The year was 1962. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were changing the face of the comics industry with the Fantastic Four—even if they probably didn’t suspect up to what point at the time. Of course, when it was time to find a replacement for the recently canceled Teen-Age Romance, the team came up with something that didn’t really have anything romantic in it: The Hulk.
Who is the Hulk? The story goes like this: Bruce Banner is a brilliant scientist who was exposed to gamma radiation during an experimental “accident.” As a result, he can transform into a massive, green-skinned (or gray!), superhuman creature with incredible strength and durability known as The Hulk.
The problem is that Banner struggles to control the transformation and as the unpredictable Hulk, he often causes widespread destruction in his wake. But not always. In fact, through the years, the Hulk has not always been a destructive rageful monster, his nature evolved as well as his relationship with the puny Banner.
The Creation of The Hulk: the inspirations behind Bruce Banner’s alter ego
Stan Lee was a mythologizer at every level of his career. He created characters and history, but also the history behind the creation. As a result, there is always more than one version of a story when we are talking about the inception of one great “hero” like The Hulk.
Lee and Jack Kirby had to create a new success and, as Ben “The Thing” Grimm was the most popular member of the Fantastic Four, it made sense to follow his lead and go with a somewhat similar superhero, one that was—in appearance—a bit monstrous. Stan Lee said he was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but also Quasimodo from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
On the other hand, Jack Kirby declared that Lee didn’t create the Hulk at all. He did it by himself, inspired by a woman he saw lift a car by herself to save her boy. Of course, the same literary inspirations were also listed. The way Lee and Kirby worked, as one drew and the other came after to add the words in the bubbles, the truth behind who created the Hulk as we know it will always be uncertain. Nevertheless, the influence of the famous classics and the desire to try to create another Ben Grimm can’t be contested.
In the end, let’s not forget that Marvel publisher Martin Goodman was the one who decided to put a monster on the racks, as there was a renewed interest for that type of story at the time. That’s why The Hulk started directly with his own book—which was quickly canceled, by the way.
The Origins of The Hulk
It was in the 1960s, there was an arm race going on. Bespectacled and mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner created a new type of bomb, a Gamma Bomb. The day of testing came and the test site was not cleared as expected. Unknowingly, a teenager named Rick Jones was about to die, but Banner saved him, getting exposed to gamma radiation in the process. At first, he didn’t seem to be affected, a fact that made Betty Ross (Bruce’s love interest) quite happy, but when the night came and he transformed into a gray monster. The Hulk was born.
Soon, General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Betty’s father and leader of the gamma base, declared war on the Hulk. But the more they try to destroy the (now) green monster, the stronger he got. Filled with rage, the Hulk is unstoppable.
For a long time, Hulk’s stories were mostly about him fighting other monsters (Gamma Monsters or not), but also the military, and other superheroes who just couldn’t let him be. He traveled a lot, lived through cosmic adventures, and joined the Defenders. Bruce Banner got cured, but always found a way to get the Hulk back.
The Hulk’s Personalities
From a mindless destructive force to a genius scientist, the Hulk had more than one personality. He was the gangster Joe Fixit, the scientist Doc Green, a World-Breaker, and the Devil Hulk.
As writers tinkled with his nature, it was discovered that Hulk came with rage, not the night. But also that Banner was abused by his father when he was a child, which led to the creation of alter egos. Bruce had to deal with his fractured psyche to find peace with the Hulk that was in him. The multiple personalities were his own before becoming Hulk’s.
They also are the reason the Green Goliath was not always the same green—he was gray or a different shade of green.
The Loves and Enemies of the Hulk
Bruce Anner’s enemy is probably himself, but the Hulk has a lot of monsters—in shape or in spirit—to fight. If the Ol’ Greenskin can sometimes see other heroes as his enemies, his worst foes are also green.
Samuel Sterns was a janitor when he was exposed to gamma radiation that made him into the super-villain known as the Leader, a green-skinned super-intelligent man who wants to dominate the World (of course).
Emil Blonsky was a KGB agent who deliberately exposed himself to a large quantity of gamma radiation in order to become a hulk-like creature. He became the Abomination.
General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross is obsessed with capturing the Hulk to the point of becoming a monster, figuratively for a long time, but also literally as he was given the ability to transform into Red Hulk by the organizations A.I.M. and the Intelligencia.
Those are the most important of Hulk’s antagonists, but there are a lot more like Gargoyle, Absorbing Man, the Gamma Corps, or Maestro (a barbaric future version of the Hulk himself).
Naturally, The Hulk’s life is not only filled with enemies, he also has friends like his sidekick Rick Jones, but also love interests. If Betty Ross is Banner’s love (and wife at some point), her relationship with the Hulk is not on the same level. The green monster’s first real love is Jarella. As he traveled to other dimensions, the Hulk met Jarella, the queen of the planet K’ai, who used magic to bring Banner’s intelligence to the Green Goliath. Years later, exiled to the planet Sakaar, Hulk met Caiera who became his ally, then his wife, as well as the mother of his children, Skaar and Hiro-Kala.
The Hulk is not big on friendship, but he still has people who kept fighting for him and/or with him. Rick, but also gamma-superhero and psychiatrist Doc Samson, his cousin She-Hulk, the Defenders, and even the Avengers (he was a founding member after all, they don’t always want to stop him)
Key Stories in Hulk’s History
If you want to read some Hulk Stories, you can visit our Hulk Reading Order which lists (almost) everything available to read about the Green Goliath.
Maybe you want a selection of more iconic stories, classic ones, and influential story arcs. Here is a selection that is not exhaustive or definitive, feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments.
- The early days of The Hulk in Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1. This is where everything started.
- In The Incredible Hulk #147–148, The Hulk battle the villainous Bi-Beast, and feature some of the most memorable Hulk artwork of the era, including an iconic cover by Herb Trimpe. Collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 8.
- In The Incredible Hulk #181, we’ve got the first appearance of Wolverine, which led to a memorable battle between The Hulk and the clawed X-Man. Collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 10.
- In The Incredible Hulk #331–337, Peter David began a 12-year run with issue #331 and started to explore the complex personalities of the Hulk. Collected in Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, vol. 1.
- In The Incredible Hulk #377, we assist to a pivotal moment in The Hulk’s history, with the character transforming into a new, more intelligent version known as “Professor Hulk.”
- “Planet Hulk”/”World War Hulk”: This storyline sees The Hulk being exiled to another planet by a group of superheroes who believe he is too dangerous for Earth. There, he becomes a gladiator and eventually leads a revolution against the planet’s tyrannical ruler, and the tragedy happened after that. We have a World War Hulk Reading Order if you want, or just go for the Planet Hulk Omnibus and the World War Hulk Omnibus.
- “The Immortal Hulk” is the recent 50-issue celebrated run by Al Ewing that became an instant classic. Collected in The Immortal Hulk Omnibus vol. 1, vol. 2,
- vol. 3, and vol. 4.
If you just want to know what happened during the first 300 issues of the Hulk, take a look at Jim Rugg’s Hulk: Grand Design.
- Hulk: Grand Design—Treasury Edition
Collects Hulk: Grand Design—Monster and Hulk: Grand Design—Madness.