The Hulk is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. After physicist Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he created, he was transformed into the Hulk, a giant, raging monster. The character, both as Banner and the Hulk, is frequently pursued by the police or the armed forces, often as a result of the destruction he causes. While the coloration of the character's skin varies during the course of its publication history, the Hulk is most often depicted as green. Hulk is one of Marvel Comics' most recognized characters.

 

The character has appeared in a television series, with spin-off television movies, starring Bill Bixby as Dr. Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk; in animated series in 1966, 1982 and 1996; and in two feature films: Hulk (2003), directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as Banner, and The Incredible Hulk (2008) directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton as Banner.

 

 

The Hulk possesses the potential for limitless physical strength depending directly on his emotional state, particularly his anger. This has been reflected in the repeated comment "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets." His durability, healing, and endurance increase in relation to his temper. The Hulk is also extremely resistant to most forms of injury or damage, including physical, psychic, environmental extremes, and is immune to disease and poisons. His powerful legs allow him to leap into lower Earth orbit or across continents. He also has less commonly described powers, including abilities allowing him to "home in" to his place of origin in New Mexico, and to see and interact with astral forms. He has been shown to have both regenerative and adaptive healing abilities, including growing tissues to allow him to breathe underwater, surviving unprotected in space, and when injured, healing from almost any wound within seconds, including regenerating lost mass.

 

As Bruce Banner (and the Merged/Professor Hulk), he is considered one of the greatest minds on Earth. He has developed expertise in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, and physiology, and holds a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. He possesses "a mind so brilliant it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test".

 

In The Science of Superheroes, Lois Grest and Robert Weinberg examined Hulk’s powers, explaining the scientific flaws in them. Most notably, they point out that the level of gamma radiation Banner is exposed to at the initial blast would induce radiation sickness and kill him, or if not, create significant cancer risks for Banner, because hard radiation strips cells of their ability to function. They go on to offer up an alternate origin, in which a Hulk might be created by biological experimentation with adrenal glands and GFP.

 

Charles Q. Choi from LiveScience.com further explains that unlike the Incredible Hulk, gamma rays are not green - lying as they do beyond the visible spectrum, gamma rays have no color at all that we can describe. He also explains that gamma rays are so powerful (the highest form of light and 10,000 times more powerful than visible light) that they can even create matter- a possible explanation for the increased mass that Bruce Banner takes on during transformations. "Just as the Incredible Hulk 'is the strongest one there is,' as he says himself, so too are gamma ray bursts the most powerful explosions known."