hulk was transformed by one of these hammers, becoming one of the Worthy: Nul, Breaker of Worlds. Rampaging through South and Central America, Nul was eventually transported to New York City where, teaming with the Angrir-possessed Thing, the two began battling a lonesome Thor. After defeating the Thing, Thor stated that he never could beat the Hulk, and instead removed him from the battle by launching him into Earth Orbit, after which Thor collapsed from exhaustion. Landing in Romania, Nul immediately began heading for the base of the vampire-king Dracula. Opposed by Dracula's forces, including a legion of monsters, Nul was seemingly unstoppable.[258] Only after the intervention of Raizo Kodo's Forgiven was Nul briefly slowed.[259] Ultimately, Nul made his way to Dracula's castle where the timely arrival of Kodo and Forgiven member Inka, disguised as Betty Ross, was able to throw off the effects of the Nul possession. Throwing aside the hammer, the Hulk regained control, and promptly left upon realizing "Betty's" true nature.[260] Claiming that he wanted to be alone, the Hulk somehow appeared to separate himself from Bruce Banner and disappeared.[261]
Asunder
In truth, the Hulk resorted to Doctor Doom to separate himself from Bruce Banner, resulting in him removing the portion of the brain controlled by Banner and moving it to a gamma-free cloned body of Bruce Banner.[227] The Hulk moved underground, where he lived with a tribe of Moloids until Commander Amanda von Doom contacted him for help to hunt an insane Bruce Banner.[262]
The Hulk helped the Mad Squad (Doom's team) to assault an island which Banner used as a base, where he was creating gamma-mutated animals in a series of experiments to become the Hulk again. The attack resulted in Banner's vaporization in a gamma bomb, which resulted in Bruce Banner again sharing the Hulk's mind, but still with his insane mind, and the Hulk refused to have any memories of his time as Banner. With the transformation shifted so that the Hulk was the 'dominant' persona, reverting to Banner when he became too calm, Bruce Banner led the Hulk to a journey in different locations around the world, including an old Russian space station, the City of Sasquatches; there, he protected the Sasquatch from Kraven the Hunter, and an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base, which ended with the Hulk waking up strapped to a chair with a needle pointed above him and Banner talking on a video screen. The recording of Banner revealed that he had finally discovered the cure for the Hulk, the components of which being what the Hulk had been gathering throughout his "journey;" however, Banner also revealed that he was no longer interested in controlling the Hulk, having come to recognize that he was a better person with the Hulk than he would have been without him. This prompted the two personas to join forces again to investigate Doom's latest plan, using the gamma cure that Banner had devised to restore the animals on Banner's former island headquarters to normal.[263]
Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Bruce's reunion with his persona as the Hulk caused a reversion of the Hulk's intelligence. While spending time alone in the American desert, the Hulk was caught in the middle of a conflict between the army and Aquarius of the Zodiac.[264] The Hulk brought the Avengers a piece of Aquarius' suit that he had torn from the villain to investigate his identity, and he remained with the Avengers to confront the Zodiac,[265] as well as Thanos the Mad Titan, who revealed himself to be the group's master.[266] The Hulk additionally assisted the Avengers during their war against Cyclops and the Phoenix Five.[240]
After officially returning to the Avengers' ranks,[267] Bruce Banner approached S.H.I.E.L.D. to offer them a new way to put both his and the Hulk's abilities at their service. Bruce's intelligence could be used to create new technology for the betterment of humanity, and the Hulk's strength would be used against S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies. During his tenure working for S.H.I.E.L.D., the Hulk battled the Quintronic Man[268] and the Byzantine.[269] The Hulk even became part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret splinter branch named T.I.M.E. to fight a group of time-travellers called the Chronarchists, who intended to reknit history in their image.[270]
Becoming Doc Green
One of Bruce's own S.H.I.E.L.D. assistants, Melinda Leucenstern, shot him in the head on orders of the Ancient Order of the Shield because they determined he was going to cause an extinction-level event.[271] Having suffered severe brain damage,[272] Bruce was eventually cured by Tony Stark using the Extremis virus, which further increased Bruce's mental capacity as a side effect.[273] Not long afterwards, the Hulk and many other heroes were exposed to countless secrets kept by the late Uatu the Watcher.[274] The vision he witnessed made Bruce mistakenly believe that Stark was responsible for him becoming the Hulk, since he had secretly tampered with the shielding of the Gamma Bomb on behalf of General Ross.[275] As part of his misguided revenge attempt against Iron Man, Bruce used his new intellect to tweak the Extremis dose in his body and unleash a new persona for the Hulk, the super-intelligent Doc Green.[275] Doc Green made peace with Tony after learning that the Gamma Bomb's original shielding had been over-bolstered, and thus Tony's tampering had actually refined the bomb's explosive potential so that it would not disintegrate everyone within the blast radius, with the result having been that Tony's actions had actually saved Bruce's life.[276]
As Doc Green
After coming to the conclusion that the world was in danger due to its many Gamma mutates, Doc Green determined that they needed to be neutralized. He developed a serum made from Adamantium nanobots that absorbed gamma energy[11] and used it to depower A-Bomb,[277]Skaar,[278]Red She-Hulk,[271] the Gamma Corps,[279] and finally, the Red Hulk.[280] The only Gamma mutate Doc Green did not depower was the She-Hulk, since he determined she was the only Gamma mutate whose life had been genuinely improved by her condition. Doc Green additionally realized that his intellect was slowly declining and would eventually return to its normal levels, those of the original primality of the Hulk.[281]
The Immortal Hulk
When an experimental fusion reactor started melting down, Bruce used the Hulk to absorb all of its radiation.[282] However, the new type of radiation being used on the plant threatened to cause the Hulk to detonate. The Hulk's friend Amadeus Cho assisted the Hulk, and in the process of saving his life, he used special nanites to transfer Banner's powers to himself.[283] Even though he had become effectively gamma-free,[284] Bruce started experimenting on himself with gamma-irradiated cells at his laboratory in Utah.[285] Bruce's experiments caused him to become the target of one of the visions of an Inhuman precognitive named Ulysses Cain, who foretold that Bruce would eventually transform into the Hulk and cause an onslaught.[286] When a contingent of superheroes confronted Bruce Banner about the vision, they learned of his experiments. Banner became agitated, and Hawkeye shot him in the head with an arrow equipped with a special custom-built tip.[285] It was eventually revealed during Hawkeye's trial that the arrow tip had been provided by Bruce Banner himself, and he had requested Clint to shoot him if it even became apparent that he would again transform into the Hulk.[285]
Temporarily resurrected by the Hand
Bruce's body was stolen by the ninja clan known as The Hand shortly after his funeral.[287] The Avengers Unity Division attempted to stop The Hand's resurrection ritual, but arrived too late.[288] Following a brief confrontation, the rampage of the Hulk, now again mindless, was finally contained within a magical doorway of Voodoo's creation, which allowed the sorcerer to enter Banner's soul and cleanse it from the Hand's corruption. Banner reverted to his human form and died in the process.[289] When Hydra took over the United States by the hand of an evil doppelganger of Captain America, head scientist Arnim Zola resurrected Bruce Banner to use the Hulk in an assault against the resistance known as the Underground.[290] Even though Banner refused to assist Hydra, the side of him that was the Hulk complied with pleasure.[291] As a result of a time-delayed device Zola had implanted, the Hulk's resurrection was temporary. Shortly before the destruction of the Underground's base, The Mount, his body deteriorated and he again died.[291] Banner's body was left behind beneath the ruins of the Mount.[292]
Hulk's resurrection at the hands of the Challenger during the events of Avengers: No Surrender.
The Hulk's third consecutive resurrection came by the hand of the Challenger, an exiled Elder of the Universe who had returned for a rematch against the Grandmaster. He related to the Hulk's rage, and brought him back to life to act as his ace in the hole during the final round of a contest between each of the Elders' teams, the Black Order and the Lethal Legion, whose objective had been to seize the Pyramoids deployed on Earth by their masters during each round.[292] The Hulk agreed to help the Challenger retrieve the final Pyramoid since the Earth was going to be destroyed as soon as the contest ended, and the Hulk saw it as a way to free himself of the nuisance of humanity.[293] By this time, Bruce Banner's persona, that had been overwhelmed by the Hulk's psyche, came to the realization that this succession of resurrections was not a coincidence, but simply a manifestation of the Hulk's innate immortality.
During the final round, the Hulk rampaged to the Avengers Auxiliary Headquarters, where Voyager, the Grandmaster's own secret agent within the Avengers, had teleported the final Pyramoid.[294] The Hulk quickly defeated the Avengers that tried to stand on his way,[294] and he even destroyed the Vision.[295] Even though the Hulk managed to make his way to the vault where Voyager was hiding the Pyramoid, Wonder Man convinced him that the Challenger was as much at fault as the rest of humanity of not leaving him alone. When the Pyramoid was within his grasp, the Hulk destroyed it instead, costing the Challenger his victory.[293] Following the Challenger's defeat,[296] Banner went under the radar, with the resurrection of the Hulk becoming nothing more than a rumor to the general public.[297] Bruce started travelling the country aimlessly looking for ways to put the Hulk to use as a tool to bring justice in order to atone for his own sins.[298]
Reporter Jackie McGee tracked Banner[299] and was later aided in her investigation by Banner's former colleague Walter Langkowski. After Langkowski was taken to a hospital when he was badly hurt trying to break up a fight between two men, he transformed into Sasquatch and killed the doctors treating him. Banner intervened and battled him as Hulk in order to subdue him. Hulk discovered that the source of Langkowski's rampage was the spirit of his father Brian Banner who had possessed Langkowski. Banner was able to stop Langkowski by draining him of his gamma energy, depowering him. However, Brian was able to move from Langkowski into the body of Banner.[195]
After being blackmailed by General Fortean into apprehending Banner in exchange for not charging Langkowski for the doctors he was forced to kill, Captain Marvel was forced to bring in the Avengers to bring Banner in.[300] However, Banner, as Hulk, was too powerful for the Avengers to defeat. So, Iron Man was forced to use an energy weapon laced with UV radiation to prevent Hulk from emerging and healing Banner but also leveled the surrounding community.[10] After being turned over to General Fortean and his U.S. Hulk Operations, Banner, as Hulk, had his body cut into various pieces and kept in jars for study. The experiments were overseen by Dr. Clive, who enjoyed taunting the Hulk. Dr. Clive eventually realized too late that Hulk had actually been allowing him to experiment on him in order to figure out the extent of his own abilities. Hulk then smashed his way out of the jars and put his body back together while also killing Clive as punishment for his sadistic experiments. Hulk then smashed his way out of the underground base he was in before transforming back into Banner.[301]
The Best Defense
Later, Banner found the corpse of a Doctor Strange from a possible future. After arriving in a small town in search of the Eye of Agamotto (missing from Strange's body), he eventually found an elderly man who was using the Eye to intimidate the townsfolk. The Hulk emerged and took the eye back, unleashing the spirit of the alternate reality Doctor Strange, who warned him of a disastrous future. Doctor Strange then transported himself and Hulk to Hell, where they confronted two demons who were trying to allow the disaster that would destroy Earth to pass and cause the future to arrive. Hulk proceeded to eat one of the demon's face, which scared the other out of his physical form. They next entered the Life-eater heading for Earth, and a battle ensued. Eventually, Mephisto arrived and defeated the Life-eater. Doctor Strange asked Mephisto if he could cure Hulk and Banner of the demon within them. Mephisto revealed that the demon within them was far stronger than he was. Mephisto then transported Hulk back to Earth, where the Hulk made his way back to the bombsite where he was born.[302][303]
Damned
In order to stop Hulk, U.S. Hulk Operations brought in Carl Creel, the Absorbing Man, to take the Hulk down and gave to him a Hulk Plug-In. Armed with his newfound abilities, Creel attacked the Hulk and with every touch he drained Hulk's gamma energy. This proved to be his downfall as he had also absorbed the One Below All (disguised as Brian Banner's spirit) within the Hulk. Creel's physical body then exploded into a disgustingly horrifying creature, with his body ripped in half and his spine and skull talking for him.[304] Hulk eventually subdued the possessed Creel but was stopped when Gamma Flight and Jackie McGee appeared in front of him. Hulk was then shot in the eye by U.S. Hulk Operations operative Agent Burbank who had been watching the whole time. Hulk flipped out and attacked Gamma Flight. While this was happening, Creel ran away. Hulk recovered from the shock, turned to see Creel running, and realized what he was doing. He chased after Creel but was stopped when Puck stood in front of him with an energy weapon. Hulk walked closer but was shot. Then the One Below All had Creel drain the leftover gamma energy in the area, which allowed the demonic being within Creel to used the Green Door to transplant the world into the Hell-like realm of Below-Place. Alpha Flight's members and McGee were separated and seemingly woke in different places in Below-Place disorientated. Hulk then greeted McGee by saying they were all now in Hell.[305]
Hulk defeats the One Below All
Hulk and McGee traveled through Below-Place and found the One Below All. The One Below All taunted Hulk with manifestations of Rick Jones and General Ross. This caused the Savage Hulk persona to emerge, resulting in Bruce Banner separating from the Hulk. The One Below All planned to use the separated Banner and the gamma energy it absorbed to open a gateway that would lead to the rest of Earth and allow it to take it over. Hulk and the Rick Jones manifestation opposed the One Below All, but they were overwhelmed by a massive army of demons the One Below All sent against them. Then Carl Creel appeared before the One Below All, absorbed its gamma energy, and gave the energy to Hulk to restore Hulk's strength. The empowered Hulk dispersed the One Below All with a single thunderclap, stopping the demon's scheme and returning the surrounding area to Earth. Before fleeing the scene, the Hulk merged back with Bruce Banner, who revealed that he genuinely cared for his other half.[306]
No Road Home
After returning from the Below Place, Banner walked the roads of New Mexico until the sun mysteriously vanished from the solar system, turning him into Hulk once more. He was approached by Voyager who recruited him along with Hercules, Scarlet Witch, Spectrum, Rocket Raccoon, Vision, and Hawkeye. They were formed in order to combat the Greek goddess Nyx and stop her from bringing endless night through the re-obtainment of her Night Shards, which were parts of her soul scattered across the Universe. The team arrived to Olympus only to discover that the gods and city had been massacred by Nyx and her children.[307] The goddess then arrived, prompting a fight between Nyx and the "Avengers of the Wronged". During the battle, Voyager realized that her arrival was a distraction by Nyx to send her children for the other Night Shards. Thus, she created portals sending the members of the team to their locations. Hulk, Rocket, and Hawkeye were sent to the Nightmare World.[308]
After realizing they had arrived there, Nightmare asked for their assistance in stopping Hypnos from obtaining the Night That May Yet Be, which Hulk agreed to, at a price.[309] The three of them defended the fortress from Hypnos and his sleeping army,[310] as Hulk chased the god, eventually killing Hypnos by snapping his neck.[311] Upon obtaining the Shard, Hulk shattered it, absorbing a third of Nyx's power. In return for their assistance, Nightmare transported the three to the planet Euphoria, but were met with Nyx once more.[312]
The trio fought but were stopped when Nyx unblocked the darkness momentarily, causing sunlight to shine onto the Hulk which reverted him back to Bruce Banner. Unable to hold Nyx's power, the goddess absorbed Banner's Shard just as the other members of the team had arrived, using her newfound power to extinguish the stars of the universe.[313] When the manifestation of Euphoria asked the team of their desires, she stated she would fulfill Banner's desire of ending the Earth. Granting everyone else's wish, the team battled but were defeated when Nyx took the final Shard from Euphoria. They followed Nyx to the House of Ideas in Long Island, where Banner came in contact with the light, and vanished.[314]
He later appeared walking on a deserted road in Michigan.[315]
Hulkverines
Choosing to take other Gamma-powered individuals off the table, Bruce made his way to Erie County, Pennsylvania in order to confront Weapon H, Clay Cortez. Unfortunately, due to an experimental virus designed by the Leader, Cortez began to experience heightened aggression and loss of control of his own powers, forcing the two into conflict, and forcing Hulk to contract the virus himself.[316] Hulk quickly realized that Shadow Base were involved in the staged conflict, and found that Wolverine had been similarly manipulated into finding Cortez's home. After some brief conflict between the three, it was agreed that they would mount an offensive on Shadow Base and the Leader.[317] On their way to confront Shadow Base, both Hulk and Wolverine were captured by a Humanoid that had been designed in tandem by Sterns and former Weapon X doctor, Aliana Alba, and taken to Shadow Base Remote Facility FN34. At the facility, the two were infected by Adamantium-laced Sternbots in order to turn both heroes into crazed Hulkverines, who were soon dropped into yet another Shadow Base facility. Their destructive power was labeled an Avengers-level threat, but Weapon H was able to disrupt Sterns' and Alba's plans and undo their experimentation, allowing Banner to retreat into hiding once more.[318]
The War Against Shadow Base
Once again in hiding and no place to go, Banner contacted Betty and later appeared on her doorstep. He explained to an upset Betty that he didn't reunite with her after his resurrection due to the emotional turmoil it caused him. Betty was then shot in the head by U.S. Hulk Operations agent Bushwacker. Banner transformed into the Hulk and went after Bushwacker even after being shot in the head. Bushwacker was unexpectedly rescued by Bruce Banner's longtime friend Doc Samson who held off Hulk until his head wound healed, allowing him to think rationally while Bushwacker escaped. When Hulk and Samson went to check on Betty, she had vanished. During the conversation between the two, it was revealed the dominant personality was now Devil Hulk, and that he had intentions to end "the human world." Hulk and Samson then went to the resting place of Hulk's friend Rick Jones but discovered that the grave had been disinterred, and Rick's body was missing.[319]
"Joe Fixit" emerging
After learning from a gravekeeper that mysterious people had taken Rick's corpse, Samson and Hulk realized that it had been U.S. Hulk Operations. They traveled to New Mexico where the Hulk Operations' base was to take back Rick's body, but they discovered that the base had been abandoned and encountered animals monstrously mutated by gamma radiation. Hulk and Samson fought the animals with Hulk making quick work of them. Realizing too late that they had been lured into a trap, Bushwacker appeared and exposed Hulk to artificial sunlight to revert him back to Banner and seemingly killing Samson with a gunshot to the head. After getting shot, a powerless Banner hid in a hallway when the stress of the event caused his Grey Hulk persona to appear but in Bruce Banner's body.[320]
Banner was able to temporarily subdue Bushwacker and make a break for one of the base's administrative sections. After accessing the base's computer network, he gained control of the artificial sunlight emitters and make them generate large amounts of gamma energy. Once again able to transform into the Hulk and bloated with gamma energy, Banner killed Bushwacker and destroyed the base before escaping.[321]
Days later, Banner regained control over his body and discovered that his Grey Hulk persona had taken up residence in a motel in Reno, Nevada while he was in control. After having a conversation with his Hulk persona, Banner heard a scream and transformed into the Hulk to investigate. He discovered a monster resembling the Abomination attacking the motel's front desk. Banner confronted the monster and mistook it for the Abomination. After getting up close, Banner discovered that the monster was actually a resurrected Rick Jones transformed into a monster by the U.S. Hulk Operations to fight him.[322]
Hulk decided to continue to fight Jones despite his transformation. However, Jones revealed a new ability: the ability to secrete an acid that could not only dissolve the Hulk's flesh but also negate his ability to heal. After secreting acid that dissolved one of the Hulk's hands, Jones spat out more acid that dissolved the Hulk's remaining limbs. As Hulk lied on the ground, Betty unexpectedly appeared in her new Harpy form with Jackie McGee and ripped open the Hulk's body to consume his heart.[323]
The Hulk died temporarily, but the removal of his heart by Harpy jump-started his healing factor, allowing to come back to life and rapidly recover from his injuries. After punching away Betty and Rick, Hulk and Betty made peace in time to be confronted by the U.S. Hulk Operations in War-Wagons who fired muntions at them. Hulk got Jackie to safety while Betty and Rick fought each other. One of the War-Wagons was about to hit Hulk with concentrated UV energy, but Betty dropped Rick on top of the War-Wagon, badly damaging it. As the War-Wagon fell, Hulk punched it into to other War-Wagon, destroying them both. Hulk then ripped Rick in half, revealing that his new form was actually a shell that contained his human form. After that, Hulk, Betty, and Jackie fled with Rick.[324]
While in hiding, Bruce learned that Thaddeus Ross' body had been exhumed and red slime had been found at the site of the grave, Bruce became concerned that either the Shadow Base had stolen his body or the One Below All had indwelled him. Bruce used Betty Ross to locate Ross' corpse in a mass grave in New Jersey, Devil Hulk calling it in and overhearing two paramedics mention one of the corpses - Angelo Fortunato - had been a former host of the Venom symbiote. After locating Spider-Man, Bruce was informed about Carnage's attack on humanity in order to revive Knull, and speculated that the God of the Symbiotes was an avatar of the One Below All.[325] Bruce completed the machine built by the Maker to remove the codices of those who had been bonded to a symbiote, though he hated the idea due to using Normie Osborn to test it. However, Carnage had snuck into the building disguised as Eddie Brock, and the Venom symbiote - tired of Eddie's refusal to kill - attempted to bond with Bruce. Carnage killed Bruce, unaware of who or what he was, and was shocked senseless when the Hulk - now bonded to the symbiote - attacked him.[326] In a mental conversation, the Devil Hulk protested bonding to the symbiote, threatening to rip out his own spine, but Savage Hulk, Bruce Banner, and Joe Fixit overruled him and welcomed it into their family; agreeing to help stop Knull from destroying the world.[325]The Venomized Hulk fought evenly against Carnage, who sensed the power of the One Below All and expressed a desire to combine it with Knull's eldritch darkness. The Venomized Hulk refused to join Carnage's cult, so Carnage forcibly reverted him into Bruce Banner and ripped the Venom symbiote off him; assimilating it and tossing Bruce's unconscious body aside.[327]
Vs. The Thing
Sometime prior to these events, the Puppet Master took over the Raft and crafted a puppet of the Hulk so he could confront and kill the Thing, angry that his daughter, Alicia had taken control of him to give his blessing for her and the Thing to be married. The Hulk confronted the two at the beach resort where they were to spend their honeymoon.[328] When the Thing attempted to get the Hulk to shake off the Puppet Master's control, the Hulk revealed that he didn't mind doing so because he got to fight the Thing, a fight he knew he would win. With encouragement from Alicia, the Thing delivered a powerful blow that knocked out the Hulk and obliterated the puppet controlling him, shattering his arm in the process and knocking him out for a week afterwards. The Hulk left before the rest of the Fantastic Four arrived and made his way to the Raft, where he broke in and crushed the Puppet Master's hands as revenge for controlling him.[329]
Gwenpool Island
When Gwenpool begun to gather various heroes for her contest, she kidnapped Bruce in order to force the heroes fight each other.[330] After she shot Banner in the head, turning him into the Hulk, the Hulk rampaged and tried to kill Gwen. However, Gwenpool got her various past self thanks to her powers, and along with the other heroes, defeated the Hulk.[331]
Conquering the Shadow Base
The four went into hiding for several days to elude the Hulk Operations. During this time, Bruce's Joe Fixit persona emerged again and revealed to Jackie that Hulk liked her because she stood up to him. Eventually, Rick awakened and revealed where the Hulk Operations' base was: Groom Lake at Area 51. Later, Bruce as the Hulk, Betty, Rick, and Jackie smashed their way into the base to confront the Hulk Operations.[332] While Betty, Rick, and Jackie searched the base, Hulk battled Fortean's forces with help from Gamma Flight. Eventually, Hulk battled Fortean who was now encased the Gamma-Activated Tissue that used to be attached to Rick. Hulk called Fortean a dime-store version of himself, Abomination, and Ross. Fortean then sprayed Hulk with corrosive acid that melted much of his face and front torso.[333]
Hulk resisted the damage done to his and continued fighting Fortean. When Fortean killed two of his own men with his acid attack, Dr. McGowan, head of the science division and Fortean's second in command, relieved him of his command due to no longer being able to control of himself and ordered everyone to stand down. Fortean became enraged by this and took his frustration out on Hulk, vowing to destroy him. He sprayed Hulk with more acid while Hulk grabbed him by the throat. Both combatants died and their souls were transported to the Below-Place. They were met by Samson and the One-Below-All. Fortean was horrified by his fate, leaving him vulnerable from being grabbed from behind by Banner who was possessed by his Joe Fixit persona. Joe then broke Fortean's neck. When Hulk came back to life, he told a resurrected Samson that he was now talking over Shadow Base, feeling that Dr. McGowan was someone he could work with.[334]
Later, Banner broadcasted a message, declaring his intent to fight mankind for the devastation it had done to the environment and threatened to fight those that knowingly harm it but were protected from legal consequences. After broadcasting the message, Banner met with his friend Amadeus Cho in a diner in Massachsetts in hopes of convincing Cho of helping him fight mankind by appealing to his Hulk side. Cho, however, refused, stating that he wasn't a Hulk anymore and that he still had hope for the future but that he was still Banner's friend.[335]
Attack on Roxxon Data Center
Banner's next target in his war against the human world was Roxxon. He chose one of their data centers in Oregon as his places to strike, as Roxxon's greatest asset and source of insight into society was their data centers, which process trillions of terabytes of data every second.
Banner transformed into the Hulk a bit before sunrise, and prepared to translocate to the data center, despite Dr. McGowan's worries about the unpredictablity and temperament of translocation, combined with the short time frame until sunrise, which would force Banner back into his human form, possibly in the middle of battle.
Hulk standing in the sunset.
Hulk translocated directly between two B.E.R.S.E.R.K.E.R.s in the middle of a combination "combat readiness drill" and petty squabble, and battled each B.E.S.E.R.K.E.R. on-site hand-to-hand, pummeling each of them thoroughly and wrecking the server farm. The amount of damage to the server farm was enough to bring down Roxxon's social media sites and destroyed large amounts of valuable data, much of which was not insured by digital backups.
When Dr. McGowan reminded Hulk of the sunrise, he responded that he thinks he would watch it, to her bafflement. He explained that Banner showed him that, working together, they could fight the sun from reverting him back to Banner. Standing triumphantly to the sunrise, he declared that together, they were the strongest there was.[336]
Personality
When I was four, I saw my father kill my mother. And years later, I killed him. I didn't mean to. But I did it. I've got that kind of anger inside. That kind of capacity. But you... you have your own problems. And your Hulk's gonna have his own problems as a result. And you may not love everything you learn about yourself. But you're not a... you're not a monster. You're not me, Amadeus. You're not me.
Banner suffered severe trauma as a child inflicted by his father, and repressed it in his subconsciousness. Because Banner's mind is incredibly complex, the original trauma associated with the event that triggered his transformation into the Hulk stimulated the emergence of various aspects of his personality, corresponding to the different stages of his life. Each fraction of his complex mind represents a peculiar archetype fragmentation of Banner's multifaceted psyche.[24]
Because of that, Banner is often trying to hide his emotional damage, resulting predominantly in social isolation. And at the same time he is pursued by the destruction that Hulk causes, what culminates in more complications in his life. However, Bruce Banner is a self-sacrificing and heroic person. Endowed with a super-genius intellect, he is also one of the most brilliant and resourceful minds on Earth. Banner is constantly undertaken his career as a superhero while trying to find a cure for his condition. Banner and Hulk are frequently portrayed as mutually hating each other, but at times Banner strategically acts in full synchrony and consonance with his Hulk persona, thus giving the Hulk a purpose. During the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk arcs, for example, both acted in full cooperation, and the Immortal Hulk even declared to, after all, cherish and care for the Banner persona. Banner has also stated that the Hulk's reasoning and intelligence tend to fluctuate depending upon a number of factors at the moment of transformation, resulting in the Hulk's standard persona varying from a raging monster to a more calculating fighter.[337]
The Hulk initially is characterized as a separate entity from Bruce Banner, a distillation of his human anger that gradually develops its own personality and memories separate from Banner's. Banner suffers from "Dissociative Identity 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 personalities of the Hulk, but only a few major versions have been seen to date.[24]
Bruce Banner - Bruce Banner is the emotionally repressed core personality, possessed of genius intellect. Banner can transform into the different versions of the Hulk, whereas his alter egos seem to be able only to transform into Bruce Banner.[24]
Savage Hulk
Savage/Child Hulk - The Savage, or more accurately described, "Childlike" Hulk is the most common version of the Hulk, though it possesses the mental capacity and temperament of a young child and typically refers to himself in the third person. The Savage Hulk is the reflection of the young child abused by his father, which is the source of extreme rage and resentment from which his dynamic strength is derived. However, he is naive, innocent, and kind. He often claims that he wants to be left alone, but this is because he is constantly attacked without the capacity to understand why. He really wants to be liked and is very loyal to his friends. The Savage Hulk is usually depicted as green-skinned and heavily-muscled with a loping, ape-like gait. While in a functionally calm emotional state, or at least as calm as the Hulk can be, the Savage Hulk is stronger than the Gray Hulk. While angry, he has the potential for limitless strength, depending on the height of his temper.[24]
Joe Fixit
Gray Hulk/"Joe Fixit" - The Gray Hulk worked for a time as a Las Vegas enforcer called "Joe Fixit." The Gray Hulk has average intelligence, although he occasionally displays knowledge and intellectual ability normally associated with Banner. He is cunning, crafty, hedonistic, arrogant, and distant, with a hidden conscience; various psychological assessments of the Hulks have identified this Hulk as the personification of the moody teenager that Banner never allowed himself to be. In most of his Las Vegas appearances, he appeared only at night. According to the Leader, the Gray Hulk persona is strongest during the night of the new moon and weakest during the full moon. This aversion to sun/moon light vanished when the Gray Hulk's night-induced transformation trigger was later removed. Although he is the smallest of the Hulks, the Gray Hulk towers over the average human. He prefers to dress in tailored suits. Joe Fixit's base strength level is also the lowest of the three primary Hulk incarnations.[24] Following the Devil Hulk's takeover of the other Hulk personas, Joe gained the ability to manifest in the body of Bruce Banner, with the only noticeable difference in appearance being Banner's eye color changing from brown to gray.[320] This form of Joe can operate during the day time, which has lead to his self-given nickname "Sunshine Joe."[332]
Merged Hulk
Merged Hulk/"The Professor" - The Merged Hulk was the merger of the personalities of Banner and the Savage and Gray Hulks.[24] The Merged Hulk was far more well-adjusted than most incarnations, as well as an associate and leader of the team of superheroic philanthropists called the Pantheon. Despite his exaggerated musculature, the Merged Hulk had a relatively normal looking face, resembling that of Banner. The Merged Hulk 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 Merged Hulk is stronger than the Savage Hulk in a calm state. However, unlike the other incarnations of the Hulk, Bruce Banner subconsciously installed a type of safeguard within this incarnation. Although in the beginning he was stated to get stronger with his rage,[338] when the Merged Hulk's anger reaches a berserk level, he will transform back into Bruce Banner, though with the mind and personality of the Savage Hulk. From this point, he was stated to turn weaker as he got angrier.[339] It is unknown if he would currently have this limitation or not. For a while the Merged Hulk was renamed "The Professor," and instead claimed to be Banner's good side, or ideal self, as a personality created by Doc Samson. However, the creator of this incarnation apparently later retconned this as one of the reality distortions created by Nightmare.[340]
Green Scar, The Worldbreaker
Green Scar/"The Worldbreaker" - The Hulk of World War Hulk is a cunning and more powerful version than the previous incarnations, for he is the enraged version of the "Gravage Hulk." His rage is at its most focused, due to meditation training by his ally Hiroim. This incarnation has extremely high durability, shrugging off attacks that have hurt his other incarnations. 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. There were several instances where the Hulk and Banner worked together strategically, such as acting to disable Dr Strange. Caiera, the Green Scar's wife, understood Banner as well, and both personalities loved her equally. This was the driving factor in the Banner/Hulk alliance. As a result of being caught in the explosion of the warp core of his ship which brought him to Sakaar, which destroyed the planet, the Green Scar's base level of strength was dramatically increased. While in a calm emotional state, he is the strongest primary incarnation.[341] During a burst of unexplained anger from the Hulk in New York City, Professor X attempted to slow down the angered Hulk with intense power; however, the Hulk proved to be resistant to the Professor's psionic effects.[342] The Green Scar reached a new level of anger at the end of World War Hulk, after his fellow Warbound Miek attempted to provoke him to destroy the world. At this level, he started to release huge amounts of gamma energy from within his body, devastating New York, and causing quakes across North America. It would have taken but a couple of footsteps from the Hulk to completely destroy the eastern seaboard. If he had not let himself be stopped, then he definitely would have lived up to his "Worldbreaker" title, and would have completely destroyed the Earth.[235] After World War Hulk, Banner suppressed the Green Scar, preventing him from surfacing. He momentarily reappeared in battle with the Hulk's son Skaar, still identifying himself as the "Worldbreaker."[254] He seems to have resurfaced after Bruce regained his Hulk powers, his anger tempered from its "Worldbreaker" levels by another confrontation with Skaar, and was proven even strong enough to take down the Red Hulk without much of a fight despite the Red Hulk continuously absorbing the Hulk's radiation to empower himself.[343] The Hulk lived up to his "Worldbreaker" title by destroying a world (from a direct collision with the Red She-Hulk) in the Dark Dimension.[344]
Devil Hulk
Devil/Immortal Hulk - This variation of the Hulk persona originated as a response to Banner's need for a protective father figure. Due to his abusive childhood he was unable to imagine the idea of love without pain, so the Devil Hulk took the form of a demonic, reptilian monster within Banner's mind.[345][346]
The Devil Hulk as he appeared in Bruce's mind
The trauma of Bruce's death during the Second Superhuman Civil War[285] and subsequent resurrection[292] allowed the Devil Hulk to suppress the other Hulk personas and become the "dominant" Hulk; though the Savage Hulk persona can still resurface if he is enraged enough.[347][346][348] He is extremely articulate, smart and cunning. For the most part, he acts in response to people that cause harm to others, and dispenses judgment on them mercilessly.[298] Unlike previous Hulks, he is content to wait inside Bruce, possessing a measure of power over Banner previous Hulks didn't have.[348] When Banner is in control, the Hulk manifests as a gut feeling that guides him through to his objectives.[298] In addition to the Hulk's transformation period being limited to nighttime, Bruce can't transform whenever he wants, or even at the first sign of trouble.[348] The Hulk always manifests when Bruce is fatally injured, but only once the sun is down,[297] though he eventually overcame this weakness with help from Banner.[336] Like every Hulk incarnation, the Devil Hulk possessed enormous strength but is proportionately stronger than ever. Examples of his strength include giving Thor a skull fracture following up a severe concussion that left him out of the fight, sending She-Hulk flying for at least two miles in a single blow, tearing apart the latest Hulkbuster Armor devised by Iron Man, and overloading Black Panther's vibranium-based Panther Habit; which was thought to be impossible, all while possessed by the One Below All.[10] The Devil Hulk also has incredible regenerative power. He quickly healed a large hole blown through his torso,[9] as well as put his body back together after it was sliced into pieces while possessed by the One Below All. In order for a part of his body to heal, though, it seemingly needed to be in close proximity to other pieces, and despite being segmented, Hulk was still able to move the separate parts of his body,[301] similar to Deadpool.[349] The Devil Hulk also has a desire to completely destroy human civilization, arguing that they're just one misstep away from annihilation anyway.[346]
Former Incarnations
Savage Grey Hulk- During Banner's early transformations, the Grey Hulk appeared as a child-like savage creature that shared many aspects with the Savage Hulk, such as referring to himself in third person and having the temperament of a child. After a few nights, the Grey Hulk gained an average human intelligence. Some time later, the Savage Grey Hulk re-emerged during his encounter with the Distorter, with his rage preventing him to be controlled by the Distorter. Many years later, after the Hulk was caught in a gamma explosion, the Savage Grey Hulk re-emerged once again, but this time he destroyed part of Las Vegas and fought the Fantastic Four members The Thing and the Human Torch during his rampage.[24]
The Gravage Hulk
Gravage Hulk / Post-Heroes Return Hulk - The Gravage Hulk is a merger of the Savage and Gray Hulk personas. It was caused when Banner tried to have control over the Hulk's personality after using his Gamma Projector, but the experiment didn't fully worked and, while this Hulk possessed part of Banner's scientist knowledge, the Hulk still referred to Banner as a separate person.[45] This Hulk persona displayed the cunning intellect of the Gray Hulk and the raw power of the Savage Hulk.[42][350] He did not have the ability to grow stronger with his rage, but instead drew upon dimensional nexus energies to gradually increase his base level.[350]
Mindless Hulk - Nightmare, in an attempt to find new ways to hurt his enemy Doctor Strange by going through his friends, penetrated Bruce Banner's mind and discovered his influence had an unexpected side effect; a new personality began to develop out of Banner's worst visions of the Hulk. At this period in Banner's life, he had just gained control over the Hulk's body, but was constantly on alert and terrified this was just temporarily, and that the Hulk, which he saw as nothing but a savage and destructive beast, would break free once more when the world least expected it. Far from being identical with the original Hulk, this version was based on a nightmarish imagination made of all of Banner's worst fears and ideas of his former alter ego. Nightmare continued to manipulate and increase his influence, allowing this dark incarnation to gradually rise to the surface. It finally became its own personality after Banner made his "psychic suicide," allowing it to break free of Banner's domination. Eventually, with the assistance of three creatures created by his subconscious, (Glow, Goblin, and Guardian), this Hulk gained the ability to speak and behave much less savagely. Since then, this personality has not been seen again, and it has been suggested that it is no longer a part of Banner's personality. A part of the Hulk, with the assistance of Doctor Strange, entered the Dimension of Nightmare as a similar manifestation as Mindless Hulk, threatening to kill him. Nightmare was forced to seek out Spider-Man's help, as this Hulk was destroying the whole domain. Spider-Man eventually pushed the Hulk into another realm, but he pulled Nightmare in with him. Nightmare has since been seen still alive, but this Hulk seems to have disappeared.[24]
Dark Hulk - The Dark Hulk was the result of Shanzar, a Sorcerer Supreme from his dimension, possessing his body. In this form, the Hulk had a black color to him and was more vicious. The Hulk was freed from this form when Shanzar was sent back to his dimension by Doctor Strange and Bruce Banner's psyche.[351]
Compound Hulk
Compound Hulk - The Compound Hulk was the result of Impossible Man using his magic to fuse the Hulk and the Red Hulk into the Compound Hulk to fight Xemnu and the Kluh, a deformed intelligent clone of the Gray Hulk. After Xemnu and the Kluh were defeated, Impossible Man split the Compound Hulk back into the Hulk and the Red Hulk.[352]
Hulk Squared
Hulk Squared- The Hulk Squared was a powerful, yet brief incarnation of the Hulk. When the Hulk and the R.O.B. that contained Bruce's consciousness went back in time to stop the Chronarchists, they had to go back to the day of the Hulk's origin.[353] When they did, the Hulk got bombarded with a double dose of Gamma Radiation and R.O.B. had to download his mind into the past Bruce Banner to prevent himself from being erased from the time stream. It is not known if the Hulk Squared, also known as the Uberhulk, was stronger than the Green Scar, but it appeared as if that was the case. He was so strong that he was able to unleash powerful shock waves just by waving his arms around. The Uberhulk's intelligence was like that of the Mindless Hulk's; never speaking a word, simply grunting and roaring. When Banner realized the severity of the situation he manipulated one of the Chronarchist's armor so that he could go back seconds before the Gamma Bomb exploded, exposing him to the gamma radiation again. He and the Uberhulk briefly fought before Bruce had to shatter the time barrier to snap time back to its status quo.[354]
Doc Green/Omega Hulk - An incarnation similar to the Merged Hulk, as it retains Bruce Banner's intellect and the Hulk's vast strength. It was created when Bruce Banner tweaked the Extremis which had repaired his brain. It is considerably powerful, being able to destroy Tony Stark's Mansion with a single thunderclap,[355] and resist sonic and repulsors powerful enough to power a continent.[356] This incarnation also fabricated a time tunnel platform to teleport into Kang's Trophy Room at the edge of time-space, and easily ripped apart pure Adamantium from an inert Ultron shell with his bare hands.[11] Doc Green has recurring dreams of his alternate realty counterpart's Maestro persona, potentially suggesting Doc Green is an early manifestation of Maestro.[357] However, the days of Doc Green's existence are counted. It was discovered that the effects of the Extremis virus were diminishing, and Doc Green's intellect was extremely slowly reverting back to his regular Hulk persona, and at some point in the future it would be no more.[358] Doc Green came up with an Extremis supplement that could maintain his intellect for decades, but decided not to use it, fearing it could ultimately unleash his Maestro persona.[281] By the time the universe was restored, the Doc Green persona had vanished, and the Hulk had returned to his regular self.[282]
Kluh
Kluh - When the moral axis of numerous heroes were inverted during the casting of a spell meant to defeat the Red Onslaught, the Hulk reverted from Doc Green to his simple-minded persona, but unleashed a new one called the "Kluh" who was filled with sadness after the Avengers confronted him when he tried to prevent them from killing. The Kluh described himself as "the Hulk's Hulk" and had black skin, red lines, and a white mohawk. This incarnation possessed incredible power: he easily defeated his fellow Avengers shortly after emerging,[15] and hit Sam Alexander with enough force to send him flying from Arizona in the United States to Paris, France.[359] As the Kluh, Banner possessed a normal intellect, spoke informally, and all he wanted was to cause destruction and "bathe in the blood of the innocent."[15] When fighting Sam Alexander, the Kluh showed a tendency towards cannibalism, attempting to bite off and eat the young hero's arm.[359] This persona was lost when the Hulk was reverted by the reversion spell cast by Scarlet Witch, while possessed by the spirit of Daniel Drumm, and Doctor Doom.[360]
Unnamed Hulk - After being resurrected, a previously unseen Hulk persona emerged, full of mindless rage and bloodlust. He was defeated by the Avengers;[291] and was permanently suppressed by the Devil Hulk persona, who tore him to shreds and imprisoned him in the depths of Banner's sub-conscience.[346]
* Lower intelligence as Hulk separated from Banner; Higher energy projection when emitting radiation during uncontrollable rage
Powers
There ain't many around who can describe what it feels like to get hit by the Hulk. Simple fact bein' there ain't many around who can survive to tell the tale. There ain't no pain at first. It's like he hits ya so damn hard ya actually leave yer own body. It's when ya come back that ya feel the pain. An' ya realize yer goin' toe-to-toe with a walkin' earthquake.
Gamma Radiation Physiology: Due to Bruce Banner being exposed to the Gamma Bomb's radiation and the later results arising from Banner's ensuing capacity to transform into a powerful monster,[39] the Incredible Hulk is one of the physically strongest and resilient beings in the Marvel Universe, with the potential for limitless strength, stamina, durability, healing and adaptation. The Hulk holds the potential to truly be "The strongest one there is" (barring some exceedingly powerful beings), since his known strength level ranges beyond the limits of virtually any other known humanoid being.[361][2] The gamma radiation mutated his body and fortified his cellular structure, adding over 800 lbs of bone marrow and muscle tissues to his body,[362] causing a corresponding escalation of brute strength, which also increases in exact proportion to his adrenaline level. Thus, the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets.[363][361] Moreover, the Hulk was stated to be an Omega Level Threat by both the Initiative[364] and Mister Fantastic,[365] and even "the Original Omega Level Threat" by Gyrich.[366] At one point, the Hulk was stated to be the strongest hero in the world.[341]Nick Fury's intel also classified him as Power Level 10+[367] and as the Merged Hulk he was described as part of the Omega-class entities by Doctor Octopus.[368]
Transformation: The process by which Banner usually transforms into the Hulk is presumably the result of the chemical catalyst, adrenaline (a.k.a. epinephrine). As in normal human beings, Banner's adrenal medulla secretes large amounts of adrenaline in time of fear, rage, or stress, which hormonally stimulates the heart rate, increases blood-sugar levels, and inhibits sensations of fatigue. Whereas the secretion heightens normal physical abilities in normal human beings, in Banner's case it triggers the complex chemical-extra-physical process that transforms him into the Hulk. The total time of transformation falls anywhere from twenty-five seconds to five minutes,[362] depending on the initial adrenaline surge, which will be determined by the original stimulus.[362] Soon after the transformation, the amount of adrenaline in the Hulk will return to more normal, reduced levels.[362] However, there have been instances in which Banner became the Hulk without any discernible increase in heart rate or adrenal levels, suggesting that the true trigger mechanism into the Hulk is far more psychological than physical. When the Hulk transforms back into Banner, the excess muscle mass and energy is lost, presumably to the same place he derives it. As the Hulk's transformation is mostly a stress reaction, it is virtually impossible to attack, wound or sedate him in his human form without the Hulk erupting almost instantaneously in self-defense.[272]
Hulk producing immense strength to prevent him and the Defenders from being sucked into a hole in the macrocosm.
Unlimited Strength: The Hulk possesses the capacity for essentially limitless physical strength.[68][369][73][83][268][370][371][372][373] In effect, upon actually estimating the Hulk's raw potential, the cosmic entity Beyonder stated outright that the Hulk's strength is intrinsically limitless. The Hulk's uttermost potential is indeed unlimited.[369] This statement has also been endorsed by the cosmic entity Stranger upon probing Hulk's capability.[83] Most recently, the Hulk's boundless strength was further supported by the Mad Thinker's calculations, which could not stipulate limits.[268] Moreover, the Hulk's maximum strength output has also been consistently classified as power without defined limits.[29] However, each of the primary Hulk's personalities possess a base strength level. While functionally calm, the Gray Hulk or Joe Fixit is the weakest whereas the incarnation commonly referred to as the "Green Scar" is the physically strongest of all primary Hulk's incarnations. After being exposed to the energies from the exploding core of the ship that originally brought the Hulk to Sakaar, the Green Scar's base strength level was dramatically increased. The "Immortal Hulk" is also substantially stronger than most incarnations and presumably rivals the Green Scar, being able to effortlessly outclass the combined might of an Avengers team consisting of powerful heroes.[10] However, while in an enraged state, adrenaline surges through the Hulk's body, magnifying his extraordinary strength drastically beyond his standard levels. The Hulk's immeasurable strength is directly proportional to his level of rage, excitement, and stress. The Hulk also grows stronger the more radiation [374][182][375][376] and dark magic [377][378] he catalyzes. Finally, as Amadeus Cho theorizes, Bruce Banner subconsciously restrains the Hulk's maximum potential because he quantifies and calculates the external variables so that the Hulk could never hurt someone. Cho corroborates his thesis with a logical analysis of all the Hulk's historical conflicts.[379] However, if the suppression of Banner's restrictions occurs, the Hulk can neutralize this limitation, such as when he becomes the Worldbreaker.[344] The Hulk has also performed impressive feats of strength in his career.
Hulk demonstrating his massive leap.
Superhuman Leaping: The Hulk is able to use his highly developed leg muscles to leap great distances. As the Hulk becomes enraged, his strength increases considerably, which means he can jump farther than usual. The Hulk has transposed about 1,000 miles with a single leap,[380] and he jumped on top of the Mount Olympus from ground level.[381] On more than one occasion, the Hulk has nearly jumped into the Earth's orbit.[382][7] The Hulk even managed to reach Mars' orbit with a single bound.[383] The Hulk also shows incredible precision with his ability to aim his jumps and landings. He grabbed missiles on multiple occasions and landed on islands barely visible from the height that he fell from.[380] While calm, the Hulk's leap has been measured to reach 473 mph.[384]
Hulk easily overpowered Red Hulk with a single powerful clap.
Superhuman Strength Utilizations: The Hulk can inhale great quantities of air for several effects. For example, he can expel the air at enormous speeds to knock down forests [385] and armed troops.[43] This resource also enables the Hulk to defeat several superhuman opponents, such as the Mister Fantastic.[386] The Hulk can slam his hands together to create a tremendously powerful sonic vibration that propagates through the air and has been compared to the strongest hurricane in history.[387] This thunderclap has been powerful enough to disperse Sandman's attacks[102] and severely debilitate the Red Hulk.[343] The Hulk can also hit the ground with his hands or legs to create violent tremors that thwart opponents[388] and destroy structures,[115] being able to produce destructive shockwaves by stomping his foot.[361] He could also create shockwaves with enough power to shatter glass jars by simply snapping his fingers while possessed by the One Below All.[301]
Examples of the Hulk's Strength Demonstrations
The shockwaves from the Hulk's collision with Ironclad reached an infinite number of dimensions through the Crossroads nexus, creating cataclysmic upheavals and unimaginable destruction.[389]
Rupturing the space-time continuum with a powerful blow (Presumably extreme rage, indicative of maximum strength).[123]
Applying force to the space-time structure in order to prevent his fellows Defenders from being absorbed into a fissure.[156]
Supporting and rising up despite being weighed down with a force equal to the weight of a star capable of going nova (With extreme effort. It has at least about 460.000 times the mass of the Earth).[390]
Destroying a planet and a surrounding moon as a side-effect of a direct collision with the Red She-Hulk (Extreme rage. The energy required to damage the moon would destroy multiple planets).[344]
Killing several highly powerful beings such as the Bi-Beast, Arm'Cheddon, and an amped Fin Fang Foom in the process (This was a direct consequence in contrast with the secondary effect).[344]
Seriously injuring Arm'Cheddon, who withstood the Silver Surfer's blast (Extreme rage. The Surfer can emit a destructive blast powerful enough to completely encompass a solar system).[257]
Overpowering and destroying Onslaught's physical form (Extreme rage, indicative of maximum known strength level).[190]
Rupturing the continuum again with one single punch (Extreme rage, indicative of maximum known strength level).[354]
Shattering glass tempered with Negative Zone particles, effectively traversing a space-time barrier obstructing his way (Presumably extreme rage, indicative of maximum strength).[272]
Pushing two spheres of matter and antimatter apart and throwing one into the outer space.[391]
Ripping apart an enormous device designed to fight against the Celestials.[392]
Destroying an asteroid twice the size of Earth with a single punch.[393]
Holding together the tectonic plates of a planet to keep it from collapsing.[394]
Overpowering a field of energy endowed with sufficient power to alter the orbit of a planet.[83]
Overpowering a group of several heroes, including Thor and the Thing.[291]
Overpowering the combined efforts of the X-Men, including a weakened Juggernaut and Colossus, and breaking both arms of Colossus with ease in the process.[376]
Ploughing through the Vector's telekinetic repulsion while he was repelling reality itself.[389]
Almost breaking the East Coast and also threatening to break the entire planet by the emission of energy from his body.[235]
Bending Silver Surfer's board after hitting the opponent with it.[303]
Driving Wolverine's claws back into his own skull, hence damaging Adamantium with Adamantium.[397]
Overpowering a power-draining mechanism which contained much of the combined power of the Hulk himself, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner, and none of the other Defenders could break out of.[398]
Crunching and twisting an Adamantium alloy around Blastaar, imprisoning and leaving him unable to break out, and throwing the sphere from New York to the mid-Atlantic.[400]
Shattering the M.O.D.O.K's Adamantium and steel alloy armor by just flexing his muscles.[402]
Briefly knocking down Thanos with a few of his powerful blows.[403]
Destroying the Crypto-Man after he was boosted with physical strength superior even to that of Thor.[404]
Severely hurting Thor numerous times.[405][406][407][10] (Including fracturing his skull. Thor has incredible feats of durability since early appearances, such as withstanding multiple blows from the Silver Surfer)
Heavily injuring Hercules with three punches,[233] and overpowering a weakened Hercules.[408]
Pushing a ten times stronger than normal warrior's madness Thor towards the ground with a single arm.[409]
Reflecting Gladiator's ocular beams back into his eyes, instantly knocking him unconscious (Before entering the factory).[410]
Knocking the Silver Surfer out with three punches (They were both weakened by the passage through the portal).[414]
Matching two Avengers teams during a prolonged period of time in spite of becoming increasingly weaker due to a physical separation from Bruce Banner. The group consisted of highly powerful individuals such as Hercules, Captain Marvel, the Iron Man, Wonder Man, Namor, the She-Hulk, etc.[415]
While holding back (Without accessing the Worldbreaker mode), the Hulk sent Zeus flying with one powerful hit.[422]
Closing the doors to a nuclear reactor core that Thor and the Thing together could not budge.[197]
Overpowering the combined efforts of the Iron Man, Wonder Man, Hercules, and Namor to pin him down despite becoming gradually weakened due to the physical separation from Banner.[363]
Overpowering and pinning down a wet and all-out Namor with a single arm.[423]
Overcoming his own strength, which was redirected against him.[103]
Stopping the Juggernaut's charge and crumpling his helmet.[424]
Breaking off the solidified Adhesive X from his entire body with no leverage (Which had never been done with physical force, before or after).[425]
Performing a thunderclap that destroyed Dark Crawler's pocket-universe.[114]
Shrugging off the combined efforts of Namor and Silver Surfer to restrain him.[426]
Holding a 150 billion ton mountain which was dropped on them by the Molecule Man when none of the other heroes could even react.[427] It was later revealed that She-Hulk tried to help Hulk to hold the mountain but was unable to do so for an extended period of time.[428]
Fighting and almost overpowering the combined efforts of the Avengers-- consisting of Captain America, Thor, the Iron Man, Wasp and Giant-Man -- and the Agents of Atlas -- including Gorilla-Man, Namora, the Uranian, etc.[429]
Ripping through a bunker designed to withstand the explosion of many thousands of megatons in magnitude.[430]
Breaking through heavy duty blast doors capable of withstanding a nuclear strike with a punch.[131]
Punching away and knocking out the immovable Blob, and punching the Unus the Untouchable's force field with such force that the force field hit Unus himself and knocked him out.[431]
Picking up and throwing the immense dragon Fin Fang Foom directly to the moon.[98]
Throwing the Soul Gem through the interior layers of planet K'ai, into its core.[432]
Easily damaging and almost destroying the Iron Man's armor.[433]
Thor has admitted that Hulk could be stronger than himself,[407] that compared to himself there appears to be no limit to the Hulk's vast strength,[406] and that he never could beat the Hulk.[434] The mad titan Thanos also compared the Hulk's ever increasing strength to that of the former Champion of the Universe, Tryco Slatterus, when he was wielding the Power Gem, and said that he had avoided a confrontation with the Hulk in the past because of this.[20]
Superhuman Stamina: The Hulk's body counteracts fatigue poisons that build up in his muscles during physical activity. In fact, the Hulk was capable to leap endlessly during an entire day without showing any signs of fatigue.[416] In an enraged state, the Hulk is capable of exerting himself at peak physical capacity for several weeks before fatigue begins to really affect him.[435] However, just like his vast physical strength, the Hulk's stamina does increase as he becomes angrier.[436][437] In an enraged state, the Hulk was able to successfully stalemate the warrior's madness Thor,[409] a state which temporarily enhances Thor's strength and stamina to 10 times that of his normal state in exchange for adversely affecting his intelligence.[438] A giant robotic Sentinel has calculated the Hulk's stamina as almost unlimited.[439] The Hulk, while in his Nul persona, also fought Thor until Thor collapsed exhausted on the ground.[434]
Dynamic Durability: In addition to immense strength, the Hulk's body possesses a high degree of resistance to physical injury. The Hulk has survived tremendous amount of punishment throughout his career. The Hulk's skin is impervious to conventional blades, Adamantium and Vibranium being strictly the few known metals that can effectively pierce and penetrate his skin. The Hulk was even able to excerpt Adhesive X from his body without any injury.[425] This invulnerability extends to the optic system since bullets,[440] grenade shrapnel,[441]Hawkeye's arrows,[442] and even the Valkyrie's enchanted blade Dragonfang[443] did not penetrate nor damage it. The Hulk is capable to withstand high caliber bullets, powerful energy blasts, pressures extremes, falls from orbital heights,[444][445][434][382] maximized heat without blistering, maximized cold without freezing, and also massive impacts. The Hulk has withstood several times the impact of ground zero nuclear explosions,[109][446][57][135][447][448] the Human Torch's Nova Blast,[449][375][289] with a maximum temperature of one million degrees Fahrenheit, and also the crushing pressures of 100Gs [68] without suffering damage or harm. In fact, when the Maestro's Dog O' War, a robot claimed to be able to crush Adamantium in its jaws in 7.3 seconds, had Hulk's exposed neck in its jaws, it was unable to even lacerate his skin before being ripped apart.[450] In another monumental example of his durability, the Hulk even withstood being subjected to a mechanism capable to easily soften and manipulate Adamantium.[268] The Hulk was also able to withstand a planet-devastating impact,[374] a planet-shattering impact at point blank range,[393] the Galaxy Master's planet-destroying strongest attacks,[436] and a mighty blast from Galactus.[451] The Hulk even withstood energy calculated as over 100 times more powerful than the Hercules' strongest blows.[452] The Hulk also withstood a few of the incredibly powerful blows from Zeus when relatively calm.[422] Moreover, Hulk withstood being subjected to a mystical dimension, composed of a type of strange matter, which is infinitely more dense than Earth's universe.[351] The full force of Cyclops's optic blasts, estimated by himself to be powerful enough to rip a small planet in half,[453] only caused minor damage.[376] The Hulk's durability, much like his strength, is fueled by rushes of adrenaline while angry.[437] This was also exemplified when Wolverine stated during World War Hulk that the Hulk's skin was harder to damage,[376] and when Colossus stated that the harder he hits the Hulk, the less it seems to hurt him.[396] This was further exemplified when Wolverine's[454] and Black Panther's[455] claws failed to hurt the Hulk.
Hulk regains his mass and heals within seconds.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite the Hulk's high resistance to physical harm, it is possible to cause the Hulk injury. However, the Hulk is capable of regenerating damaged or destroyed areas of his entire body with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. In fact, the Hulk was able to systematically regenerate his internal organs and tissues in an alternate reality.[456] He was also able to literally rip off a large fraction of his head allowing it to completely regrow.[457] In a notorious episode, the Maestro persona molecularly rebuilt his body after being atomized.[458] The Hulk also demonstrated his exceptional healing capacity when, during a battle with Vector, all of his skin and most of his muscle mass were extracted from his body. The Hulk regained his mass and healed within only seconds.[459] Even the Omega-Level biokinetic Elixir's death touch could only retard him temporarily.[342] Most extreme depictions of his healing factor also include reintegrating members isolated from his body.[301] The Hulk's regenerative factor also enables him to resist to physical transmutations.[460][461][462][387][376] Additionally, the Hulk heals faster and more extensively the madder he gets.[437] For example, Carmilla Black once injected into Hulk's body a chemical substance that counteracts his healing factor. Amadeus Cho then caused the Hulk to get enraged enough for his immune system to repel the substance.[379] Combined with the Hulk's superhuman durability, it makes him exceedingly difficult to defeat or incapacitate, as noted by Wolverine during their second battle.[437]
Disease Immunity: The Hulk is completely invulnerable to all known Earth-based diseases and viruses, including AIDS.[175][463] He can operate under intense conditions for prolonged periods of time due to his body not developing fatigue toxins quickly.
Decelerated Aging: For all intents and purposes the Hulk lives indefinitely. Because of an enhanced regenerative healing factor, derived from the properties of gamma energy that empowers him, Hulk has a prolonged lifespan. A possible future persona, the Maestro, was in his physical prime despite being over one hundred years old.[450] In another alternate future it is implied that the Hulk's body effectively lasts forever,[456] further proven when both Bruce Banner and Mister Immortal were seen as being the only two left alive to witness the end of the universe.[324]
Retroactive Immortality: For all intents and purposes the Hulk cannot permanently die. The exact nature of this ability is unknown; however, it is suggested that, every time the Hulk or Banner is killed since the day that Banner was hit with the Gamma Bomb, the Green Door is opened and allows him to "walk through" in order to successfully enable resurrection. It is suggested that it is the Hulk who walks through, as Banner would rather be at peace than be revived as the Hulk. It is also suggested that damaging the hypothalamus, an area in the forebrain which controls the nervous system as well as emotions, can effectively kill the Hulk, but the attempts to perform this action have been interrupted by outside interference from those preferring to use the Hulk for their nefarious purposes.[294] Following his resurrection by the Challenger,[292] if Banner should die, he would self-resurrect by transforming into the Hulk at nightfall.[297]
Hulk running at incredible speed.
Superhuman Speed: Regardless of his size, Hulk's superhumanly strong legs allow him to run at speeds that are well beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete. In fact, the Hulk's speed is so relatively high that, while tunneling underground from Subterranea to California, the Avengers feared that the Hulk could fracture the San Andreas fault line in a matter of few hours.[116] In an excellent display of increased velocity, the Hulk easily outperformed an aircraft while on land.[270] Hulk's astronomical speed extends to his jumps, what allowed him to pursue and reach a space missile.[7] The Hulk also possesses immense swimming speeds as well. He has been clocked to be swimming at 80 knots,[380] and has even matched Namor's underwater speed,[107] even while Namor was moving quickly enough to produce a whirlpool,[88] much to the Atlantean king's surprise. Referring to the Hulk's formidable speed, Banner pondered that the Hulk is able to run at eye-blurring speeds and swim fast enough to build propulsion.[353] The Hulk has been fast enough to several times capture mortar shells and missiles shot at him.[417][464] The Hulk has also eventually been recognized to be extremely agile proportionally to his size.[44][135][71][416][465][363] In fact his spectacular reflexes have even been described as "lightning-fast reflexes".[466][150] More examples of Hulk's prodigious reaction time include easily catching the Captain America's shield throw,[442] pursuing and touching the Silver Surfer while he was maneuvering at supersonic speeds,[85] hit Spider-Man despite Peter's remarkable reflexes (while restraining himself against much weaker opponents),[467][468][469] easily dodge bullets and missiles shot from a short distance away,[121][470] effortlessly capture a bullet in his teeth while transforming,[471] and also regularly match beings with virtually unparalleled combat speed such as Gladiator,[410]Sentry,[235] and the Silver Surfer.[472] The Hulk has also hit several speedsters, who were operating in an accelerated time flow, before they could even react.[473]
Reactive Adaptation: There were several events in the past where the Hulk not only faced extended periods of time in oxygen-deprived outer space without suffocating, but he also frequently spoke in these inhospitable habitats. It was theorized by Nick Fury that the Hulk could adapt to the environment of space as an inherent property of his mutation. He based this thesis on accumulated data about the Hulk.[474] For example, Hulk can harmonize his biological structure with the depths of the ocean.[475] Fury's hypothesis has been confirmed, since it was stated that the Hulk can adapt to any environment, even airless space.[476] Therefore this evidences that the Hulk could adapt to a wide diversity of hostile habitats. It is plausible that this ability is enhanced and amplified by the Hulk's rage. Accordingly, it has also been stated that the Hulk does not always need to breathe.[272]
Underwater Breathing: The Hulk has been on the ocean floor a number of times. The Hulk is able to breathe due to his body developing a gland which creates an oxygenated perfluorocarbon emulsion which fills his lungs and equalizes the pressure.[126][137] He is therefore able to breathe fluid and avoid decompression and nitrogen narcosis.
Telepathic Resistance: In many instances the Hulk has demonstrated great psychic resistance as a side-effect of his innate rage and the multiple personalities inside his mind.[477][83][478][479][480][342] When in ideal conditions it is practically impossible to enslave Hulk mentally. In parallel, this ability increases with his rage. This was demonstrated when Psyklop managed to enthrall the Hulk initially with his hypnotizing power, but was not able to subjugate an enraged Hulk.[477] In an example of his mental prowess, the Hulk was even able to survive using the Ultimate Machine, which contained the collective knowledge of an entire universe. While the Leader died, despite his heightened intellect, due to being unable to process the entirety of the information and having his brain overloaded, the Hulk was able to survive using it and find out that Rick Jones was in danger, after which he removed the device and leapt away.[481] In an astounding exhibition of his telepathic immunity, the Hulk proved to be unaffected by the Xemnu's telepathic assault,[352] which has been powerful enough to mesmerize the entire human population,[482] put a mental block on Doctor Strange to prevent him from using his powers,[478] or even engage the enormously powerful Moondragon in battle.[483] The Hulk was also the only one able to remember the Sentry after Sentry had used his psionic powers to remove his memories from everyone on the planet. When highly powerful psychics, such as Professor X, could only utilize his psionic powers to find out that their memories had been radically altered and twisted.[484] The Hulk has withstood telepathic attacks from Professor X, Selene, Thanos, Doctor Strange, Doctor Druid, Maha Yogi, Nate Grey, Mentallo, The Ringmaster, Apocalypse, among others.
Extrasensory Perception:
Astral Form Perception: The Hulk has the unique ability of being able to see "astral forms," or ghosts,[485] and even physically interact with them.[486] This power has come in handy when working with his fellow Defender, Doctor Strange, who is able to leave his body in an usually invisible, ghost-like state better known as an astral form. Bruce Banner subconsciously feared his father's ghost would come back to haunt him, and so the Hulk developed this mechanism to allow him to look out for him. More recent events have shown that the power to see astral forms may now extend to Bruce Banner. However, it was suggested the clarity of the astral forms is diminished when compared to the Hulk's ability to view them. The Hulk's ability to see astral forms may go beyond just seeing individual spirits. The Hulk once experienced a whole town in the middle of the desert that then faded away into nothing. While it is possible it was merely a mirage, it is possible the Hulk was able to see a town that did not exist in our plane of reality that no one else could see.
Homing Ability: The Hulk also has a seemingly mystical homing ability that enables him to locate the area in New Mexico where Banner first became the Hulk.[160] This applies even if the Hulk is in another dimension. An image of the Maestro once explained to Bruce that the reason he was able to do that was because the Maestro's spirit was there, calling to him.[458] However, since the time Maestro was resurrected, the Hulk has continued to return to the gamma bomb site, suggesting that there is more to his ability than merely the Maestro's spirit. This homing ability has also been used to find people on rare occasions. For example, the Hulk was able to dig a tunnel underground exactly in the direction of Onslaught.[487] While it is possible that Onslaught was mentally leading the Hulk to him, there were other instances of the Hulk demonstrating this ability. The Hulk's instincts led him to Rick Jones [488] and Betty [489] and the Hulk located the Abomination with no prior knowledge of his whereabouts.[490] The Hulk was also able to know that the Vision was approaching while inside an underground tunnel, even though he could neither hear nor see the intangible Avenger's approach.[116]
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 constantly creating and radiating gamma energy.[90] The troyjan emperor Armageddon once wanted to employ the Hulk's own gamma radiation to capacitate machines to revive his dead son again. However, the Hulk outsmarted him by consciously force feeding his energy into these machines at a rate too fast for them to handle, and they promptly overloaded and exploded.[491] The Hulk also generated massive amounts of gamma radiation during World War Hulk,[235] and produced considerable quantity while in the Dark Dimension.[344] The Hulk has also shown the ability to redirect gamma rays unleashed towards him. When the Avengers used the Gammatron Bombarder device on him, the Hulk deflected the blast at the device and destroyed it.[116] Hulk is also able to absorb gamma energy. As Bruce Banner, he absorbed the tremendous amount of energy stored aboard the Intelligencia's Helicarrier.[253] As the Hulk, he has demonstrated the ability to absorb gamma radiation as he drained the second Red Hulk of his gamma energy.[295] The exact extent to which the Hulk controls his own gamma radiation, and also extrinsic sources of gamma radiation, has yet to be established.
Abilities
Bruce as an infant, starts inventing a new project with his super-genius mind.
Super-Genius Intelligence: Doctor Bruce Banner is a super-genius in nuclear physics,[492] possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured by any known intelligence test.[493] Hence he is capable of extraordinary feats of intellect, such as to process and operate thousands of data to reconfigure an advanced and especially sophisticated computer system (intended to be used to rule the world)[494] in a matter of seconds.[495] In effect, Banner even accomplished to infect a computer system with a virus which even Tony Stark, employing his skills, was unable to counteract.[496] Banner is regarded by Tony Stark as the greatest nuclear scientist on Earth,[145] and another description corroborates Tony's statement.[106] Banner also has expertise in the fields of engineering[497] and biology.[498] He was once referred as the fourth smartest person on the planet.[246]
Master Combatant: The Hulk is a skillful and capable warrior, demonstrating vast versatility and intuition in the battle, like anticipating and exploiting the weakness of Hyperion.[499] The Hulk has consistently faced warriors with millenary experience in combat, such as Thor[500][405][409], Executioner[72][89], and Hercules.[74][415][381] As the Green Scar, he has had training in multiple combat arms, including broadswords, spears, and battle shields.[501] As Doc Green, he received martial arts training from the expert martial artist Daniel Rand.[279]
Self-Restraint: When Banner is the Hulk he can influence the Hulk's behavior to a limited extent. However, recent facts indicate that Banner subconsciously restrains the Hulk.[190][379][344][381][502] For example, the Hulk asked for Jean Grey to psionically shut Bruce Banner off so that the Hulk's sheer power could be unleashed against the threat of Onslaught. In another occasion, Iron Man has also deduced that Bruce Banner exerts a moderating influence on the Hulk.[363] Upon being subjected to the Nightmare's machinations, the Hulk also aroused his uncontrollable inner savagery, revealing that Banner had lost ascendancy over the Hulk, and ultimately resulting in Banner's psychic suicide.[503]
Multilingual: Banner has learned Russian while getting his Ph.D.[479] He also speaks Austro-Bavarian.[495]
Strength level
Class 100+, although this strength chart is strictly made for comparison purposes among characters, and so it is not a literal description. The Incredible Hulk is one of the physically strongest beings in the Marvel Universe, and also the strongest mortal to ever walk the planet Earth.[504] In human form Banner possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in no regular exercise. When the Hulk gets enraged his physical strength increases exponentially. The Hulk has no strength limit as his strength varies up to literally unlimited levels, according to the extremely powerful cosmic entity Beyonder.[369] Most currently Mad Thinker's mathematical computations also inferred that the Hulk's strength is indeed incalculable.[268] The powerful entity Stranger further postulated that the Hulk's strength, for all practical purposes, is limitless.[83] Additionally, as the foundation of his phenomenal strength, his rage is also described as being limitless.[363][372][505][506]
Weaknesses
Gamma Radiation Draining: The Hulk is sometimes portrayed as vulnerable to gamma radiation draining by sufficiently powerful energy manipulators.[507][508] However, the Hulk is eventually characterized as possessing high degree of immunity to this weakness.[509] For example, the mutant Darwin was unable to drain his gamma radiation, and Hulk deliberately transferred his energy into an entire race of absorbing entities without collapsing. Even previous to these events the Hulk has displayed this potential. For example, the hero Rom was unable to cure Banner from his condition, and the Hulk intentionally overloaded the Armageddon absorption mechanism.
Radiation Bombardment: The Hulk was vulnerable to being weakened by radiation bombardment in the past, a weakness exploited by his enemy X-Ray, who was able to weaken or even transform him back into Banner.[466] However, the Hulk has acquired a degree of immunity to this weakness.
Gas Inhalation: Great doses of gas can temporarily neutralize the Hulk.[425][141][436] However, it is not an insurmountable obstacle, since the Hulk can dissipate the gas with a powerful thunderclap, destabilizing the opponent with the resulting shockwaves.[510][407] The Hulk has also occasionally resisted that.[511]
Adamantium and Vibranium Blades: They have been shown capable of piercing the Hulk's skin; Wolverine, X-23, and the Black Panther's claws can pierce it.[342][424] However, as the Hulk's rage increases they become progressively less effective, reaching the stage they are completely unable to harm him.[512][454][455]
Adrenaline Suppression: Adrenaline inhibitors can be administered via syringes of Adamantium and Vibranium, aiming to revert the transformation. Amplified quantities can accomplish this purpose.[513] However, the Hulk has also withstood substances intended to sedate him by tactile contact.[514]
Toxic Substances: Once, Carmilla Black injected him with a toxin especially designed to counteract the efficiency of the Hulk's healing factor. However, if the Hulk gets angry enough he can nullify this effect, as he demonstrated later.[379]
Rage Nullification: The Hulk's rage also can be neutralized; certain individuals can calm the Hulk down. Betty Ross[132] and Sentry[46] successfully calmed the Hulk down in several instances. Telepaths with vast empathy potential can theoretically emulate this effect. The Inhuman Randall Jessup's ability to siphon away negative emotions makes him a particularly effective deterrent to the Hulk's rage factor.[515]
Strength Increasing Factor: The Hulk normally doesn't achieve high-end strength in the first moments after his transformation.[78] Unless there is a substantial and significant event that breaks Banner's restraints and triggers far superior amounts of adrenaline in his circulatory system, he can theoretically be defeated in earlier stages of transformation. His strength level at any given moment may still be inferior to that of his opponents.
Magic: Since the Hulk is empowered by dark magic,[378][377] it is not properly a weakness. However, depending upon the Hulk's emotional state, his incarnation, and the power magnitude of the magic manipulator, this could be a potential threat.[516][89][422] Although the Hulk has been shown to be injured more easily by enchanted weapons than regular weapons.[151]
Special Conditions: The Hulk can be hurt or killed by cosmic entities and individuals with similar extraordinary levels of power. Under some conditions, he can be psychically manipulated by exceptionally powerful telepaths. In this context, the psionic control efficiency is inversely proportional to the Hulk's rage level.[477][517]
Former Weaknesses
UV Radiation: Due to the nature of the Devil Hulk, Banner is now vulnerable to concentrated UV radiation, which nullifies his Hulk transformation and reverts him back to human form.[10][321][333] He was eventually able to overcome this by working with the Devil Hulk.[336]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
BannerTech PDA: Banner has a mobile operating system that can hack sophisticated systems within moments and seems to be controlled mentally for the most part.
BannerTech Shield/Gamma Dome Generator: Banner has created a gamma and old power fueled shield that protects him from most physical harm. It has been shown to protect him from beings as strong as Skaar and the Juggernaut. Banner is able to extend this shield to cover several other people and also redirect the energy to increase his strength.
BannerTech Satchel: Banner has a pocket teleporter in his satchel with which he can reach into his bag and grab things from his lab.
BannerTech Wrist-Watch Teleporter: A pocket sized teleport device Banner can spontaneously warp himself and others across vast distanced with.
A molecular repulsion field that could be used to simulate levitation.
A mini electromagnetic pulse blast.
BannerTech Nanoparticulates: microrobotic-particles able to hack and disable technological weapons.
BannerTech Flyspy Cams: A spybot with hosts of scanners that are constantly performing advanced diagnostics on everyone within 50 feet of him, he also uses them to carry out thorough bioscans of a particular set of individuals under his surveillance.
Banner used to sew a survival kit into his pants so whenever he woke up, he could survive anywhere. The kit included a needle and thread, a pack of waterproof matches, and a debit card.[405]
After joining S.H.I.E.L.D., Banner was able to build new technologies to help mankind:
Banner has created a purification unit that could prevent all waterborne disasters for the next five years.[268]
Banner has made the catalytic converter, which could save countless from smoking induced cancers.[518]
Banner has designed a suit of his own, but its maximum capabilities are unknown.[518] Since, unlike the Hulk, Banner cannot breathe underwater, hence the suit enables Banner to breathe in oxygen-less environments.[519] The suit also allows him to survive absolute zero temperatures.[520]
Banner also has constructed a contact lens which allows him to operate it like a computer. Using this he can monitor his vital functions.[268]
Transportation
When he lost his ability to turn into the Hulk, Banner reversed engineered the Leader's teleportation technology and used it as a transportation device.[243]
Weapons
Old Power Taser: A stun gun built combining Old Strong power in conjunction with Bruce's Gamma Rays, emits pulses that are so strong the effects are measured on the Richter Scale. At a 1.4 it was able to send Logan clear across the street and according to Banner on a 6.9, it would be able to kill him.[245]
Bannertech Stun Gun: Handheld electrode discharging pistol which could be utilized to paralyze and incapacitate opponents, even affecting the likes of the Red Hulk in singular uses. According to Banner, prolonged application of said tool would have overwhelmed his durability and recovery capacity, leaving him indefinitely paralyzed.[521]
Hammer of Nul: As one of the Worthy[522], the Hulk used it for melee and ranged combat that even enabled him to take on Thor, wielder of Mjolnir.[523]
Notes
Banner's identity is publicly known; however, the public does not know Joe Fixit was the Hulk.[2]
The Hulk was initially gray-colored but, as the gamma radiation raged through his body, it was eventually turned green. The Hulk has reverted back to his gray skin tone a couple of times.[citation needed]
Through the transformation from Banner to the Hulk, his jeans or pants are the only item of clothing to sustain the sheer forces in a muscular explosion.[citation needed]
Spider-Man once managed to "defeat" the Hulk by telling a joke which made him calm down and turn to his Bruce Banner alter-ego to laugh.[524] Another time, after Hulk was seduced by Umar, the Hulk was so satisfied that he reverted back to Bruce Banner, and wouldn't turn back into Hulk.[525]
The fact that Bruce has turned into the Hulk without the use of anger or increased heart rate reveals that the adrenaline that Bruce uses to turn into the Hulk may simply be a catalyst, and that his transformation may be more psychological than physical. This implies that he can transform at will.[2]
Because of his troubled childhood and his identity disorder, Bruce is the only Hulk that does not fully control both of his forms, unlike the Red Hulk, the She-Hulk, and other Hulk entities.[citation needed]
Bruce set up a benefit corporation to administer his patents in order to collect money for victims of his rampages. By the time of his death, he had used it to give 230 million dollars to victims.[526]
Star-Lord briefly ran into Bruce Banner in Purgatory at the time Bruce was dead following his brief resurrection in Uncanny Avengers.[527]
Trivia
Years before Hulk became a part of the Defenders with Namor, Stan Lee considered merging their solo features in Tales to Astonish by making them form a team called "the Invaders." The idea was dropped, and years later, the name of the Invaders was used by Roy Thomas when he pitched the idea of a team of superheroes set during WWII.[528]
The Merged Hulk was briefly renamed "The Professor" during writer Paul Jenkins' run, as a "revelation" that the Merged Hulk was not actually a merger of the three personalities but rather a separate personality altogether. Unlike the Merged Hulk, the Professor was physically distinguished by having a pony tail, which the Merged Hulk did not. However, these parts of Jenkins' run and Bruce Jones' entire run on the book, including "The Professor", "The Guilt Hulk", and "The Devil Hulk", were later retconned into hallucinations created by Nightmare, when writer Peter David returned to the title.[340] However, another retcon revealed that the Devil Hulk was indeed a real persona, not a hallucination.[346]
According to him, the "Hulk loves puppies." S.H.I.E.L.D. once used a bunch of them to transform him back to Banner after a mission.[529] Similarly, the Hulk has claimed his favorite animals are dogs.[530]
When asked by Iron Man why build the gamma bomb, he said he wanted gamma energy to power the world, but got no funds and had to transform it into a weapon to get government funds.[38]
An hour of his Hulk persona being in control equals to 7.3 hours of sleep to his Bruce Banner persona.[531]
The Hulk was ranked as 9th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.[532]
The Hulk was also ranked as 4th in "The Top 50 Avengers."[533]
Stan Lee revealed that the Hulk went from gray to green because at the time, Marvel had ink problems, causing the strips to look weird. So when Lee was asked to change the Hulk's color, it became green, because it looked like a monster the most. He revealed this in the 2003 movie's bonuses.
In Hulk: The Incredible Guide and the 2003 movie, Stan Lee revealed the Hulk was based on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Frankenstein.
Australian actor Eric Bana portrayed Bruce Banner, the Hulk in the 2003 film version directed by Ang Lee. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner in the 2008 reboot of The Incredible Hulk directed by Louis Leterrier.[534]
Ang Lee actually played the action scenes with the Incredible Hulk in motion capture, while Eric Bana is used to model the green behemoth's face.
Lou Ferrigno starred in the 1970s television series of the same name as the character -- from Universal Studios and not Marvel Comics -- opposite Bill Bixby, who portrayed the David Banner persona instead of the true version; however, this did not follow the original plot from the comics. In the television series, Banner's first name was changed from Robert to David and he was never called by his middle name Bruce, only David. On the DVD commentary of the pilot, series developer and executive producer Kenneth Johnson explained that it was a way to honor his late son David. Also, according to Stan Lee, Universal changed the name because "Bruce" sounded, in the eyes of the network, like a "gay" name, and David sounded much better.[citation needed] "Bruce" ultimately became the TV Banner's middle name, as it had been in the comics, visible on Banner's tombstone at the end of the pilot episode.[citation needed]
Stan Lee never intended The Hulk's identity to be Robert Bruce Banner. Stan ran the first issues with Bruce Banner, then mistakenly ran some more with Bob Banner. Notified of his mistake, he announced the name of the Hulk's alter ego was Robert Bruce Banner.
While the Hulk was intended to be the physically strongest character in Marvel, at the time Stan Lee created Thor in 1963, he intended to make a character who was "stronger than the Hulk, and smarter than Reed Richards, in a godly wisdom aspect." However, it should be noted that the above was simply Stan's intention in 1963, and whereas the Hulk has continuously grown in power since then, Thor has not. Under Stan Lee's watch, 10 years later during the 1970s, the Hulk stalemated Thor in strength,[500] and during the late 1980s Stan wrote a Thor issue in which the title character was clearly outmatched against the Hulk without using Mjolnir.[406] His current, 2013, view on the topic, is that it simply depends on if the writer is a Hulk fan or a Thor fan. The subject over which titular hero is the strongest is the source of many debates between comic book fans.
The angrier I get the stronger I get! I’m the strongest one there is! Hulk Smash! 
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