Not everyone can be a superhero and not many feel they could be as pure as quite a few of them are, but what about your favorite Hulk? Big, mean and green, nobody can say Hulk isn’t Incredible and there’s a lot of info to prove it. Let’s dive into some trivia, shall we?
1. As I’ve referenced before in a piece about the Hulk, there are more powers than just being super strong and big. He’s bulletproof and can leap into orbit from a stand-still. Heck, even one version of his story has him with the ability to see ghosts. Right?
2. Back in the very beginning of the Hulk, it wasn’t always so cut and dry and about anger when Bruce Banner would shift into Hulk. Back in the day, the inspo came from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — so Hulk would appear upon the cover of darkness. Banner would then come back upon the sunset, dealing with the mess Hulk left behind. This was changed as it was a bit too complicated for many different stories to make sense or include him and anger became the trigger.
3. While most people are aware of the Hulk’s somewhat limited language (aka “HULK SMASH” and various grunts) — he actually has story arcs where Hulk has more speech than what we’re always used to. In many story arcs, Hulk is able to quell the Banner side of himself and utilize more of the brain power for himself. In Thor Ragnarok, Hulk has quite a lot more to say and that is due in part to him tucking Banner back and keeping his brain all for himself.
(Marvel Studios)
4. Due to inking issues during the inception of Hulk, he was originally gray and not green. It wouldn’t be until several issues later that they would finally be able to work the green out. This was very intentional on Stan Lee’s part, as he wanted Hulk to not be visibly connected to any human race’s skin color whatsoever. Gray Hulk would later play an entirely different role in the comics.
5. Hulk has a lot of kids, well, in different multiverses. One child’s name is/was Skaar. Skaar looks like he belongs in Metapocalypse and it amuses me greatly. There are other sons and daughters and it just all gets rather intense. The point is, there are stories where Hulk obviously had relationships that lead to kids. I’m shook.
6. During the original television series, Lou Ferrigno was picked because he was the right height and right musculature for the part. Since practical effects and make-up were really all they could use, they had to be spot-on with the size and look and build up from there. Heck, they even turned down Arnold Schwarzenegger!
(Universal Pictures)
7. A male dancer is actually the body double for the Hulk in the Marvel films and he’d be painted green daily and would do the mo-cap during scenes. Then, through computers, muscles and bulk would be added onto his already impressive frame to make him large enough to be a Hulk. Can you imagine that fella coming to the main stage? Yeeek!
8. The Hulk has one very strange weakness, among the other more intense ones, and that’s puppies. It’s written into several of the series that Hulk will pretty much stop on a dime if there’s a puppy and/or puppies around for him to cuddle and love on. Now, isn’t that precious?
9. General Ross, the officious military villain to Hulk and Bruce Banner, would eventually come to be Red Hulk. Now, here we were thinking he just wanted to destroy a mutant superhero but it was really jealously all along. Red Hulk was everything more terrifying than Hulk and had powers that could take Hulk back into Bruce Banner on a whim.
(Marvel Studios)
10. While Bruce Banner weighs roughly about 130 pounds, your typical Hulk will get closer to 1500 pounds at his most massive form. Sure, there are leaner forms in different stories arcs but they’re still closest to 1000 pounds. Talk about a thicc boy!
