The Incredible Hulk / Tropes A to C

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A

• Abusive Parents: There's Bruce Banner's father, Brian. He'd been abused by his father, leading Brian to believe his father was a monster, that he had inherited the 'monster gene', and that any children he had would be monsters too. Brian initially chose to ignore Bruce, believing him to be a monster in the making. When it became apparent Bruce was a child genius, Brian saw his worst fears confirmed, and started beating both Bruce and his mother, Rebecca. After several years of abuse, Rebecca attempted to escape with Bruce, but Brian killed her and intimidated Bruce into saying Brian hadn't done anything to them. The truth only came out when Brian got drunk and boasted about what he'd done. Brian was locked up in a mental institution, dying shortly after release. End result? Bruce developed multiple personality syndrome - and after a certain accident with a gamma bomb, his personalities became the various Hulks. Bruce (accidentally) killed him. In a subsequent story, Banner himself admits it might not have been accidental. He came back from the dead and in Devil Hulk form in the Chaos War tie-in, but the Hulk sent him to Hell... only to return as a body-hopping spirit to confront his son in Immortal Hulk.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: Bruce Banner has this attitude about the Hulk, also a possible interpretation of Hulk's quote from World War Hulk
  Hulk: "I'll hate you forever. Almost as much as I hate myself."
• After the End: Two stories written by Peter David focus on the Hulk in post-apocalyptic futures with very different approaches. The first, Hulk: Future Imperfect, has him transported to a future time about 100 years in the future where society has fallen into a new Medieval-like setting ruled by the Hulk's future self, the Maestro. The second, Hulk: The End, has Bruce Banner as the last man on Earth, having survived for more than two centuries after nuclear war wiped out mankind. In the end, Hulk gets his wish, and he lives to regret it. Al Ewing takes this to the next level in Immortal Hulk, showing a future wherein the Hulk is the last thing left alive at the end of the universe because he murdered all the rest while possessed by the One-Below-All.
• Alien Blood: The Hulk very often bleeds a dark green. Red Hulk has glowing yellow blood.
• Alliterative Name: Bruce Banner/The Hulk''. (The alliteration didn't save Stan from calling him "Bob Banner" in an early story, thus enshrining in canon the full name of "Robert Bruce Banner".) ^{on TV} In the TV series, it was changed to David Banner (with Bruce still as his middle name) because of directorial distaste for this trope. At least that's what Kenneth Johnson (the producer and writer of the bulk of the series) says. Stan Lee says that the producers thought the name "Bruce" sounded gay. See, back in the funky '70s the name Bruce was thought of as a "gay" name the United States.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: The Hulk has this effect on women much like Herc does. Just ask Caiera. And Thundra. And Umar.
• Almost Famous Name: Xemnu the Titan is a kinda interesting example; he was referred to as "a Hulk" before the Hulk existed, but he called himself Xemnu.^note "Hulk" being a generic word for a large thing, often a ship, at the time. After the Hulk was created, Xemnu has come back a few times mostly as a Hulk foe, feuding over the name.
• Alternate Identity Amnesia: Zigzagged as there have been periods when Bruce Banner cannot remember anything about what happened when he was the Hulk (and vice versa) times when the memories are kind of fuzzy, and other times when one or both of them remember the other's actions clearly.
  • Invoked in an issue of Secret Avengers: Banner is dropped onto a squadron of rampaging Iron Patriot drones, and when he reverts to Banner, he's arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of a plot to recapture the Patriots. He doesn't remember being recruited or fighting. This is partly due to the usual amnesia and partially because S.H.I.E.L.D. has memory-altering technology.
  • She-Hulk experienced this twice: First, during the "The Cosmic Squish Principle" arc, when her savage Grey form first manifested. And later, during the Avengers arc "The Search for She-Hulk", as the exposure to fellow Avenger Jack of Hearts (who can manipulate radiation, although he isn't always able to do this consciously) caused Jennifer to lose control of her She-Hulk form. In both cases, she returned to normal a while after.
  • This happened to Amadeus Cho in Totally Awesome Hulk whenever his Dark Hulk persona took control of their Hulk form.
• Always a Bigger Fish: He might be Earth's strongest superhuman, but in most cases he can't match cosmic entities - as Gaea, the Phoenix Force, Dormammu, Galactus, and most prominently Zeus have proven. It does work both ways, though: many super-strong aliens and even gods have arrived on Earth only to find that there's a Bigger Fish right here.
• Always Someone Better: Bruce Banner has been shown to resent Tony Stark because of how beloved and successful Tony's inventions have made him, while Bruce's invention turned him into an out of control freak.
  • Meanwhile the Hulk serves as this to Ben Grimm, the ever lovin blue eyed Thing. Ben is an accomplished fighter and one of the physically strongest heroes on Earth but the Hulk is just plain stronger and tougher than Ben ever is at his best. The Thing can put up a good fight through a Weak, but Skilled approach that takes advantage of his skill as a fighter rather than his power but most of their battles are usually in Hulk's favor by the end and any clear cut victories on Ben's end come from drastically different circumstances than they normally work under, such as one instance when Ben had received a significant power boost and the Hulk was locked into his weaker Grey Hulk form.
• Angrish: The Hulk would seem to be the living distillation of this trope. Whenever Bruce Banner gets angry enough, he manifests as the incarnation of Angrish. "RRAAAAARRGH! HULK SMASH! AAAARRRGH!"
• Animated Adaptation: The first came in 1966, as part of The Marvel Super Heroes. He's had two TV series dedicated to him (one in the 80's and one in the 90's) both Cut Short, though both series retain small but faithful fanbases. Since then, he has had multiple appearances in DTVs and other Marvel TV series since then, most prominently Hulk Vs., Planet Hulk, and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The most recent one, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., aired on Disney XD and ran for 2 seasons.
• Antagonistic Offspring: The Hulk had issues with his son, Skaar, who came to Earth and waited around for Bruce Banner to return to being the Hulk so he could kill him. He eventually mellowed and got along with his father. His other son, Hiro-Kala, hates Bruce and the Hulk, and tried to wipe out Earth in his rage, using brainwashed slaves to do his dirty work; it takes Bruce and Skaar to take him down.
• Anti-Hero: The Hulk, while always up to stop a bad guy and capable of empathy and loyalty, frequently leaves a trail of destruction on his path (though Marvel claims it's usually without victims) and clashes with other heroes. Considering, however, that the Hulk has a very "Hollywood version" of Multiple Personality Disorder, with a heavy dose of Depending on the Writer on top, it shifts wildly from incarnation to incarnation, individual interpretations thereof, and even deliberate Character Development. However, roughly speaking, the incarnations go as follow:
  • Bruce Banner: Varies Depending on the Writer, anywhere from a pure hero to Classical Anti-Hero, Knight in Sour Armor, or Pragmatic Hero, with Greg Pak playing him as the last category by lying to those close to him into getting his way. Not to mention putting innocent people including his own son in harm's way for his personal gain.
  • Original Hulk: Unscrupulous Hero. A grumpy outsider looking for a fight and responding violently when attacked, but staying out of people's way beyond that.
  • Savage Hulk: Knight in Sour Armor or Pragmatic Hero. Extremely noble, well-intended, loyal, heroic, constantly persecuted without understanding why, only wants to be loved and have friends, but cannot understand the society around him, protector of all oppressed peoples around the universe, will be inconsolable after watching Bambi or seeing a dead bunny, and strictly a force for good as long as somebody (like his former father figure Doctor Strange, or own, as opposed to Banner's, "the greatest love of his life" Queen Jarella) gives him a comprehensible direction. Basically the most pure-hearted and genuinely heroic version, but non-constructively constantly hunted like an animal due to his sheer scale of power without the maturity to handle it properly. Nowadays, tends to usually be treated more kindly by other heroes when he shows up.
  • Mindless Hulk in the crossroads: Unscrupulous Hero. A wild animal, but not inherently malevolent, and capable of instinctive loyalty or empathy.
  • Joe Fixit: Nominal Hero and Noble Demon. A largely amoral and hedonistic mob enforcer Villain Protagonist who mainly fought other villains, much like plenty of others within this trope. He also grew some conscience, such as grudgingly helping some children celebrate Christmas, turned loyal and protective of his friends, and towards the end apparently avoided using excessive force against army officers or similar attackers.
  • Merged Hulk: Knight in Sour Armor or Pragmatic Hero. Possibly the most well-adjusted incarnation, and genuinely proactively well-intended, actively dedicating himself to helping the world, without going to murderous extremes, and playing reasonably well with others. However, he still has as much a hot temper as any other Hulk, is prone to cynicism and also tends to do his own thing just like them.
  • Bannerless Hulk: Unscrupulous Hero. Part of his mind was split from his body, and he started to largely act as the first Hulk did, although to a greater extreme, such as taking over an island for no particular purpose, although without harming anybody. Still, the army colonel pursuing him got wise on that this particular Hulk was different from the previous versions, was simply looking for attention, and caused less damage if the army stopped attacking him, so she told him off to his face, "left him alone" as he didn't really wish, and it worked out pretty well.
  • Green Scar: Roughly a Pragmatic Hero on Sakaar/basically a more responsible version of the Savage Hulk. Views are split about whether he was provoked into Unscrupulous Hero or Nominal Hero during World War Hulk (compare a sovereign nation being annihilated, and then strictly retaliating by going after those responsible, without any Hiroshima or civilian casualties involved), although despite his Roaring Rampage of Revenge casuing very inconsiderate property damage, he is still less bloodthirsty than the majority of pragmatic heroes.
  • Devil Hulk: Terror Hero and Well-Intentioned Extremist. He isn't called "Devil Hulk" for anything, as he dispenses justice in his own brutal way. Case in point, after Banner gets shot in the head by an obviously-terrified gunman trying to rob a convenience store to pay his debts, Hulk awakens in the dead of night and chases after him. We don't see what happens to the guy, but we cut back to him after the fact and his body is so destroyed that if he ever wakes up, he'll never walk again.
    • Hulk’s allies and family aren’t much better. His cousin She-Hulk was this originally before becoming nicer but is still terrifying on a rampage, his wife Betty Ross once a sweet young woman is now violent and bitter Dark Action Girl, his son Skaar is a bloodthirsty sword wielding savage who joins the Dark Avengers and his best friend and former Kid Sidekick Rick Jones becomes a destructive monster before being cured, getting killed, and resurrected as a creepy yellow-eyed gamma zombie.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: The Hulk has both subverted and played this trope straight at the same time. After World War Hulk, with the Hulk imprisoned by the army, his series was taken over by Hercules and a new series was launched with a mysterious Red Hulk as the central character. The Incredible Hercules subverted the trope quickly, proving he's anything but an Anti-Hero, while Red Hulk played it straight, acting like a total dick and making Hulk lose his powers.
  • Earlier on in the '80s this trope popped up, with the normal destructive but rarely malicious green Hulk being replaced by an amoral jerkass grey Hulk named Joe Fixit. Green Hulk is an anti-hero to begin with but the trope still stands as Joe Fixit is several notches down the scale. The twist is Joe Fixit is just another of Bruce Banner's repressed personalities.
• Arch-Enemy: A toss up between the Leader, Abomination, Maestro, Brian Banner and Nightmare.
• Arrogant God vs. Raging Monster: Every fight between the Hulk and The Mighty Thor is basically this. While most of them end inconclusively, and the question of who is strongest is left unanswered on purpose, the sometimes arrogant Thor can't stand how the child-brained Hulk keeps on proclaiming himself to be the strongest, and neither can the Hulk stand the idea of not being able to lift Thor's hammer. While it is true Thor possesses a greater variety of powers, the Hulk's ever increasing strength through rage keeps proving to make him more than a match for Thor.
  • Subverted depending on what version of the Hulk is fighting. As Bruce Banner has DDI and many alters, each Hulk has different traits. Joe Fixit is Weak, but Skilled compared to the other hulk as he's a cunning and dirty fighter, The Professor is a Jack of All Stats while retaining Bruce's intellect, World Breaker Hulk is easily strong enough to best most gods but his power tends to be uncontrollable and dangerous to everyone around him, of course then there's... The Devil/Immortal Hulk. The Immortal Hulk is more like a god or a demon in that he has explicitly mystical qualities, has resurrective immortality, can be dismembered and still move his bits and pieces which will rejoin if free and close together, can see into souls and smell the lies on people, and is so strong he can crack Thor's skull and beat him with one punch. Then again it may not be a Subverted Trope in the immortal Hulk's case as he is very intelligent and enjoys Break Them by Talking along with being a Soft-Spoken Sadist to his enemies.
• Artistic License – Military: General Ross pretty much embodies the Armies Are Evil Trope in one man. It not only takes Artistic License but a lot of Suspension of Disbelief on the part of Marvel fans to assume the U.S. Air Force wouldn't have court martialed him, reduced him in rank, and sentenced him to life in Leavenworth after the property damage and civilian casualties his obsession with the Hulk has caused.
  • Another issue is that Ross is repeatedly shown sending infantry and tanks after the Hulk (for all the good it does), when he's an Air Force General. He would have no operational control over ground units beyond Air Force Security Forces or Air Force Special Operations personnel, neither of which would have heavy tanks or infantry. He'd have to have these forces placed under his command by the Secretary of Defense (likely over the strenuous objections of the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff). Extremely unlikely. Possible if the President backed Ross, but unlikely.
• Artistic License – Physics: Gamma radiation is depicted as lethal to most any Innocent Bystander, unless you happen to be the one lucky enough to survive, and survivors do not generally suffer from high amounts of radiation exposure. Gamma rays do not seem to penetrate through matter or the Earth to cause damage and destruction to any and all lifeforms, as such a detonation on the Earth's surface would likely do.
• Asshole Victim: He's killed a few people in his time, but they usually really had it coming.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Hulk's been the king of a surprising number of worlds, most notably Sakaar in Planet Hulk. He was also the president of Australia in House of M.
• Atlas Pose: The cover to The Incredible Hulk Special #1, homaged many times since.

B

• BFG: Hulk himself succumbed to this trope during the Dark Age, when he spent a story arc running around with a huge energy cannon in each hand. Thankfully, that story tends to be ignored these days.
• Back from the Dead: Subverted in Fall of the Hulk, when it appears Glenn Talbot has come back. Eventually, Red Hulk reveals he's just a LMD. The real Talbot is still very much dead.
• Badass Boast:
  • While "I'm the strongest one there is" is the Hulk's catch phrase boast, recently he's simplified it. When told he can't do something, or asked how he thinks he can do something thought impossible, he responds "Sure I can/Easy, I'm The Hulk."
  • In his first fight with Namor:
    Namor: No one has ever broken thru my whirlpool trap before!
    Hulk: No one else- is Hulk!
  • Bruce Banner once forced Wolverine and Daken to back down when he explained to them what it means to be one of the smartest people in the world and be dangerously unstable.
    Maybe the real reason I became the Hulk... was to protect the world from Banner.
  • In Season One, Bruce Banner gets one himself, against Hulk, and finished it off with a punch that knocks Hulk down.
    Bruce: You're passion, Hulk. But I'm will. You said it yourself. I've bottled you up for years. Why stop now? You underestimated me, Hulk. Don't feel bad. Most do. What he put me through as a kid — you don't survive that by being weak. I'm the strongest there is.
  • In The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, the Maestro had this excellent villainous version;
    Maestro: You're fighting the inevitable, Hulk. I'm simply the final product of natural selection. The strong survive. I'm the strongest. I survived. When you go against me, you go against the laws of nature.
    • He also had this to say about what he did to all the heroes in his time.
    No, by beating them to death, and it all went so quickly that I'm sorry I didn't prolong it.
• Badass Bookworm: Bruce Banner is the Badass Bookworm you wouldn't want to make angry! Perhaps not 100% applicable because the Hulk is a different personality, but overall they're the same person, and can certainly scrap any of the others.
  • Although there are plenty of people smarter than him, most famously Reed Richards and Doctor Doom, Banner is one of the most brilliant people on the planet, and in his primary area of expertise, radiation, he is totally unsurpassed on Earth, with even Dr. Doom admitting that he doesn't know as much as Banner does on the topic. When he sets his mind to it very little can get in Banner's way.
  • Not so long ago Bruce lost his powers (again) because of Red Hulk. Every sign on heaven or earth shows that Bruce is so Badass Bookworm that taking away his Hulk persona can make him even more dangerous. It's easy to forget he turned into The Hulk to begin with because he had a career building super-weapons for the government, which as Banner, he's intelligent enough to use and improve upon.
  Bruce: You know, it just now occurs to me that maybe the real reason I became the Hulk... was to protect the world from Banner.
• Badass Family: The Banner family. Including, but not limited to, Bruce Banner/The Hulk, his cousin/stand-in sister She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters; wife Red She-Hulk/Betty Ross Banner; children Skaar, Hiro-Kala, and Lyra; and father-in-law Red Hulk/Thunderbolt Ross.
  • At one point they formed an official team along with close family friends Rick Jones/A-Bomb and Korg.
  • It's also been heavily implied, though never confirmed, that Carmilla Black, the current Scorpion and daughter of Monica Rappaccini (the head of AIM), is also Bruce's daughter.
  • In addition, his past serious committed relationships Jarella and Caiera were warrior-women (as was Thundra, but that was not even an affair). Umar the Unrelenting, queen of the Dark Dimension, made him her consort on two occasions. He also had a college fling with the AIM Scientist Supreme Monica Rappaccini, which means that he and M.O.D.O.K. were romantic rivals...
  • Betty also has a daughter, the benevolent mystical entity Daydream, due to being raped by Nightmare, but although the demon keeps up his creepy "children fathered through rape" tendency with Trauma and Dreamqueen, nobody has had an interest in reintroducing her yet.
• Badass Fingersnap:
  • Played for laughs when Professor Hulk has a "Eureka!" Moment, he snapped his fingers, sending others around him reeling.
  • Immortal Hulk uses this, with his severed hand. to shatter the glass jars his different body parts were kept.
• Badass Longcoat: Joe Fixit often wore a purple trenchcoat, especially during the period of time where he was still repressing the Bruce Banner persona and exposure to sunlight weakened him.
• Bad Future:
  • In The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, the Hulk was once pulled into a bad future where, after a global nuclear war killed most of the world's superheroes, the Hulk himself, having renamed himself the Maestro, had taken over, having gone insane due to the massive amounts of radiation he absorbed during the war.
  • Immortal Hulk features a particularly dark one: Billions of years into the future, the Hulk (utterly controlled by the One Below All after fully eating away Bruce and Devil Hulk) kills off Franklin Richards and Mr. Immortal to take the role of Galactus's successor. Becoming a true Breaker of Worlds, in issue #25 it succeeds in destroying all life in the next universe, leaving a dark, dead, utterly broken abyss where it resides entirely alone. The last living being in that universe tries to Set Right What Once Went Wrong and avert this timeline... except they may only have created a Stable Time Loop.
• Bag of Holding: Bruce Banner built himself one of these, though unusually for this trope, it actually connects to his lab in the same dimension. Amadeus Cho once defeated an Eldritch Abomination by stuffing it inside. Since this meant said abomination was now running around his lab, Banner was annoyed.
• Bambification: Depending on the Writer, the Hulk is quite fond of deer. He even calls them Bambi! One memorable issue had him stumble upon some hunters killing deer, and he reacted pretty much exactly how you'd expect him to.
  Hulk: Men killed Bambi's mother!
• Barbarian Hero:
  • Most versions of the Hulk often has shades of this, especially the Green Scar incarnation, but this is particularly noticable when he was on the sub atomic planet K'ai and the alien world of Sakaar.
  • His son Skaar is a proud example of this, even getting nicknamed "Conan" when he arrives on Earth.
  • Kronen is a Conan parody featured in a Hulk story. He's one-eyed, cruel, and possesses an amulet with a smile demon.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: The Hulk is so big and strong that his fists are all the weapons he needs. He'd shatter or crumple his own weapon at the first swing, in most cases.
• Baseball Episode: The Hulk, while incognito, got a gig playing outfield for a minor league team. The gig ended when he had a fight with the Rhino, who was playing catcher for a rival minor league team. Foul-tempered, mutated superbehemoths playing baseball? Shocking.
• Battle Aura: Introduced with the Worldbreaker level of Hulk's strength.
• Battle Couple: Hulk and Caeira. Occasionally Hulk and Red She-Hulk (Betty Ross).
• Battle Cry: "HULK SMASH!"
• Battle Strip: The Hulk is a common example. No fanservice involved. Unless...^note At the times Hulk wore more clothes, he would Battle Strip after the inevitable Clothing Damage. Grey Hulk did it to get dangerous on someone who already ruined his Armani suit.
• Beardness Protection Program: Bruce Banner has tried once shaving his head, and another time growing a beard, to disguise himself from the authorities pursuing him. Consequently, we got to see a bald Hulk and a fuzzy-faced Hulk.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: ...especially if you wish to die, because if you do, Mercy is never far! Fortunately, The Hulk never truly wished to die...
  • The 2011 "Heart of the Monster" arc in The Incredible Hulks is built around this trope - Hulk and his team encounter a Wishing Well. Everyone involved knows what it will twist every wish it grants. What they don't know is the intentions of the Red She-Hulk, who used it to wish doom on her ex-husband.... if she meant it, his circumstances are going to improve, but if she liked him... As it turns out, she hated him at the time, meaning all of his dreams briefly came true.
  • The beginning of Immortal Hulk introduces Jackie McGee, a young reporter who wants to become a Hulk to express her rage at systemic racism. She doesn't quite realize what a horror-show the Hulk has made out of Bruce Banner's life until she meets him in person.
  • The Alternate Universe story Hulk: The End, shows the Hulk finally getting what he always wished for: to be left alone. Completely alone, not even Banner nagging in the back of his mind. He almost immediately begins to regret it.
• Because I'm Good At It: Occasionally Bruce Banner is called out on the fact that, despite having an intellect on par with Reed Richards or Tony Stark, before becoming the Hulk he devoted his life to making bombs. His explanation? He was good at it. And indeed, he made the most destructive bomb ever; one that never stops exploding. The Hulk.
• Beneath Notice: This is how Bruce Banner gets into labs generally speaking. He needs the equipment or access to machinery, he dresses up as a janitor. Plus it's the added bonus of being there after hours.
• Berserk Button: The Hulk is generally a Berserker anyway, but anything or anyone that reminds him of his father is definitely in for a world of hurt.
  • Funny: The Hulk and The Thing were up against a single powerful alien fighter, so Thing tries to piss Hulk off.
  The Thing: He called you a commie, a pinko!
  The Hulk: No! Hulk GREEN!
  • One surefire way to make Hulk even angrier than usual is comparing him to Bruce Banner, and if it's the Gray Hulk (Joe Fixit), comparing him to the classic Savage Hulk or saying he's not as strong as that version.
    • As well as claiming to be stronger than The Hulk, especially if you've just knocked him down.
• The Berserker: The Hulk is practically rage incarnate.
• Betty and Veronica: Bruce Banner as the Betty and Glenn Talbot as the Veronica for Betty Ross.
  • Chaos War would also have Jarella as the Betty and Red She-Hulk as the Veronica for the Hulk.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Bruce Banner is usually a pretty nice guy. Just don't get him angry. You won't like him when he's angry.
  • Bruce Banner himself isn't exactly helpless either. Word of God confirms that his intelligence is on par with Tony Stark or Reed Richards; he's been able to avoid the authorities countless times and was able to hold his own in a few fights without turning into the Hulk. If you are dumb enough to piss him off, he WILL smash you. In one of the Avengers vs. X-Men issues he proves that he is smarter than Stark, humming afterwards "Banner is the smartest one there is."
  • All the above is explored in the 'Banner & Son' storyline, which sees Banner temporarily unable to transform into the Hulk. He still manages to take down villains like Juggernaut and the Harpy by being a Gadgeteer Genius (and with a little help from Skaar). In fact, Norman Osborn considers Banner to be a far greater threat to him than the Hulk ("The Hulk is purely reactive... Banner thinks he's some sort of hero") and exposes Banner to a substance which will accelerate the reacquisition of his Hulk powers. During this time, he also muses whether the Hulk is there to protect him from the world or to protect the world from Banner.
  • Hulk himself actually quite a timid guy... if you leave him alone. Sadly, the usual response is... well, doing what the Hulk does.
  • Part of Bruce's backstory is that he killed his own abusive murderous father in a fit of rage (in self-defense) long before he was hit by the gamma-bomb. He's always been dangerous. The gamma rays just gave his rage a form.
• Big Brother Instinct: It’s a usually Downplayed Trope but Bruce Banner aka the Hulk still cares for his cousin Jennifer Walters especially in his Smart Hulk transformation in the John Bryne era. Hell Bruce saved Jennifer’s life with a blood donation when she got shot and unintentionally made her incredibly badass. Case in point, Banner Hulk was getting his ass kicked by the Killer Robot Arsenal who had previously required an entire team of Avengers to subdue. Jennnifer rushes in to help her cousin only get swiftly knocked out. Cue the Hulk's signature Unstoppable Rage fuelled No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • There’s also the inverse: Shulkie tends to believe she’s the only one who can reach her cousin when he’s on a Unstoppable Rage. The quickest way to piss She-Hulk off is to hurt her cousin especially when he’s in his weaker Bruce Banner form.
  • Besides Jen, Hulk does share the same sentiment with his sidekick Rick Jones and surprisingly Spider-Man, who he even lets take a ride on his shoulders and will get very, very mad if “Bug Man” is hurt around him.
• The Big Guy: The 1990s Animated Adaptation sometimes portrayed him as a type 2; Joe Fixit was a type 3, while in some of his more intelligent incarnations he qualifies as a type 5.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family/Dysfunction Junction: As badass as they may be, most of the core family members featured of late still have some serious psychological issues. Especially Betty.
• Black Comedy Rape: Umar turned the Hulk into her personal sex slave in a Defenders miniseries. She was too much for him at the time, and the encounter left Banner without the necessary... enthusiasm... to Hulk Out. When they met again, he was in full Worldbreaker mode and equal to the challenge.
• Blade Reflection: The famous cover of Hulk #340 (1988)◊ has Wolverine with his claws popped and Joe Fixit being reflected in them as he's about to unleash the Smash.
  • This image (along with a number of other covers relating to one or both of these characters) is replicated in the animated Hulk Vs Wolverine.
  • Wolverine also uses his claws to reflect The Gorgon's stone gaze back on him. You'd think a guy who calls himself The Gorgon would've read the legend of Perseus.
• Blessed with Suck: Here it might be more justified as a lot of people do hate and hound the Hulk, (especially the army), and having multiple personalities is never fun. All that, and his wives keep on dying.
• Blood from the Mouth: During the fight between Zeus and the Hulk, Zeus punches the Hulk in the stomach and he vomits up a mass of green blood.
• Blood Knight: While an increasingly commonly applied character trait, the Hulk was originally an aversion. He held pretty true to the "just wants to be left alone" claim, not caring about the fights he got into. Later writers play the "left alone" as more of a hollow statement, with Hulk enjoying company, and extremely enjoying combat.
  • The earliest version of the Hulk, before his character settled into what most people are familiar with, was always looking for a fight, and didn't particularly care who it was with.
• Boisterous Bruiser: The Hulk often takes this role when forced on a team; the Joe Fixit incarnation is practically the avatar of this trope.
• Boisterous Weakling: Normally, getting angry turns the scrawny geek Dr. Banner into the savage brute called the Hulk. When he becomes the Genius Bruiser Professor Hulk, getting too angry changes him into a savage Banner. He has all of the Hulk's usual aggression, but he's back to being a scrawny geek.
• Boldly Coming: Two of the Hulk's three wives have been aliens.
• Book Dumb: Even though he lacks Banner's intelligence, the Hulk can show a lot of cunning when he needs to. And for a supposedly mindless berserker, the Hulk can still come up with some fairly creative tactics when he's in a tight spot. It has occasionally been noted that the Savage Hulk often emerges victorious simply because he's too dumb to quit. During a period where Banner was in control of the Hulk (not to be confused with the Merged Hulk—this was the separate, rational Banner persona able to change at will and control the Hulk form), the Leader tested this new incarnation of his foe and discovered that Banner-Hulk could be psychologically convinced that he would eventually be defeated and give up, and compared this to his Savage incarnation, who would have simply kept fighting with everything he had until physically restrained or rendered unconscious.
• Brains and Brawn: Bruce Banner himself and his various alters also act as this to each other as an actual dynamic: when he's more cooperative with his alters, Bruce takes on the role of Brain to their Brawn, and a moral compass as well. At times, Bruce has even been suggested to be working in Hulk's mind to direct all his actions to ensure there are no casualties. Joe Fixit (while also a Hulk and bruiser in his own right) sometimes has this dynamic compared to the more powerful but less streetwise Hulks, since he's more willing to think smart and strategically.
  • This is also Rick Jones dynamic with the Hulk, with Rick generally being the smarter one of the two, directing the Hulk what exactly he needs to smash.
• Brains Versus Brawn: The Hulk (big, green, Dumb Muscle, The Big Guy) has this relationship with one of his main archnemeses, The Leader, (tiny, green, Evil Genius), as The Leader is a deliberate Evil Counterpart to the Hulk. The Hulk's true identity, Bruce Banner, is a skinny scientist who gains Super-Strength from gamma rays whereas The Leader, Samuel Sterns, was a borderline mentally handicapped janitor who gains Super-Intelligence from gamma rays.
  • The Hulk as Bruce Banner's Split Personality also qualifies since he is contrasted with Bruce Banner, who is an Insufferable Genius in the running for World's Smartest Man. You could say that all of the different personalities Banner has plays with this trope to some degree. Though all of them are, relative to the average person, far closer to Strength than Intelligence due to their shared Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability, some personalities (Merged Hulk, Grey Hulk) skew closer to the center of the spectrum, inheriting Banner's Book Smarts or developing Street Smarts, and others (Devil Hulk) lean even further into The Hulk's strength.
• Brawn Hilda:
  • Ogress was a frustrated defense attorney exposed to gamma radiation by the Leader. She gained massive super strength, but unlike that other gamma powered lady lawyer did not keep her attractiveness.
  • She-Hulk's gamma form has become larger and more muscular to reflect her inner turmoil after being put in a coma and her cousin being killed in Civil War II.
• Breakout Character: Wolverine got started as a character created to be a Canadian hero sent to fight the Hulk.
• Break the Badass: The only villain that the Hulk will admit to being scared of is The Sentry's evil alter ego, the Void.
• Briefer Than They Think:
  • Ask any moderate comics fan who the core members of The Defenders are, and you'll immediately hear "The Hulk, Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, and Namor the Sub-Mariner." Sometimes they'll add Nighthawk, or maybe Valkyrie. While Strange and Hulk have been on most versions of the Defenders, with Strange usually being the de facto leader, Namor and Surfer quit after just a few issues. People familiar with the original run will tell you that the Defenders never had a consistent lineup, and variously included nearly every hero and some villains active at the time. This is part of the reason that modern revivals of the team tend to get cancelled quickly. As it turns out, not many writers can make the "classic" lineup work, since all the characters involved are grotesquely overpowered and relative loners, but they assume that it has to work because the original comic made it work, right?
  • Similarly, nearly every adaptation of The Avengers either mentions the Hulk or makes heavy use of him: see The Ultimates, the movie, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, etc. How many issues of the comic was Hulk a part of the team (not counting guest spots like his brief stint as an Avengers reservist in an Evolutionary War annual)? Two. He rejoined the team in Avengers vs. X-Men, to capitalize on the movie, but that was a comic written in 2012, and that was the first time he'd ever officially rejoined. Flip open a comic from the '60s or '70s, and you're much more likely to see Black Knight, The Vision, Beast, The Incredible Hercules, or Moondragon, none of whom have managed Hulk's prominence on the Avengers in other media. Even Red Hulk was on the team longer by the time he rejoined!
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: The Hulk has been known to cuddle kittens and bunnies, and as seen in the page image, is also good with other animals and children, Depending on the Writer. Notably, one of SHIELD's plans to calm him down is putting him in the same room with a bunch of puppies. Even Hulk at his worst still has shade of this, as in World War Hulk he battles the Earth Mightiest Heroes in New York but was still holding back so civilians wouldn't get hurt.
• Bully Hunter: As mentioned elsewhere, he really doesn't like them for obvious reasons... except for Joe Fixit who is one himself.
• Bullying a Dragon: Happens to the Hulk all the time. Most of his rampages could have been avoided had they just backed off a bit. Considering his Catchphrase (apart from "Hulk Smash!") is usually a variation of him bellowing "LEAVE HULK ALONE!" you'd think the denizens of the Marvel Universe would have cottoned on, but then you remember this is the Marvel Universe, where Dragon-bullying (and bitching about the results afterwards) is a widely accepted pastime.
  • This was once lampshaded by Doc Samson, in discussion with General Ross:
    Samson: The Hulk keeps yelling at you to leave him alone. So my advice is to leave Hulk alone. Watch him by satellite. If he gets near a populated area, send out Hulk alerts the way we send out weather alerts.
    Ross: And if America's enemies get hold of him?
    Samson: Send condolence cards to America's enemies.
  • This was deliberately done by Deadpool when he wanted to die: as his Regenerative Factor allowed him to survive or even to resuscitate from things that would have killed Wolverine, he decided that being reduced to subatomic particles was his best bet, and pissing off Hulk by nuking him twice was the chosen method. Sadly, by the time he managed to get punched Hulk had calmed down enough that Deadpool was merely liquified, and was back in one piece in five days...
  • Happens in this◊ variant cover which is actually about bullying. The jocks can clearly see that Hulk is glaring at them with murderous intentions and yet continue to laugh and bully the kid.
  • Happened to his cousin She-Hulk once too, and Played for Laughs. After the Stamford disaster, an angry mob of anti-superhero protestors had formed outside of the courthouse where she — as Jennifer — was defending two surviving members of the New Warriors. One guy recognized her and grabbed her, shouting "I've got She-Hulk!" Then she turned into her large, hulked-out size, and said, "Okay, you've got She-Hulk. Now what?"
• Burning with Anger: If Red Hulk gets mad, he starts emitting heat.

C

• Canon Discontinuity:
  • In Vol. 2, #269-287, the Rampaging Hulk stories were retconned into being techno-art movies by the Krylorian Bereet.
  • During Peter David's "Tempest Fugit" storyline, one line discontinuitized the entirety of previous writer Bruce Jones' 42-issue run.
• Can't Stay Normal:
  • Bruce Banner has been "permanently cured of being the Hulk" on several occasions, only to have to reHulkify himself to solve some crisis. Why they don't use the same deHulkifier on him again after the crisis is resolved is rarely if ever explained.
  • In Hulk (2008), the Red Hulk depowered the Hulk by absorbing all his gamma radiation, saying that Bruce Banner would never become the Hulk again. Banner was smart enough to know that eventually he'd reHulkify and spent his time preparing for that day.
  • Also happened in the TV series. And the new movie. And the 90's cartoon. Twice.
  • A fairly Anvilicious example in the 1980s cartoon: Bruce cures himself and then a computer tells him that the Hulk is the only thing that could possibly deal with the Monster of the Week. And of course, he can't cure himself again afterwards.
  • The comic eventually established that one of the Hulk's talents is always making a comeback, no matter how impossible it should be. Shoot him into space? He'll come back. Send him to a dimensional crossroads? He'll come back. Completely eliminate Bruce's physical capacity to make use of gamma radiation? He'll come back. Kill Bruce? He'll come back. You'd think separating Bruce and the Hulk might get around this, but as it turns out, nope, they'll always rejoin.
  • Immortal Hulk deconstructs this as we learn not even death is something that is for Banner. Though it turns out it's because the gamma radiation that lets him become the Hulk comes from none other than the the One-Below-All. Additionally, the Hulks are the result of Bruce's disassociatve identity disorder being given physical shape by his transformation and influenced by the One-Below-All (hence why many gamma tranmutation are monstrous and or destructive, it's because of the inherent corruptive nature.) Banner is unable to stay normal partially out of the mechinations of this entity, but also because the Hulks were born from Bruce and they are different sides of him. After all, it was his rage that led to him killing his father before the gamma incident.
• Can't Stay Normal: Betty Ross is almost as much of a victim of this as Bruce himself, being transformed multiple times over the series into Harpy, Red She-Hulk, and Red Harpy.
  • And then there's Rick Jones. He started as merely Hulk's human companion, then after accidentally helping found the Avengers became Cap's replacement Bucky, palled around with Rom Spaceknight, and then started sharing a body with Captain Marvel. And he's had superpowers more than once. He could almost be Marvel's answer to Jimmy Olsen.
• The Casanova: The Hulk. No, really! Have you seen how many children he has with multiple women? Three, so far, with a suspected fourth running around. As Red She-Hulk who is actually Betty Ross Banner commented after learning the Hulk had been married to not one, but two hot alien warrior queens;

  Red She-Hulk: You really got around, huh?

• Casually Powerful Giant: This happens sometimes, usually to show off how much more powerful he is than normal people. At one point, Dr. Octopus fought Joe Fixit only to lose when Joe casually flicked him away with one finger and broke most of the bones in his body.
• Catchphrase: Several.
  • HULK SMASH!!!
  • HULK! IS! STRONGEST! THERE IS!
  • You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
    • LEAVE HULK ALONE!
  • On one occasion, as his smarter and more-amoral "Joe Fixit" persona:
    "Rest assured, gentlemen—Hulk will smash."
  • His true self, The Devil Hulk, has a catchphrase of his own that he utters from time to time:
    "The night is my time."
• Central Theme:
  • The Incredible Hulk: The dangers of repression and the need to accept all sides of yourself.
  • Totally Awesome Hulk: Hubris of thinking you know yourself and that you can solve problems your predecessors struggled with, without making the same compromises and mistakes they did.
  • Immortal Hulk: How we're all shaped by our relationship with death.
• Censor Shadow: Used heavily on Ultimate Hulk, who lacks Magic Pants.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The series became very dark during the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storylines, becoming Conan the Barbarian IN SPACE!, but the following Jeph Loeb run was much Lighter and Softer. When Planet Hulk's writer Greg Pak returned, he tried to restore the previous tone. The result was the Fall of the Hulks storyline, where Pak and Loeb tried to combine their styles, which didn't end well. Following that we had an increased number of more optimistic stories by Pak and then Mark Waid (and Jason Aaron's run in-between leaning into pulp action as Hulk clashed with an antagonistic Banner), only for it to end on Gerry Duggan's run, where Hulk's new personality, Doc Green, was a clear Villain Protagonist.
  • And what followed that? Pak's Totally Awesome Hulk, where Amadeus Cho took the Hulk curse from Banner and tried to show the world a more optimistic, heroic Hulk in fun-loving stories...only for it to get dark when Banner was killed in Civil War II. The tone then went up for a few stories only to get progresively darker, until a Bittersweet Ending. And then Banner returned in Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk, which is straight out a horror story.
• Chained to a Rock: The Hulk had this done to him by Marvel's Zeus, like Prometheus, but instead of eagles, it's vultures, cause he's worth less.
• Character Development: All personalities get with this.
• Characterization Marches On: In several of the early comics, the Hulk was slightly more intelligent and could talk better, barely even referring to himself in the 3rd person. Then eventually this paved way to the more popular dumb beast that always spouted "Puny human make Hulk angry! Hulk smash!" Though later retcons would establish that this behavior was still canon. The Hulk has multiple personalities, with some of them being quite intelligent while others are just mindless, screaming monsters.
• The Chess Master: Bruce Banner is this, at least under Greg Pak's pen.
• Chick Magnet: The Hulk, surprisingly enough. A lot of women, both human and non human, seem to fall for him. To date he has been married at least three times (two now dead and one partially insane) and bedded many more. Bruce Banner on the other hand... Well, at least he has Betty.
• Clothing Damage: If you are a Hulk, you will suffer this indignity. Though depending on your fanbase, it may not be that much of an indignity.
• Color-Coded Eyes: The Hulk is often shown with green eyes, which are more of a reflection of the gamma radiation that turned his hair and skin green too. In the past, they've been red for the associations of danger. Bruce Banner, on the other hand, is more often shown with brown (muggle mode indicator) or blue eyes (more gentle than his alter ego), with the change to green being the signal that running might be a good idea.
• Color Contrast: The Hulk, in his most iconic form, is green with purple pants.
• Combat Pragmatist: The Hulk is sometimes portrayed as this.
• Combo Platter Powers: The Hulk has Super-Strength, is Nigh Invulnerable, can create a stunning sonic boom with his hands, regenerates, okay, all fit sort of with the "unstoppable force of rage" idea. However, some of his other, lesser-known powers include seeing, and HITTING, ghosts and astral projections, and homing in on the site where the gamma bomb that created him went off. And supermath, the ability to automatically reduce collateral damage when levelling down entire cities. Officially, this is explained as Bruce being a 'hypermind', able to analyze and predict the consequences of his actions near-instantaneously (after all, he was a brilliant scientist before being turned into the Hulk). Hulk is also highly resistant to telepathy and mind control (it's mentioned that he was the only one who wasn't affected by the Cosmic Retcon that wiped out everyone's memory of the Sentry, and neither Professor X nor Emma Frost can Mind Rape him), occasionally capable of absorbing radiation, and has limited reactive adaptation. He's shown adapting to being able to breathe underwater and survive for a fairly considerable time in the vacuum of space (while still needing to breathe eventually). Ultimate Hulk takes it a step further, adapting to the atmospheres of Mars and Venus after limited exposure. Then Avengers: No Surrender adds Resurrective Immortality (again, fitting with "unstoppable force of rage"), which is followed by Living Lie Detector in Immortal Hulk.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The Ultimates redesigned Bruce Banner after the likeness of Steve Buscemi.
• Companion Cube: In his childhood, Bruce had a stuffed doll which served as a makeshift guardian (between his abusive dad and an abusive nanny, and burgeoning D.I.D., there wasn't a lot of love in the Banner household). Years later, Bruce's mind uses an anthropomorphization of the doll as a guardian entity.
• Complete Immortality: According to Hulk: Future Imperfect and Hulk: The End in combination he only ages up to a point, and according to The Incredible Hulk issue #460 he will eventually be capable of regenerating even from atomisation. According to Immortal Hulk, even killing Banner won't work, as the Hulk will simply rise from the dead at night, and turn into Banner again come sunup.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Bruce Banner, better known as the Hulk, forces himself not to react to the dangerous situations he finds himself in out of fear of Hulking Out, justified since as the Hulk he's Nigh-Invulnerable so the only thing he's really worried about is what's gonna happen to the enemy. This trait is carried over to his TV and film counterparts.
• Conqueror from the Future: The Maestro (who is actually an evil future incarnation of the Hulk himself) has become this when various incarnations of him have found their way from the "Future Imperfect" he rules over and into the present day.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The Hulk can spend an entire comic battling one superhero or villain, but when faced with the entire army of them then he takes them out like flies. Conversely if Hulk is on a team, he never seems to pull out quite the same levels of power/rage. Perhaps justified as Hulk's rage would increase if he felt bullied by a large group of people as opposed to facing a single opponent, thus producing more rage, which would increase his strength accordingly.
• Contagious Powers: Happens a lot to the nearest and dearest of Bruce Banner. Even if one discounts those who gained their powers from the same gamma blast that created the Hulk, or inherited gamma powers as his children, there's still Betty Ross, who was briefly turned into the Harpy, then became Red She-Hulk, then had the two combine to become the 'Red Harpy'; Doc Samson, who used the Hulk's own gamma energy to gain super strength; Bruce's cousin Jennifer Walters, who became She-Hulk due to a blood transfusion; Rick Jones, who time-shared his body with Genis-Vell's Captain Marvel, was briefly a Hulk himself, then became A-Bomb, a blue version of the Abomination; Amadeus Cho, who absorbed the Hulk from Bruce to become yet another Hulk, then became Brawn; and Thunderbolt Ross, who became the first Red Hulk.
  • Rick Jones's wife Marlo became a second Harpy, the Hulk's old enemy Elliot "The Clown" Franklin is the Griffin, Brian Talbot (brother of Bruce's rival Glenn) is Grey, Gideon Wilson (the father of Bruce's friend Jim) is Mister Gideon... At this point it's as though everyone he knows somehow develops powers eventually, because you may find this to be his entire supporting cast plus interest.
    • An attempt at invoking this was rejected when Jim Wilson, Hulk's sidekick from The '70s, was dying of AIDS and asked the Hulk (at the time with Banner's intelligence) for a transfusion to keep him alive, like he had done for his cousin Jen. Hulk refused.
• Conveniently Empty Building: Some writers take this to absurd lengths. The Hulk could be a speck in a full-page of city-wide devastation, yet someone will maintain that no one was killed in the conveniently empty 20 city block radius.
• Convenient Miscarriage: Betty Ross got hit with this one due to Executive Meddling; writer Peter David had the story of the birth already plotted out, but editorial vetoed the Hulk having kids. He refused to write the miscarriage himself, and a fill-in author had to do the job instead, having Nightmare kill her and Bruce's unborn baby.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Betty Ross can do this when the Hulk is especially irate. If she's not available, the next most likely candidates are Rick Jones and She-Hulk. Jim Wilson, Jarella are also both close to the Hulk so they can sometimes do this too.
  • Subverted during Betty's time as the Red She-Hulk. Since the Red She-Hulk form is Betty's repressed anger and inhibitions, it releases those years of frustrations she has towards the Hulk. In her own words, she only makes him ''crazier''.
  • Superman did this in the second Superman/Spider-Man comic, first by letting Hulk pound him in a Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object moment, after which Superman removed the sound-emitting bug that was giving Hulk an Unstoppable Rage, then reassured Hulk that he only wanted to help him - which Hulk believed.
• Crapsack World: And how... Noticeably the Hulk was living in a Crapsack World version of the MU long before it became that for everyone else.
• Crater Power: The Hulk in general, when he lands after one of his quarter-mile leaps.
• Creative Sterility: The Shaper of Worlds is a Reality Warper with nearly unlimited power and one huge limitation: he absolutely lacks imagination. He can only create by copying the desires of others.
• Creator Cameo: Writer Peter David cameos as the priest who officiates the wedding of the Hulk's friend Rick Jones to Marlo Chandler.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: During the Planet Hulk story arc, many of the natives of Sakaar believed that the Hulk was their Crystal Dragon Jesus, the Sakaarson. Then again, just as many thought he was their Crystal Dragon Antichrist, the Worldbreaker. After the Hulk left the planet, both of his sons were subject to the same debate. Considering that in Fear Itself Hulk becomes Nul, the Breaker of Worlds, it seems there is truth in both. Also, Adam Warlock's crucifixion and resurrection on Counter-Earth actually took place in a Hulk title.
• Curtains Match the Window: The Hulk usually has green eyes to match his hair and skin.
• Cut Apart: At the end of John Byrne's brief run, Bruce Banner and Betty Ross are getting married in a small ceremony in a small church. At the same time Doc Samson and Hulk are beating the crap out of each other in the desert (Hulk and Banner were physically separated at this point). It so just happens that there is a small church near them... Eventually a hit from Hulk sends Samson flying right towards the church, and he crashes through it - revealing it's been abandoned for years. Meanwhile, the wedding continues elsewhere completely unaffected by the battle.