Hulk

Real Name
Robert Bruce Banner

Occupation
Unemployed, former nuclear physicist

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Dayton, Ohio

Known Relatives
Betty Ross Banner (wife, deceased), General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (father-in-law), Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk, cousin), Morris Walters (uncle), Elaine Banner Walters (aunt, deceased), Brian Banner (father, deceased), Rebecca Banner (mother, deceased), Skaar (son)

Group Affiliation
formerly the Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, the Pantheon, and the Horsemen of Apocalypse, Warbound

Education
Banner has a PhD in Nuclear Physics. The various Hulk personas have demonstrated different intelligence levels, from brutish to average to the same level of intelligence as Banner.

Height
5' 9½" (Banner); 6'6" (gray Hulk); 7' – 8' (green/savage Hulk); 7'6" (green/Professor Hulk)

Weight
128 lbs. (Banner); 900 lbs. (gray Hulk); 1,040 – 1,400 lbs. (green/savage Hulk); 1,150 lbs. (green/Professor Hulk)

Eyes
Brown (Banner); Gray (gray Hulk); Green (green/savage Hulk); Green (green/Professor Hulk)

Hair
Brown (Banner); Black (gray Hulk); Green (green/savage Hulk); Green (green/Professor Hulk)

Powers
The Hulk possesses an incredible level of superhuman physical ability. His capacity for physical strength is potentially limitless due to the fact that the Hulk's strength increases proportionally with his level of great emotional stress, anger in particular. The Hulk uses his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Hulk has been known to cover hundreds of miles in a single bound and once leaped almost into orbit around the Earth. The Hulk has shown a high resistance to physical damage nearly regardless of the cause, and has also shown resistance to extreme temperatures, poisons, and diseases in addition to regeneration of damaged or destroyed areas of tissue at an amazing rate.

The Hulk's body also has a gland that makes an "oxygenated per fluorocarbon emulsion", which creates pressure in the Hulk's lungs and effectively lets him breathe underwater and move quickly between varying depths without concerns about decompression or nitrogen narcosis.

Abilities
Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test. When Banner is the Hulk, Banner's consciousness is buried within the Hulk's, and can influence the Hulk's behavior only to a very limited extent.

Other Info
Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was supervising the trial of an experimental gamma bomb for the U.S. Defense Department at a nuclear research facility in New Mexico. A teenager named Rick Jones had wandered onto the testing site and Banner quickly ran out and pushed Rick into a nearby ditch just as the bomb went off. Banner was hit by the gamma radiation, but survived. (To learn about Rick Jones and how he interacts with Banner throughout his life, click on his name above.)

At first, Banner transformed into the brutish gray Hulk only at sunset, and revert to human form at dawn. Eventually, he turned into the green Hulk when he got an adrenaline rush when he was intensely excited, no matter what time of day. The green Hulk possesses little of Banner's memory and intelligence, and is easily enraged; making him a menace to society. Since Banner's initial transformation into the Hulk, military forces commanded by the implacable General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (father of Betty Ross--Dr. Banner's future wife). (To learn about Banner's wife and father-in-law, click on their names above.)

For a short time, Banner successfully treated his condition with radiation and was able to maintain enough of his own personality when he became the Hulk to control himself in that form. Subsequently, he helped found the Avengers and even received a presidential pardon. However, the Hulk reverted into a brutish menace. (Click on the highlighted "Avengers" above to learn more about the team.)

Gamma-powered psychiatrist Leonard "Doc" Samson captured the Hulk and successfully separated Banner and his alter ego. Without Banner's psyche to restrain him, the Hulk became a greater danger than ever before. Realizing there was only one way to reign in the Hulk, Banner agreed to merge with the monster. But the stress of the re-integration fractured Banner's subconscious, creating the street-smart gray Hulk. During this time, he spent several years in Las Vegas, sometimes operating as an enforcer calling himself Mr. Fixit (or "Joe Fixit"). Joe Fixit was an ill-tempered, wise-cracking, thuggish brute. In this state, Banner again found himself changing into the Hulk at night and into his human form in the light of the day. (The third picture posted above is Hulk as Joe Fixit. To learn about Doc Samson, click on his name above. Note: His Marvel bio page has a picture with a woman in the background with a revealing/tight-fitting outfit.)

Later, Hulk was subjected to a process that split him and Banner into separate beings for a short time. Banner took full advantage of this, and married Betty Ross and attempted to lead a normal life. However, Banner and the Hulk were once again merged, but this time the Ringmaster and Doc Samson tapped into the subconscious of Banner and reached his separate incarnations. Through this hypnosis, Banner, the green Hulk, and the grey Fixit all aligned to face their true inner demons-- Banner's unresolved issues with his abusive father and the murderer of his mother. With this realization, Banner was able to fuse these mentalities together, finding peace of mind. However, a green but intelligent version of the Hulk emerged. He had the mentality of Dr. Banner but the body and abilities of the Hulk. (To learn about the Ringmaster, click on his name above.)

There have been people who have tested Banner time and again promising to cure him, but they truly were trying to gain his powers for themselves. One of those was a former physics professor of Banner's. He got enough gamma radiation to become the creature called Ravage. (To learn about Ravage, click on his name above.)

Though never a big team player, the Hulk joined forces with the Dr. Strange and Namor to defeat the techno-wizard Yandroth. Thereafter, this loose-knit band of Defenders would unite periodically to oppose threats to humanity. The original Defenders reluctantly re-formed when Yandroth surfaced again to menace the world. However, even though the heroes defeated Yandroth's plan, he used his sorcery to levy a deathbed curse upon their heads, binding them to come together in times of crisis. (To learn about the Defenders, the individual members, and/or the villain, click on their highlighted names above.)

After the events of the M-Day (almost all super-powered beings lost their powers), Banner went to Alaska to live in peace away from everyone. 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 that could detonate all the nuclear bombs in the world. As the Hulk up in space, he learned that the Godseye was actually a rouge S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that could match the strength of any enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Godseye could not match the increasing power of the Hulk, and it exploded. (To learn about the teams and the M-Day event, click on them above. Note: The M-Day main picture has a couple people in either revealing or form-fitting outfits.)

Thinking it a good idea, a group of superheroes known as the Illuminati decided to jettison the shuttle into space to try to get rid of the Hulk (Hulk thought it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. space craft taking him home). Unfortunately, Hulk landed on Planet Sakaar, a planet full of barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled over by a corrupt empire. Here, the Hulk had an Obedience Disk implanted on him that made him loyal to the Red King's commands. He joined several others in a group that would have to learn to fight together and became known as Warbound. Soon after this, Hulk and the his Warbound team was forced to fight a captured Silver Surfer who began fighting them. Hulk, angered by Silver Surfer's betrayal of attack him (an ally back on Earth), attacked the Surfer and inadvertently released him from the disc implant embedded within him. Freed of the implant disc that kept him prisoner, the Surfer destroyed the rest of the implant discs embedded in the rest of the warriors. The Hulk declined the Silver Surfer's offer of transportation back to his world so as to finish things on Planet Sakaar. Hulk then stood with his freed Warbound companions against the tyrannous Red King. (The fourth picture posted above is the Warbound Hulk. To learn about the different people, place, and item highlighted above, just click on their names. Note: Illuminati bio page has Namor in a tiny speedo-like outfit.)

When the Red King was close to being defeated by Hulk, the Red King activated a rupture under the very surface of the planet. In an act of desperation, Hulk leaped into the molten earth and forced the splitting plates back to their proper assemblage, literally saving Sakaar. The Hulk gave the King a finishing blow, knocking him clear of the city walls. Hulk was proclaimed the Green King, and all those on Sakaar worshiped him and his Queen, Caiera (By this time, Betty Ross-Banner had been killed by the Abomination). Hulk and Caiera were married, Caiera became pregnant with Hulk's child, and it seemed that the Hulk's life of running and fighting was over. However, the ship that brought Hulk to Sakaar soon exploded, killing his wife and unborn child sending Banner into a rage like no other. He and his Warbound journeyed to Earth seeking revenge on the planet's heroes for their part in Sakkar's destruction. Hulk and his Warbound wrecked havoc on New York City. Iron Man, Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange all fell before the Hulk and his Warbound. Even old sparring partners such as the X-Men as well as new threats like the Gamma Corps couldn't even slow the Hulk's rampage. He put Obedience Disks on his defeated enemies and made they battle each other. Eventually, he realized that he didn't want to murder anyone (when he prevented Mister Fantastic from killing Tony Stark), but just wanted others to realize the pain they have caused him. He released his the heroes, and no matter how many times Iron Man or Mister Fantastic tried to explain they had nothing to do with the shuttle explosion that killed his adopted home world, the Hulk will not listen. (This time where the Hulk and his Warbound wrecked havoc on the world is called, World War Hulk.) Later, Hulk learned that the heroes of Earth actually didn't destroy Sakaar and gave himself up to S.H.I.E.L.D. and was placed three miles below the Mojave Desert. (To learn about any of the above highlighted subjects, just give them a click. Note: Caiera's outfit is a bit revealing.)

One day, the Abomination was found murdered in his homeland of Russia. All the evidence pointed towards Hulk, however, he was in prison. They eventually learned that it was a massive creature that went by the name, Red Hulk. The Hulk was able to get out of prison and face the Red Hulk. Hulk was defeated in the first confrontation, but made sure he came out victorious the second time around with the Red Hulk. When he had defeated the Red Hulk, Banner didn't stay around to find out the Red Hulk's true identity. (To learn more about the Red Hulk, click on the highlighted name above. For more information on Bruce Banner, Joe Fixit, Hulk, etc., click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Hulk_(Bruce_Banner).)

Lou Ferrigno, the original Hulk in the TV Series, makes a cameo in both of the Hulk movies as a security guard.