Hulk SMASH!
When Dr. Bruce Banner exposed himself to Gamma radiation not a lot of people predicted it would change the face of comics forever. But it did. This week’s edition of Get To Know Your Superhero focuses on the big green monster known as The Incredible Hulk. I won’t go into every single detail of Hulk’s existence, but this edition will give you a quick glance into some of Hulk’s origins, his motivations and some interesting facts.
Hulk was created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962.
Dr. Bruce Banner was a scientist researching Gamma radiation and after a botched experiment he was exposed changing his life forever.
After the experiment Banner gained the ability to turn into Hulk when he became angry.
Hulk’s powers are limitless strength depending on his emotional state, invulnerability to almost anything imaginable and the ability to leap into orbit.
Banner’s love interest is Betty Ross, the daughter of General Ross.
General Ross originally devoted his life to capturing the Hulk.
Betty and Bruce were a couple until the Gamma incident; she remained a good friend.
In 1998 Marvel made the decision to have Betty Ross die.
Hulk has appeared in 2 well known forms: Grey Hulk and Green Hulk
Grey Hulk is also know as Mr Fixit, a seedy Vegas tough guy
Green Hulk is also known as Savage Hulk, the unstable, emotionally driven angry version of Hulk.
Bruce Banner joined the superhero team The Avengers with Ironman, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp and eventually Captain America.
Although his strength is a major asset to the Avengers, Hulk eventually proves to be too unstable.
Sparking two of the most popular story lines in Marvel history, Hulk is shot deep into space after almost destroying Las Vegas.
A group of powerful mutants including Professor Xavier and Mr. Fantastic arrange to trick the Hulk into a entering a space shuttle and launch him into space forever.
This eventually sparked the World War Hulk story line which fed directly into the Marvel Civil War series.
If you would like to read more on World War Hulk, click here.
Lou Ferrigno portrayed The Hulk in a TV series from 1978 to 1982.
Eric Bana portrayed Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee fail Hulk feature film in 2003.
Edward Norton played Bruce Banner in the 2008 Louis Leterrier feature film version of Hulk.
It is rumored that Norton could reprise his role as Banner in the upcoming Avengers feature currently being planned by Marvel.
So there you have it, the bare bones of what you should be aware of concerning The Hulk. It is also interesting to note that Stan Lee created Hulk as a modern version of Frankenstein. Whether or not this Avengers flick actually happens I still think it’s good to know some of the important facts about the Hulk. Sure I only glazed over aspects like the his different personalities and the entire World War Hulk story line, but I figure if you know the beginnings, then you can source the rest of the info on your own. Until next kids…
