History ComicBook / TheIncredibleHulk

See the [[Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk franchise page for more details on the adaptations]].

[[folder:Comics]]

!!!Main Comics
* ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1962 The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1]]'' (1962)
* ''ComicBook/TalesToAstonish'' (1964)
* ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2]]'' (1968)
* ''ComicBook/{{Hulk|1999}} Vol. 1'' (1999)
* ''ComicBook/{{Hulk|2008}} Vol. 2'' (2008)
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulks'' (2010)
* ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk2011 The Incredible Hulk Vol. 4]]'' (2011)
* ''ComicBook/IndestructibleHulk'' (2012)
* ''ComicBook/{{Hulk|2014}} Vol. 3'' (2014)
* ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'' (2015)
* ''ComicBook/{{Hulk|2016}} Vol. 4'' (2016)
* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' (2018)
* ''ComicBook/{{Hulk|2021}} Vol. 5'' (2021)
* ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk2023 The Incredible Hulk]] Vol. 5'' (2023)

!!!Notable Comic Storylines
* ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd''
* ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk''
* ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk''
* ''ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks''
* ''ComicBook/BestDefense''
* ''ComicBook/BannerOfWar''

!!!Annuals
* ''Incredible Hulk Special Vol 1 (1968–1972)''
* ''Incredible Hulk Annual Vol 1 (1976–2001)''
* ''Incredible Hulks Annual #1 (June, 2011)''
* ''Indestructible Hulk Annual #1 (December, 2013)''
* ''Hulk Annual #1 (September, 2014)''

!!!One-Shots
* ''Incredible Hulk versus Quasimodo #1 (March, 1983)''
* ''Questprobe #1 (August, 1984)''
* ''Tales to Astonish (Vol. 3) #1 (December, 1994)''
* ''Cutting Edge #1 (December, 1995)''
* ''Savage Hulk #1 (January, 1996)''
* ''Incredible Hulk #-1 (July, 1997)''
* ''Wizard Hulk #½ (March, 1999)''
* ''Captain Universe: Incredible Hulk #1 (January, 2006)''
* ''Giant-Size Hulk #1 (August, 2006)''
* ''World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker #1 (July, 2007)''
* ''World War Hulk: Aftersmash #1 (January, 2008)''
* ''Hulk: Raging Thunder #1 (June, 2008)''
* ''Hulk Monster-Size Special #1 (December, 2008)''
* ''Hulk Family: Green Genes #1 (February, 2009)''
* ''Dark Reign: The List - Hulk #1 (October, 2009)''
* ''Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1 (December, 2009)''
* ''Fall of the Hulks: Gamma #1 (December, 2009)''
* ''Hulk: Let the Battle Begin #1 (March, 2010)''
* ''World War Hulks #1 (April, 2010)''
* ''Civil War II: The Fallen #1 (August, 2016)''
* ''Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense #1 (December, 2018)''
* ''Incredible Hulk: Last Call #1 (June, 2019)''
* ''Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1 (October, 2019)''
* ''Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place #1 (September, 2020)''
* ''King in Black: Immortal Hulk #1 (December, 2020)''
* ''Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1 (February, 2021)''

!!!Limited Series
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect Vol 1 (1992–1993)''
* ''Rampaging Hulk Vol 2 (1998–1999)''
* ''Hulk Smash Vol 1 (2001)''
* ''Hulk: Nightmerica Vol 1 (2003–2004)''
* ''Hulk: Gray Vol 1 (2003–2004)''
* ''Hulk: Gamma Games (2004)''
* ''World War Hulk Vol 1 (2007–2008)''
* ''World War Hulk: Front Line Vol 1 (2007)''
* ''World War Hulk: Gamma Corps Vol 1 (2007–2008)''
* ''World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control Vol 1 (2008)''
* ''Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk Vol 1 (2010)''
* ''Fall of the Hulks: The Savage She-Hulks Vol 1 (2010)''
* ''Hulked-Out Heroes Vol 1 (2010)''
* ''Incredible Hulks: Enigma Force Vol 1 (2010–2011)''
* ''Marvel Knights: Hulk Vol 1 (2014)''
* ''Savage Hulk Vol 2 (2014–2015)''
* ''ComicBook/JoeFixit'' (2023)

!!!Team-Ups & Vs.
* ''Together for the First Time Vol 1 (1981)''
* ''Marvel Graphic Novel: The Big Change #1 "The Incredible Hulk and The Thing in The Big Change" (November, 1987)''
* ''Incredible Hulk vs. Venom Vol 1 (1994)''
* ''Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed Vol 1 (1996)''
* ''Sentry/Hulk Vol 1 (2001)''
* ''Wolverine/Hulk Vol 1 (2002)''
* ''Hulk/Wolverine: Six Hours Vol 1 (2003)''
* ''Hulk and Thing: Hard Knocks Vol 1 (2004–2005)''
* ''World War Hulk: X-Men Vol 1 (2007)''
* ''Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom Vol 1 (2008)''
* ''Hulk vs Hercules Vol 1 (2008)''
* ''X-Men vs. Hulk Vol 1 (2009)''
* ''Hulk Team-Up Vol 1 (2009)''
* ''Incredible Hulk and the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault Vol 1 (2011)''
* ''Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula Vol 1 (2011)''
* ''Hulk Smash Avengers Vol 1 (2012)''
* ''Original Sin (2014-2014)''
* ''Thanos vs. Hulk Vol 1 (2015)''
* ''Hulkverines Vol 1 (2019)''
* ''Immortal Hulk: Great Power Vol 1 (2020)''

!!!Alternate Realities
* ''Rampaging Hulk Vol 1 (1977–1978)''
* ''Hulk 2099 Vol 1 (1994–1995)''
* ''Startling Stories: Banner Vol 1 (2001)''
* ''Incredible Hulk: The End Vol 1 (2002)''
* ''Hulk: Gamma Games Vol 1 (2004)''
* ''Marvel Age: Hulk Vol 1 (2004–2005)''
* ''Hulk: Destruction Vol 1 (2005)''
* ''Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk Vol 1 (2006–2009)''
* ''Mythos: Hulk #1 "The Incredible Hulk" (October, 2006)''
* ''Hulk and Power Pack Vol 1 (2007)''
* ''Marvel Adventures Hulk Vol 1 (2007–2008)''
* ''What If? Planet Hulk #1 "What If the Hulk Died and Caiera Lived?" (December, 2007)''
* ''Ultimate Human Vol 1 (2008)''
* ''Ultimate Hulk Annual #1 (December, 2008)''
* ''Iron Man/Hulk/Fury #1 (February, 2009)''
* ''Hulk: Broken Worlds Vol 1 (2009)''
* ''What If? World War Hulk #1 "What If The Heroes Lost World War Hulk?" (February, 2010)''
* ''Hulk: Season One #1 (August, 2012)''
* ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk2015 Vol 1 (2015)''
* ''ComicBook/{{Future Imperfect|2015}} Vol 1 (2015)''
* ''ComicBook/{{Maestro}} Vol 1 (2020–2021)''
* ''ComicBook/MaestroWarAndPax Vol 1 (2021)''

!!!Crossovers
* ''ComicBook/BatmanVsTheIncredibleHulk #1 (September, 1981)''
* ''Prime vs. The Incredible Hulk #0 (July, 1995)''
* ''Hulk/Pitt #1 (January, 1997)''
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkVsSuperman #1 (May, 1999)''
* ''Darkness/Incredible Hulk #1''

!!!UK Series
* ''Hulk Comic (UK) Vol 1 (1979–1980)''
* ''The Incredible Hulk (UK) Vol 2 (1982)''

!!!Spin-Offs
* ''ComicBook/SheHulk''
* ''ComicBook/WeaponH''
* ''ComicBook/GammaFlight''
[[/folder]]

----
!!The Incredible Hulk provides examples of:

!!!In General

----
[[index]]

[[/index]]

* ''Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk #1 (September, 1981)''

[[AC:Tropes found in ''Batman vs The Incredible Hulk'']]
* BlindAndTheBeast: An old blind tramp who looks a lot like Creator/StanLee advises the Hulk that maybe puny humans would stop trying to hurt him if he showed a little kindness. Hulk thinks he's right. [[spoiler:{{Subverted| trope}} when the tramp is actually a disguised Batman, who needs the Hulk to go with the Joker ([[{{it makes sense in context}} long story]]).]]
* BoringInsult: The [[RealityWarper Shaper of Worlds]] gives Joker some of his power, allowing Joker to re-shape the world with his imagination. Batman soon accuses Joker of being uncreative, to which Joker begins re-shaping the world in more chaotic ways, eventually straining his mind to the breaking point.
* DealWithTheDevil: The Shaper of Worlds makes one with ComicBook/TheJoker.
* InsultOfEndearment: Pointy Ears for Batman
* KnockoutGas: Batman uses knockout gas on Ol' Greenskin.
* UnexpectedCharacter: The Shaper of Worlds, a RealityWarper born from a Skrull Cosmic Cube, is the villian of the crossover.
* StealthHiBye: Bruce Banner actually pulls this on Commissioner Gordon. Gordon seems to inspire this from ''everyone''.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Tropes found in Skaar: Son of Hulk]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes found in Batman vs The Incredible Hulk]]

[[/folder]]

See the [[Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk franchise page for more details on the adaptations]]

----

!!!''Hulk'' original and ongoing series

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1962

[[folder:Tales to Astonish]]
-> See ComicBook/TalesToAstonish

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 1]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk1999
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 2]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2008
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Incredible Hulks]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulks
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 3]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk2011
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Indestructible Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/IndestructibleHulk
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 3]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2014
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Totally Awesome Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 4]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2016
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Immortal Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/ImmortalHulk
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 5]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2021
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skaar: Son of Hulk]]
* AntiVillain: Axeman Bone may be a brutal warrior but, as he makes a point of expressing, at least he knows what he's doing (trying to unite his people and re-establish formal society on Sakaar) and when to stop, unlike the aimless and animalistic Skaar.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Batman vs The Incredible Hulk]]
* BlindAndTheBeast: An old blind tramp who looks a lot like Creator/StanLee advises the Hulk that maybe puny humans would stop trying to hurt him if he showed a little kindness. Hulk thinks he's right. [[spoiler:{{Subverted| trope}} when the tramp is actually a disguised Batman, who needs the Hulk to go with the Joker ([[{{it makes sense in context}} long story]]).]]
* BoringInsult: The [[RealityWarper Shaper of Worlds]] gives Joker some of his power, allowing Joker to re-shape the world with his imagination. Batman soon accuses Joker of being uncreative, to which Joker begins re-shaping the world in more chaotic ways, eventually straining his mind to the breaking point.
* DealWithTheDevil: The Shaper of Worlds makes one with ComicBook/TheJoker.
* InsultOfEndearment: Pointy Ears for Batman
* KnockoutGas: Batman uses knockout gas on Ol' Greenskin.
* UnexpectedCharacter: The Shaper of Worlds, a RealityWarper born from a Skrull Cosmic Cube, is the villian of the crossover.
* StealthHiBye: Bruce Banner actually pulls this on Commissioner Gordon. Gordon seems to inspire this from ''everyone''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Incredible Hulk vs Superman]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkVsSuperman

[[/folder]]

The two-year-long series ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' by Creator/GregPak was a major game-changer. A secret superhuman council called ComicBook/TheIlluminati decide to send the Hulk away, to a planet with no sentient life but plenty of plant and animal life. The Hulk is tricked into boarding a spaceship that will automatically travel to, and crash-land on, this place of exile. However, the ship goes off-course, and the planet he lands on is most decidedly ''not'' devoid of sentient life. It is a savage world, where slavery is common: the Hulk is put to work as a gladiator. With this as his jumping-off point, he soon ends up ruling the world, with a group of fellow freaks and exiles at his side and a beautiful warrior woman as his queen. However, this is [[DysfunctionJunction Marvel - and even more so, the Hulk]]: happiness is transitory. Soon after his victory, the ship that brought him to the world self-destructs, killing the Hulk's wife and causing widespread ecological damage that will destroy the planet's ecosystem. Unknown to the Hulk, his unborn son survives (and his wife manages to come back from the dead for a while). The enraged Hulk and his surviving allies prepare another spaceship - intending to return to Earth to destroy the Illuminati. This part of the story is called Planet Hulk, and took place during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' ([[DeusExitMachina conveniently leaving the Hulk out of the registration debate]].)

The stage is set for the next major Hulk story: ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', where the Hulk arrives on Earth with a mind to punish the Illuminati for not only sending him away, not only miscalculating and screwing up their own plan, but through their incompetence, ruining him and his adopted world even after he'd found some peace and done so much good. He learned a lot while on his world, and [[TranquilFury his rage was possibly the most perfect it's ever been]], with even the mightiest telepaths unable to affect him. The promise of this setup led to an [[MemeticMutation Internet meme]], taken from one for ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' where fans could declare which side they were on: "Civil War: You're ''all'' fucked when Hulk gets back." In the end, however, Hulk's destruction was largely confined to New York City, and he didn't end up killing anyone, "just" causing a few billion in property damage and beating up some of the more prominent superheroes in the area. Which is hardly a "World War" for the Hulk, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday more like Tuesday.]]

The premise has undergone some considerable tweaking over the years, but the basic idea is simple enough: Hulk is to begin with super-strong, and his strength and [[NighInvulnerable durability]] increase exponentially the angrier he gets, making his power potentially limitless. He has handled the core of a black hole, held apart spheres of matter and anti-matter (never mind that Hulk himself is made of matter...), held together a collapsing planet, punched through barriers of spatial or temporal dimensions and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu occasionally overpowered]] [[CosmicEntity cosmic entities]].

Needless to say, all this complicates Dr. Banner's life quite a bit -- it sure doesn't help that his great love Betty is the daughter of the Hulk's premier nemesis, General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross -- and writers have generally run with that, famously [[PlayingWithATrope playing with the idea of the]] {{Super Hero}} to great dramatic effect. While Banner is a good and conscientious man, the Hulk (in the iconic incarnation) is a creature of pure emotion who lacks his alter-ego's finer reasoning skills and thus cannot consciously choose to side with either good or evil, only recognize and defend those who've befriended him in turn. Thus while he gets into a lot of ''very'' violent fights, in the process running up the biggest HeroInsurance bill in the whole Franchise/MarvelUniverse, most of the people he beats up [[KickTheSonOfABitch had it coming]] or otherwise made the mistake of provoking him. He doesn't actively seek out trouble, but the Marvel Universe being the CrapsackWorld that it is, trouble often finds him, for which he is inevitably mis-blamed. This doesn't do much to improve his disposition, as you might expect.

* Resistance to [[PsychicPowers telepathy]] -- like his physical strength, corresponding roughly to his level of rage
* Ability to see [[ISeeDeadPeople ghosts]], [[AstralProjection astral forms]], etc.
* The ability to sense the exact spot where he was irradiated, and unerringly find his way back to the area. This was later revealed to be the Hulk sensing the corpse of his [[EvilCounterpart evil]] [[FutureMeScaresMe future]] self, the Maestro, who, in a clash between modern-day Hulk and Maestro, was sent back through time to the instant of the original gamma bomb detonation in a last-ditch effort to kill him.
* Bruce Banner is the premier human expert on radiation - specifically, gamma radiation - in the entire Marvel U, with Reed Richards, Doctor Octopus and even Doctor [[InsufferableGenius freaking]] Doom admitting his superiority in that field. Not a ''power'', as such but still pretty impressive, given that Richards discovers new universes regularly and Doom ''invented time travel''. Bruce invented a time machine by accident, back when he was still employed as a weapons designer. One of the places his intelligence is taken advantage of is in the LighterAndSofter ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'' continuity, where he and Tony Stark are the scientific minds of the Avengers. It has also been emphasized during Greg Pak's Hulk run where Banner (temporarily) lost the ability to transform and made up for it with a bag full of gadgets.

The Hulk rarely teams up, but whenever he does he always plays the role of TheBigGuy as he did on both ComicBook/TheAvengers and ComicBook/TheDefenders, though later with ComicBook/ThePantheon and his ComicBook/{{Warbound}}, Hulk got promoted to TheHero, with [[DumbMuscle Ajax]] and [[NighInvulnerability living stone alien]] Korg taking over the roles of the big guy in their respective teams.

Many of the modern characteristics of the Hulk were created by writer Creator/PeterDavid during his ten-year-long stint on the title. For instance, Banner's abusive father and multiple-personality disorder were explored in greater depth during [=PAD's=] run (elements that were originally introduced in a [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/triad2.htm Bill Mantlo story]]), which also elevated Rick Jones from perpetual sidekick to a CrazyPrepared BadassNormal.

The two-year-long epic ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' by Creator/GregPak was a major game-changer. A secret superhuman council called ComicBook/TheIlluminati decide to send the Hulk away, to a planet with no sentient life but plenty of plant and animal life. The Hulk is tricked into boarding a spaceship that will automatically travel to, and crash-land on, this place of exile. However, the ship goes off-course, and the planet he lands on is most decidedly ''not'' devoid of sentient life. It is a savage world, where slavery is common: the Hulk is put to work as a gladiator. With this as his jumping-off point, he soon ends up ruling the world, with a group of fellow freaks and exiles at his side and a beautiful warrior woman as his queen. However, this is [[DysfunctionJunction Marvel - and even more so, the Hulk]]: happiness is transitory. Soon after his victory, the ship that brought him to the world self-destructs, killing the Hulk's wife and causing widespread ecological damage that will destroy the planet's ecosystem. Unknown to the Hulk, his unborn son survives (and his wife manages to come back from the dead for a while). The enraged Hulk and his surviving allies prepare another spaceship - intending to return to Earth to destroy the Illuminati. This part of the story is called Planet Hulk, and took place during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' ([[DeusExitMachina conveniently leaving the Hulk out of the registration debate]].)

The stage is set for the next major Hulk story: ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', where the Hulk arrives on Earth with a mind to punish the Illuminati for not only sending him away, not only miscalculating and screwing up their own plan, but through their incompetence, ruining him and his adopted world even after he'd found some peace and done so much good. He learned a lot while on his world, and [[TranquilFury his rage was possibly the most perfect it's ever been]], with even the mightiest telepaths unable to affect him. The promise of this setup led to an [[MemeticMutation Internet meme]], taken from one for ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' where fans could declare which side they were on: "Civil War: You're ''all'' fucked when Hulk gets back." In the end, however, Hulk's destruction was largely confined to New York City, and he didn't end up killing anyone, "just" causing a few billion in property damage and beating up some of the more prominent superheroes in the area. Which is hardly a "World War Hulk"; for the Hulk, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday that's... Tuesday.]]

[[folder:Tropes - # to E]]
* AbusiveParents: 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 [[VillainousLineage 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 [[SplitPersonality multiple personality syndrome]] - and after a certain accident with a gamma bomb, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy his personalities became the various Hulks]]. [[spoiler: 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 ComicBook/ChaosWar tie-in, but the Hulk sent him to Hell... only to return as a body-hopping spirit to confront his son in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk''.]]
* AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength: 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."''
* AfterTheEnd: Two stories written by Creator/PeterDavid 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. Creator/AlEwing 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.
* AlienBlood: The Hulk very often bleeds a ''dark'' green. ComicBook/RedHulk has glowing yellow blood.
* AlliterativeName: 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".) [[labelnote:on TV]]In [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 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 [[ExecutiveMeddling 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.[[/labelnote]]
* AllAmazonsWantHercules: The Hulk has this effect on women much like Herc does. Just ask Caiera. And Thundra. And ''Umar''.
* AlmostFamousName: 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.[[/note]] After the Hulk was created, Xemnu has come back a few times mostly as a Hulk foe, feuding over the name.
* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: 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 ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers'': 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 [[spoiler:partially because S.H.I.E.L.D. has memory-altering technology]].
** ComicBook/SheHulk 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 ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'' whenever his Dark Hulk persona took control of their Hulk form.
* AlwaysABiggerFish: He might be Earth's strongest superhuman, but in most cases he can't match cosmic entities - as Gaea, the Phoenix Force, Dormammu, ComicBook/{{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.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: 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 WeakButSkilled 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!"
* AnimatedAdaptation: The first came in 1966, as part of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelSuperHeroes''. He's had two TV series dedicated to him ([[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1982 one]] in the 80's and [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996 one]] in the 90's) both CutShort, 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 ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs'', ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. The most recent one, ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'', aired on Creator/DisneyXD and ran for 2 seasons.
* AntagonisticOffspring: 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 [[KillAllHumans wipe out Earth]] in his rage, using brainwashed slaves to do his dirty work; it takes Bruce and Skaar to take him down.
* AntiHero: 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 [[NoEndorHolocaust Marvel claims it's usually without victims]]) and clashes with other heroes. Considering, however, that the Hulk has a very "Hollywood version" of [[SplitPersonality Multiple Personality Disorder]], with a heavy dose of DependingOnTheWriter on top, it shifts wildly from incarnation to incarnation, individual interpretations thereof, and even deliberate CharacterDevelopment. However, roughly speaking, the incarnations go as follow:
** Bruce Banner: Varies DependingOnTheWriter, anywhere from a pure hero to ClassicalAntiHero, KnightInSourArmor, or PragmaticHero, 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: UnscrupulousHero. A grumpy outsider looking for a fight and responding violently when attacked, but staying out of people's way beyond that.
** Savage Hulk: KnightInSourArmor or PragmaticHero. 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 ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' or seeing a dead bunny, and strictly a force for good as long as somebody (like his former father figure ComicBook/DoctorStrange, 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: NominalHero and NobleDemon. A largely amoral and hedonistic mob enforcer VillainProtagonist who mainly fought other villains, much like plenty of others within this trope. He also grew some conscience, such as [[PetTheDog 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: KnightInSourArmor or PragmaticHero. 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: UnscrupulousHero. 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 [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu 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 PragmaticHero on Sakaar/basically a more responsible version of the Savage Hulk. Views are split about whether he was provoked into UnscrupulousHero or NominalHero 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 RoaringRampageOfRevenge casuing very inconsiderate property damage, he is still less bloodthirsty than the majority of pragmatic heroes.
** Devil Hulk: TerrorHero and WellIntentionedExtremist. 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. [[NothingIsScarier 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 ComicBook/SheHulk 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 DarkActionGirl, his son Skaar is a bloodthirsty sword wielding savage who joins the ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'' and his best friend and former KidSidekick Rick Jones becomes a destructive monster before being cured, getting killed, and resurrected as a creepy yellow-eyed gamma zombie.
* AntiHeroSubstitute: The Hulk has both subverted and played this trope straight at the same time. After ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', with the Hulk [[spoiler:imprisoned by the army]], his series was taken over by Hercules and a new series was launched with a mysterious ComicBook/RedHulk as the central character. ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules subverted the trope quickly, proving he's anything ''but'' an AntiHero, while Red Hulk played it straight, acting like a ''total dick'' and [[spoiler: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.
* ArchEnemy: A toss up between the Leader, Abomination, Maestro, [[ArchnemesisDad Brian Banner]] and Nightmare.
* ArrogantGodVsRagingMonster: Every fight between the Hulk and ComicBook/TheMightyThor is basically this. While most of them end inconclusively, and the question of who is strongest [[EvasiveFightThreadEpisode 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.
** [[SubvertedTrope 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 WeakButSkilled compared to the other hulk as he's a cunning and dirty fighter, The Professor is a JackOfAllStats while [[GeniusBruiser 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 SubvertedTrope in the immortal Hulk's case as he is very intelligent and enjoys BreakThemByTalking along with being a SoftSpokenSadist to his enemies.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Ross pretty much embodies the ArmiesAreEvil Trope in one man. It not only takes Artistic License but a ''lot'' of SuspensionOfDisbelief 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.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Gamma radiation is depicted as lethal to most any InnocentBystander, 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.
* AssholeVictim: He's killed a few people in his time, but they usually really had it coming.
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: 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 ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''.
* AtlasPose: The cover to ''The Incredible Hulk Special'' #1, homaged many times since.
* {{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.
* BackFromTheDead: Subverted in ''Fall of the Hulk'', when it appears Glenn Talbot has come back. Eventually, Red Hulk reveals he's just a [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots LMD]]. The real Talbot is still very much dead.
* BadassBoast:
** 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:''' [[ThisCannotBe No one has ever broken thru my whirlpool trap before]]! \\
'''Hulk:''' No one else- is Hulk!
** Bruce Banner once forced Wolverine and [[AxeCrazy 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 ''ComicBook/SeasonOne'', 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. [[SuppressedRage I've bottled you up for years]]. Why stop now? You underestimated me, Hulk. Don't feel bad. Most do. What [[AbusiveParents he]] put me through as a kid -- you don't survive that by being weak. ''I'm'' [[BorrowedCatchphrase the strongest there is]].
** In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect'', the ComicBook/{{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.
* BadassBookworm: 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 [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed Richards]] and ComicBook/DoctorDoom, 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 ComicBook/RedHulk. Every sign on [[WordOfGod 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.''
* BadassFamily: 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.
* BadassFingersnap:
** Played for laughs when Professor Hulk has a EurekaMoment, he snapped his fingers, sending others around him reeling.
** ComicBook/ImmortalHulk uses this, ''with his severed hand''. to shatter the glass jars his different body parts were kept.
* BadassLongcoat: 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.
* BadFuture:
** In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect'', 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.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' features a particularly dark one: [[spoiler: Billions of years into the future, the Hulk (utterly controlled by [[TheAntiGod 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 SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and avert this timeline... except they may only have created a StableTimeLoop.]]
* BagOfHolding: Bruce Banner built himself one of these, though unusually for this trope, it actually connects to his lab in the same dimension. [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Amadeus Cho]] once defeated an EldritchAbomination by stuffing it inside. Since this meant said abomination was now running around his lab, Banner was annoyed.
* {{Bambification}}: DependingOnTheWriter, 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 [[UnstoppableRage pretty much exactly how you'd expect him to.]]
-->'''Hulk''': ''Men killed Bambi's mother!''
* BarbarianHero:
** 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.
* BareFistedMonk: The Hulk is so big and strong that [[GoodOldFisticuffs his fists are all the weapons he needs]]. He'd shatter or crumple his own weapon at the first swing, in most cases.
* BaseballEpisode: 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''.
* BattleAura: Introduced with the Worldbreaker level of Hulk's strength.
* BattleCouple: Hulk and Caeira. [[DependingOnTheWriter Occasionally]] Hulk and Red She-Hulk (Betty Ross).
* BattleCry: "HULK SMASH!"
* BattleStrip: The Hulk is a common example. No fanservice involved. [[NightmareFetishist Unless...]][[note]]At the times Hulk wore more clothes, he would Battle Strip after the inevitable ClothingDamage. Grey Hulk did it to [[LetsGetDangerous get dangerous]] on someone who already [[BerserkButton ruined his Armani suit]].[[/note]]
* BeardnessProtectionProgram: 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.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: ...especially if you wish to die, because if you do, [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident Mercy]] is never far! Fortunately, The Hulk never truly wished to die...
** The 2011 "Heart of the Monster" arc in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulks'' 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... [[spoiler:As it turns out, she hated him at the time, meaning all of his dreams briefly came true.]]
** The beginning of ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' 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 AlternateUniverse 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.
* BecauseImGoodAtIt: 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. [[PersonOfMassDestruction The Hulk.]]
* BeneathNotice: 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.
* BerserkButton: The Hulk is generally a [[TheBerserker Berserker]] anyway, but anything or anyone that reminds him of his father is definitely in for a world of hurt.
** SugarWiki/{{Funny|Moments}}: The Hulk and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour 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!\\
'''[[ThirdPersonPerson The Hulk]]:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint 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.
* TheBerserker: The Hulk is practically rage incarnate.
* BettyAndVeronica: Bruce Banner as the Betty and Glenn Talbot as the Veronica for Betty Ross.
** ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'' would also have Jarella as the Betty and Red She-Hulk as the Veronica for the Hulk.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Bruce Banner is usually a pretty nice guy. Just don't get him angry. [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry You won't like him when he's angry]].
** Bruce Banner himself isn't exactly helpless either. WordOfGod confirms that his intelligence is on par with [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour 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 [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough]] to piss him off, [[HulkingOut he]] [[UnstoppableRage WILL]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge smash]] [[CurbStompBattle you.]] In one of the ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' 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 GadgeteerGenius (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 [[spoiler: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.
* BigBrotherInstinct: It’s a usually DownplayedTrope but Bruce Banner aka the Hulk still cares for his cousin Jennifer Walters especially in his [[GeniusBruiser Smart Hulk transformation]] in the John Bryne era. Hell Bruce saved Jennifer’s life with a blood donation when she got shot and unintentionally [[CursedWithAwesome made her incredibly badass]]. Case in point, Banner Hulk was getting his ass kicked by the KillerRobot 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 UnstoppableRage fuelled NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
** There’s also the inverse: Shulkie tends to believe she’s the only one who can reach her cousin when he’s on a UnstoppableRage. 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 ComicBook/SpiderMan, who he even lets take a ride on his shoulders and will get very, very mad if “Bug Man” is hurt around him.
* TheBigGuy: The 1990s AnimatedAdaptation 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.
* BigScrewedUpFamily[=/=]DysfunctionJunction: [[BadassFamily As badass as they may be]], most of the core family members featured of late ''still'' have some serious psychological issues. '''Especially''' [[BrokenBird Betty]].
* BlackComedyRape: [[TheVamp Umar]] turned the Hulk into her personal sex slave in a [[ComicBook/TheDefenders 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.
* BladeReflection: [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080831180659/marveldatabase/images/3/31/Incredible_Hulk_Vol_1_340.jpg The famous cover of Hulk #340 (1988)]] has ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} with his claws popped and Joe Fixit being reflected in them as he's about to unleash [[HulkSmash the Smash]].
** This image (along with a number of other covers relating to one or both of these characters) is replicated in the animated [[WesternAnimation/HulkVs Hulk Vs Wolverine]].
** Wolverine also uses his claws to reflect The Gorgon's [[TakenForGranite stone gaze]] back on him. You'd think a guy who calls himself The Gorgon would've read the legend of Perseus.
* BlessedWithSuck: 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 [[StuffedInTheFridge his wives keep on dying]].
* BloodFromTheMouth: During the fight between Zeus and the Hulk, Zeus punches the Hulk in the stomach and he vomits up a mass of green blood.
* BloodKnight: 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.
* BoisterousBruiser: The Hulk often takes this role when forced on a team; the Joe Fixit incarnation is practically the avatar of this trope.
* BoisterousWeakling: Normally, getting angry turns the scrawny geek Dr. Banner into the [[HulkingOut savage brute]] called the Hulk. When he becomes the GeniusBruiser 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.
* BoldlyComing: Two of the Hulk's three wives have been aliens.
* BookDumb: 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.
* BrainsAndBrawn: 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.
* BrainsVersusBrawn: The Hulk (big, green, DumbMuscle, TheBigGuy) has this relationship with one of his main archnemeses, The Leader, (tiny, green, EvilGenius), as The Leader is a deliberate EvilCounterpart to the Hulk. The Hulk's true identity, Bruce Banner, is a skinny scientist who gains SuperStrength from gamma rays whereas The Leader, Samuel Sterns, was a borderline mentally handicapped janitor who gains SuperIntelligence from gamma rays.
** The Hulk as Bruce Banner's SplitPersonality also qualifies since he is contrasted with Bruce Banner, who is an InsufferableGenius in the running for WorldsSmartestMan. 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 SuperStrength and NighInvulnerability, some personalities (Merged Hulk, Grey Hulk) skew closer to the center of the spectrum, inheriting Banner's {{Book Smart}}s or developing {{Street Smart}}s, and others (Devil Hulk) lean even ''further'' into The Hulk's strength.
* BrawnHilda:
** Ogress was a frustrated defense attorney exposed to gamma radiation by the Leader. She gained massive super strength, but unlike [[ComicBook/SheHulk 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 ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''.
* BreakoutCharacter: ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} got started as a character created to be a Canadian hero sent to fight the Hulk.
* BreakTheBadass: The ''only'' villain that the Hulk will ''admit'' to being scared of is ComicBook/TheSentry's evil alter ego, the Void.
* BrieferThanTheyThink:
** Ask any moderate comics fan who the core members of ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'' are, and you'll immediately hear "The Hulk, ComicBook/DoctorStrange, ComicBook/SilverSurfer, and [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor the Sub-Mariner]]." Sometimes they'll add Nighthawk, or maybe ComicBook/{{Valkyrie|Marvel Comics}}. 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 [[SuperpowerLottery 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 ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' either mentions the Hulk or makes heavy use of him: see ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the movie]], ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', 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 ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', 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 ComicBook/{{Black Knight|MarvelComics}}, ComicBook/TheVision, ComicBook/{{Beast|Marvel Comics}}, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules, or Moondragon, none of whom have managed Hulk's prominence on the Avengers in other media. Even ComicBook/RedHulk was on the team longer by the time he rejoined!
* BruiserWithASoftCenter: 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, DependingOnTheWriter. 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 ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' he battles the Earth Mightiest Heroes in New York ''but was still [[IAmNotLeftHanded holding back]] [[NeverHurtAnInnocent so civilians wouldn't get hurt]]''.
* BullyHunter: As mentioned elsewhere, he ''really'' doesn't like them for obvious reasons... except for Joe Fixit who is one himself.
* BullyingADragon: 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 "[[HulkSpeak Hulk Smash!]]") is usually a variation of him bellowing "LEAVE HULK ALONE!" you'd think the denizens of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse would have cottoned on, but then you remember [[TooDumbToLive 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. [[BoringButPractical 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:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Send condolence cards to America's enemies]].
** This was deliberately done by ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} when he wanted to die: as his [[GoodThingYouCanHeal 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 [[https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/streams/2014/September/140911/1D274906757835-today-marvelantibully-140911-rs-7.today-inline-large.jpg this]] variant cover which is actually about bullying. The jocks can clearly see that Hulk is glaring at them with murderous intentions and yet [[TooDumbToLive continue to laugh and bully the kid.]]
** Happened to his cousin ComicBook/SheHulk once too, and PlayedForLaughs. 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?"
* BurningWithAnger: If Red Hulk gets mad, he starts emitting heat.
* CanonDiscontinuity:
** In Vol. 2, #269-287, the ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories were retconned into being techno-art movies by the Krylorian Bereet.
** During Creator/PeterDavid's "Tempest Fugit" storyline, one line discontinuitized the entirety of previous writer Bruce Jones' 42-issue run.
* CantStayNormal:
** 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 ''ComicBook/Hulk2008'', the ComicBook/RedHulk 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 [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 the TV series]]. [[spoiler:And the new movie.]] And [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996 the 90's cartoon]]. Twice.
** A fairly {{Anvilicious}} example in [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1982 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 MonsterOfTheWeek. And of course, [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup 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.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' deconstructs this as we learn [[spoiler: 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.]]
* CantStayNormal: 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.
* TheCasanova: 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 [[spoiler: who is actually Betty Ross Banner]] commented after learning the Hulk had been married to not one, but two [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe hot alien]] warrior queens;
--->'''Red She-Hulk:''' You really got around, huh?
* CasuallyPowerfulGiant: 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.
*** '''''[[BullyingADragon LEAVE HULK ALONE!]]'''''
** On one occasion, as his smarter and more-amoral "Joe Fixit" persona:
--->"Rest assured, gentlemen--Hulk ''will'' smash."
** His true self, [[ComicBook/ImmortalHulk The Devil Hulk]], has a catchphrase of his own that he utters from time to time:
--->"The night is ''my'' time."
* CentralTheme:
** ''The Incredible Hulk'': The dangers of repression and the need to accept all sides of yourself.
** ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'': Hubris of thinking you know yourself and that you can solve problems your predecessors struggled with, without [[HistoryRepeats making the same compromises and mistakes they did]].
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'': How we're all shaped by our relationship with death.
* CensorShadow: Used heavily on Ultimate Hulk, who lacks MagicPants.
* CerebusRollercoaster: The series became very dark during the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' and ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' storylines, becoming ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]], but the following Creator/JephLoeb run was much LighterAndSofter. When ''Planet Hulk'''s writer Greg Pak returned, he tried to restore the previous tone. The result was the ''ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks'' 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 VillainProtagonist.
** And what followed that? Pak's ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', 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 ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''. The tone then went up for a few stories only to get progresively darker, until a BittersweetEnding. And then Banner returned in Al Ewing's ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', which is straight out a horror story.
* ChainedToARock: 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.
* CharacterDevelopment: All personalities get with this.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: 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 "[[HulkSpeak Puny human make Hulk angry! Hulk smash!]]" Though later retcons would establish that this behavior was still canon. The Hulk has [[SplitPersonality multiple personalities]], with some of them being quite intelligent while others are just mindless, screaming monsters.
* TheChessMaster: Bruce Banner is this, at least under Greg Pak's pen.
* ChickMagnet: 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.
* ClothingDamage: If you are a Hulk, you will suffer this indignity. Though depending on your fanbase, it may not be that much of an indignity.
* ColorCodedEyes: 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 [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry running might be]] a good idea.
* ColorContrast: The Hulk, in his most iconic form, is green with purple pants.
* CombatPragmatist: The Hulk is sometimes portrayed as this.
* ComboPlatterPowers: The Hulk has SuperStrength, is {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, can create a stunning sonic boom with his hands, [[HealingFactor 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 [[SuperIntelligence 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 CosmicRetcon that wiped out everyone's memory of ComicBook/{{the Sentry}}, and neither ComicBook/ProfessorX nor ComicBook/EmmaFrost can MindRape 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). [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Hulk]] takes it a step further, adapting to the atmospheres of Mars and Venus after limited exposure. Then ''ComicBook/AvengersNoSurrender'' adds ResurrectiveImmortality (again, fitting with "unstoppable force of rage"), which is followed by LivingLieDetector in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk''.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' redesigned Bruce Banner after the likeness of Creator/SteveBuscemi.
* CompanionCube: 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.
* CompleteImmortality: 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.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Bruce Banner, better known as the Hulk, forces himself not to react to the dangerous situations he finds himself in out of fear of HulkingOut, justified since as the Hulk he's [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] so the only thing he's really worried about is [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry what's gonna happen to the enemy.]] This trait is carried over to his [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 TV]] and [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse film]] counterparts.
* ConquerorFromTheFuture: The ComicBook/{{Maestro}} (who is actually [[spoiler: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.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: 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.
* ContagiousPowers: 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 ComicBook/SheHulk due to a blood transfusion; Rick Jones, who time-shared his body with Genis-Vell's ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}, 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 ComicBook/RedHulk.
** 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 TheSeventies, 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.
* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: [[DependingOnTheWriter 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.
* ConvenientMiscarriage: Betty Ross got hit with this one due to ExecutiveMeddling; writer Creator/PeterDavid 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.
* CooldownHug:
** 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 ComicBook/SheHulk. 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 [[InvertedTrope ''crazier'']].
** ComicBook/{{Superman}} did this in the second ''[[ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan Superman/Spider-Man]]'' comic, first by letting Hulk pound him in a UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject moment, after which Superman removed the sound-emitting bug that was giving Hulk an UnstoppableRage, then reassured Hulk that he only wanted to help him - which Hulk believed.
* CrapsackWorld: And how... Noticeably the Hulk was living in a CrapsackWorld version of the MU long before it became that for everyone else.
* CraterPower: The Hulk in general, when he lands after one of his [[InASingleBound quarter-mile leaps]].
* CreativeSterility: The Shaper of Worlds is a RealityWarper with nearly unlimited power and one huge limitation: he absolutely lacks imagination. He can only create by copying the desires of others.
* CreatorCameo: Writer Creator/PeterDavid cameos as the priest who officiates the wedding of the Hulk's friend Rick Jones to Marlo Chandler.
* CrystalDragonJesus: 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 ''ComicBook/FearItself'' [[spoiler: Hulk becomes Nul, the ''Breaker of Worlds'',]] it seems there is truth in both. Also, [[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]]'s crucifixion and resurrection on Counter-Earth actually took place in a Hulk title.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: The Hulk usually has green eyes to match his hair and skin.
* CutApart: 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.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Hulk is a terrifying green rage monster, feared and hated by most of the MU for being a PersonOfMassDestruction. In actuality, Hulk is a big BruiserWithASoftCenter and has helped saved the world from multiple massive threats like ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} and Xemnu.
** Grey Hulk aka Joe Fixit (a persona of Hulk's SplitPersonality). A malcious, scummy, tommy gun totting professional Las Vegas mob enforcer and who while smart is pretty much TheBrute. Except Joe has served on the second ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' and in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' series TookALevelInKindness and helps saves the day from GeneralRipper Fortean and the One Below All while still being somewhat of a sleazy mobster. The same comic expains Joe comes from Bruce watching a FilmNoir as a kid after getting beaten by his father and created Joe as his idea of an adult, someone talks tough and cracks wise but will kick the ass of anyone who deserves it.
** Devil Hulk is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A demonic creepy Hulk persona that only comes out at night, has creepy glowing eyes, weaponised BodyHorror and does plan to end the entire world. Though it's shown he's really a TerrorHero who does care about innocent life, growling at a bystander woman during his fight with Abomination "Well what are you waiting for? A third monster '''move it lady!'''". Devil Hulk also genuinely loves Bruce and Green Savage Hulk and is fiercly protective of them, being the subconscious caring father figure Bruce always wanted.
** Betty Ross has become this of late, namely in her Red She-Hulk and Red Harpy forms. She has red skin, wears black, has a cruel and violent temperament. When she first appeared as Red She-Hulk and her idenity was a mystery she was a straight up DarkActionGirl, in later comics Betty becomes an AntiHero and as Red Harpy she's a CreepyGood HumanoidAbomination like Devil Hulk who protects her husband from ConflictBall Avengers.
** Downplayed with ComicBook/RedHulk aka Thaddeus Ross, he's a big red bully with a chip on his shoulder but redgardless he still fufills TheBigGuy postion among the Avengers during [[Creator/BrianMichaelBendis Bendis]]'s run and at his best becomes a case of AffablyEvil. Even he's [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Red Venom Ghost Rider]], Ross is still technically a hero since his opponent at the time was Blackheart.
** Skaar, Hulk's son has long black mattered hair, black jagged torso markings and wields a nasty looking sword. He even starts off as a villain before reconciling with his father Bruce and becomes TheMole and TokenGoodTeammate of the ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers''.
** Amazingly both Carl “Crusher” Creel Absorbing Man and his wife Mary [=MacPherran=] aka Titania become this ''ComicBook/GammaFlight'', despite spending the previous decades as major thorns in the sides of Marvel’s heroes and working for Doctor Doom. They turn over a new leaf in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' upon coming to the conclusion being GoodFeelsGood and actually help Hulk fight against his father Brian Banner who is the avatar of One Below All as well as save world from Dario Agger’s [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]. They’re still brutish and jerky, but firmly on the side on the angels.
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: One of the best-known cases in the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' is Bruce Banner and his long-time love interest Betty Ross. Her father, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, didn't approve of the relationship when Banner was just a nebbish scientist. Then the Hulk happened and Ross went GeneralRipper, determined to either kill the Hulk or use his power for his own benefit. He blames everyone except himself for what this did to his relationship with his daughter.
* DeadMansSwitch: When Bruce Banner starts working for ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, he first sets up one of these in case they decide to just kill him to neutralize the threat presented by the Hulk. Prior to his initial meeting with Maria Hill, he steals ''highly'' classified information -- implied to be damning enough to bring down the whole organization if released -- and gives it to a contact (who turns out to be Daredevil) along with instructions to release it if Banner doesn't check in with him on a regular basis.
* DeadSidekick: In the early 90s, the Hulk had a sidekick named Jim Wilson, a homeless kid with HIV. Eventually he died of AIDS in a VerySpecialEpisode.
* DeathIsCheap:
** General Ross died from fighting Zzzax, but his body was stolen by The Leader and resurrected by the Troyjan.
* DeathIsCheap: Betty Ross died of radiation poisoning, but she didn't really die. She washed up on a beach, was experimented on by Thaddeus Ross, became Red She-Hulk, lost her She-Hulk powers, got shot & died again and came back with her Harpy powers.
** And lampshaded again in another issue during ComicBook/NickFury's funeral, where his friends laugh and crack jokes, saying things like "What d'ya think it is this time, aliens?" By the end of the story they realize that he's not coming back, and look genuinely mournful. Of course, as we all know, he did come back anyway.
** Someone even called Marvel out on their frequent use of comic book death in the letters pages of that very same issue, to which the response was "Okay, okay, we won't kill Nick Fur--Oops."
** This is explained in the ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' series when it comes to Gamma Beasts as there is a strange green door that can be crossed, bringing Gamma Beasts back from the dead. For Banner, he's more than happy to just die, but it's suggested ''one of his'' Hulk identities charges back through.
** One story in ComicBook/SheHulk's run had her move to have a dead man's ghost testify in his wrongful death case against the company he worked for. When the other side objected, Shulkie called Ben Grimm to testify about how he came back from the dead. When counsel objected the dead person in this case was an ordinary human and not a super-being, she then asked by a show of hands how many people in the courtroom had been resurrected from some cataclysmic event. About half the people in the room (including one of the other defense attorneys) raised their hand.
* DebateAndSwitch:
** Thus far, every attempt to separate Hulk and Banner into different entities has ended disastrously. On one occasion, it was determined that the physical split made Banner physically ill and that he couldn't live unless he combined with the Hulk again. On another, Doctor Doom performed surgery on his brain and cloned a body allowing Banner to exist as a separate physical person, which failed when the cloned Banner died. But far more often, it's argued that for all its faults, the Hulk and Banner make each other "better" people than either would be separately. In either case, the concept of whether or not separating the two would ever "free" Banner is almost always rendered moot.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Bruce Banner was introduced without a family. Eventually it was revealed that his mental troubles partly derive from his mother being killed by his abusive father. Bruce's longtime love-interest (and, for a time, wife) Betty Ross was introduced having lost her mother. The Hulk's occasional side-kick Rick Jones has been an orphan from the start.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Bruce Banner turned into the super strong Hulk thanks to a gamma bomb explosion, endowing him with the strength and stamina to battle threats that even some other super strong heroes may struggle with, but Bruce has little to no control over the Hulk, which often results in a lot of property damage and turning Bruce into a fugitive hunted all over the world by the army.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'': The series deconstructs several elements of the Hulk mythos as well as some from super-hero comics in general. Since this is a horror series, many of these tread into NightmareFuel territory.
*** DeathIsCheap is horrifically deconstructed when it's learned that the reason the Hulk and gamma mutates keep coming back is because death has a metaphorical revolving door for them to keep walking out of. Made worse is the fact that it's due to an EldritchAbomination that is TheAntiGod, which is only bringing them back so it has pawns it can use to enact its own plans. There's also the trauma of having to experience death in all of it's pain and terror only to come back repeatedly and realize it's going to keep happening again and again and that you may end up surviving thousands of years past the ends of your friends, loved ones and everything you ever held to be important.
*** IDidWhatIHadToDo is also given a harsh look from various angles and sides. The Avengers try to bring in Bruce and end up tangling with the Hulk. They can ultimately only win when they use a KillSat to hit him with a superbeam of solar energy which ends up not only killing Bruce (again), but destroys what's left of the town they were fighting in. Later, the opposite side is looked at with General Fortean, who believes he is absolutely justified in doing anything to fight the Hulk, while acting like a KnightTemplar. However, it turns out that Reggie is actually mentally disturbed and everything he says it just an excuse to bring order to his world at any cost. It's only at the end when [[spoiler:he's in the Below-Place]] that he realize the horrible mistake he made in pursuing Gamma-based weapon research, which ends up damning himself for all time.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Of all the Marvel characters, the Hulk has probably the greatest variety of appearances. He started out looking like an 8-foot beefed up version of Franchise/{{Frankenstein}}'s monster (probably not accidentally, as Universal's ''Frankenstein'' film was one of the inspirations for the character), but now varies tremendously from artist to artist: facial features resembling anything from a human brute through to a full-on caveman, how muscular he is, how big he is, his hairstyle, the amount of veins visible,the length of his limbs in relation to each other, the length and color of his shredded pants, etc. And that's just the Savage (green) Hulk, never mind his other personas...
** What's more, the Hulk's appearance will vary with the ''same artist''. Each artist will usually keep the face consistant, but his overall size and proportions will vary from panel to panel.
** Other variables; Hulk's eyes. Green or red? Blood; green or red? His third wife [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk Caiera]] and their son Skaar also have variable eye colors, from blue to green.
** Of course, since the Peter David years, it's been established that the Hulk's appearance and personality are a direct reflection of Banner's subconscious mental state, so many of the artists' different approaches to him could probably be put down to Banner's frequently-shifting psychological troubles.
** In the early Silver Age, the Hulk didn't even need different artists to get inconsistent. Creator/JackKirby was particularly variable on how many toes the Hulk had, drawing him with three, four, or five toes per foot virtually at random. Contemporary artists use this as a ShoutOut opportunity, and flashbacks to the early Silver Age (like Hulk's brief tenure on the Avengers) often show him with three toes.
** There’s also Bruce Banner himself as artists make him a beanpole nerd so that the HulkingOut is more visually effective. While other artists give Bruce a rugged look which is fitting given his drifter-like lifestyle.
* DependingOnTheWriter: The Hulk has numerous factors of his character that vary between writers; Whether he's a dumb brute that can only speak in HulkSpeak, a completely mindless monster who can't talk at all, or someone with a fairly average intellect with a somewhat odd speech pattern. Also depending on the writer is the Hulk's power level; while it is in a state of flux depending on his emotional state, some writers have him being knocked out by an average python choking him for less than a minute, and dying from being impaled by a trident when he's previously survived wounds that make that seem like a papercut by comparison. Another significantly variable thing is how goodnatured the Hulk is; he can be basically heroic but bad-tempered, amoral and mostly wanting to be left alone, or a monster ruled by pure id who has done far worse than kill people. Greg Pak's Hulk, for a particular outlier, is a flat-out TechnicalPacifist who subconsciously avoids killing people even in the midst of a rampage. This is somewhat justified by Banner having multiple personality syndrome and there being thousands of Hulks in his mind, but many of these traits have been ascribed to the iconic "Savage" Hulk personality alone.
* DestructiveSaviour:
** His sons are also this. In fact, they may well be ''more'' dangerous than their father, because while the Hulk typically tries not to kill other people, his sons have no such compunction.
* {{Determinator}}: This is the Hulk to a T, especially when his loved ones are in danger. Regular Bruce Banner as well, he tries to save the day even when he ''can't'' turn into the Hulk. With just his brain and his wits.
* DeusAngstMachina: The series evetually got to the point where it more or less became a parody of itself for half a decade during UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|OfComicBooks}} because the writers were sick of the endless angst (probably).
* DevilButNoGod:
** A good example is when an old flame allows Bruce Banner to see all his inner personalities (each a different Hulk), one of whom takes the form of a monstrous reptilian devil. Devil Hulk tells Bruce "There's a little bit of God and the Devil in everyone", but the comics have yet to get around to that God part. We do get to see that an incarnation of the Beast lives in Bruce's head as well.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The Hulk often invokes this trope, whether he's smacking around [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], or smashing some multiversal threat with the Defenders.
** In the 1970s, veteran scribes Marv Wolfman and Len Wein wrote ''The Incredible Hulk: Stalker From the Stars'', wherein the Hulk crosses paths with an EldritchAbomination attempting to escape its prison beneath the Earth so it could conquer and enslave humanity. In this case, the Hulk doesn't punch Cthulhu out so much as rip him to pieces and burn him alive. Ouch.
** One early foe of his was the Galaxy Master, whose most common form was a huge gaping maw hanging in the middle of space and destroys planets to consume them as food. Hulk's answer? Jump inside it and smash it from within.
** Then there is the time he blew out the mystical flames composing [[GodOfEvil Dormammu's]] head by smacking his palms together. Dormammu wasn't out for the 10-count though.
** He also on one occasion nearly cancelled out the power of the Order-Half of the In-Betweener, who can give Galactus a fight.
** Other feats include the Hulk handling the infinite power from the singularity of the core of a black hole and ripping apart a weapon designed to withstand and kill the Celestials.
** ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} was a powerful [[TwoBeingsOneBody fusion]] of Professor X and Magneto's conscious into a Psychic Entity who had the power of other Omega-Level mutants such as Franklin Richards and Nate Gray and could create a sun from nothing. A InvincibleVillain for Marvel's heroes... until ComicBook/JeanGrey removed Bruce Banner's conscious from Hulk - que one very, very, very angry MegatonPunch and Onslaught's physical form is destroyed. Unfortunatly, this also had the side effect of opening a dimensional rift.
** In one ''Hulk'' book, ComicBook/RedHulk punched The Watcher, then went on to punch an Elder of the Universe to death. Justified in that Red Hulk's energy-absorbing powers basically mean that the stronger his opponent is, the stronger he is.
** In the ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', the Jolly Green Giant is up against [[GodOfEvil The One Below All]] the [[TheAntiGod exact opposite]] of The Above All aka {{God}} basically an EldritchAbomination so powerful even ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} (who’s fought Galactus) is scared of it. But after a HeroicSecondWind Hulk does a ShockwaveClap that ''[[https://preview.redd.it/d66hyi7ztg931.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=cdd5811cd8d6dcb55f922a2fe7a60965196f9639 literally blows the One Below All away]]''. Hulk admits afterward he only bought them a minute breathing room to escape the Lovecraftian nightmare, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. [[spoiler: Made even more awesome retrospective with the revelation that One Below All is really the SuperpoweredEvilSide of the One Above All, but Hulk still clapped him anyway. Justified though since Hulk is apparently the child of One Above All and the counterbalance to creation by being a force of destruction itself.]]
* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: In one storyline, Bruce Banner is shot in the head while turning into the Hulk. With the Hulk's HealingFactor, he survives (and even manages to remain in control of it) but, since the bullet remains lodged in his brain, has to refrain from turning back into Banner at all costs or ''die immediately''. This continues until the Leader manages to remove the bullet.
* DisappearedDad: Bruce Banner had once realized that he himself became one, as two or more of his Hulk personas have made children under contrived situations; Bruce in one self-introspecting moment felt he should be responsible for them, awkwardly attempting to connect with his estranged children. It didn’t quite work as none of them felt a connection to Bruce Banner and he didn’t try to push things much further, just accepting it as one of the many things that never works out in his life.
* DistaffCounterpart: Bruce Banner inadvertently created the She-Hulk when he provided a blood transfusion for his cousin Jennifer. Partly due to not having multiple personalities she handles the transition much better than he did. There's also his daughter Lyra.
* DistantFinale: Creator/PeterDavid set the final issue of his 12-year-run 10 years after the previous issue. A Daily Bugle [[FlashBack interview]] with [[UnreliableNarrator Rick Jones]] serves as a fitting end to both David's tenure on the title and the Hulk mythos in general.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe:
** Bruce Banner smoked a pipe in his first appearance, in ''The Incredible Hulk #1''. In TheNineties when Hulk had Bruce Banner's brain he also smoked a normal sized pipe, which for him was very tiny.
** A one-shot character in the ''Hulk'' series was a brainy college student based very loosely on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb Richard Loeb]]; he smoked a pipe as part of his "smartest guy in the room" persona.
* DoNotCallMePaul: This seems to be a recurring theme with Gamma mutates.
** Calling The Hulk "Bruce" is a [[BerserkButton good way to end up on the receiving end of the worst beat down of your life]]. Justified, though, as they really are separate personalities inhabiting the same body. And they do not like each other.
** In the same vein, Joe Fixit doesn't like to be called "Hulk", and neither does the Doc Omega personality, who sees the name Hulk as something pushed on him. And the Maestro hates to called Hulk ''or'' Banner.
--->'''Maestro:''' I'm sorry, Banner can't hear you right now. Please leave your message at the sound of a thousand cracking femurs.
** Just narrowly averted in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', when someone calls that Hulk Banner and he just asks "are you trying to piss me off?"
* DoesNotLikeShoes:
** The Hulk, as his feet are not only too big, but change in size with the rest of him depending on his anger level.
** Zigzagged with his cousin, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters. During her earlier appearances Shulkie was always barefoot. Nowadays, spending more time as her super-powered alter-ego Shulkie usually wears some sort of footwear, unless she’s forced to transform back into Jennifer (for whom Shulkie’s shoes are too big), or she’s caught into action while carrying out professional duties (she’s a lawyer).
** Both The Professor and Joe Fixit, however, wear appropriate footwear (generally patent leather formal shoes and workboots, respectively. The Professor even once wore bunny slippers!).
* DoubleJump: In a very early issue, the Hulk somehow does this by flexing to avoid face planting into the side of a bridge.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. In ''Hulk: Future Imperfect'', one of the Maestro's slave girls has sex with the temporarily paralyzed (and unwilling) Merged Hulk. It's not made a big deal, and the word "rape" is never used, but Banner regards it very seriously, and mentions how helpless and out of control it made him feel. When talking about it with Doc Samson, he has trouble even articulating what happened, and it's not because he's embarrassed.
* TheDragon: The Leader also sometimes used Rock and Redeemer as Dragons.
* TheDreaded: The Hulk scares the ''hell'' out of the rest of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. The most powerful heroes - even knowing full well that he's NotEvilJustMisunderstood - take his arrival as seriously as that of someone like Doctor Doom, if not more. Given what a rampaging Hulk can do, it's not without reason. He could get angry, you see. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry. In everything from trading cards to the actual comic books, other heroes are shown to be ''very'' reluctant to confront him.
** In Greg Pak's run, people start to wonder if Banner is actually the more dangerous one. [[spoiler:He is.]]
** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} had a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments memorable meltdown]] when he found out that he had to get a blood sample from the big green galoot in an attempt to cure his currently-failing HealingFactor. His reaction was to talk him up using the lyrics of his old cartoon theme song ("Ain't he unglamorous").
** Subverted with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. He not only holds immense respect for Hulk in either form (he bitched out the Illuminati for sending Hulk into space) but it has been said by numerous characters that the only thing Cap would need to do to stop a rampaging Hulk would be to stand in front of him.
** The new Hulk personality introduced in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' terrifies even Thor, he refers to him as a Devil.
* DumbIsGood: The Hulk is usually TheHero or at least an AntiHero. However, DependingOnTheWriter, he is near mindless or at least has a childlike mentality. Many of the times Hulk clashes with the heroes is due to some misunderstanding or someone fooling him into thinking one of the good guys did him wrong. His main villain is an EvilGenius named ''The Leader'' who has super intelligence. Likewise in ComicBook/UltimateMarvel, Hulk defeats Abomination because the latter "thinks too much."
* DynamicAkimbo: Hulk himself rarely does this, but the Merged "Professor" Hulk took the pose often, and was one of the more confident, handsome and intelligent forms of the character.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The day-one Hulk wasn't just different from the Savage Hulk, he wasn't even much like the Gray Hulk is portrayed these days. He was Banner by day and Hulk by night regardless of his anger level - no HulkingOut at noon no matter how angry, no staying himself past dusk no matter how calm. As the Hulk he was similar to Frankenstein's Monster, whom he more closely resembled in the old days -- he could be outright malevolent, though you could see how he was driven to it. He once nearly deployed a doomsday device he invented just because he'd had it with puny humans. (Yes, invented, as Hulk. Loss of intelligence meant things got ''harder,'' but he was still brilliant. With this Hulk's misanthropy, that's very ''bad.'') Thankfully, Rick Jones, being close to the site of the disaster, gained a mental link with Banner that allows him to influence the Hulk. The world would ''literally'' have ended by issue three at Hulk's hands otherwise. He was less the hero and more Banner's EnemyWithin, with tremendous (but not at current levels) strength, most of his intelligence, and a belief that those rotten humans did not deserve to exist. It was [[KidWithTheLeash all Rick Jones could do]] to keep him aimed at the people chasing Banner, and bad guys they encountered, instead of... '''everyone'''. It takes them awhile before the character is associated with anger, around his first visit with ComicBook/TheInhumans where they establish that his strength increases with his rage.
*** The situation with the Hulk's intelligence was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in an issue of Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/{{The Avengers|MarkWaid}}'' run, where the Silver Age Hulk doesn't understand why the present-day Spider-Man keeps trying to use HulkSpeak to communicate with him.
** The Hulk was also originally gray. According to Stan Lee, "Well, my first choice was gray 'cause he was a monster, he was supposed to be scary and I figured gray might be a scary color. But there was a problem. When the book was printed, the printer had trouble keeping the color consistent. So I had to use a different color and I figured green, no superhero I knew wore green at the time. So I said, 'Okay, let's color him green.' It was as casual as that."
** The jump to ''Tales to Astonish'' changed the transformation trigger to extreme stress or elevated heartrate, not specifically anger. Also different early on was the trigger worked both ways. Hulk getting too emotionally worked-up would make him transform back into Banner.
** The later ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' series intentionally went back to the character's roots, with the Hulk depicted as a far more intelligent and overtly malicious figure than most fans were generally used to. The series also revives some of the Hulk's original mechanics, with "the night is his time" being a repeated theme-phrase. The way the "Immortal" part works is that if Bruce Banner is killed, the Hulk will rise as soon as night falls on his corpse.
** Hulk also had an ever-changing number of toes. When he first appeared, he had five toes. When his book was cancelled and he resurfaced in ''Fantastic Four'', he now had three. When he joined the Avengers, he then had four, but went back to three by the second issue, only for this number to vary wildly in each subsequent appearance before the artists finally settled on five in ''ComicBook/TalesToAstonish''. This was the subject in a MythologyGag in ''ComicBook/UltronForever'', where the Hulk transported from the past still had three toes.
** Originally, the Hulk could also ''fly'', but this ability was quickly dropped (retconned into super jumps that could be mistaken for flight by witnesses).
** The Hulk being a founding member of ComicBook/TheAvengers. It didn't take Stan Lee long to figure out that the Hulk wasn't exactly a team player, such that by the third issue of the series he's actually fighting ''against'' the others in full-on supervillain mode. Later comics have dealt with his on-again, off-again membership in all manner of ways as his intelligence has fluctuated.
* EatMe: The Hulk let the Galaxy Master eat him, so that he can smash it from the inside.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: The Hulk has defeated some of his opponents this way, such as by spraying the villainess Vapor with oxygen when she had transformed herself into hydrogen, effectively turning her into water ([[ArtisticLicensePhysics which should have required burning it]]), or by beating X-Ray (a living field of radiation) with a lead pipe, [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics which disrupts his radioactive body]].
** This is much more more fun if you realize that pure oxygen and pure hydrogen tend to explode when combined.
** Vapor and X-Ray were both members of the U-Foes, a group of villains who tried to get superpowers by copying Reed Richards' flawed space flight. They ended up as direct analogues of the Fantastic Four (but evil, and therefore punchable), making them Elementals twice removed.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: The Hulk's "Worldbreaker" form basically counts as this. Hulk's basic power is that the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets, seemingly without an upper limit. The "Worldbreaker" form is when he gets so angry that his strength is enough [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin to break a planet]].
* EmbodimentOfVice:
** The Hulk himself is wrath, of course, but there are more subtle examples in his various personalities - Banner classically dealing with issues of self-loathing and fatalism, for instance.
*** Creator/PeterDavid characterized the savage Green Hulk like a child prone to tantrums. Grey Hulk on the other hand would be the embodiment of pubescent desires. As Joe Fixit he worked as mafia muscle and led a hedonist lifestyle in Las Vegas: snappy dresses, fine meals, parties and booze, sleeping with beautiful women...
* EmeraldPower: Most victims of gamma radiation turn green on top of gaining superpowers - Hulk himself, ComicBook/SheHulk, The Leader...
* EmotionalBruiser: Naturally, the Hulk has this going for him a good deal. While he's mostly associated with anger, he often displays other intense emotions in combat; such as extreme sadness or fear. Hulk in most versions represents raw, unfettered emotion free from intellect or reason, so it's expected.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: This is a central core of the franchise. Bruce Banner lived much of his life as a stoic scientist who avoided clear display of emotion. When exposed to gamma rays though, he tends to transform into The Hulk, who's basically raw, unprocessed emotion in its purest form. Writers will play around with the concept; Banner is a scientist and helpful, but some writers will point out he was building weapons of mass destruction before being transformed, or otherwise portray him like an asshole. The Hulk is a GentleGiant who ultimately doesn't go out and start fights, but at the same time is incredibly destructive and impossible to control once he gets going. Neither personality particularly likes the other.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Oddly enough, Hulk's RoguesGallery also includes ''someone else's'' Evil Counterparts. The U-Foes are a group of four villains whose origin, powers, and personalities are all extremely similar to those of the ComicBook/FantasticFour. Strangely, they have never faced the FF despite all of the characters being Creator/MarvelComics characters.
** Brian Banner is the evil counterpart to Bruce both are nuclear scientists with hidden rage inside them, difference is Bruce as a man or The Hulk always at least has some conscience and innate goodness (thanks to his mom) while Brian is immoral, horrifically abusive and serves an EldritchAbomination. In [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind Bruce's mind]] Brian is represented as a giant demonic snake-like hulk.
** The Maestro, an [[FutureMeScaresMe evil future version of the Hulk]] who acts as the ruler of a BadFuture caused by [[AfterTheEnd nuclear wars.]]
** The Red Hulk, who is even more violent, almost sociopathic, and trigger-happy then the Hulk.
* EvilOverlord: The Hulk's evil alternate self the ComicBook/{{Maestro}} in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect'' who ruled as a brutal despot in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic society]] with an iron fist and lives off as a hedonist that surrounds himself with concubines. He is still a dangerous foe, since he has Banner's intellect, the Hulk's strength augmented several times and absolutely no moral inhibitions.
* {{Expy}}: Bruce Banner and Hulk began as expies of [[Literature/StrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]], respectively.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: The Hulk's son, Skaar, said this when he first met his father on Earth.
* ExpositoryThemeTune: from the 1960s cartoon, "Doc Bruce Banner, belted by gam-ma rays, turned into the Hulk..." As opposed to the OpeningNarration to the live action TV series.
* ExtraOreDinary:
** [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Michael Steel]] aka Ironclad of the U-Foes was transformed into a creature of organic metal when he and his associates attempted to replicate the accident that gave the ComicBook/FantasticFour their powers.

[[folder:Tropes - F to O]]
* FallenHero: Among one of the Hulk's most dangerous foes is a [[FutureMeScaresMe future version of himself,]] the ComicBook/{{Maestro}}, an insane, hedonistic, sadistic tyrant.
* FalseUtopia: In one of the comics, Bruce Banner has a dream where all his biggest wishes are true: married to Betty, friend to her father and other former enemies... This is an illusion from his inner monster, the Devil Hulk, in which Bruce could be trapped if he let the devil take over his body. Bruce turned down the offer.
* FantasticMeasurementSystem: When Amadeus Cho studies magical phenomena, he measures the reality-warping field strength in "hercs", one herc being equal to the field strength of his friend Hercules. It sounds like "hertz" so it's pretty natural to tack on SI prefixes like megahercs or gigahercs, but most of the measurements he gives are between zero and five hercs.
* FanservicePack: Hulk met Rick Jones and Jim Wilson while they were in their teens, but more than a decade passed and they grew into handsome, ripped young men.
* FashionDissonance: The comics of course started off with plenty of this with Rick Jones’s checkered jacket, Betty Ross’s Jacqueline Kennedy outfit and Bruce Banner’s iconic purple pants which wouldn’t have been seen as so garish back then as it is today. Interestingly later Hulk comics such as ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' when flashing back to early days unlike other comics [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQeH5BtsnXabuQTSYH_G_pfzKF_zBxaG0hh9g&usqp=CAU deliberately don’t bother modernizing the outfits]], no matter how much it jars with the modern characterization of the cast, such as Betty who wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a pillow box nowadays.
* FasterThanTheyLook: Characters often assume that the giant mass of muscle would move rather slowly. They have a tendency to be surprised and terrified when they see just how quickly he can carry all that bulk.
* FearsomeFoot: The series and its adaptations often emphasize the Hulk's massive size and strength by showing his feet tear apart Banner's footwear, or stomp on something.
* TheFettered: Hulk's full power is as good as always greatly restrained by Banner, as otherwise his slightest movement would destroy the world around him. This nearly happened at the end of ''World War Hulk'', and he is constantly trying to manage the destructive potential within him, so nobody comes to harm. In contrast, the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel version of the Hulk is a downright scary version of TheUnfettered. In every way that Ultimate Banner restrains or represses himself (which is every way), the Hulk cuts loose. For instance, Ultimate Banner is a vegetarian. Ultimate Hulk is [[ImAHumanitarian a humanitarian.]]
* FingerPokeOfDoom:
** During the Mr. Fixit storyline, the Grey Hulk (almost as strong as green, as smart as Banner, and totally amoral) gave a human opponent (Doctor Octopus, see below) "da Finger". A finger thump to the forehead, knocking him out.
** While it happened off-panel, later during the Merged Hulk period he says to the Punisher, "If I had used two fingers instead of one, you'd still be out cold."
* {{Flanderization}}: The Hulk's raw power has been greatly exaggerated. In his first appearance, Hulk was perfectly capable of fluent speech and clear-minded reasoning. Over the years the "dumb" part of DumbMuscle got amplified along with the "muscle", until we reach the iconic "HULK SMASH!" levels. Then, Creator/PeterDavid got the idea of explaining this as two different facets of Bruce Banner's fractured mind manifesting in different types of Hulk. How his level of strength tends to be inversely proportional to his intelligence has been explained by that his ability to reason tends to put limits to how much pure rage he can build up. An alternate universe supervillain, the Maestro, was even created out of the idea of "what if the Hulk stopped caring about holding back, then lived for a hundred years?"
** Contemporary Marvel writers have some fun with this when time-travel shenanigans bring later characters in contact with early Silver Age Hulk. Heroes (and villains) expecting the monosyllabic rage-monster are shocked to meet a gruff, clever Hulk who is functionally equivalent to a stronger, tougher, more devious Ben Grimm.
* FleetingDemographicRule: The relationship between Bruce Banner and The Hulk is permanently changed. Maybe Hulk is the one in charge now. Maybe it's Banner. Maybe they're separate. Maybe one side is DarkerAndEdgier, and one side is completely gone.
* FlightStrengthHeart: The Hulk has super-strength and durability... and the ability to see astral forms. Which is more useful than you might think, but not ''that'' much more useful. To be even more obscure, he can also always sense his location relative to the place he was "born" in the gamma bomb.
* {{Foil}}:
** The Hulk and She-Hulk
*** Bruce is rarely the one in control of his Hulk form, which is more often than not being used by one of his many, many split personalities. Jennifer is almost always in control of her She-Hulk form.
*** Bruce wants more than anything to be [[IJustWantToBeNormal normal]]. Jennifer has in the past done whatever it takes to [[IJustWantToBeSpecial remain She-Hulk permanently]].
*** Hulk represents everything Bruce represses about himself. She-Hulk is everything that Jennifer ever wanted to let out.
* FormulaWithATwist: Hulk was the first major attempt to create a [[AntiHero flawed]] costumed {{superhero}}. After learning that the monstrous ComicBook/TheThing was the most popular member of the ComicBook/FantasticFour, Creator/StanLee decided to take the idea up to eleven and make a monster and less than a perfect hero.
* FourFingeredHands: The Hulk has had an ever-changing number of toes. When he first appeared, he had five toes. When his book was cancelled and he resurfaced in ''Fantastic Four'', he now had three. When he joined the Avengers, he then had four, but went back to three by the second issue, only for this number to vary wildly in each subsequent appearance before the artists finally settled on five in ''ComicBook/TalesToAstonish''. This was the subject in a MythologyGag in ''ComicBook/UltronForever'', where the Hulk transported from the past still had three toes.
* FourStarBadass: [[ComicBook/RedHulk General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross]].
* FourthWallObserver: The Hulk used to pal around with a group of super-powered do-gooders called ''The Pantheon''. Except Paris wasn't quite the do-gooder they thought. In addition to causing outright chaos, he speaks to the reader, is aware when the end of the book is coming up and at one point, turns the book OFF. Creepy.
* FreudianTrio: In the early 90s, writer Peter David had psychologist Doc Samson use hypnosis to the integrate the Hulk's different personalities which he described as:
** Id: The savage, green Hulk,
** Ego: The cunning grey Hulk aka "Joe Fixit", and
** Superego: Bruce Banner, and combine them into one new Hulk.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: [[LighterAndSofter The Savage Hulk]]. No, ''really.'' We've seen him get along with children and small animals and such. [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry You won't like him when he's angry]], but bad guys (and General Ross) just keep insisting on ''making'' him angry. Convince him you're not like them, or failing that, ''listen'' when he says "leave Hulk alone," and nothing has to get smashed.
* FromASingleCell: The Hulk's [[FutureMeScaresMe future incarnation]], the ComicBook/{{Maestro}}, was capable of regenerating from dust.
* FugitiveArc: Given his penchant for massive destruction and [[HeroWithBadPublicity poor publicity]], a frequent story arc is Banner WalkingTheEarth on the run from authorities who want to capture the Hulk.
* FullCircleRevolution: One story has Professor Hulk taken to a planet where a green race was enslaved by a red race. Professor Hulk helped the green people overthrow the rulers and before leaving asked them to live peacefully together. Looking through a telescope as he was getting far off he saw the red people enslaved by the green ones and wept.
* FullFrontalAssault: Occasionally his MagicPants fail him and he's forced to battle in the nude; this is generally reserved for the more savage incarnations of the Hulk, especially when he's the threat, not one of the protagonists.
** One comic from the 90's, where right after beating the hell out of Captain America, the savage Hulk had a particularly brutal fight with Thor, all while completely naked. The Hulk won.
* FutureMeScaresMe: The Hulk once had to overthrow his tyrannical future self, the Maestro. Ever since then, Bruce has had a fear of becoming the Maestro, one way or another.
* GalacticConqueror: Arm'Chedon, also known as Armageddon, leader of the Troyjan Empire and foe of the Hulk during his days with the Pantheon. Arm'Chedon was so busy conquering planets that he literally did not notice that he had two sons until one of them died on earth harassing the Pantheon, and the other was later killed in trial by combat with the Hulk. He swore vengeance, but got all of one appearance until well over a decade later. Interestingly, his relative obscureness might have worked in his favor, as there's no sign that his empire suffered the massive amounts of destruction that Marvel's other galactic empires (The Kree, Skrulls, and Shi'ar) have in recent years.
* GatheringSteam: Bruce Banner is an ordinary human and needs to be pissed off to even trigger his transformation into the Hulk, but even once he has transformed, the Hulk is unable to bring his full strength to bear right away, as it is directly correlated to his anger. The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets, and thus with every injury he takes, he gathers more and more steam.
* GeneralRipper:
** General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross is obsessed with stopping the Hulk at any cost, often interfering with Bruce Banner's attempts to cure himself in the process. Which one he actually hates can get blurry -- he once tried to shoot a de-Hulked Bruce Banner on the day Bruce married his daughter. He's even willing to [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Hulkify himself]] (and his daughter, in addition to {{brainwashing}} her) if it means stopping the Hulk (he became the ComicBook/{{Red|Hulk}} one).
** There's also Ross's {{expy}} General Ryker.
** The ComicBook/RedHulk has his own General Ripper nemesis in General Fortean, Ross's former apprentice, who blames him for Ross's death. [[spoiler:Of course, Red Hulk ''is'' Ross. The irony is not lost on him.]] Fortean returns in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', which showcases some of the differences between them - Ross has some humanizing elements, and the occasional standard. Fortean does ''not'', and will do absolutely anything to destroy his enemies, including ignoring the chain of command, forcing everyone under him to go along with his insane vendetta.
** Part of it is due to Ross' secret envy of Banner's power. Deep down Ross wanted to be the Hulk.
* GeneralFailure: General Ross' lifelong goal (some would say obsession) with bringing the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] to justice has obviously [[LawfulStupid caused more casualties and property damage]] than he ever could have prevented, and cost the U.S. Army a fortune, all without results. This probably has something to do with the fact he [[TooDumbToLive keeps insisting on]] [[BullyingTheDragon taking on the guy who turns into a giant, super-strong, bulletproof monster when under stress...]] [[ShootingSuperman by shooting him on sight]]. And it only gets worse; Ross proves himself the worst hypocrite imaginable when he becomes the ComicBook/RedHulk, becoming just as much a menace as the one he tries to bring down.
* GenerationalSaga: Interestingly, generation is a bit of a fluid thing here. The first generation is Bruce Banner, [[ComicBook/SheHulk Jen Walters]], and their supporting casts, then we get the second generation with Skaar and Lyra, the Hulk's son and daughter, as well as members of the first generation becoming Hulks themselves.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: In ComicBook/UltimateMarvel, the Hulk is created as a result of Banner's attempts to replicate the effects of the SuperSerum that created ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, rather than radiation. It almost works perfectly; beyond the fact Ultimate Hulk is uncontrollable and, as Banner describes him in the Ultimate Hulk/Ultimate ComicBook/IronMan crossover, a moron (he was supposed to have been as ''smart'' as he is strong), Ultimate Hulk is everything Banner set out to make him. He has SuperStrength, a HealingFactor, NighInvulnerability, and he can even [[AdaptiveAbility subconsciously mutate to match requirements of his environment]] -- this is most dramatically portrayed in the aforementioned Hulk/Iron Man crossover, where in the span of seconds he ''transforms himself to be capable of surviving on [[DeathWorld Venus]]''.
* GeniusBruiser: The amount of genius varies on which personality is in control, although they have been known to borrow one another's skills if necessary. Even the Savage Hulk is a CombatPragmatist who can use the environment to his advantage, and despite declarations, he is ''not'' just "'''HULK SMASH!'''"
** He started out as brilliant physicist Dr. Bruce Banner, before the [[NuclearMutant radiation accident]] that turned him into the Hulk. Different personalities, including that of Dr. Banner himself, took control of the Hulk's body at different points and showed varying levels of brains and brawn, depending on which one was currently running things. They would occasionally borrow each others' skills, with Banner lending Joe Fixit his memories and computer skills when Fixit needed to figure out who had poisoned the Hulk and who was about to kill them. ItMakesSenseInContext.
** At the start of the "Secret Wars" arc, the heroes are teleported to a remote corner of the universe, Reed Richards immediately announced what has happened and how it must have been done, and Hulk, who currently possesses Banner's mind, only snarls "That's obvious, Richards!" while The Thing and Johnny Storm are still trying to catch up with what Reed just said.
** Merged Hulk, A.K.A "The Professor," is a SplitPersonalityMerge of the three main personas that retains Banner's intelligence. This form is perhaps best remembered as the one used in the early ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games.
** In ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'', [[EvilCounterpart The Abomination]] is just as strong as Hulk, but retains his genius IQ.
** Also, numerous writers have taken note that innocents are never hurt during Hulk's violent rampage, and have since implied that even when he's a neanderthal-like monster, Bruce Banner's mind is constantly doing calculations to ensure that his actions never cause anything but collateral damage to buildings. Somewhat confirmed in Greg Pak's Hulk run, in which [[spoiler: while fighting his son Skaar, the Hulk slammed the ground as if to attack, but was really aiming to pile up sand to shore up a collapsing building.]]
** Ultimate Hulk reveals that he retains his genius-level intellect in his fight with Abomination.
** Also demonstrated in ''Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine'' (which took place before that fight but due to delays wasn't finished until considerably afterward) where Ultimate Hulk is shown relaxing casually, offering Logan some hot cocoa.
** Hulk's cousin, Jennifer Walters, aka ComicBook/SheHulk, is both a super-strong super-heroine and a practicing lawyer.
* The Doc Green state is unique in which the Hulk is actually smarter Bruce!
* GentleGiant: Sorta. In the regular comic stories, he's shown to (at times) be at least a BruiserWithASoftCenter. However, in many of the cartoons, especially the ones aimed toward the pre-teen or younger demographic, he's usually this.
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Reprints of earlier stories would change the Hulk from gray to green, but this is no longer necessary as the gray Hulk form is now established in continuity.
* TheGlassesComeOff: When Bruce Banner [[HulkingOut gets angry]], the glasses come off. If he plans on getting angry, he'll take the glasses off ahead of time.
* AGirlInEveryPort: Hulk has had many different lovers and wives, and he's fathered children with some of them. The main reason why he's had so many is Bruce Banner's constant need to stay on the run and find a place where he and the Hulk won't cause trouble or hurt anyone, but he still cannot avoid falling in love with a local. Also, a lot of Hulk's separate personalities consider themselves entirely different people, often disagreeing on which woman they consider their OneTrueLove (if any). Gray Hulk, for instance, moved to Las Vegas and worked as a pimp and a bouncer, acquiring a harem of women in the process. On another occasion, Savage Hulk entered the sub-atomic kingdom K'ai and, after magically having the Bruce Banner personality become dominant in Hulk's mind, fell in love with princess Jarella, The Green Scar was forced off-world by ComicBook/TheIlluminati and found a happy life on the planet Sakaar, along with his new wife, Caiera. On yet ''another'' occasion, an otherworldly deity named Umar took an enraged Hulk back to her dimension to make him her consort. Feeling there was nothing left for him back on Earth, Hulk allowed her to, although his ex-wife, Betty Ross, resented it and eventually followed Hulk to that world.
* GodzillaThreshold: On a scale of one to ten, things have to be... [[MetaPhorgotten really, really bad]] for "send in the Hulk" to be the plan you're down to. Sometimes in other characters' series or team comics, he's brought in because things are just ''that'' bad.
* GoodBadGirl: Marlo Chandler, spouse of Rick Jones and former lover of Mister Fixit (aka the Hulk).
* GoodIsNotNice: DependingOnTheWriter, the Hulk can be this; he causes a lot of collateral damage and can be an out and out {{Jerkass}} at times, but he'll go out of his way to save innocent lives and make sure no one dies during his rampages, and he's got one of the higher "save the world" count among the Marvel heroes.
** Even Hulk's more recent “[[ComicBook/ImmortalHulk Devil Hulk]]” transformation in spite of his world conquering ideas, still cares for innocents. Growling a bystander during his fight with Abomination “Well you waiting for a third monster? MOVE IT LADY!”
** Joe Fixit aka Grey Hulk is definitely a {{Jerkass}} and mobster compared to his mild manner alter ego Bruce. But he’s still willingly to save others and in ''Immortal Hulk'' journey into hell to save Bruce from the Leader.
* TheGoodKing:
** After becoming king of the Planet Sakaar in ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', the Hulk actively worked to rebuild his new kingdom, maintain peace with the resident StarfishAliens, and was more than willing to spend the rest of his life ruling Sakaar peacefully. Unfortunately [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk it didn’t take long for Sakaar to be destroyed by an outside source.]]
** Hulk in ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', where he becomes ruler of Australia after overthrowing the mutant government there, turning it into one of the last free bastions of human society in Magneto's mutant dominated world.
* GoodWithNumbers: TeenGenius Amadeus Cho can do advanced physics in his head, complete with glowing diagrams around him. He's claimed to be good enough that he can use math to stop a charging rhino with a grape seed, and proved it when he fought [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the freaking Hulk]].
* GrandfatherClause: As the Hulk's [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers origin involves exposure to gamma radiation]], gamma radiation is always going to be the cause of his transformation, even though the trope has been disproven.
** [[Film/{{Hulk}} The 2003 movie]] averts this somewhat by combining radiation with several other factors -- the gamma rays only break down his cells, the {{Nanomachines}} try to repair them, and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke his genes weren't really normal to begin with]].
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' have explicitly attached a mystical element to the Marvel universe's gamma radiation to explain its unscientific effects.
* GreenRocks: Gamma radiation often has a completely random effect on the individual exposed, usually something to do with their psychological makeup, although this effect is often completely arbitrary. This is the way they explained gamma radiation turning Hulk into a id-like monster, She-Hulk into a fun-loving Amazon, Doc Samson into a musclebound superhero type, and the Abomination into [[MeaningfulName what you'd expect]].
** It's also been revealed that most people would just die horribly when exposed to such large amounts of gamma radiation (which is a rather more plausible result), and the people who got superpowers from it did so because the radiation interacted in some pseudoscientific way with random genetic anomalies they already had. It was explained once that everyone who got a positive mutation from gamma exposure had a single common genetic ancestor somewhere back in the mists of history. No one else has that funny genetic quirk. This was demonstrated when the Leader dropped a gamma bomb on a town of about ten thousand people or so; everyone died, except five individuals who mutated. One of the Leader's main goals is perfecting gene therapy to allow anyone to achieve powers from gamma radiation.
* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Bruce Banner's little Recordasphere assistant fell in love with him, up to the point of feeling bitter jealousy over the human woman Banner himself was falling for. When Banner realizes this, he says in amazement, "You've exceeded your programming!"
* GroundPound: The Hulk uses this a lot, to the point that not only is this a staple of his in the comics, animations, and the most recent movie, but every game adaptation has him able to do it.
* GroundPunch: This was in Hulk's arsenal of moves for quite a long time, but hasn't been seen in several years.
* GroundShatteringLanding: The Hulk often uses this as an attack.
* GrowingMusclesSequence: The Hulk in all his incarnations. He is, after all, the TropeNamer of the related trope HulkingOut.
** Likewise, but to a lesser extent, [[ComicBook/SheHulk his cousin Jennifer]]. Whether or not she goes from mousy and unassuming to [[StatuesqueStunner tall]] and athletic to [[AmazonianBeauty flat-out ripped]] [[DependingOnTheArtist depends on who's drawing her]] (the same applies to the other She-Hulks, Lyra and Red She-Hulk).
* GunsAreWorthless: The Hulk is impervious to most forms of damage, including gunfire.
* GuttedLikeAFish: Minor slasher villain Speed Freek tries this on the Hulk once. The Hulk has no problem holding his guts in, but then his skin heals ''over'' his hand...
* HairTriggerTemper: The Hulk's entire existence basically hinges on this concept. It takes very little to piss him off, so you're basically walking on eggshells when he's in your presence for the entire time. Even if you do manage to get him to a calm state, he often assumes that someone is stealth insulting him or trying to tell him what to do, which either causes him to leave in a huff or just attempt to smash your ass. Or some dumbass will come along and [[InterruptedCooldownHug provoke him again]]. While he's not exactly a bad guy, this is the reason he tends to get into so many battles with other superheroes.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Skaar and Hiro-Kala.
* HarpingOnAboutHarpies:
** In ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'''s "Gamma Corps", the Hulk's old enemy the Clown was turned into the Griffin with Gamma technology, specifically based on Betty as the Harpy.
* HatesBeingTouched: The Hulk occasionally exhibits this, as people touching him when he’s either The Hulk or Banner will often cause a strong reaction. Not too surprisingly given Bruce was terribly abused by his father Brian and developed the Hulk identity to cope with the trauma, he especially hates Brian touching him as an adult as seen in comics and ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' (2003) where he literally curls up defensively at his dad entering his personal space. Hulk doesn’t have a problem with his friends and loved ones (such as Betty Ross) touching him though, he also lets ComicBook/SpiderMan climb on his back and take a ride on his shoulders.
* HeadbuttingHeroes: The Hulk REALLY has this in spades. He has loads of characters he'll never get along with. Amongst them, [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] is the one with whom he has the biggest rivalry. The ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}}, ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]] are also common rivals.
** As far as the Hulk goes, he and Thor will occasionally get along perfectly well until one sets the other off, and a fight breaks out. Hulk and Ben also have mutual respect for each other. That being said, the Hulk does have a few heroes he absolutely hates, especially after the ComicBook/PlanetHulk / ComicBook/WorldWarHulk incidents. Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Professor X being among them. Wolverine and Juggernaut, on the other hand, are purely antagonistic with the Hulk.
* HealingFactor: The Hulk has been at various times shown to have a healing factor that makes Wolverine's pale in comparison at times. (Including having all his skin ripped off and regrown in seconds -- partly justified in that drawing mass and energy from another dimension is explicitly part of his powers.) More specifically, the Hulk's healing factor is much like his strength level in that it's tied into his emotional state. The Hulk not only gets stronger as he gets angrier, he also heals faster. Apparently, Hulk's healing is so fast that it took years for anybody to even notice it existed. He regenerates so quickly that nobody could tell that attacks could actually damage him to begin with.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Due to his simple and unstable psyche and tendency to go into blind rages, the Hulk has gone from hero to villain and back again his entire existence. For instance, Hulk will save a city one minute, then someone (typically his nemesis General Ross) will piss him off and he'll start ripping apart the city he just saved. In the end though, Hulk will usually end up doing the right thing, even if it's just by accident.
** Speaking of Ross, he himself tends to go through the door over and over depending on how obsessive and what lengths he's willing to go to bring down Hulk that issue. Sometimes Ross is willing to help Banner be cured of the Hulk or leave him be for the moment if he does something good, other times he's been out to straight up murder Banner from the outset and nothing will deter him from it. He eventually joined ComicBook/TheAvengers as ComicBook/RedHulk, but left to form the new ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} after becoming dissatisfied with their methods.
* HenshinHero: The Hulk is theoretically this; in human form Bruce Banner is just a regular guy (though fairly smart), while in Hulk form he's extremely strong and tough, but he's also ''really'' stupid (usually). Because the comic is called The Incredible Hulk instead of The Average Banner, he tends to spend about 90% of the time as the Hulk, with the writers before the 00s reverting him to human form to have him angst for a while. Since ''Planet Hulk'' and its follow up stories, [[SplitPersonalityTeam Banner has been given more control/a partnership with Hulk's personality that allows them to transform back and forth at will]], with Green Hulk taking on a more intelligent form of speech, making them more a classical version of the trope, though both still see each other as the "other guy" to some extent.
* HeroAntagonist: The U.S. military usually genuinely believe that the Hulk is a dangerous monster that they need to stop. Creator/StanLee commented in an interview that portraying them that way allowed him to get around UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode's insistence that authority figures always be portrayed positively. Afterwards this changed, and there emerged a trend to portray General Ross, who usually commands the anti-Hulk military forces, as a GeneralRipper.
* HeroInsurance: The Hulk causes more property damage per capita than any other hero in the Marvel Universe, bar none. Oddly, he never causes ''casualties''; the going theory in-universe is that Bruce's hyper-intelligence is subconsciously at work to ensure this.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: In fact, due to the damage he's caused in his career, it would be very hard to find someone in the Marvel Universe with ''worse'' publicity who could still be considered a hero. But you really can't blame anyone.
* HeroicBuild: Bruce Banner is not particularly muscular or defined as himself (Creator/BillBixby, who played Banner in [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 the TV show]], was widely regarded as having the proper physique); how sculpted he becomes when he Hulks out depends on the artist.
* HeroicNeutral: The most iconic incarnation of the Hulk is the simple-minded green version; although he's quick to anger, left to his own devices both he and Banner just seek isolation, possibly making friends along the way. There's a reason "HULK JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!" is one of the character's catchphrases. But if anything happens to either of their friends, the Hulk really gets angry, and whoever is at fault will get the worst of the rampage.
* HeroicRROD:
** The madder ''ComicBook/RedHulk'' gets, the hotter he gets, until he overheats.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: This happens with the Hulk a lot, due to the fact that both his strength and his rate of recovery speed up the more he's angered. When he's down and seemingly out for the count he'll usually get mad enough to get his second wind. In the [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 2008 movie]], he has a few just from seeing Betty Ross in danger (or apparent danger).
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross. This is made especially clear in ''ComicBook/HulkGray'', where many parallels between Ross and the Hulk are drawn and Ross grows more and more fanatical in his pursuit of the Hulk as time goes on. Eventually, in his pursuit to defeat him, he became what he hunted: [[spoiler: a Hulk]]. He even lampshades it.
* HeyYou: During the "Merged Hulk" period, in which the Hulk had Banner's psyche, he was a member of a group called "The Pantheon" whose other members were all related and were all named after Greek heroes. One (Paris) was an insufferable jerk who insisted on calling Doctor Robert Bruce Banner (who went by Hulk, Bruce, or Dr. Banner) "Bobby."
* HoaxHogan: The Hulk easily defeated a wrestler who claimed to be the one, true Hulk and was a clear {{Expy}} of Hulk Hogan in ''ComicBook/MarvelComicsPresents'' #45.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The U-Foes seem to kill themselves off like this the first time they turn up -- their newly gained powers are strong enough to potentially take down the Big Green Machine, but PowerIncontinence kicks in. Vapour can turn herself into any gas... but soon cannot keep her molecules together. Ironclad can increase his mass... which keeps increasing so he cannot move and sinks into the ground. And their leader Vector, just like Unus above, can repel things -- eventually he repels the air around him so he suffocates, then he repels ''Earth itself'' and shoots out into space. X-Ray's ability to manipulate radiation very nearly causes him to explode from absorbing too much energy. [[UnexplainedRecovery They come back]].
* HoistHeroOverHead: In one issue, Hulk does this to She-Hulk.
* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] and the Hulk have clashed many times through the years, with the majority of their fights ending in draws. Just before a memorable clash in Creator/PeterDavid's ''The Incredible Hulk'' run, Thor revealed that he had intentionally held back during all of those past encounters, as he was worried unleashing his full strength would cause him to lose control.
* HomeRunHitter: Occurs in a standalone mini-series, where Doc Samson dares Hulk to hit him, offering him the first punch. The path his flying body describes could best be called a projectile arc...
* HotBlooded: There's a reason his catchphrase is "HULK SMASH!"
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: The Hulk with basically any human-sized love interest. Even his AmazonianBeauty cousin ComicBook/SheHulk (6'7) is only chest height to him. Some artist's renditions of the Hulk are capable and actually have held love interests clasped between his hands.
** Part of the problem with the Hulk is that his size is incredibly inconsistent, to the point where it'll vary between panels on the same page. His third wife, Caiera (7'0"), was a hot amazon with similar proportions to his cousin. Some panels had them standing next to each other with only a few inches difference in height, while others have him absolutely dwarfing her. The Hulk's official height is less than eight feet tall, however some panels will have him pushing fifteen feet for dramatic effect.
** This is not so much artist variation as an effect of his powers, part of his ability to get stronger as he gets madder is an increase in size, up to a maximum of twelve feet.
** The size-changing thing is a {{handwave}} that may or may not be used DependingOnTheWriter. Most writers have his size remain consistent, though the artwork usually won't reflect this for dramatic purposes. This is why the Hulk won't always just get bigger as he gets angrier, he'll vary in either direction from one panel to another (even if they show the same moment in time or are separated by a matter of seconds).
** Originally, Bruce Banner became the Hulk by saving an irresponsible teenager (5'9) from being caught in an atomic bomb blast and that said teenager became [[HeterosexualLifePartners hulk's companion]], which would make it [[BigGuyLittleGuy another trope altogether]].
** [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Hulk]] can be worse. Typically only around the 2.4 meter (7'10) mark, there's one storyline where he's somewhere in the neighborhood of six meters (19'8) tall and has a harem of dozens of normal-sized women.
* HulkSpeak: [[TropeNamer Obviously.]] Only the animated version and the "savage" version from the comics however. In the movies, Hulk only [[ScreamingWarrior roars]], with a single line in the first three ([[{{Film/Hulk}} 2003 movie version]] has him saying "'''[[MythologyGag Puny human]]'''" in Bruce Banner's dream sequence; [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 in the 2008 movie]], Hulk said "'''[[HulkSmash HULK... SMASH]]'''!" during the final fight scene with Abomination -- [[CatchPhrase because it had to be said at least once]] -- and in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', given ComicBook/{{Loki}} [[AGodAmI called himself a god]] [[MetronomicManMashing before being beaten]], Hulk walks away saying "[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Puny God...]]"). For the most part, however, he speaks correct, [[TerseTalker if terse]], English. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' he finally starts talking extensively in classic Hulk speak.
** The Hulk says "HULK SMASH!" pretty often in the comics, even in his more intelligent incarnations that are pretty smart and can actually speak perfectly fluent English. Then there was a partial subversion in Peter David's apocalyptic far-future Hulk story ''The Last Titan''; the Hulk was given ample space for his thoughts, which while being in Hulk speak, were well-constructed and reasonable, though also mostly misanthropic and relating to various forms of violence.
** This is a case of CharacterizationMarchesOn, as in the Hulk's earliest appearances, he was much smarter and had better grammar. Even when he did refer to himself in the third person, it was still usually in longer, complete sentences. Later writers retconned this smarter incarnation into one of several alternate personalities within the Hulk, explaining the inconsistency.
** The Bixby/Ferrigno ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' TV series from the 1970s likewise averts this trope. Creator/LouFerrigno mostly stands there while he flexes, and Ted Cassidy provides voice-over growls.
** Writing Hulk-related [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/jun/13/actionandadventure.sciencefictionandfantasy reviews]] or [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-incredible-hulk-hands-on/1100-6191122/ previews]] as if the hero did them occurs at times -- and is mostly hilarious. You can also check out how it looks when [[SelfDemonstrating/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk wrote his own article in this very wiki]].
** This was averted in the early ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games (''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'', ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'', ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]''), where the Hulk used complete sentences and spoke in the first person. This is because all of the ''MVC'' games prior to ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' used the Hulk's Merged Hulk/"The Professor" incarnation from TheNineties, rather than his more well known Savage Hulk personality. When he ''did'' use Hulk Speak, it was usually as a joke:
-->'''Hulk''': HULK SMASH!!! Sorry. I just had to say it.
** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} showed up in the Hulk books with his thought narration written in Hulk speak.
** Parody obviously has a field day, for example Marvel "What The" having a fight between Hulk and Thor, which essentially reduces to a fight Hulk Speak vs. FloweryElizabethanEnglish.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' has a newer persona, who does not speak like this, unless pushed very far (or badly injured). It's just not ''smash'' he tends to say.
--->'''Immortal Hulk:''' Hulk '''kill'''. Hulk kill EVERYTHING!
* HulkingOut: Trope Namer again, any time Bruce's stress level gets too high. HulkSMASH!
* HumanoidAbomination: The Abomination received an upgrade, and turned into one of these.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: A running theme in the franchise is how the only forces worse than the Hulk are those who are hunting him and/or the people who wish to exploit his destructive power such as Ross.
* {{Hunk}}: Bruce Banner averts it, [[GeekPhysique being short and skinny.]] His alter ego doesn't fare much better, as he is generally drawn as extremely muscular but troll-faced. However, during the 1990s, Bruce Banner and the Hulk were merged into a single persona and this new incarnation was drawn with the Hulk's body and Banner's face, creating a (green) hunk. Also, while Banner was initially skinny, he was vey fit, and the physical exertion caused by being years of being on the run caused him to develop muscle mass, leading to several comments on it.
* HuskyRusskie: Mongu (Boris Monguski) subverted the stereotype by actually being a smaller man inside a set of PoweredArmor that ''looked'' like a barbaric giant, which was ultimately trashed by the Hulk. Years later an ''actual'' barbarian named Mongu would show up, though as he hailed from another dimension he had no ties to Russia.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** [[GeneralRipper General Ross]]' ultimate goal - and some would say obsession - is to bring the Hulk to justice, believing him a dangerous threat. While this view isn't ''uncommon'', his eventual solution after years of failure is hypocrisy at its worst: He becomes the ComicBook/RedHulk, a monster who, in many ways, is just as destructive as his foe is, possibly more so.
** General Fortean, Ross’s protégé from ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' is just as bad when it comes to hypocrisy if not even more so. He and his cronies at Shadow Base hunt Bruce/Hulk relentlessly as he blames him for every Hulk-related tragedy as well as the death of Ross, but while pursuing vengeance commits a ton of atrocities and causes heaps of destruction which he and his people write off as collateral damage. Not only does Fortean get his mentor’s daughter Betty Ross shot in the head ([[HealingFactor she gets better]]) while attempting to assassinate Bruce but he also weaponises gamma mutation himself and before the end lets himself get turned into the monstrous Abomination. Also when Fortean accidentally kills some of his men with his new powers, [[NeverMyFault he manically rambles that it was their fault for not clearing the area]] at which his NumberTwo relieved him of command and then Hulk put him down.
*** The supreme irony is that Fortean even to the very end was blissfully unaware that Ross was Red Hulk meaning he was serving a BrokenPedestal the whole time. Then it is revealed Fortean ''did know'' Red Hulk's true identity and [[IllPretendIDidntHearThat simply choose to ignore the truth]] but continued to blame Banner anyway which makes his actions in ''Immortal Hulk'' even more hypocritical.
** In the same run, the Avengers themselves thanks to being the ConflictBall against Hulk, are staggering hypocrites in issues 6#, 7# and 47#. Carol despite having painstaking learned in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' that attacking people based on mere potential threat is wrong, still tries to forcibly arrest Bruce with the obvious result of HulkingOut, later Carol actually advises Iron Man against using a KillSat when things go out of control even though she instigated the conflict in the first place. Tony himself despite fighting so hard against Carol using Ulysses in ''Civil War II'' and the immorality of targeting people before they’ve committed crimes — still attacks Hulk for just resisting arrest and fries him with a laser. Cap himself has a moment of this in 47# when arguing with [=McGee=] as to why Hulk needs to be captured, reasoning that he causes too much damage and “it’s a tough call but he has to be contained” is the exact same SuperRegistrationAct spiel Steve ''strove against'' back in ''[[ComicBook/CivilWar2006 Civil War]]''.
* IGotARock: In one issue, Professor Hulk studies his officially licensed [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] action figure. He comments that while everybody else has some cool accessory (ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's shield, etc.), but "I got a rock."
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Bruce Banner turns into the Hulk, a destructive monster, and (usually) has no control over his own actions when he does so. Even worse, thanks to retcons, there are ''several'' Hulks inside him, all fighting with him and between themselves to take control. When he gets back to normal, he can be in the middle of nowhere, unsure of what he did while Hulked out, if he destroyed something or killed someone, with his clothes ravaged by the change... And even if he manages to avoid turning into the Hulk for some time, he would still have to live on the run, with the military on his back trying to capture him, kill him, clone him, experiment with him and kill him again. The very idea of being "normal" is just a far away vague dream.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: It's obvious that the Hulk honestly does in a way want people he can call friend, it's just that he's been betrayed or seemingly betrayed so many times...
* ISeeDeadPeople: The Hulk, although given some of the revelations of the ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' run, perhaps it's not that surprising.
* IWarnedYou: Far too many fools to count have heard "Leave Hulk alone" or "Hulk just wants to be left alone" and decided not to listen, continuing to mess with him until he inevitably [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry got angry]].
* IWorkAlone: ...he constantly tries to convince himself that he's better off without them.
* IconicOutfit: The Hulk's most usual clothing, purple pants ([[MagicPants that resist everything!]]).
* ImGoingToDisneyWorld: Speedfreek, upon his introduction, used various football metaphors left and right, and threw in the line about Disneyland as he was congratulating himself for killing a mobster.
* ImmuneToBullets: He is immune to bullets, and grenades, and everything short of a nuke, as the military, General Ross and others seem to [[ShootingSuperman forget]] in most portrayals. Though even special rounds don't do much either, Ross once shot an Adamantium Bullet [[https://redhulkblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/rulkchron_p4_c.jpg straight into Hulk's eye]] and it did little more than piss off the Jolly Green Giant.
* ImmuneToMindControl: The Hulk normally can't be mind-controlled due to the abundance of rage within him. The multiple personality disorder he suffers from has also helped. For this reason, his "Professor" incarnation, originally touted as a "merger" of all the other minds and lacking the others' rage, was vulnerable to mind control for these very reasons. In its quest to codify the Hulk's alternate personality system, ComicBook/ImmortalHulk has implied that the Savage Hulk -- the raging brute who speaks in broken sentences -- is the only alter that's fully immune to mind control.
* ImmunityDisability: In one storyline, the Hulk gets poisoned and has to give a blood sample; however, the needles can't penetrate his tough skin. He resorts to [[KickingMyOwnButt hitting himself over and over again]] till he bleeds enough to fill a test tube.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: While his fists serve him perfectly well, the Hulk can and will use any number of handy tools to help him in a fight:
** Construction girders;
** Tree trunks;
** Really big rocks;
** A car as boxing gloves.
* ImprobablyHighIQ: Bruce Banner actually averts this. His IQ is stated by a school psychiatrist in a flashback as being "too high to measure", which is quite possible as standard IQ tests aren't very helpful when measuring superintelligent people.
* InASingleBound: The Hulk's primary method of getting from place to place is using his immense strength to leap miles at at time through the air. He is stated to be able to leap 3 miles, typically in an arc so low that it often looks like he's flying in transit in some panels. But then, the guy can also throw tanks.
** Hulk can also jump to the moon.
*** Given that Hulk's super leaping is a simple application of his strength, and his strength is inherently variable based on how angry he is at the moment, piss him off enough and he can jump as far as he feels like.
*** Which is [[FridgeBrilliance quite clever]] if you think about it. The further Hulk gets from the thing that makes him angry, the calmer he'll be. So he'll be jumping less and less distance each time. Then the army or SHIELD or whoever is chasing him will catch up, piss him off again, and the whole cycle repeats.
* InformedJudaism: During his long run as writer on the series, Creator/PeterDavid decided that long-time supporting character Doc Samson is Jewish, although it had never been mentioned before. He may have been influenced by the fact that the name "Samson" is rarely used by anyone but Jews these days (and even then pretty rarely), despite it being an InSeriesNickname.
* InspirationNod:
** Writer Creator/PeterDavid called these his Pink Bunny Slippers after an example of one of his storylines. He realised that there are parallels between between his ''The Incredible Hulk'' story line and this other movie, ''Film/RealGenius''. There are similar plot points, so he makes a reference to it that doesn't involve using any more of the pre-existing connection but just throws in this shot of pink bunny slippers (as worn by both the University President and Val Kilmer in the movie) to lampshade it to anyone else who might have also spotted the similarities.
** ''The Incredible Hulk vs Fin Fang Foom'' story "The Fin From Outer Space!" is about the titular dragon creature possessing the members of an Antarctic research team and and leaving corpses behind, creating a paranoid atmosphere. The team leader is called Dr [[Creator/JohnWCampbell Campbell]], the first victim is called Dr [[Creator/JohnCarpenter Carpenter]], and one of the other researchers has the first name [[Creator/HowardHawks Howard]]. Another scientist snaps "Literature/WhoGoesThere" at Bruce Banner. There's also a poster for ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' on the wall of the base in one scene.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: Bruce Banner built a robot assistant called the Recordasphere that looked like a little flying silver sphere. He never expected it to be fully sentient, but ''she'' turned out that way, fell in love with him, and became homicidally jealous of his girlfriend. Nonetheless, [[spoiler: the Recordasphere did die heroically to save Bruce's life]].
* InsufferableGenius: As Doc Green.
* InsultOfEndearment: As TheNicknamer, Hulk tends to do this with his enemies-who-become-friends when in his HulkSpeak mode. Examples:
** Doctor Strange: Dumb Magician
** Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner: Fish-Man
** Franchise/SpiderMan: Bug Man
** Nighthawk: Bird-Nose
** Valkyrie: Sword-Girl; Angry Girl in ''Film/ThorRagnarok''
** Iceman: Ice Man... OhWait.
** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]: Red Cape in the comics; Goldilocks in ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' & ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.
** ComicBook/{{Superman}}: Cape Man
** ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Pointy Ears
** Examples specific to ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' take this further:
*** Dormammu: Flamehead
*** Wolverine: Little Man (also gave him this name in ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs'')
*** Morrigan: Goth Girl
*** Hawkeye: Birdy
*** Iron Fist: Punching Man
*** Shuma-Gorath: [[DoNotTauntCthulhu Starfish]]
* InterpretativeCharacter: The series is all over this: is the Hulk an aspect of Banner's psyche brought to life? A completely separate individual? A psychological child (emotionally innocent but easily angered)? Really kind of dumb, of at least average intelligence using HulkSpeak as a verbal tic, or using it to deliberately downplay his intelligence? All of these have been used. Adding to the fun is the fact that the Hulk sometimes manifests as a GeniusBruiser with a ponytail, a BarbarianHero, or a grey-skinned, morally flexible thug, and the same or similar questions play out.
* InterruptedSuicide: Bruce Banner's tried to kill himself a few times in the past; Hulk will always force a transformation to prevent it, however. Even when Banner finally manages to arrange a successful mercy kill in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', he still gets brought back again and again... and then discovers he'll ''always'' come back.
* InterspeciesRomance: The Hulk (gamma-irradiated human) with Jarella (from K'ai) and Caiera (Shadow Person). He had two sons from his relationship with Caiera.
* InvisibleToNormals:
** Hulk foe Mercy's whimsical explanation of her {{Invisibility}}.
--->'''Mercy:''' Give it up, Doctor. I can only be seen by people subjected to gamma rays. Or by people subjected to any intense radiation. Or by the nearly dead. Or those who are very sick. Or... anyone I feel like seeing me, really.
** The Hulk also has the ability to see astral forms.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Bruce Banner is the poster child (and {{Trope Namer|s}}) for HulkingOut, due to his transformations being involuntarily triggered by anger or stress. At a couple of different points he becomes more stable, either locked into a particular form for a stretch or able to take control over his emotions to the point that he can mostly suppress or evoke the change as desired. Initially his transformation occurred at night, and later he would transform into his Grey Hulk (AKA Mr. Fixit) form at night, as well.
* IrrationalHatred: General Ross's initial obsession with hunting down The Hulk. His motivations are a combination of his overprotectiveness of his daughter Betty, and a deep down envy of Hulk's might and power.
* ItCanThink: The greatest folly one can have when facing Hulk is to assume that he's completely mindless and dumb. He really, really is not, and can be quite cunning when facing against an opponent he can't immediately pulverize.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: A 2003 storyline in focused on Bruce Banner learning that he was suffering from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which would leave him forced to remain the Hulk once his body became so badly afflicted by the disease that he couldn't continue as Banner, until he eventually received a cure from the Leader. However, this cure was only possible with gene sequences taken from the corpse of Brian Banner (Bruce's long-dead father) and inserted into the Hulk's genetic structure by Scott Lang under the direction of Reed Richards, these new genes being integrated into Banner's physiology during the energy surge when the Hulk returned to Banner, making it clear that this cure would ''only'' work for Banner
* ItsPersonal: The Hulk is usually one of the Marvel heroes most averse to killing anybody. HOWEVER,
** The demon [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Nightmare]], however, is an exception. What did the villain do you ask? Well, in order, he drove Hulk mad and exiled him from humanity after finally being accepted; later killed his unborn child and raped his wife; later still turned his existence into nightmarish reality-distortions for years. Hulk's response? He ripped off Nightmare's head and stuck it on a spear.
* JekyllAndHyde: Bruce Banner and his more famous dark side the Hulk. This has been played with many times over the years, with Hulk varying from a brutal monster to an innocent savage. For a while between ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' and ''ComicBook/IndestructibleHulk'', Banner was portrayed as ''Hulk's'' dark side, since [[spoiler:unlike Hulk, he'd actually killed someone]]. And in the ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'' {{Elseworld}}, David Banner gets transformed into the Incredible Hulk. Lord Banner works as an enforcer for [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart James VI of Scotland and I of England]], and is evil, sadistic and altogether not a nice bloke at all. Follow-ups reveal that the Hulk, on the other hand, is noble and intelligent. (And his influence eventually redeems Banner.)
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Again, this varies from personality to personality, but at the least the Savage Hulk is usually gentle, helpful, and compassionate when not provoked, and won't bother you if you don't bother him. Joe Fixit is the exception, being a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.
* TheJuggernaut:
** The Hulk can go into Juggernaut mode if you really piss him off.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' introduces [[spoiler:The Breaker-Apart, a BadFuture version of The Hulk that takes Hulk's unlimited capacity for rage and becoming bigger and stronger to its logical extreme. This Hulk is a CosmicEntity in his own right that breaks apart entire ''universes''. He's even able to kill beings with CompleteImmortality like Mr. Immortal. Nothing can stop this Hulk from destroying everything in existence. Even worse, all traces of Bruce Banner and the Hulks were consumed and replaced by Marvel's resident [[TheAntigod Antigod]] The-One-Below-All, meaning the Breaker-Apart '''wants''' to destroy everything.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Practically all of the people the Hulk beats up typically brought their fates on themselves.
* KindRestraints: This happens to the Hulk from time to time. In early stories, Bruce Banner had a bunker under the sea which he had Rick Jones lock him into at night for when he turned into the Hulk.
* KlaatuBaradaNikto: [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/klaatuhu.htm Klaatu]] was named after Klaatu from ''[[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still]]''.
* KnightInSourArmor: This is really highlighted in his ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'' tie in, when Doctor Strange tells him that the world needs his help;
-->'''Hulk:''' ''The world'll get it. Like it always does. But you can go to hell.''
* KnockoutGas:
** One of the most consistent ways of defeating the Hulk, at least on those occasions when he doesn't remember that he can hold his breath for hours. As the Hulk isn't all that bright, this is not infrequent. However, if he gets too angry his metabolism will dispel it completely.
* KnottyTentacles:
** Hulk has at least once defeated Mr. Fantastic of the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'' by tying him in knots.
** He also tied Doc Ock's arms into knots in retaliation for the beating he received in a ''Sinister Six'' storyline.
* KungFuProofMook: The Metal Master has the psychic power to control any metal, but he suffers a VillainousBSOD if he comes to believe his powers are failing him. The Hulk (during one of his early "smart" incarnations) tricked him with a huge wooden gun painted to look like metal; while the villain panicked, the Hulk finally got close enough to grab him. Metal Master suffered an even bigger emotional breakdown when he realized ComicBook/RomSpaceknight's armor was made of an alien metal he ''legitimately'' couldn't control.
* KungFuSonicBoom:
** The Hulk has been known to do this deliberately to stun or deafen weak or evasive enemies, [[ShockwaveClap by slapping his own hands together]].
** More than once, the Hulk has collided with an enemy possessing a comparable level of strength with enough force to wreck surrounding buildings. Notable instances include him clashing with ComicBook/IronMan (wearing a Hulkbuster suit) in mid-air, blowing out the windows in every building for blocks in the ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' storyline and a fight against Red She-Hulk that was causing tremors for miles around.
** Also from ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', Green Scar vs the Sentry. The impacts destroyed most of the surrounding buildings. And indeed, about half of Manhattan.
** Perhaps the most glorious post-WWH example is in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' where the eponymous rage monster produces a ShockwaveClap so powerful it blows away his ArchnemesisDad and The One Below All.
* KungShui: Anything happening in the same county with the Hulk. [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 The understatedly-powerful Ferrigno version]] busted a lot of barrooms. The comics, movie and video game versions bust a lot of buildings and military equipment.
* LastNameBasis: With more intelligent versions of the Hulk, he tends to be on this with people he doesn't nickname. This is especially common with ComicBook/TheThing, who he calls Grimm, and General Ross, his own father-in-law. In ''World War Hulk'', he was on LastNameBasis with ''everybody'' except the Sentry. He also generally calls Wolverine "Logan".
* LastSecondWordSwap: In a special issue of Creator/PeterDavid's run, the moment where a frustrated Hulk shouts ''"Aw, sh-"'' is interrupted by another scene; when we get back to him he ends his exclamation with ''"-oot!"''
* TheLawOfPowerProportionateToEffort: The Hulk's power typically comes from his lack of control. As the epitome of UnstoppableRage, the more berserk the Hulk is, the stronger he is. There have been times in which he's gained a greater "base strength" while in control[[note]]Notably, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect The Maestro]] and [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk the Green Scar.]][[/note]], but even then getting angrier makes him scarier. Other characters have attempted to control the HulkOut and keep their mental faculties, such as the Abomination, ComicBook/RedHulk, ComicBook/SheHulk, and [[ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk Amadeus Cho,]] but they've all hit a limit to their strength--except when the latter two get mad.
* LeaveMeAlone: Inverted numerous times when the Hulk, and later Banner, tell the other heroes to leave him alone, and it turns out that they ''should have'' left him alone. Doc Samson even told them "The Hulk keeps telling you to leave him alone. I suggest you do exactly that." It's a given that if the Hulk was left to his own devices, he'd wander into a wilderness area far from any human encroachment and just stay there.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: The series can usually pull these off repeatedly due to the Hulk's unstable mental nature. One day he's a giant with the mind of Bruce Banner, the next an unthinking ball of green rage. Getting these fights to stop usually involves a CoolDownHug and the inevitable HulksCooldownHugCorollary to avoid a change in the [[StatusQuoIsGod Status Quo]]. Various heroes have been unlucky enough to cross the Hulk's path, including Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, ComicBook/IronMan and the heroes who make up part of his regular rogues' gallery (see below). It's not an experience any of the other guys would care to repeat.
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by the Hulk (in Smart/Banner/Merged Hulk form at the time) during the Marvel Knights crossover storyline, when he accidentally bumps into ComicBook/GhostRider while strolling through the park at knight. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for the reader, Ghost Rider, currently fully possessed by the [[KnightTemplar Spirit of Vengeance]] and only seeing the (accidental, collateral) pain Hulk has caused, is not having any of it and doesn't go along with the plan.
--> '''Hulk''': Alright, I get it. This is the obligatory "good guy meets good guy, they have an obligatory fight based on misunderstanding, then team up to fight the REAL bad guy. Can we just skip it?"
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} got started as a character created to be a Canadian hero sent to fight the Hulk.
* LieDetector: In one story, General Ross tried to get Doc Sampson to take a lie detector test regarding his knowledge of the Hulk's whereabouts, forgetting that as a psychologist, Sampson would be perfectly capable of deceiving it. Sampson's response was to threaten to [[AssShove cram it into one of Ross's orifices]].
* LighterAndSofter: For roughly half of the 90s.
* LightningBruiser: The Hulk is not only the strongest one there is and nigh-invulnerable, but he's also extremely fast.
** Hulk’s cousin ComicBook/SheHulk is no slouch herself being to toss dinosaurs around, lift greater weights than the Thing can, move fast enough to dodge Iron Man’s attacks and tank getting smashed through entire cities and even attacks from her bigger cousin Bruce. Shulkie’s ArchEnemy Titania is of similar mold being strong, fast and tough enough to give Jen a hard time and sometimes beat her outright.
** A lot of Hulk’s villains and allies such as Abomination, Red Hulk, Doc Samson, A-Bomb and Skaar (his son) can move and react at high speeds despite their massive sizes as well as match Hulk in strength and toughness.
** Lyra who despite [[MusclesAremeaningless lacking the muscle mass]] of the aforementioned Hulk characters, is still incredibly strong, incredibly fast and incredibly tough. She once [[SwordLimbo gracefully dodged]] ComicBook/{{Ares|Marvel}} (a PhysicalGod)'s axe attack and brought him down with a single backhand punch.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: With She-Hulk. They're cousins, but they treat each other as siblings, and they're pretty protective of each other.
* LiteralSplitPersonality:
** This has happened to the Hulk on occasion, usually separating Bruce Banner and the Savage Hulk, commonly reducing the Hulk to a rampaging 'beast' without Banner's intellect to keep him in check. Paul Jenkins' run saw a number of [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind journeys into Banner's mind]] with various Hulks showing up representing different aspects of Banner's psyche.
** Creator/JasonAaron's run on ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk2011'' kicks off with the Green Scar Hulk (a smarter version of the Savage) getting himself split from Banner. Banner doesn't take it at all well, [[spoiler:to the point that Banner irradiates an entire island trying to turn himself back into a Hulk]].
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Rick Jones to the Hulk. Also Betty Banner and (on a good day) Doc Samson.
* LogicalWeakness: Many.
** Averted in terms of being a MightyGlacier. Despite the extra size and mass of the Hulk's body, his muscle and physical tissues ''over''-compensate for it, meaning that he gets faster and his overall body performance improves regardless of how much more muscle and power he gains.
** Hulking out ''does'' increase his weight, which is a weakness that can be exploited if one can compromise his physical power, which otherwise compensates for the increased mass.
** The Hulk's abilities are based on body performance, which means that anything which disrupts this (cutting off his oxygen, paralysis, major injury, etc.) can defeat him. However, there's a two-fold problem with this. First, the amount of dosage or time needed to exploit such a weakness is on a scale that isn't easy to implement. Second, Hulk's body heals and adapts to such problems, meaning that any injury sufficient to hurt him will disappear in seconds and any gas which worked only minutes ago likely won't work a second time.
** Since Hulk's powers are fueled by mood, adrenaline and radiation, removing any one of these fuels will rapidly deplete his power levels.
* LonersAreFreaks: Played with in the cases of both Bruce and the Hulk. Both personalities are loners who feel they're best left to their own devices, but for different reasons. While they do have friends in the Marvel-verse, many characters consider them both freaks of nature and ostracize them.
* LookBehindYou: Used during a "inside Bruce Banner's brain" sequence, as the gray Hulk distracts the green Hulk by saying, "Look! [[MythologyGag It's Lou Ferrigno!]]" before locking that aspect of Banner's mind away again.
** Subverted in another issue of Hulk saw the eponymous hero facing down his arch nemesis [[EvilGenius The Leader]], only for the villain to warn him, "Rock's heading your way." This of course is met with extreme skepticism by the Hulk, who doesn't turn, and is summarily skewered by '''The Rock''', once of the Leader's henchmen wearing a powerful shapeshifting battlesuit.
* TheLostLenore: Betty Ross becomes this to her husband Bruce Banner until she's BackFromTheDead. There's also Jarella and Caiera.
* LotusEaterMachine:
** In an attempt to take control of his body and manifest in the real world, the Devil Hulk once traps Bruce Banner in a perfect fantasy land that exists only in his head. Bruce is married to Betty, has kids and is best friends with his father and General Ross.
** During ''ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks'', the Intelligencia traps Bruce -- and the other seven smartest men in the world -- in a Lotus-Eater Machine in order to drain their intellects. Not all that surprisingly, Bruce is married to Betty, has kids, and has killed the Hulk.
* LoveTranscendsSpacetime: Jarella
* LovesMyAlterEgo: Happens to the Hulk, believe it or not. Betty preferred Bruce Banner, Jarella preferred Hulk and Caiera loves both.
** That Betty loved the integrated Hulk shows her consistency; she loved him for his mind rather than his body in all incarnations.
* LudicrousPrecision:
** Greg Pak likes to demonstrate Bruce Banner's intelligence by having him spout random math problems and ridiculously precise probabilities in his speech.
--->'''Banner:''' From the beginning, I figured there was an 83.7 percent chance that during the course of the battle, I'd turn back into the Hulk.
** Amadeus Cho ''always'' talks like that. The one thing he can do is work out the exact probability of pretty much anything, so he likes to do so. He can also use said ability for ImprobableAimingSkills by calculating in an instant bullet ricochet, etc. During the ComicBook/ChaosWar crossover, when almost the entire population of Earth was put into trance, Cho warned that at least 32451 people could die due to things such as being in speeding vehicles or in the middle of surgery.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Hiro-Kala knew that he was the son of the Hulk. He didn't know that Bruce Banner was the Hulk. So when they first met, the following exchange happened:
-->'''Hiro-Kala:''' Who are you?\\
'''Banner:''' Your... your father.\\
'''Hiro-Kala:''' Hmp. I don't think so.\\
'''Banner:''' Yeah, [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry I'm not too happy about it either.]]
* LukeYouAreMyFather: The Hulk has his son Skaar, who was still in his mother's womb when she died, as well as Lyra, his daughter by Thundra from a divergent future. There's also Skaar's twin, Hiro-Kala. Carmilla Black, the new Scorpion, is the daughter of villainess Monica Rappaccini, and the supposed daughter of Brucer Banner.
* TheMafia: Joe Fixit worked for a mafioso casino owner at one point, serving as his bouncer and all-around enforcer.
* MadScientist: Bruce Banner usually isn’t this, but without the Hulk as an outlet, he can start to lose it as all his anger and darker impulses build up.
* MagicPants: The most obvious example is the Hulk, who seems to always wind up wearing those purple pants regardless of what Banner was wearing before the transformation:
** In the [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 live-action series]], Ferrigno usually wound up wearing the same kind of pants that Bixby had on when he "Hulked Out". This led to amusing scenes in which the transformation would shred shirts, destroy heavy leather work boots, and even, in one case, crack open a motorcycle helmet -- and yet those MagicPants remained intact. One speculates that this was why the Hulk was so ''angry''.
** In contrast, [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1982 the 1980s Incredible Hulk animated series]] had not only magic pants, but an entire magic ''outfit'' that was virtually the only thing Banner ever wore (with the occasional addition of a lab coat), presumably so that the same StockFootage transformation sequences could be used in every situation. No matter how many times that khaki shirt and red tie were torn off and the patent leather shoes burst apart during transformations (as well as the tearing of the obligatory purple pants, though tinted much closer to red in this version), the bare-chested, barefoot Hulk would always revert to a fully-dressed Bruce Banner.
** One issue of ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', an AlternateContinuity version of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', plays on this, claiming that the Hulk, who was out of control, "[[MuggedForDisguise murdered a fat guy and stole his pants]]" off screen after he transformed. Much of the time, he's just naked with SceneryCensor.
** In ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs'', the Hulk is separated from Banner at one point, and ''both of them'' wind up with the Hulk's purple pants (the ones on Banner properly fitting him.) Huh?
** Creator/StanLee once commented that he liked to work "[[HollywoodScience science]]" (read: {{Technobabble}}) into all of his stories, and that Hulk's pants were the only time he never had a clue how the exact science behind it worked.
*** Another time he said that Mr. Fantastic (see below) gave Banner a pair of super-stretchy pants.
** Also used in ''ComicBook/SheHulk'' comics: magic pants and a magic top, although this was probably to [[UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode escape the censors]].
*** During the John Byrne run of ComicBook/SheHulk, it was established that Jen's underwear never shreds during her transformations and fights because they were tagged approved by the comic book code (thanks to the NoFourthWall nature of Byrne's take on the character). So no wardrobe malfunctions allowed here!
*** In the early She-Hulk comics, her top was apparently extra-magical. It would tear and get all tattered (but not fall off) when she hulked out... and then magically repair itself when she transformed back into Jennifer!
** This even led ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} to believe there was some sort of power in the Hulk's pants, calling out "HULK PANTS, ACTIVATE!" while being held aloft by the Rhino. But, then again, Deadpool is a CloudCuckoolander.
** Parodied in a billboard in Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TopTen''. "Super Stretchy Gamma Pants. You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Naked."
** A possible parody is the giant green dragon Fin Fang Foom, also in the Marvel universe, who wears purple pants.
** However, this is subverted in [[Film/{{Hulk}} the Ang Lee film]], where there does come a point (after several stacking annoyances to Mr. Banner) where the Hulk is apparently completely naked. However, by this time he is largely shadow-clad.
** In ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' film, Bruce Banner is shown buying extremely stretchy pants several sizes too big. Presumably he has quite a collection of belts.
*** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Banner is shown naked after transforming back into his human form [[note]]Which is somewhat odd, the Hulk had been wearing pants in the scene previous, but the night watchman claims he was naked when he fell out of the sky.[[/note]] A kindly old night watchman ends up providing him with a new set of threads.
*** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Banner is explicitly shown to wear specially designed pants that can stretch to fit his Hulk physique. Naturally, they're purple.
*** In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', Banner has to make do with a pair of pants that belong to Tony Stark, which are ''way'' too tight for Banner's liking, and he spends many of his scenes struggling to walk in them, or adjusting the pants in an unseemly way. Despite this, they ''still'' stretch when he transforms into Hulk, subtly poking fun at the concept.
** During Creator/PeterDavid's ''Hulk'' run, there was a gag where Banner found a line of purple pants similar to those worn by the Hulk. The clerk at the store mentioned that the pants were very popular with the obese due to their stretchy fabric.
** Also lampshaded in an early issue of Wolverine. Hulk, in his "Joe Fixit" gray Hulk persona, has shown up in Madripoor. Wolverine, being a longtime foe of the Hulk, recognizes him immediately. In an attempt to scare Hulk off and play a gag on him, Wolverine breaks into Hulk's hotel room, steals his expensive custom-made Hulk-sized Mafia suits, and replaces them with many, many pairs of large, ripped up, purple pants. (Hulk then goes to a tailor he knows who does excellent rush work, and shows up at Wolverine's place fully decked-out in a white linen three-piece suit.)
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and [[AvertedTrope averted]] simultaneously in the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade''. Due to experiencing ''atmospheric re-entry'', all of the Hulk's clothes burn off, plus he passes out due to the stress (though being NighInvulnerable, he was otherwise unharmed). After he lands on an opponent, a new hero unfamiliar with the Hulk wonders "if he always goes into battle in such a... natural state."
** The Hulk's son Skaar has a magic loincloth, which shrinks to fit his human alter-ego.
** Hulk's pants have been destroyed on rare occasion. In one instance revealing that he wore orange and yellow boxers that were apparently ''even more'' invulnerable.
** One assumes the reason Bruce keeps ''buying'' this same brand of hideous purple pants is that they're so stretchy. Though why, in all these years, he's never asked [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed]] for some unstable molecule trousers is anybody's guess.
*** He did get a full tuxedo made of unstable molecules for a 2011 storyline that parodied about as many spy tropes as possible. The tux was destroyed by the end of the storyline.
*** In another comic set in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe (which usually averts this trope), Tony Stark gives Bruce Banner an unstable molecule suit in preparation for some experiments on the Hulk. When Bruce hulks out, the top half rips off entirely while the pants only tatter a bit, acting just like Bruce's normal clothes in the main universe. In yet another storyline, Reed Richards gives Banner an unstable molecule suit that grows and expands around his body whenever he transforms.
** According to Creator/AlEwing's ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', Bruce started buying these pants long before he ever became the Hulk -- in college he bought ten identical suits, which all came with purple pants, in the expectation they'd only become more fashionable.
* MagikarpPower: In human form, Bruce Banner's just a nerdy human scientist with no obvious special abilities and a near phobia of losing his temper... [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry and with good reason]].
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Really, Bruce Banner's troubles with his Hulk condition could have been avoided from the beginning if he simply ''sent guards'' at the base to get Rick Jones out of the Gamma Bomb blast zone in the first place instead of going himself. That way, Banner could have kept an eye on the detonation process and held it until the guards and trespasser was clear.
* MallSanta: In issue #378 (by Creator/PeterDavid), Rhino (a supervillain) becomes a Mall Santa. He gives this advice to kids: "Give! Give! Give! You want everything handed to you! Why not do what I do? Take stuff! See it? Want it? Take it!"
* MamaBear: Bruce's mother Rebecca Banner was this to Bruce she even died attempting to free her son and herself from her abusive subhuman scumbag husband Brian. In ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'' Rebecca reppears and reuintes with her son - [[https://alchetron.com/cdn/rebecca-banner-34ce9c0c-dc64-4761-aa36-2484b0962ed-resize-750.jpeg still trying to protect him]] - despite him being a 8-foot green powerhouse at this point, naturally the roles are switched with Bruce protecting from her Brian in his snake-like Devil Hulk form.
* ManChild: The Savage Hulk in usual appearances is childlike and innocent. He is prone to violent fits of rage and causes lots of collateral damage when someone attacks him, but all he wants is to have friends and be liked. [[JustifiedTrope Painfully justified since the Hulk was born from the trumatic childhood Bruce Banner endured at the hands of his scumbag dad.]] Contrast this to how She-Hulk is with Jennifer Walters, who was born from the latter's desire to be confident and outgoing as a young adult.
* ManOfKryptonite: X-Ray of the U-Foes can shoot off "anti-gamma radiation", which can depower or outright kill the Hulk. Fortunately, X-Ray's not terribly bright, so he doesn't have much of a chance to utilize this.
* TheMaster: It's not the exact name, but The Leader has pretty much the same vibe. And in his appearance in the Dan Slott ''ComicBook/SheHulk'' series, he was [[ComicBookFantasyCasting drawn]] as Creator/RogerDelgado with hydrocephalus.
** Also, the [[FutureMeScaresMe evil future Hulk]] calls himself the ComicBook/{{Maestro}}.
* MayContainEvil: In Annual #18, "Spelling Made Easy" is a best-selling book about necromancy aimed at the layman. Reading it aloud turns you into a demon.
* MayflyDecemberFriendship: The Hulk and all his various friendships if ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd'' is to be believed. He is the last sentient being on the entire planet Earth. Even Banner dies, and [[BittersweetEnding the Hulk is finally alone]], [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving as he has always requested.]]
* MerchandiseDriven: One issue featured mattresses from Sleepy's.
* MiddleNameBasis: The SecretIdentity of the Hulk is Robert '''Bruce''' Banner, known exclusively to everyone who knows him as "Bruce" (unless he goes by an alias to hide). This is a result of SerendipityWritesThePlot, as Creator/StanLee often used to forget the character's name and [[SuddenNameChange alternated]] between calling him "Bruce Banner" and "Bob Banner". After realizing the mistake, the name we know as was established as his real full name.
* MirrorScare:
** Often Bruce Banner will stare into a mirror and be terrified [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQphnY01GS2rEjhQ9SsTi2EpdeWbUErKZ6G9g&usqp=CAU at the sight of Hulk]] [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTRACxcMmkvcdS8II3bXwfmD-KtzquVobQM7g&usqp=CAU his alter ego looking back at him]]. It's so iconic it made it into the Creator/AngLee [[Film/{{Hulk}} movie]] during a NightmareSequence.
** In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', Hulk is stricken to see his father Brian [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcT931_UVvXJeuQOmpMA3jSh61_fyyfDSftGKg&usqp=CAU appearing to him in a reflection of a window]] while fighting Sasquatch.
* MirthlessLaughter: In issue #159, after learning from the Hulk that he spent two years in a coma before his HealingFactor restored him from their last fight, when he fell to Earth from orbit, the Abomination begins alternatively ranting about the situation and laughing at it. [[LampshadeHanging The Hulk tells him to stop laughing, because it sounds all wrong]], and then finally sucker-punches the Abomination to leave him out cold and stop the laughter.
-->'''Abomination:''' A-ha! Ha ha ha! '''Ha ha ha haaaaa!''' "Nothing can hurt the '''Abomination'''", I said! Not even falling out of '''space'''! It may put me in a '''coma''' -- but when I '''wake up''', I don't even know '''know''' about it! ''How '''wonderful''' to be a freak! I can lose '''whole sections''' of my '''life'''! Isn't that '''funny''', Hulk? Isn't that just '''hilarious'''?! Ha ha '''ha ha haaaa'''
-->'''Hulk:''' Do not '''laugh'''! Hulk does not '''like''' your laugh! Sounds like '''crying'''.
* {{Misblamed}}: InUniverse, the Hulk is frequently blamed for the damage his fights cause, even though he's rarely the one who started it.
* MisplacedRetribution: Most of the Gamma Corps hunted the Hulk because they wrongly believed he was responsible for their personal tragedies. To their credit, they stop hunting the Hulk once they realize this.
** Mess' child was killed during a battle between the Hulk and the Abomination and she was led to believe that the Hulk threw the bus that killed him. It was actually the Abomination who did it, which was even more galling to Mess because she let the government alter the left half of her body to be Abomination-like.
** Gideon blamed the Hulk for his son Jim Wilson's death just because Jim was a friend of the Hulk's when he died. Jim actually died of AIDS (which, to be clear, he did not contract [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction from the Hulk]]). The Hulk pointed this out to Gideon. The Hulk then mentioned that Jim never told him his father was still alive, and he [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asked Gideon]] [[AbusiveParents why Jim was a runaway pretending to be an orphan in the first place.]]
** Prodigy's parents claimed that he suffered birth defects because of the Hulk. Prodigy became a Leader-like Gamma mutant and joined the Corps for payback. He later discovered that his parents blamed the Hulk to hide the ''real'' reason for his birth defects- their heroin addiction.
** The only members who don't fit this are Grey and Griffin. Grey actually hated his brother Glenn Talbot and just wants to prove himself more capable than his brother by beating the Hulk. Griffin just wants someone to hate.
* MommasBoy'': Bruce Banner was this to his mother Rebecca due to Brian Banner being a psychotic abusive asshole as while Brian hated his son, Rebecca adored Bruce and lost her life protecting him from Brian. In a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Rebecca again tries defend her son but Bruce, being the goddamn Hulk, [[https://i.imgur.com/2ebdSTF.png assures his dear mom that nothing can hurt him now]].
* MonsterModesty: Hulk is the main offender but many of his enemies (Abomination) or his allies (Skaar) utilize this trope.
* TheMostWanted: The Hulk usually becomes the most wanted, especially in his beginnings when he was an uncontrollable monster that only made havoc and before he converted into a superhero by joining ComicBook/TheAvengers and other hero groups.
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: The Abomination plays this straight.
* MrFanservice: Well, the Hulk ''is'' a large, super muscular male prone to running around shirtless.
** The Merged/Professor Hulk and Bruce Banner especially, since the Hulk's attractiveness always depends on the artist, but these two personas are always drawn as considerably good-looking and in good shape, with Banner being left shirtless due to the transformations. Banner has been acknowledged in-universe to be quite attractive by several woman, and the Hulk has has multiple admirers in alien worlds.
* MrViceGuy:
** The Hulk has Wrath down pat--without it, he's just a scientist, rather than a superhero.
** The Joe Fixit, or Gray Hulk, personality is a straighter example of this, he wears fine, personally tailored suits, eats the finest food (and a lot of it), and of course, heaping helpings of pleasurable company, but is shown to have a certain honor, mostly taught to him by his former employer, Mr. Berengetti.
** Recent interpretations of the character have indicated that Banner is just as much Wrath as the Hulk. The difference is that Banner's is much more focused, and therefore even more dangerous, with characters thinking that of the two ''Banner'' is the more dangerous. This gets backed up by the fact that the Hulk is scariest when he's closest to Banner in personality and intellect.
** A side trait of Ultimate Hulk as well, due to his Banner's unrestrained Id. Most notably, when Wolverine tracks him down in ''Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk'', he's surrounded by a huge harem of scantily-clad Tibetan women and makes it obvious he's been having sex with them.
* MuggingTheMonster: Naturally, this has happened to Bruce Banner a few times, as sometimes the {{Asshole Victim}}s don't recognize Bruce Banner until it's too late...
** And as many found out to their misery, Bruce Banner isn't helpless either.
** In one instance the Grey Hulk was nearly mugged, which is odd considering he's taller than most people and almost as wide.
** The moment where Bruce Banner is nearly raped by two men in the shower of the YMCA takes the cake. It's an aversion, though, as when Banner threatens to turn into the Hulk, they doubt him but decide not to risk it.
* MultipleHeadCase: Bi-Beast. Justified, since he's an android.
* MusclesAreMeaningful: This is almost the entire plot for the Hulk, as any character's superpower can be easily identified by which body part is the largest (The Leader, the Abomination, etc.) The Hulk is among the strongest individuals in the Marvel Universe, and is ripped as hell.
* MusclesAreMeaningless:
** In ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', Hulk's wife Caiera is a slim alien woman (smaller than both Green and Red She-Hulks) yet thanks to the Old Power she can enough channel super strength to lift well over 100 tons match her husband in strength.
** Hulk himself dips into this in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' as he one point gets his muscles [[BodyHorror taken away]] by Absorbing Man and loses barely a margin of his strength. At another point, he’s changed back into Bruce Banner but has Joe Fixit (Grey Hulk)’s persona and is still strong enough to overpower PsychoForHire Bushwhacker. Although it’s still made clear he is far stronger with his [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hulk-physique]].
* MyBrainIsBig:
** Yuri Topolov, a [[SovietSuperscience Soviet scientist]], was mutated into a big-headed dwarf and, becoming an EvilGenius, called himself the Gargoyle. Bruce actually managed to cure him, though, and a grateful Topolov [[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrificed himself]] to ensure Banner's safe return to America.
** Yuri's [[LegacyCharacter son Kondrati]], who inherited his father's deformity (and capacity for EvilGenius), chose to [[MisplacedRetribution blame the Hulk]] for his father's death, and became the villainous Gremlin. As the second Titanium Man, he died during ComicBook/IronMan's ''ComicBook/ArmorWars'' rampage.
*** The Leader, whose ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' version combines this with [[GeniusCripple a totally useless body]]. Sometimes, he is even shown needing a metal frame to keep his head from snapping his neck. While other [[NuclearMutant gamma-radiation mutated]] characters had their physical strength enhanced, the Leader instead was given SuperIntelligence.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: It's revealed in a flashback in ''ComicBook/SkaarSonOfHulk'' that Caiera's obedience disk was removed when she was still a child; her oath to be the tyrannical Red King's shadow was all that bound her to his service.
* MySkullRunnethOver: In his first appearance, The Leader was after an Ultimate Machine containing all the knowledge in the Universe. When he obtained it and downloaded the information into his mind, this proved too much even for his super brain and killed him. [[OnlyMostlyDead Seemingly.]]
* MythologyGag: In ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'', [[spoiler: Betty Ross becoming the Ultimate ComicBook/SheHulk could be seen as this, given Betty had a brief stint as a gamma-powered monster called [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies the Harpy]] before her ComicBookDeath and is now the [[ComicBook/RedHulk Red]] ComicBook/SheHulk in the mainstream universe]].
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: During Creator/PeterDavid's run, the Leader shoots the Hulk with a BFG, seriously injuring him and incinerating his clothes. The Hulk regenerates almost immediately, but his clothes don't. The Leader requests, (more or less) "Dr. Banner, please! There are ladies present... And you're making some of us men feel inadequate."
* NamedByDemocracy: The Hulk was an example of this trope but it's since been retconned away.
* NamesToRunAwayFrom:
** The Hulk.
** The ComicBook/{{Maestro}}, an evil alternate universe version of the Hulk.
* NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: Michael Bertinelli, the Mafia-tied casino owner who employed the Hulk as a bouncer, wasn't particularly amoral for being a gangster. In discussions with a rival gangster who wanted to muscle in on his territory, Bertinelli alluded to the "friendly understanding" with the local police, wherein they agreed to leave him alone in exchange for his not stepping beyond an accepted limit of behavior. Bertinelli even prevented the Hulk from killing the rival gangster after he'd been kidnapped, drawing the line at murder.
* {{Nephewism}}: The only known relative of Rick Jones is his aunt. Also, although she is rarely brought up, a few stories and adaptations mention Bruce being partially raised by his aunt after his father kills his mother (and eventually gets arrested for it.)
* NeverGetsDrunk: The Hulk is immune to alcohol.
** Ultimate Hulk, however, might not be. During his New York rampage he was described as "drinking the contents of an entire beer truck." Unfortunately for Betty and the other people in New York, Hulk is a mean drunk.
** His cousin ComicBook/SheHulk can't either due to her size and metabolism. This doesn't apply to her human form though, and should she revert back into Jennifer Walters all the alcohol She-Hulk drank will affect her instantly.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: The Hulk is like this. He may rage to high heaven and destroy an entire city, but he has never killed anyone deliberately... or even ''accidentally!'' [[NoEndorHolocaust Best not to think about the latter too much.]] ComicBook/{{Ultimate|Marvel}} Hulk is, quite graphically, as far from this as you can get. Then came the "Heart of the Monster" story arc in ''Incredible Hulks'' when he wound up in the Dark Dimension. Where ''no one'' is innocent. And his ex-wife and his worst enemies were there too.
* NeverMyFault:
** Brian Banner was all over this one. His horrific abuse of his wife and son is his dad's fault, for being abusive, or little Bruce's fault for being born super-smart. His eventual murder of his wife? Bruce's fault, for being ''born'' at all. [[spoiler:Even in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', when he's been dragged down to Hell itself for his actions, ''twice'', he still refuses to acknowledge that the situation might possibly in any way be his own fault.]]
** General Reginald Fortean, through ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk''. He constantly shifts any responsibility for his actions onto other people, when he's the one forcing them to do those things, ''especially'' when anyone tries calling him out on his deeds.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Whenever Hulk ventures into ComicBook/ManThing's swamp, he is attacked by alligators.
* NewOldFlame: A while back, Bruce Banner of all people had an incredibly hot girlfriend in college, but dumped her because he was a neurotic twit. She's now an evil scientist, and still bitter about the breakup.
* NiceGuy: Bruce Banner is a kind-hearted, well-intentioned, self-sacrificing person as long as you don't piss him off. The Hulk can also be considered one although he leans more towards a GentleGiant and a BruiserWithASoftCenter.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: General Ross has unwittingly and sometimes deliberately stopped Banner from curing himself of the Hulk many many times, not to mention acting as the catalyst for pissing off Banner and thus transforming him into the Hulk even more often. Ross' attempts to stop the Hulk only tend to make things [[FromBadToWorse even worse.]] Whether an incident falls under NiceJobBreakingItHero or NiceJobFixingItVillain depends on which side of the FaceHeelRevolvingDoor one considers Ross to be at the time.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** The Hulk's ''raison d'être'': if you're going to kill him, at least try to make him happy about it. This makes Ultimate Nick Fury pretty smart since he did JUST THAT. Pity Loki intervened.
** The ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} saga springs to mind... "And Hulk is ANGRY!!!!"
* TheNicknamer: The Hulk's generally not good with names, depending on the incarnation. Sometimes it's out of lack of intelligence, others out of lack of respect, and others it's a sign of affection. For ComicBook/TheDefenders, ComicBook/DoctorStrange became "Dumb Magician", Valkyrie became "Sword Girl" and Nighthawk became "Bird Nose". For ComicBook/TheAvengers, ComicBook/IronMan is usually "Metal Man" or "Tin Man" (or Tin Head), [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] is usually "Blondie" or "Goldilocks" or "Red Cape", ComicBook/SpiderMan was "Bug-Eyes" or "Bug Man", ComicBook/TheSentry is "Golden Man".
** In ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'', he named Project X9500, worn by an [[ComicBook/IronMan Anthony Stark]], ''[[AppropriatedAppellation Iron Man]]''.
* NighttimeTransformation: In his first few appearances and in his Joe Fixit and Immortal personas. It got changed to anger-induced after his appearance in ''Tales to Astonish'', but every so often, it comes back. However, Joe has managed to manifest by day in Banner's body, and the Immortal Hulk seems to be gaining more and more resistance to the light of day...
* NighInvulnerability: The Hulk is an extreme example; he is both super tough, invulnerable to all conventional weapons, and has an extremely fast healing factor, so fast that it was not discovered in the continuity until he was wounded while he was slowed down because he was Joe Fixit. Basically, he has shrugged off point blank heavy nuclear weaponry, planet-splitting impacts, solar temperatures, strikes from cosmic entities, has healed within seconds from having over 80% of his flesh repelled off of his body, and one incarnation eventually managed to restore itself from being blown to powder. This even extends to extreme resistance to mind-control or molecular manipulation of his body, and some adaptive evolution to build greater immunity or adapt to hostile environments. Even on those occasions when he ''is'' vulnerable enough to have a body part removed, he can either regenerate it or reattach it.
** Hulk is resistant to magical attacks as well. The various Ghost Riders using {{Hellfire}} on him is nothing but an annoyance. To even make him register damage, the Ghost Rider spirit needed to take over.
** Lampshaded in "The Last Titan" wherein the immortal Hulk just keeps on going alone in the wasteland after the rest of humanity destroys itself. (The alien empires were said to host an enormous celebration.)
** When Amadeus Cho accused Reed Richards of killing the Hulk, Richards maintained that was impossible, "Because the Hulk doesn't die."
* NoDialogueEpisode: Issue #35 was a completely dialogue-free one-shot about Bruce Banner being spotted in a diner by federal agents.
* NoEndorHolocaust: The Hulk can go a long way without killing anyone during his rampages. Hulk's buddy, Amadeus Cho, tries to explain this by suggesting that the Hulk is amazingly gifted, doing math to know exactly where every chunk of debris he creates will fall.
** At least during The Hulk and Franchise/{{Superman}}'s bout in ''DC Vs. Marvel'', they were teleported to the Grand Canyon, where Superman {{lampshade|Hanging}}s that it would be one place they wouldn't hurt anyone collaterally.
** Averted in ''Banner,'' where the plot involves testing The Hulk as a WeaponOfMassDestruction by repeatedly dropping him in populated areas where he wakes up to find entire square city blocks leveled, complete with strewn body parts.
** Taken to its logical conclusion in The ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', where the lack of victims in his rampages is used to show how NOT mindless his rampages must be, instead being highly, scarily calculated acts.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Bruce Banner pays an even more personal cost for saving Rick Jones.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Hulk himself has been handing these out like candy for years, giving these to anyone foolish enough to fight him. Especially during ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk''.
** He still receives them here and there, namely from Zeus, who left him crippled for days. The beatdown was bad enough that only Hulk's HealingFactor keeps him alive long enough to be rescued.
* NoSell: Whenever Bruce Banner Hulks out, standard military procedure is to order [[TanksForNothing armored columns,]] and [[TheWorfBarrage air and artillery strikes]] against him, with [[MilitariesAreUseless predictable]] [[CurbStompBattle results.]]
* NominalHero: The Hulk is frequently one of this, most notably in his Savage and Joe Fixit versions. While they (generally) fight villains who piss them off (and also fight other ''heroes'' who do this too), their doing so still often does a world of good by thwarting the villains' plans.
* NonActionBigBad: The Leader. He may be a [[{{mutants}} mutate]], but his only power is SuperIntelligence, and he's got the physique of a string bean.
* NotQuiteFlight: The Hulk can use his powerful leg muscles to leap miles and miles at a time.
* NothingCanStopUsNow: [[http://comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/1/44/28341_20060209135243_large.jpg This Hulk cover]].
* NothingIsScarier: The threat of the Hulk can be more terrifying than his actual presence.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Originally, Banner's Hulk condition was a secret and all the US Military suspected was that Banner was somehow a compatriot of the monster. Unfortunately, Rick Jones later mistakenly thought Banner was dead and told Col. Glenn Talbot everything. With that, Banner's life ''really'' goes to hell with him becoming a fugitive.
* NotSoDifferentRemark:
** The majority of ComicBook/HulkGray consisted of Bruce coming to realise that he had a surprising amount in common with his long-time enemy General Ross. Naturally, this being a Hulk comic, he didn't take it well.
** In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', the Devil Hulk gets the upper hand in a duel with ''ComicBook/SheHulk'' by pointing out how she's recently gone from being a bubbly, much-beloved AmazonianBeauty into a [[FanDisservice disfigured, muscle-bound, rage-fueled brute]] that everybody distrusts, just like her "savage" cousin. She-Hulk is so horrified and busy protesting it gives the Devil Hulk the opportunity to MegatonPunch her away from the battlefield.
* NowDoItAgainBackwards: Kate Waynesboro gets dumped into some wacky gizmo and comes out the other end as an [[TranshumanTreachery evil]], female version of M.O.D.O.K., complete with [[{{Cephalothorax}} giant head and hoverchair.]] Naturally, sending her through the machine again backwards returns her to normal.
* OfficialCouple: Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. They're currently on the outs, in the wake of Betty returning from being [[OnlyMostlyDead Mostly Dead.]]
* OffingTheOffspring:
** The Hulk's Green Scar persona - that is, the one that first appeared during ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' and ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' - really, really, really wants to kill his son Skaar as he blames Skaar for feeding his mother's spirit to Galactus, killing her off for real (it looks like, anyway). Skaar is equally intent on killing him for abandoning him on a savage planet (Hulk thought he was dead). In the end, they manage to settle things without killing each other.
** Bruce's father Brian was a nasty piece of work who murdered Bruce's mom and tried to kill him too -- while they were visiting her grave no less. Bruce killed him in self-defense. Brian would later briefly come back from the dead in the form of Guilt Hulk -- the worst of Bruce's various Hulk personas -- to try again. The Greenscar being reminded of Brian during his decisive fight with Skaar, realizing that he's acting no different from his awful father is what causes Green Scar to stop fighting.
* OhCrap: Is the Hulk coming your way? Is he angry? Then it's too late to run. Let's just save some time and say damn near everyone who's ever made [[Bruce Banner]] [[HulkingOut angry.]] has had this reaction.
* OneManArmy: The Hulk obviously fares well against hordes of mooks, or even EliteMooks, due to NighInvulnerability and SuperStrength. He has spent large part of his publication history annihilating literal armies and goes up against several beings considered {{Physical God}}s, and on more than one occasion beats the stuffing out of them.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Hulk himself is known mainly by his moniker since Savage Hulk [[SplitPersonality insists on it]] and actually gets [[BerserkButton pissed]] when people call him (puny) Banner or Bruce. Likewise Bruce himself doesn't like being called Hulk and as he normally would rather treat his big green alter ego as a seperate entity altogether.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou:
** Skaar has this for his father the Hulk, and it's why he protects Banner while he waits for the Hulk's return. Granted, Skaar isn't a bad guy (He's mainly angry because he thinks he abandoned him) and Banner is training him for when the Hulk returns.
** The Leader has this for the Hulk as well. He even got a bit depressed when he found out [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk Hulk was shot into space.]]
* OpaqueNerdGlasses: Bruce Banner's most recognizable appearance is that of a [[http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/77/124444-180838-hulk_super.jpg short, scrawny, lab-coat-wearing geek with completely opaque nerd glasses.]]
* OutOfTheInferno: The Hulk does this. A lot.

[[folder:Tropes - P to Z]]
* PajamaCladHero: The Hulk, believe it not was this, complete with bunny slippers while strapped to the brim with ammo and a {{BFG}}, no less.
* PapaWolf: May there be mercy upon you if you injure or threaten anyone the Hulk considers a friend. This also goes for anyone who harms his son. To the point where Bruce - not the Hulk, but Bruce - promised to kill Steve Rogers if he killed his son Hiro-Kala, who for the record was trying to crash a Mars-sized planet into Earth at the time.
** The Hulk zigzags this as he usually lacks the mental stablity to be a good father, however while having a DuelToTheDeath [[OffingTheOffspring with his son Skaar]], [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/89/a3/b6/89a3b6018cb009fe4234a4f99fea40f5.jpg he stops mid-rageout remembering his own father's abuse]] and reverts back into Banner to give Skaar a CoolDownHug. Played straighter later ComicBook/DoctorDoom is about cut Skaar down with his own sword, [[https://i.imgur.com/XBAoNZW.jpg Bruce bursts in (not even as the Hulk) to protect his son]] and even calls Doom a "jackass" while he does it. Hulk depending on the mood, plays straight with other characters whom he is close to such as: his sidekick Rick Jones who he saved from a nuclear blast and protected from the military, [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/F_87C5RigQapevjyigIJJJM2PiTLsXW3SPOz1RqSto7JXh4RyoyBBkMj1MCc-9wLysN_QCT-X8JN=s0 his cousin]] ComicBook/SheHulk whom he gave his blood to so she wouldn't die from a gunshot, and even ComicBook/SpiderMan ([[https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3XrQOODXl_s/U-JI0MPwCKI/AAAAAAAAB14/KLqCG_UtkIo/s1600/Marvel-Team-Up-054-06.jpg no really]]). He is a BruiserWithASoftCenter at his very best and will protect anyone who he cares about, and seeing them get hurt makes him [[UnstoppableRage very, very angry]].
** Played with and then {{deconstructed}} with [[ComicBook/RedHulk General Thaddeus Ross]], he loves his daughter Betty Ross deeply and devoted his entire life to protecting her from the Hulk/Bruce whom she loves. But Ross is such a bitter OverprotectiveDad that his extreme efforts to “look after“ Betty did far more harm than good and eventually [[CallingTheOldManOut turned her]] [[ArchNemesisDad against him]].
** ''Immortal Hulk'' has a strange example in the Devil Hulk persona, who explicitly cares for Bruce and Savage/Child Hulk and seeing them get hurt, royally pisses him off. This even extends to loved ones like Betty Ross who hurt Child Hulk while in her Red Harpy form, Devil Hulk warns her once she’s not allowed to hurt “the kid” again. It’s theorised in-universe Devil Hulk is Banner subconsciously creating a caring father figure that he sorely lacked in his childhood.
-->'''Devil Hulk''' [to Bruce]: I know you locked me away for years. I know I scare you. What I do. What I am. But before any of the others... I was there protecting you. ''I always protect you''... ‘cause [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming I love you stupid kid]]. Somebody had to. Come on home [holding his hand out to Bruce, who takes it].
* ParentalSubstitute:
** ComicBook/DoctorStrange has served as this for the Hulk's simple and childlike Savage Hulk incarnation, providing him with occasional sanctuary and regular advice.
** The Joe Fixit incarnation identified Michael Berengetti, the Mob boss he worked for in his Vegas thug days as a father figure.
** When Bruce Banner’s father killed his mother and was institutionalized, he was taken in by his Aunt Susan, his father’s estranged sister, who, being a child of abuse herself, did everything she could to protect him and lavished him with all the care and attention she could. Subverted in that Bruce’s trauma, repressed emotions and vastly superior intelligence meant he could never really bond with her no matter how much she tried.
** ''Immortal Hulk'' reveals that, of all the Hulk-sonas, [[spoiler:the Devil Hulk, the one Bruce is most afraid of, was born of Baby Bruce's desire for a loving dad. But since Bruce "didn't know what love was", Devil's affection comes out in the form of wanting to kill Bruce's actual dad, and Bruce's fear warps his perceptions of what the Devil Hulk was trying to say into him being creepy and sinister, something he's put out about.]]
* PedestrianCrushesCar: The Hulk is a giant green behemoth, yet [[TooDumbToLive people seem to think]] he can be taken out by cars that are ''smaller than him!'' The opposite tends to happen. Then again, due to his NighInvulnerable body, buses, trucks, tanks, even planes and train end up getting destroyed crashing into him.
** Likewise for [[VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction video games]] that feature the Hulk.
* PermaShave: Hulk no grow puny facial hair! Hulk punch scruff and beard!
** Averted in ''Peace in our Time'', right before ''Planet Hulk''. Living in the wilderness Banner sports a long beard so Hulk has one as well.
** Indeed, Hulk sported stubble throughout ''Planet Hulk'', and has had a fair bit on and off since then. The merged Hulk would occasionally go unshaven during the nineties, and the Maestro had a full on BeardOfEvil.
** In ''Hulk: The End'' Banner mentions that he bothers with shaving just so that with his greyed hair he wouldn't have Maestro staring back at him from every reflection as Hulk.
** His Doc Green persona grew a beard after dreaming of becoming a Maestro, and when he turned back into Banner he still had the beard.
* PerpetualMotionMonster: The Hulk cannot be stopped except by being calmed down by a close friend or loved one. Trying to subdue him by physical means only makes him angrier and his strength is proportional to his anger and has no upper limit.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: The Hulk is one of the earliest examples. Like Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, he was [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers created by a bomb]], and some adaptations literally compare him to the atomic weapon that spawned him; for example, the shockwaves he creates from smashing things are compared to the blast wave of a nuke. Later on this tendency was dropped, but the Hulk remained as one of these since his power increases the angrier he gets and he doesn't seem to have an upper limit.
* PersonalHateBeforeCommonGoals: In "The Evil that Men Do", this happens to the titular protagonist. The dark side of a man that presents himself in a Mr. Hyde manner called the Stalker tries to convince the Hulk that they are the same, and that like him, he should try to also experience the joy of tearing apart those weaker than them. When the Stalker tries this first with a teenage girl, Hulk refuses. Later, when he tries the same with a bunch of criminals that had eluded punishment for their crimes, the Stalker seems to have convinced him -- only for the grey goliath to turn on him, saying the Stalker is the one he wants to tear apart. Not because he cared about the thugs. Not even because he cared about the girl. He cared little to nothing about them. No. He is going to do it simply because he doesn't like him.
->'''Hulk:''' Okay. You talked me into it.
->'''The Stalker:''' I never doubted I could. Wh--? Wait! Not me, you fool!
->'''Hulk:''' Yeah, you. 'Cause I don't care about that guy. I didn't even care about the girl much. But I don't... like... YOU!!
* PhlebotinumBomb: In the ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'' version, the gamma bomb is apparently supposed to be the anti-NeutronBomb -- destroy inanimate material, leave living things aside. [[ForegoneConclusion That's not quite what happens]], but you ''can'' say this about the end product -- he doesn't specifically go after civilians, and can be persuaded to try and save them. Indeed, a recent story claimed that the Hulk's rampages have ''never'' killed an innocent person. Yes, even when he knocks over entire buildings.
* PhysicalGod: The Hulk qualifies, seeing as how he has potentially ''infinite strength'', even managing to defeat Onslaught, who had easily overpowered ''the Juggernaut''. The Beyonder says the Hulk's power has no limitations.
** There was an evil BadFuture version of the Hulk named Maestro who was even '''stronger'''.
* PitifulWorms: The first issue had the Hulk swat aside Rick Jones while exclaiming "Get out of my way, insect!"
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: In #398-399, the Hulk has his clothing, along with [[FlayingAlive a significant amount of flesh]], [[ClothingDamage blasted off of his body]] (one of the few times the Hulk's MagicPants clause is subverted). Hulk's insane HealingFactor allows him to regenerate the injury almost instantly, but without a pair of purple pants handy, Hulk's state of undress causes the BigBad of the moment, The Leader, to invoke this trope, not only for the sake of modesty, but to prevent giving the other men present [[BiggerIsBetterInBed an inferiority complex]]. The DarkActionGirl present, Atalanta [[EatingTheEyeCandy clearly doesn't mind]].
-->'''Atalanta:''' ''[staring closely at Hulk's hindquarters]'' [[CovertPervert Don't hurry on my account]].
* PoorCommunicationKills: A Silver Age example can be found in #165: To Become A God'': a MadScientist who has founded a mobile deep sea colony is at war with his born-below son, who wants to see the surface world that his father abandoned, but his father refuses to take him and the other youths topside. With the Hulk's help, the son leads a rebellion and leads the youths to the surface... [[PopGoesTheHuman where they all die horribly due to being adapted for the high-pressure underwater environment]]. Apparently, daddy dearest never bothered to simply tell his son that his mutations would make him burst in the low-pressure atmosphere above the waves.
* PosthumousCharacter: Bruce Banner's mother, who was later revealed to have been murdered by her husband.
* PowerBornOfMadness: What the Hulk runs on, and heavily implied to be the reason that Banner not only survived the detonation of the gamma bomb, but why the Hulk is so much more powerful than most, if not all of the gamma mutates that have come before or since. His already fractured psyche created a monster based on the trauma he received as a child, and the personae emerged from different stages of his life that Banner denied himself the person he wanted to be (Savage-the angry child; Joe Fixit-the late adolescent, etc.). Adding to this, his long-suppressed rage gives the Hulk the ability to get stronger when he gets madder. His rage and anger is shown to be so powerful that not only does it cause UnstoppableRage but also gives him immunity to mind control and other telepathic attacks, often showing him simply shrugging it off. Also explains his more varied abilities, like being able to see ghosts, as Banner always feared his long-dead abusive father would come back to torment him again.
** Gamma radiation based powers seem to work like this in general. Gamma radiation brings out everything people suppress (assuming it doesn't just kill them like real radiation poisoning). Depending on what they are suppressing, the resulting transformations can be...unpleasant.
* PowerIncontinence:
** Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk whenever someone makes him too angry, and once he's in that form, he has no control over his actions (depending on which personality is in control).
** Joe Fixit (a smaller, gray-skinned variant) had a brief storyline where he always came out at night and generally did things Bruce did not approve of. (This is in fact what the Hulk was ''always'' like in the very earliest issues. This new storyline tweaked the original Gray Hulk a bit, taking him from EarlyInstallmentWeirdness to a different manifestation of his powers.)
* PowerLimiter: Almost always strongly on, except against certain high-level CosmicEntity characters, as otherwise he could accidentally ignite reality-spanning destruction. He even once did just that, when in the Crossroads dimension. He might have done a lesser variant when in Umar's Dark Dimension as well.
* ThePowerOfLove: It turns out that since Hulk's power is emotion-based and quasi-mystical in nature, the love he felt for Jarella makes her even more powerful after dying than his father's spirit turned from his rage. His mother also said that she by far preferred his more moral wife Jarella to his other wife, the BloodKnight Red She-Hulk.
* PowerUpgradingDeformation: The Hulk and several of his friends and enemies.
* PowerupFullColorChange: When Bruce Banner turns into the Hulk, his body changes color to green, or sometimes gray. Jen Walters' ComicBook/SheHulk turns green as well (and has occasionally gone gray), while Rick Jones as A-Bomb turns blue, Hulk's son Skaar turns into a gray shade of green (so he is often gray or green, depending on the colorist), and ComicBook/RedHulk and Red She-Hulk turn red.
* PragmaticVillainy: In one issue, two perverts in the showers at the local [=YMCA=] are planning to rape Bruce Banner until he warns them about his having superpowers; they decide not to see whether he's bluffing. Moreover, in the future depicted in ComicBook/SpiderGirl's comics, several bands of assassins made it a policy only to subdue cops who got in their way and never to kill them, since the various law enforcement agencies involved tend to retaliate swiftly and brutally against cop-killers. A couple of petty burglars caught in the act by a superhero also surrender immediately rather than risk the near-certainty of being pounded into the pavement for fighting or fleeing.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
** "You're making me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry."
** Hulk's "Hulk SMASH!" catchprase usually preceeds a brutal beatdown on whoever has pissed him off.
* PrescienceByAnalysis: This is stated to be the "power/talent" of Amadeus Cho, the smartest kid in the world. He possesses a "hypermind" capable of making a seemingly endless number of calculations in his head within seconds, predicting what's going to happen. [[PaintingTheMedium Visually, it appears as numbers and formulas floating in mid-air.]] Later, we learn that it runs in the family as his sister Maddie can do the same thing. In ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'', this was PlayedWith, as Cho and other super-intelligent characters (such as ComicBook/{{Galactus}}) accept that the BigBad Mikaboshi is unbeatable, but [[IdiotHero Hercules refuses to accept it.]]
* PrimaryColorChampion: Inverted with the Hulk, who is usually green with purple pants, highlighting how the character is more monstrous than the usual hero. Also inverted with ComicBook/RedHulk, where the primary-colored character is the villain, while the secondary-colored character (the original Hulk) is the hero.
* PsychoExGirlfriend: Red She-Hulk a.k.a. Betty Ross. One of the Hulk's wives finally doesn't stay dead, and this happens. It later turns out to be a case of brainwashing, though this isn't to say their relationship gets much better without it. Just less murder-y.
* PsychoPsychologist: Doc Samson turns into this due to the Intelligencia, though this involves turning him into a SuperPoweredEvilSide.
* PunyEarthlings: Although the Hulk is an Earthling himself, [[HulkSpeak "HULK SMASH]] [[CatchPhrase PUNY HUMANS!"]]
* RaceForYourLove: One issue had Betty Ross leaving on a train to be in a convent, and naturally one of Bruce's enemies shows up on his way to the station. They battle it out and Bruce sees the train leave ''just'' [[MissedHimByThatMuch as he gets there,]] and falls to the ground defeated... and then hears Betty standing behind him with a suitcase.
* RadiationInducedSuperpowers: This is how Banner became the Hulk in the first place. ''Immortal Hulk'' suggests one reason gamma radiation can spawn things like the Hulk is that in the Marvel universe, gamma radiation operates just as much by magical principles as it does by scientific ones, turning people into metaphors for their psychological issues.
* RadiationImmuneMutants: The Hulk and his RoguesGallery.
* RageBreakingPoint: Ultimately, what created the Hulk. Bruce Banner, as a child, repressed many of his emotions, particularly concerning his [[AbusiveParents father]], and thus built up a lot of fury that the Hulk personality latched on to, and thus that anger burst out in a big way, as he now could no longer keep it under control.
* RampageFromANail: This wasn't an actual nail, but there was a ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}[=/=]Hulk'' crossover story where Hulk is on a rampage and Superman discovers a tiny little machine is emitting a sound that is driving Hulk crazy. Superman destroys it and soon after Hulk begins to calm down.
* RealMenEatMeat: Both Bruce Banner and the Hulk love meat.
* ReallyGetsAround: Although far less than [[ComicBook/SheHulk his cousin]], Hulk does get more affairs than expected for a giant, hulking ball of pain. From Betty, Meriam (a siren), Jarella, Bereet, Kate Waynesboro, Marlo, Caiera, and the college girlfriend that he saved from being unlawfully contained in an ''Amnesty International'' condemned US prison; to being desired by Thundra, the other college fling Monica Rappaccini and Umar (''TWICE'')... Not to mention Joe Fixit who probably had ten times as much sex as all the other incarnations put together. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Red She-Hulk, in those ExactWords. He even has a couple of kids as a result of this (at least Jen uses birth control, it seems).
* RedBaron: The Hulk lives and breathes these, since his name itself is always an example. He has gained other epithets in the recent past, such as "ComicBook/{{Indestructible|Hulk}}" and "ComicBook/{{Immortal|Hulk}}". His traditional Stan Lee-given kennings are "Jade Giant" and "Green Goliath". His [[ComicBook/SheHulk cousin]], meanwhile, is the [[StatuesqueStunner Green Glamazon]] and is usually accompanied by the adjective "[[ComicBook/TheSensationalSheHulk Sensational]]". Hulk's ''ComicBook/MiniMarvels'' counterpart is the [[AgeLift Jade Juvenile]].
* RedGreenContrast: The Hulk, in an inversion of the usual heroic color schemes, is bright green, while his opponents -- villains like Madman, Red Hulk and Juggernaut -- are often red.
** Jennifer Walters, the original ComicBook/SheHulk, is green while Betty Ross is the Red She-Hulk. Betty as the Red She-Hulk was originally an antagonist and even after her HeelFaceTurn was still less pleasant than the green She-Hulk.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath:
** In the Hulk's very first appearance, he was captured by Yuri Topolov, the Gargoyle, a [[SovietSuperScience Soviet scientist]] who had been mutated into a [[MyBrainIsBig big-headed dwarf]]. However, when the Gargoyle found that the Hulk had reverted to Bruce Banner, he lamented the loss of his own normalcy. Banner decided to use his own genius to cure Topolov, who responded by ensuring Banner's safe return to America while destroying his own base, taking himself and his Soviet handlers out in the process. Unfortunately, [[LegacyCharacter his son Kondrati]] took the wrong lesson from Yuri's sacrifice, deciding to blame the Hulk ''and'' the State for his father's death.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless:
** ''ComicBook/IndestructibleHulk'' {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and perhaps {{averted|Trope}} this, with Bruce Banner lamenting the fact that all the years he spent trying to cure himself of the Hulk could have been used to fight problems like famine and disease. He then agrees to join ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} on the condition that they give him funding to work towards bettering mankind while not in his Hulk form.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' begins to address this around Issue #25: [[spoiler:After Bruce/Hulk takes over the organization meant to kill him, he begins formulating a new sort of plan, one that he gives some of the basics to Amadeus Cho. Namely, in that he declares war against the "world's leaders" or more specifically, the individuals and groups such as Dario Agger, the CEO of Roxxon (and a minotaur). According to Bruce, the reason people like Reed, Tony and Adam Brashear ([[ComicBook/AdamLegendOfTheBlueMarvel Blue Marvel]]) have failed to make an impact is because of powerful people like Agger manipulating the world and thus Bruce takes it upon himself to tear down the establishment with the hopes of entrusting the younger folk to fix it. Put simply, "I can't build what needs to be built, but I can smash what needs to be smashed."]].
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Back in TheNineties the Leader used the dead body and mostly dead brain of Thunderbolt Ross to power the Redeemer armor.
* ResistTheBeast: Banner, especially in cases where Hulk is portrayed the most destructively and as a huge detriment on his life, does so regularly.
* RetCanon:
** The Hulk's iconic "YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry" {{Catchphrase}} originated in the [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 70s live-action show]].
** The Hulk's reintroduction into the Avengers was also motivated by the films. In the original comics, he quit after one issue, but the ComicBook/MarvelNOW relaunch has since seen him return to the team as a main character.
** In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, Bruce's ex-girlfriend Betty Ross became ComicBook/SheHulk (as a DecompositeCharacter, unrelated to Jennifer Walters). The idea was well received, which led to Marvel reviving the Earth-616 Betty and making her into the Red She-Hulk.
** In ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Brian Banner, as a mythology gag to the '70s show, underwent AdaptationNameChange and was named "David". During ''ComicBook/HouseOfM", David was made Brian's middle name.
* {{RetCon}}:
** The ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories were initially far out stories featuring the Hulk. In ''ComicBook/{{The Incredible Hulk|1968}}'' #269-287, it is revealed the stories were created as techno-art movies by Bereet the Krylorian. Similarly, an unpublished story by Steve Gerber would have retconned the ''ComicBook/HowardTheDuck'' stories not written by Gerber as art made by the Krylorian Chireep.
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' has a few:
*** Quite a few regarding the first appearance of the Hulk. Firstly, Bruce's ResurrectiveImmortality was first activiated in the accident that turned him into the Hulk as he was originally actually killed in the gamma bomb explosion. Additionally, it undoes the CanonDiscontinuity Creator/PeterDavid gave to the Devil Hulk by revealing he was real: he's actually the Immortal Hulk and thus, his actual true form resembles a traditional green Hulk. And that the Immortal/Devil Hulk is in fact the Hulk seen in Bruce's first few adventures.
*** Brian Banner, Bruce's father, is also shown to have feared the existence of offspring from him would break a spell instead of a fear of something wrong with his genetics, and he'd previously dealt with the Green Door.
*** The Hulk seen in ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' is really a new personality.
* TheRival: The Hulk has several.
** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] will always be the big one, as they are Marvel's two heaviest "[[FountainOfExpies Big Name]]" hitters, and sometimes one of them wins, sometimes the other, but usually it somehow ends up as a draw. Whether it's a friendly rivalry or a hostile one depends on what mood the Hulk is in (or whose side he's on). Basically Hulk has a lot more raw power and durability, so he should have the edge in pure close combat, despite a considerable skill disadvantage, but if Thor ever started to use all of his myriad powers in ways Hulk couldn't counter then there wouldn't be much that Hulk could do about it. Still, the thing is that Thor and Hulk get along swell with each other when not fighting, or when watching each other's back, starting back in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984''.
** Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner and the Hulk were both mainly used as [[DesignatedAntagonist obstacles for heroes]] in early comics, which may be why writers decided to pit them against each other. Hulk hates Namor's rudeness and arrogance and Namor hates Hulk's childish behavior and stupidity. The rivalry remained even when they were on the same team. Admittedly thanks to their time on the Defenders they act more like squabbling siblings as opposed to actually trying to kill each other.
** [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]] also has a bit of this going on, with the Thing's durability and [[{{Determinator}} sheer tenacity]] meaning he's commonly used for slugfests with the Hulk.
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} is also seen as Hulk's rival. That's probably because Wolverine debuted in Hulk's book.
** The ''ComicBook/{{Juggernaut}} is also shown to have a rivalry with the Hulk, and a noticeably bitter one at that. Like most rivalries between Hulk and another character, both believe themselves to be the strongest and want to ''prove'' it.
** In crossovers with DC, the Hulk always gets in a fight with Franchise/{{Superman}}.
* RockBeatsLaser: It's a fairly common tactic for the Hulk to use a blunt object against technologically advanced foes. This is presuming that he can't simply tear them metal limb from metal limb with his bare hands (which he usually can). Granted, the Hulk pretty much applies this tactic to any foe, regardless of the level of technology at their disposal. This is quite in line with real world physics; you can destroy anything in the universe, ANYTHING at all... if you hit it hard enough. And who could possibly hit harder than an enraged Hulk? .
* RoguesGallery: The Hulk has a really big one. Most of the Hulk's enemies are other super-strong bruisers who can actually go a few rounds with the Big Green Machine without immediately getting turned into roadkill, like the [[EvilCounterpart Abomination]], Red Hulk, Absorbing Man, Mister Hyde, Madman, the Glob, Bi-Beast, and the Wendigo. Not everyone fits the bill however, such as the Leader, a MadScientist and EvilGenius who has as much brains as the Hulk does brawn; the U-Foes, a collective EvilCounterpart to the ComicBook/FantasticFour with a similar origin and powers, although they never actually met the Four; [[EnergyBeings Zzzax]], a sentient electrical field; Mercy, a fragile-looking and wayward DarkMagicalGirl; the Gamma Corps, a collection of other gamma-mutated humans who serve the Leader; Rock and Redeemer, one of whom is a sentient shapeshifting boulder and the other who wears a suit of deadly power armor; and others such as Speedfreek, Constrictor, Boomerang, and Piecemeal. The Hulk has even battled a couple of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, like the Crawling Unknown (a giant, cancerlike growth that mutated out of control), and Sh'mballah, an {{Expy}} of Franchise/{{Cthulhu|Mythos}} who tried to conquer the Earth, messed with the Hulk, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu and didn't live to regret it]]. The Hulk is also a popular choice for [[RoguesGalleryTransplant villains who fight someone besides their traditional enemies]], as he's tangled with the likes of [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Sandman and the Rhino]], [[ComicBook/XMen the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants]] and the ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}}. The Hulk is also one of the few Marvel characters who has other heroes in his rogues gallery, regularly slugging it out with [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing.]]
* RoguesGalleryTransplant:
** Some of the Hulk's recurring enemies, like the Juggernaut, Mister Hyde, and Absorbing Man, originally started out fighting other foes (and those two still do on a regular basis). The Big Green Machine also tangles with other heroes' enemies every now and again, even if they don't become permanent fixtures.
** Ever since ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'' introduced Umar (a ''Doctor Strange'' villain) as a StalkerWithACrush for the Hulk, she's been added to his list of foes ''and'' romantic interests.
** ZigZaggingTrope with Gremlin. Gremlin uses the name and the armor of the Titanium Man, an Iron Man foe who goes way back, but Gremlin himself is primarily a Hulk villain, first appearing in issue #163.
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} started out as a foe of the Hulk before becoming primarily associated with the ComicBook/XMen.
** The [[PsychoForHire contract killer]] Boomerang, who uses deadly gimmick boomerangs as his weapons, originally started out fighting the Hulk, before he moved on to become a semi-regular ComicBook/SpiderMan villain after writers realized that trick boomerangs versus the most powerful creature on Earth was a bit of a mismatch. Boomerang even appears in the Uncanny X-Men UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}} game by LJN even though he's neither a X-Men enemy nor a mutant.
* SayMyName:
** In one story Bruce Banner makes this comment to a screaming Doctor Doom right after helping to take him down.
** Doom had been fighting a Hulk robot that was screaming "DOOOM" as it pummeled him. As Doom turned the tables on the robot, he said "Once more… with feeling… '''say my name!'''" The above example is an IronicEcho of this scene.
*** Of course there is Doom's famous semi-catchphrase from the Silver Age ""RRRRRRICHAAAAARRRRRDDDSS!!!""
* ScienceHero: Bruce Banner is a great example, especially in the run-up to ''Fall of the Hulks'' where he spent a good while Hulkless. The man does such things as [[MacGyvering manufacturing his own super-tech mini-computer out of an old iPod]] and while men like Reed Richards and Tony Stark consider themselves smarter than him overall, they at least know when to bow to him as '''the''' eminent scientist in the field of nuclear radiation and its mutating effects on biology.
* ScreamingWarrior: The series ties the Hulk with the trope. Even more in the movies, where he barely speaks (the comics still give him [[HulkSpeak short]] BadassBoast or TrashTalk sentences every now and then).
* SecretIdentityChangeTrick: Since Bruce Banner is usually not in control of his transformations into the Hulk, he can't really orchestrate one of these tricks. It's thus pretty convenient for the writers that his secret identity was outed very early in his career.
* SelfInflictedHell: ''Hulk: The End'' concludes with the Banner part of the Hulk dead and the savage personality trapped alone on a nuclear-ravaged Earth with nothing to look forward to except wandering aimlessly and being daily devoured by gigantic mutant cockroaches from which he always heals. Hulk could have died with Banner or die at any time by reverting to Banner. But the Hulk's own stubbornness at admitting weakness ever, viewing dying as a form of defeat or weakness, the idea he needs someone else, or being anything less than the "strongest one there is" would in his mind mean his old, dead enemies triumphant over him means he is trapped in a hell he could escape at any time.
* SelfMadeOrphan:
** A rare heroic example: Before Bruce Banner became the Hulk, he semi-accidentally killed his abusive father, Brian. In their final confrontation, his father was trying to kill him and he had killed Banner's mother; Bruce lashed out as Brian got ready to attack him, sending Brian crashing into the gravestone of Bruce's mother and cracking his skull.
** Narrowly averted with Betty Ross. She almost killed the ComicBook/RedHulk, only to realize he was her father and stop in time.
* SerialEscalation: The Hulk often uses this trope to a lesser or greater extent depending upon the author. Just how mad/strong can he become?
** The Comicbook/RedHulk. How many popular characters can he effortlessly beat? How many ways can he violate the rules of the MarvelUniverse just for something that [[RuleOfCool looks cool]]?
* SeriesContinuityError: Creator/StanLee wasn't good at remembering names. In some early issues that he wrote, the protagonist Bruce Banner was suddenly called [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2005/11/03/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-23/ "Bob Banner"]]. Lee [[HandWave handwaved]] the error by revealing that his full name is Robert Bruce Banner.
** This one is better remembered than it should be because subsequent Marvel writers, particularly in the editorial AudienceAlienatingEra of the 70s, liked to cite it as a "nobody's perfect" precedent when fan letters called them out on their own heinous continuity errors. Marv Wolfman was probably the worst about this; he pre-emptively invoked it in an editor's note attached to a Dracula comic that he '''knew''' was going to tie the timeline of ''ComicBook/TheTombOfDracula'' into a Gordian Knot.
* SexySilhouette: In issue #633, Hulk and Umar are shown are black silhouettes while in bed having sex.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Happens to the Hulk on occasion. Whether this is good or bad depends on the form he's stuck as. Hulk would love to be mode-locked and never turn into Banner again. Banner would love to be free of the Hulk, but at this point knows better. Both absolutely hate the idea of being mode-locked as the other.
** Unlike the Hulk, the Abomination is completely incapable of returning to his original human form. He's none too happy about that.
* SharingABody: The Hulk has been retconned to be something similar with the Hulk being either a manifestation of Bruce's repressed psyche or a being created whole cloth by the Gamma bomb, this also goes for the various other personalities like Joe Fixit, the classic grey hulk & Doc Green, a newer personality that hates Bruce and Hulk. Creator/PeterDavid during the 80s experimented with fusing these like Firestorm for different sub personalities and narrative twist.
* ShirtlessScene: Bruce Banner always has his clothes conveniently ripped away when he transforms into the Hulk, meaning that when he turns back into Bruce we get lovely scenes of him wearing nothing except for a pair of baggy purple shorts which he has to hold up to stop them falling down. Of course, [[MagicPants his trousers never tear off completely.]]
** Well, sometimes they do, especially in the Ultimate universe.
* ShockwaveClap: A trademark move of the Hulk, where it's named the "Gamma Clap".
* ShootingSuperman:
** The Hulk's adversary [[GeneralRipper General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross]] considers this standard operating procedure. Every time he finds Dr. Banner, he orders his battalion to open fire on his [[UnstoppableRage raging]] [[NighInvulnerability indestructible]] foe, conveniently forgetting the previous ''hundred'' or so times where this only served to piss him off. He made a grand return in ''World War Hulk'' and proceeded to... shoot the Hulk. [[ImmuneToBullets It doesn't really work]], even with ''adamantium'' bullets.
** There is one story where a policeman shoots at him -- Banner is in control of Hulk at the time and he hasn't done anything, but the policeman panicked -- and Hulk disarms him and berates him because bullets bounce off him and there are lots of people around -- the ricochets can easily kill them. Besides, if he has been his old self, bullets would have done nothing, as noted above.
* ShutUpHannibal:
** In ''Hulk: Future Imperfect'', during the final showdown between the Hulk (in his "Professor" incarnation) and the Maestro, the Maestro insists that he knows every move that the Hulk can make. The Hulk simply says "Sing soprano, motor mouth!" and punches Maestro in the groin.
* SiblingTeam: The Hulk and ComicBook/SheHulk are cousins and have often fought side by side.
* SignatureMove: The Hulk's [[ShockwaveClap Thunderclap]] it's so strong the force can [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-310e63051e3e7e8e03ec21319c460025-c snuff out the Human Torch's fire]], wreck foes like [[http://img15.photobucket.com/albums/v44/guyverjay/The_Incredible_Hulk_Annual_1997_-_16.jpg Gladiator]] and [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/af/ac/16afac1421b90b8c5354c6c73534de59.jpg Red Hulk]] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EELq6yMWkAMzAqM.jpg cancel out Songbird sonic scream]], and it's especially [[SensoryOverload painful]] for foes with sensitive super senses like [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/RDcyt7ofC3FOqzO1mBaqhe2AOD6dwz6CSoA5rrcmV8u_5LQqaZ9nqg7FLsLK-OngKJWovgpm_bHD=s0?rhlupa=MjAwMTo4MDAzOjE2NDA6ZTEwMDplODViOjMyNGE6ZjM2ZDpkZDFi&rnvuka=TW96aWxsYS81LjAgKFdpbmRvd3MgTlQgMTAuMDsgV2luNjQ7IHg2NCkgQXBwbGVXZWJLaXQvNTM3LjM2IChLSFRNTCwgbGlrZSBHZWNrbykgQ2hyb21lLzEwNC4wLjAuMCBTYWZhcmkvNTM3LjM2 Spider-Man]] and [[http://www.incrediblehulkonline.com/wolverinethunderclap.jpg Wolverine]]. In his SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome during ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' [[https://i.redd.it/d66hyi7ztg931.jpg he uses thunderclap to blow away the One Below All itself]].
* SilentScapegoat: The Hulk does this to thwart Omnibus's scheme to ignite WorldWarIII in the "Ghosts of the Future" storyline, though it's somewhat of a [[SubvertedTrope Subversion]] in that it's strongly implied that this act will start him on the road to becoming the genuinely and monstrously villainous Maestro.
* SinglePowerSuperheroes: The Hulk was originally just a [[TheBigGuy very big, very strong]] behemoth. Soon, he gained an assortment of powers, some which were logical in relation to increased muscle ability, such as [[InASingleBound super-leaping]], NighInvulnerability, SuperSpeed and SuperReflexes. Then, over time, things just got crazy, and he gained other abilities such as [[ImmuneToMindControl immunity to mind control]], [[ISeeDeadPeople ability to see supernatural creatures]], [[EnergyAbsorption ability to absorb radiation]], a HealingFactor that rivals ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s, [[SuperNotDrowningSkills a gland that lets him breathe underwater]], and sometimes the ability to create new personalities as needed (each with their own power set).
* SlapSlapKiss: According to one source, Hulk's ideal relationship is a [[HillbillyHorrors hillbilly]] MasochismTango with a woman so strong that he won't hurt her from beating her up, and vice versa...
* SlaveRace: In Annual 12, the Hulk (with Banner's brain) visits a world where the Red people have enslaved the Green people. Hulk helps the greens to liberation, and before he leaves advises them to show mercy to the reds, otherwise they (greens) will be as bad as them (reds). After returning to Earth Hulk looks in his telescope and discovers that the greens have indeed enslaved the reds.
* SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness: The Maestro: SocialDarwinist: "How did you get to be in charge Maestro? By talking your opponents to death?" "No, by beating them to death, and it all went so quickly that I'm sorry I didn't prolong it." "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."
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: Bruce Banner once built a nifty little flying assistant robot named the Recordasphere. It tagged along on a couple of adventures... and then fell in love with him, tried to kill his girlfriend in a jealous rage, and then sacrificed itself to save his life. [[ButtMonkey Because that's just the way Bruce's life goes.]]
* SmokeShield: Happens to the Hulk quite a bit. In ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' it happens at least twice; the first time, [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] injects the Hulk with something meant to neutralize his healing factor, then launches a pair of missiles at him, which only reminded Hulk of the explosion that killed his wife. The second time, ComicBook/{{Storm}} and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Human Torch]] combined a lightning bolt and a massive fireball to blast the Hulk. Didn't work out so well.
* SomeKindOfForceField: In one Bronze Age story, the Hulk encountered a force field Tyrannus had set up to protect some evil machine he was using, and the Hulk got ''so mad'' he actually ''physically grabbed hold of the force field and ripped through it.'' The captions even lampshade that this [[BeyondTheImpossible should be physically impossible,]] but Tyrannus had just gotten the Hulk ''[[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry that mad!]]''
* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: In one issue, the Leader's time machine is programmed by playing a piano keyboard.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The Hulk once witnessed a gigantic extraterrestrial energy beast materializing. Not knowing how to react, and being himself, he attempted to smash it and temporarily drove it away, thus preventing a properly equipped professional hunter from taking it down.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: During John Byrne's run, Bruce Banner and Betty Ross get their wedding interrupted at this point by Betty's father, [[GeneralRipper General Ross]] -- who's armed with a gun. He then shoots Rick Jones, but Betty tells him the only way he could prevent her from marrying Bruce is to [[GoThroughMe kill her]] -- and he stands down. Rick, meanwhile, not only survives, but refuses to be taken to the hospital immediately:
-->'''Rick:''' Mr. Priest, take some 30 seconds and [[SkipToTheEnd get this couple married]] at long last, and let's go to the hospital after that.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: You might notice most times it's "The Hulk".
* SplitPersonality: One of the most famous in history.
** Dr. Bruce Banner is a different person when transformed into the Hulk. The comics take it to extremes, with different versions of the Hulk with different personalities: in addition to the traditional "Savage Hulk", there also developed a sneaky, amoral version called Joe Fixit (who was grey, like in the Hulk's first appearance). Eventually, the personalities were integrated into the "Merged Hulk", but this was {{retcon}}ned to be just another personality, the Professor (who had Banner's brainpower, Fixit's cunning, and most of Savage Hulk's strength).[[note]]The Professor seems to be based on Billy Milligan's ability to voluntarily integrate everyone in his system; he called this state "the Teacher". Other multiples report being able to integrate at will and ''don't'' recommend it, agreeing with Billy that "the whole is less than the sum of the parts."[[/note]] Some sources have interpreted these personas as representing different stages of Banner's life; the Savage Hulk is the immature child who wanted to be strong enough to protect Bruce's mother from his abusive father, Fixit is the moody teenager Bruce never let himself be, and the Professor represents the adult amalgamation of all his other experiences.
*** Two other personalities in Bruce's lineup are the Devil Hulk, a reptilian creature that lacks any sense of guilt, and the Green Scar, who combines Fixit's cunning with the Savage's strength, and over time develops to become possibly the strongest Hulk incarnation of all.
*** Some have theorized that the Hulk is -- and always has been -- an embodiment of pent-up rage and aggression that Banner had felt all his life prior to the accident, mostly stemming from the abuse he and his mother suffered at the hands of his father. [[spoiler:Who Bruce killed by accident, but later admitted it ''might'' have not been an accident.]] In short, Banner and the Hulk may be more alike than Banner is willing to admit.
** The Hulk's son Skaar also has a split personality; "normal" Skaar is a Conan-style barbarian, while "puny" Skaar is an adolescent boy who hates his other self for his savage deeds.
** Betty Ross as Red She-Hulk. The degree to which she retains control over Red She-Hulk varies a lot. Sometimes it's just an angrier Betty, while at others it is an entirely different persona whom she fears losing control over.
* SplitPersonalityMerge: Doc Samson once pretended to have done this to the Hulk and Bruce Banner, via EpiphanyTherapy. But [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption eventually the change in premise became too much of a problem for the Hulk's title]], and the writers made use of the fact that Therapy Does Not Work That Way to establish that Samson had really just created a new, if more stable, alternate. [[CanonDiscontinuity Tossing out the fact that Doc Samson wasn't really in control of the process and didn't fully understand what was happening at the time.]] Since there are three "main" Hulk personalities (Savage Hulk, Child Hulk and Gray Hulk) and several secondary ones like Devil Hulk and the aforementioned Professor Hulk, it's a topic they have explored several times since, sometimes without including Banner in the merger at all.
* SplitPersonalitySwitchTrigger: Some, but not all, of Bruce Banner's alters can only come out [[NighttimeTransformation at night]]. This includes Joe Fixit and ComicBook/ImmortalHulk. In the latter's own series, it's said to be associated with how much Banner fears and distrusts that particular personality: As they [[SplitPersonalityTeam start cooperating more]], Joe flips to only being able to come out by day, and Immortal Hulk is shown becoming more and more resistant to the daylight...[[note]]''Hulk: ComicBook/SeasonOne'' has Bruce speculating that it's actually the decrease in atmospheric compton scattering that triggers the change, instead of his mind processing the information that it's nighttime. But he isn't sure and thinks that explanation might just be a HandWave.[[/note]] The regular 'Jade Giant' version of the character has the more popular trigger of '[[HulkingOut anger]]'.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover:
** Betty Ross was in constant risk of this when she was Red She-Hulk.
** The Hulk himself would like nothing more than to rid himself of "puny" Bruce Banner once and for all, as much as Bruce Banner wants to rid himself of the Hulk. Several iterations have tried, particularly Joe Fixit, and succeeded for extended periods of time, but one way or another Bruce Banner always resurfaces eventually.
** {{Inverted|Trope}}, to some extent, with the Hulk's son Skaar, where the weaker, more vulnerable personality ('puny' Skaar) has recently managed to escape Skaar's suppression of him in their shared mind.
** The events of ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' come about from one of these. After Bruce's repeated deaths over the previous few years, a new Hulk personality appeared... at which point the titular Hulk of this series got lose, tore that one into shreds and took over control over the whole thing. To ''protect'' Bruce. Later on it turns out the other alters are only allowed out on his say-so (or in the case of the Savage Hulk, if he loses control enough). It's partway through the series it turns out this newer Hulk is [[spoiler:the ''Devil'' Hulk.]]
** Has happened to the evil future version of the Hulk called the Maestro. There's no more Banner, no more Hulk, or Joe, or any of the others. It's just the Maestro now.
* SquareCubeLaw: The Hulk is known to get stronger and larger as he gets angrier (maximum height is roughly twelve feet); this might be justified, though, as his relative muscle (and presumably bone) mass increases as well as his height. Furthermore, Hulk is generally not depicted as merely scaling up; in most depictions, the cross-sections of his arms and legs increase out of proportion, which would balance things out some.
** It's been implied that he draws his strength from outside of his own body, and therefore muscle mass would be irrelevant.
** The size changing as he gets angrier and stronger thing is depending on the writer and the artist; some have his height stay consistent once he transforms, though this itself can be an informed ability as an artist will alter his height between panels for various reasons. Officially the Hulk's transformed height is just under eight feet tall. He'll often be shown as over ten, but that's usually stylistic or for dramatic effect.
** Where Hulk comics fail to justify or avert is in that we frequently see him standing on floors that should not be able to support what his weight must be. Hard wood would splinter under him, for example, as he probably weighs about as much as a four-door car. Floors would take an even greater beating when you realize that all that weight is being concentrated on two relatively small areas.
* StarCrossedLovers: Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. His uncontrollable transformations into the Hulk have made him a fugitive wanted by the United States military. Not to mention Betty's father, General "Thunderbolt" Ross, harbors an intense hatred of him.
* StarterVillain: The Hulk's starter villain was The Gargoyle, the spy who arranged the sabotage of the gamma bomb test that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
* StatuesqueStunner: The Hulk's [[DroppedABridgeOnHim ill-fated]] wife [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Caiera]] from the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' arc is approximately 2 meters tall. When side-by-side with her husband, she's shown to be only about [[OneHeadTaller a head shorter]] than the Hulk ([[DependingOnTheArtist who on his worst days]] is between 7' and 8').
* StatusQuoIsGod: Poor Bruce Banner will always be the Hulk. He will never find a permanent cure, and because of that, he and Betty Ross will most likely always be StarCrossedLovers. Things might have changed with Betty Ross becoming the Red She-Hulk, but she permanently lost her powers.
* StealthPun: Death from ''Comicbook/{{The Sandman|1989}}'' made a LawyerFriendlyCameo during Creator/PeterDavid's run. She visited Marlo Chandler's wedding and gave her a brush as a wedding present. Marlo had recently died and come back to life. Get it? She had a brush with death.
* StrippedToTheBone: The Hulk has done it on occasion.
* StrongAndSkilled:
** Hulk himself becomes this in ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk''. Partaking in the GladiatorGames on Sakaar, he soon understands strength alone is not enough to make it by and quickly becomes more crafty to ensure his victories, especially since he was suffering from DramaPreservingHandicap. Cut to ''World Breaker Hulk'' and Hulk is outwitting as well as overpowering his opponents on Earth, like exploiting TheJuggernaut's inability to stop and explaining to ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} that taking Hulk-punches to his [[UnbreakableBones Adamantium skull]] isn't healthy for his poor rattling brain. Other Hulk forms such as Grey Hulk, The Professor, and Immortal Hulk also have skill and smarts to back up inestimable strength.
** His cousin ComicBook/SheHulk also qualifies. She has received combat training from Captain America and ComicBook/{{Gamora}} and even in her human form has enough skill to dispatch several would be muggers. After being defeated by the Champion of the Universe, She-Hulk exercised for several months in her Jennifer Walters form, resulting in a significant gain in strength and muscle mass in her She-Hulk form and allowing her to soundly defeat the Champion in a rematch. She defeats Abomination in her HeroicRematch with pressure point attacks and nerve strikes.
** Caiera, the Hulk's wife in ComicBook/PlanetHulk. She was a trained martial artist, swordswoman and knife fighter. She also possessed the Old Power, an energy force native to her home planet, which granted her super strength, speed and stamina and [[DishingOutDirt control over tectonic energies]]. This power was passed on to the Shadow Priest Hiriom and alter Skaar, the son of Caiera and Hulk. Both are well-trained combatants just like Caiera.
** Lyra, Hulk and Thundra's daughter from another timeline. She has received training in battle since she was a child and has super strength just like her parents.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Hulk basically has this ability as an actual power. In one moment he's punching out a cosmic entity, and the next he has trouble with [[PopularityPower Captain America or Wolverine]]. If Hulk needs to be X strong to lift Y object or punch Z bad guy, he magically is because [[ContrivedCoincidence he just happens to be that angry]].
** In at least one encounter with Cap, the star-spangled Avenger himself notes (via InnerMonologue) that, though Cap is thoroughly outclassed in sheer strength, the Hulk still has all the weak spots and vulnerable pressure points inherent in a human body, and Cap is just strong enough to be able to strike those with enough force to affect the Hulk. It should be noted though, Hulk laughed off his attempt. Other much more powerful opponents like Temugin, Valkyrie and ComicBook/BlackBolt have had much better luck doing so.
** Memorably displayed during Marvel's ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' limited series, when the heroes are trapped under ''a mountain range'' with the Hulk (barely) keeping them from being crushed. As the Hulk starts to weaken, Reed Richards begins insulting him for being useless DumbMuscle, which irritates the Hulk to become stronger. Of course, considering that he nowadays ([[RuleOfCool somehow... look he can punch through reality, just go with it]]) holds together collapsing planets even when calm...
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: According to [[http://www.marvel.com/universe/Hulk_(Bruce_Banner) his profile on Marvel.com]], the Hulk has a gland in his lungs that requires very little oxygen to function. This is not only why [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace he can hold his breath for a long time in space]] (in fact, he can TALK in space when he needs to), but he can also extract enough oxygen from water to ''breathe under the water's surface!''.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: The Hulk is the canonical super-Hyde. The Hulk, over time, has been softened down from "evil" to "pure id". Not that that stops him from racking up the damage bill every time he shows up.
** Banner does have the Devil Hulk personality inside him, which is pure evil... possibly. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' makes it a little ambiguous, with the Devil Hulk (an AppropriatedAppellation) hating the human world, but being genuinely protective of Bruce and the classic, Savage Hulk, and being downright horrified by the [[GreaterScopeVillain One-Below-All]].
** As well as [[{{Jerkass}} Gray Hulk]] and [[WhatHaveIDone Guilt Hulk]] -- though Grey Hulk isn't really "evil"; he's another closer to "id".
** Bruce Banner's wife Betty Ross was once transformed into the villainous Harpy. Later she became Red She-Hulk, who's more TheAtoner, and currently is the Red Harpy, whose looks and mentality are a mix of the former two.
* SuperpowerLottery: The Hulk has unlimited strength, accelerated healing, the ability to breathe underwater, dynamic durability, and the ability to leap as high as Superman, and unlike Supes he has a high resistance to MindControl. He also has a number of minor abilities like absorbing gamma radiation and seeing ghosts and astral forms. As a bonus, Bruce Banner is one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe, to the point where ComicBook/NormanOsborn decided he preferred fighting the Hulk. Come ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', he adds ResurrectiveImmortality to the list. Note that most of these powers are directly proportional to his anger level, which will normally steadily increase over the course of a fight. The standard rule of thumb when fighting the Hulk is to hit him with everything you've got ''immediately'' and hope you can end the fight before it starts, because his powers will increase with every passing second that the fight continues.
** The ComicBook/RedHulk had a very similar power set to the green Hulk as well as the ability to absorb any type of energy such as cosmic rays. When he was infected by Cable's techno-organic virus, he was able to control his body heat to burn the virus out of his system. He also does not revert to human form when rendered unconscious unlike the green Hulk.
** Skaar and Hiro-Kala, the sons of Caiera and Hulk, inherited their father's gamma mutate powers and their mother's ability to [[DishingOutDirt control rock]], known as the Old Power to the people of Sakaar. Hiro-Kala took it to even more absurd levels, being able to fire energy blasts, project force fields and manifest a water-like substance. Eventually, Skaar had his Hulk powers taken from him by his father in his Doc Green persona and Hiro-Kala has since forsaken the Old Power in favor of using his Hulk form.
* SuperPrototype:
** In a way, the Hulk is this for the other gamma mutates. While created by accident, Hulk was the first gamma mutant, and most following gamma beings (The Leader, The Abomination, Madman, Ravage, Red Hulk, etc) were created either by recreating that accident or copying his DNA. While some (Abomination and Ravage) have higher base-line strength than the Hulk, and most other gamma beings retain their higher intelligence (though not necessarily their full personality) while transformed, whereas the Hulk is most often shown to be a savage, which could be considered improvements, the Hulk's potential strength (increasing with anger) and secondary powers (HealingFactor, psychic resistance), as well as a somewhat intangible quality that makes the Hulk seemingly impossible to permanently cure, has shown that the Hulk, while flawed, is the most powerful gamma being created.
** Another factor in the Hulk's Super Prototype-ness is the fact that Bruce Banner's psyche is so damaged, because of abuse he suffered as a kid, that it allows him to do whatever he wishes. Becoming a gamma beast meant unleashing a particular repressed trait. The reason the Hulk is stronger than the others? Because they're not as screwed up as Banner!
** Although in ''ComicBook/Hulk2014'' Doc Green (yet another Hulk persona) once stated that ComicBook/SheHulk is the Hulk's SuperiorSuccessor. The rest of the gamma crew are all a mess in one way or another, with their power and potential squandered by their psychological issues. But Jennifer has proven to be the most stable and heroic of them, which is why she is the only one he doesn't DePower.
** It's hinted in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' that the Hulk may hold a different position vis-a-vis gamma radiation than the mutates who came afterwards, being associated with the idea of the keeper of the gamma door.
* SuperReflexes: Apparently, unmeasurable SuperStrength isn't enough for the Hulk, since he has incredible speed and reflexes too. In modern comics, he's caught RPG rounds [[https://i.imgur.com/ehq2QmU_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium in mid air]], and even in the early comics, Hulk could [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-487958c6ccad9929de101dcd6f4a2c16-pjlq someone]] as fast as ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}.
* SuperRugPull: This is one of his special moves in any [[VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes Capcom]] [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom fighting game]] he's in. He actually did that once in a comic to a battalion of tanks.
* SuperSmoke: U-Foes member Vapor can transform into any known gas, usually the most lethally poisonous she can imagine while invading an opponent's body. Vapor can transform into her fully human state for only brief periods, and is vulnerable to having her gaseous form scattered by strong winds or explosive force.
* SuperSpeed: While he may not [[FasterThanTheyLook look like he can]], the Hulk is able to travel at Super Speeds as S.H.I.E.L.D found out [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-9ab1175d44f877ceb69fe7f37748213e-c the hard way]], also like Thor he can also catch missiles with SuperReflexes.
* SuperStrength: The Hulk is the standard to which other Super Strength wielders are compared in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, and he only gets stronger as he gets angrier however, he's only the strongest ''in theory''. In practice, because his strength is [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe never the same at any given moment]], there are tons of people whose physical strength can far exceed Hulk's own at the time, as Zeus [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f94ac2914225a36eed18f9b1c350a8bb-lq demonstrates]] while at other times he can easily overcome people who are explicitly stronger than those who previously handed him his ass, like Juggernaut, Thor, or Zeus' own son, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]]. Marvel guidebooks and people InUniverse label Hulk's strength "[[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F9nMw6rJsGg/VnPeU1kVCyI/AAAAAAAAGQ4/77fTSM7ZQlU/s1600-Ic42/RCO019.jpg incalculable]]"
*** Originally Hulk could at best [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/of5-0rU5yY0EHr1xX-xE5fh7uD81xjOahjw3daHsWxAY9h9LlFasxZYH4W3bK34tKGJNMcP0QYOi=s0 smash through a wall and destroy a car]] but was stopped by a mere [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcR0eJatdsrsXAABYt0szCsvfAmuOW5fjdd8oEgUQGrDoEhjerF9 cement wall]]. Eventually Hulk could rip apart a [[http://i.imgur.com/KA1NMqI.jpg titanium steel nuclear bunker]] and his feats kept getting bigger.
*** In a team up with Spider-Man, Hulk [[http://i.imgur.com/iHPupB6.jpg hammered a landmass into place]].
*** Giant monsters [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/db/06/04/db06047ef53429b4a5bda9f486583ca1.jpg are nothing to the Hulk]], in a more recent comic Hulk could one-punch [[http://www.comicbookcritic.net/7b8a100063f8_1024B/3515b9fc29a4d426b7ae1b9b703dcf8f27aecb19-HulkV3001002-003DONE.jpg a lava dragon]] and other comics have shown even the {{Kaiju}} Fin Fang Foom gets [[https://lowbrowcomics.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/hulk_v2_079_09b.jpg easily swatted]] by Dr. Banner's big green alter ego. In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' Hulk [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/XCeD1crlMJGtvsu_tUBlC1ikeVA_2BAztt-x7lc4fM_73IF6ua73Ub8fLVgH2SfQ7MMyPxgE30hfadYkQpmeUV5xchgBCbzgTgJle2whinHrDd03B2vxKlokI0311g-79Kbzjlgfeg=s1600 took on]] a [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/BaOkMhyQ_MOM-X3g0UX0muDSQWLMWo13JiuAJIU49jCcqSD31lw_rtwIn6zgw5dITcJjL1S7nOWeVmYVUlpSfcNBXedmpDOmiHWtnUBEstC6yyQ_mtYGvgiddTjLTeG2S1Mbxx9GHg=s1600 massive eldritch beast]] [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/EqqXyxGeh8cB4zNGQtP9F5kJNbhLUEFw3VdAJbkgnF4XsHJaQhLojMREtGXsCqDyHQeybpJu29VpvKPB3xOGi5GmpY442t2aIHmJcS70H0EcdGl9Mab3bu2X3bOhHA5Vmu7gGPkwTg=s1600 and killed it from the inside out]].
*** In Marvel ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' Hulk could hold up [[http://www.incrediblehulkonline.com/secretwarsstrength.jpg a 150 billion ton mountain]] Molecule Man dropped on them. It also counts as ThePowerOfFriendship since Hulk was focusing more on protecting his fellow weakened heroes from being crushed rather than just lifting the mountain off himself.
*** Another time he lifted a whole [[http://i.imgur.com/Uwb7IFa.jpg mountain range of granite]] (probably similar weight to the mountain above) and threw it effortlessly.
*** ComicBook/JeanGrey once unlocked Hulk's full potential (by using telepathy to turn off the rational part of Hulk's mind that contained Bruce Banner), which caused Savage Hulk to go wild and [[https://panels-of-interest.tumblr.com/post/164570148745/hulk-vs-onslaught-from-onslaught-marvel smash]] ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'s armour destroying his physical presence.
*** In one of the battles against ComicBook/{{Thanos}}'s Black Order Hulk [[https://retconpunchdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/ooh-fancy.jpg withstands the weight of a star]]. Your average star has weight ranging from Octillions to Decillions of tonnes.
* SuperStrength: In ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' after he loses his family [[DespairEventHorizon and despairs]] Hulk gives nearly every Marvel Hero on Earth a beating (while still holding back [[NeverHurtanInnocent so he won't hurt civilians]]). When he turns into [[PhysicalGod Green Scar]] Hulk nearly destroyed the eastern seaboard ''[[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-71f20ee3027caebfea1a86add2b346c6 with a couple of footsteps]]'', but most impressively at the peak of his anger, Green Scar Hulk literally [[EarthShatteringKaboom shatters]] a planet in the dark dimension when clashing with his former love Betty Ross aka Red She-Hulk.
*** [[ComicBook/ImmortalHulk Immortal "Devil" Hulk]], Banner’s most recent transformation while not quite on the level of Green Scar is still easily in his top transformations when it comes to strength. This Hulk is able to [[http://s24195.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Immortal-Hulk-7-B.jpg knock Thor's teeth out]], punch his cousin She-Hulk when she was at full strength [[https://i.imgur.com/LhWLDZt.jpg a mile away]], [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/kts7w0r2yrFdolZqyYlZSMPQVU5hz2MFubbzl_6YUyGmrUQbBpex__xGyt75U14f7TOlCsAqdae8638Q1XsaDVXRUmtajHUW_bPJALBeRgOwkiTZDGAiriGavGjer2X1dXjsMVGvyg=s0 overload]] ComicBook/BlackPanther’s [[AttackDeflector Vibranium habit]] [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSzBTFLuklTL4830YqL7t5uYdKKqzOTBRqrzCAEDeOaGgbMv-97&usqp=CAU effortlessly]] [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSF5T0cXn6K7_Lq8k2IpZCJUhbsxrU7S8efLyJPddCbqSwi-49G&usqp=CAU defeat]] [[https://i.imgur.com/q3IMcBc.jpg Red Hulk]], [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcR2VnLJESHVirIch8YAxBiEBJ6R5i8Vbev23YW_VGrKF-Yqutiz&usqp=CAU Vision]], [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSK1By5RH53xd8Jgvm93dNv37M-naJF2x9hgJqwSgc1U9mDaGTv&usqp=CAU Wonder Man]], [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQA_hb-IC3ssKzbISQetpybZ-PtV2bwYtCzFt6WnNW41reO8FL-&usqp=CAU Jane Foster Thor, Hercules]], [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/c9/62/fbc96217142c6a53df81684b5b985c44.jpg and Enigma]] who is quote "made to defend this world against [[TemptingFate any threat]]". Oh and best of all, [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/nvqBDV3KW3w4fGParh64_r8oaX8gXrLSgvWaxO0873cLc5ply5CesZQOAs-mwqE9vboUupdmjO4mVxceLhfCv9fwV5XI7v6beIG-oZfcR4hOCVLNjrt-B_YqsG1JRV5rGmyrhqa9=s1600 Immortal Hulk took out The One Below all]] an EldritchAbomination '''with a ShockwaveClap'''... Hulk truly is the strongest.
*** Ironically Hulk's ''greatest'' strength feat comes from a little known ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'' issue where Hulk produced "infinite strength" to prevent him and the Defenders from being [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/1d/Bruce_Banner_%28Earth-616%29_from_Defenders_Vol_1_3_0001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180904112526 sucked into an unstoppable black hole]]. Well either that or the time Hulk quite literally [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRkZbYhgCTu40Nm6i7nFs872RoPG0lXab_XyA&usqp=CAU punched through time itself]].
*** The UltimateUniverse version of Hulk is no slouch, although he lacks his 616 counterpart's history. In one famous moment Hulk tore [[https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/breaking-adamantium-display.jpg Wolverine in two]], although this is due to the fact that Woverine's bones may be unbreakable, but [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervertebral_disc the flesh holding them together]] isn't.
** Unlike her cousin Bruce, ComicBook/SheHulk doesn't get stronger when she's angry. However, her strength when she's "hulked out" is exponentially proportional to her strength as a normal human. She-Hulk's original limit was 85 tons but like other examples she's been shown to lift far greater weights. A month of exercise and an extra pound or two of muscle mass can make her as strong as the Hulk at baseline; too bad for her she never goes to the gym except to show off when she's already big and green. She-Hulk's feats include [[http://i.imgur.com/p3nEFZK.jpg using the maximum setting]] on a weight machine designed for ComicBook/TheThing, [[https://i.imgur.com/WNPfwJE.jpg flipping]] a giant over, [[https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b161d17b-aa7d-4d4c-8f79-0879fdb98710/degwrvq-d3b6e1d2-4763-4491-94d5-08d6687d1266.jpg/v1/fill/w_900,h_888,q_70,strp/she_hulk_vs__t_rex_2_by_mit19237_degwrvq-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9OTU2IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvYjE2MWQxN2ItYWE3ZC00ZDRjLThmNzktMDg3OWZkYjk4NzEwXC9kZWd3cnZxLWQzYjZlMWQyLTQ3NjMtNDQ5MS05NGQ1LTA4ZDY2ODdkMTI2Ni5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9OTY4In1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.KSknMBBkm1MZarkG9a3zDlAicPUMX_WTEKtfePnJbE0 swinging a T-Rex around]] like [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] to protect a little boy, [[https://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/She-Hulk-Marvel-Comics-early-h8.jpg holding a bridge]] together, ripping ComicBook/TheVision [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a9/fc/8e/a9fc8edf105bcc9d1dffac8d9dbba2ad.jpg apart]], [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/kQzx2vu8T1hfia-Twi8u_gXwqRG2M5dk59Fm5wq1rCN1gZuUGxNbSR25CrEON825TAg96eaDcsAtasGTZHLYdD7uIVBqrLMlIKVgJPTQAOrWwT4z_jTPngJDPLiH59gQa8rHKrxD52g=s1600 beating up Thor]], [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/yBY6R2B7_-PgOIn5kjKcmdcS9eCPM8s-hiJpXYSTz3JwuUIo9z2UaotosJYdK20rWs430pJLiTE3_A=s1600 slamming Sentry]] [[https://i.stack.imgur.com/QlzN2.jpg rugby tackling Thanos]]. In ''Immortal Hulk'' Jen manages to [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-cbb6cd1d3bd570fd2ce51df3341e3f1d hold her own against her cousin]] longer than Thor did.
** [[Characters/SheHulk Titania]]. She-Hulk's ArchEnemy [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6gAKXMELp1U/WzfztzjfknI/AAAAAAAAD2U/5Bm8emBErQczbDYOXYT-7WsqMj2xDquZwCLcBGAs/s1600/20%2B%25282%2529.jpg frequently]] [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/3OACYyG2hD_aWeh75PAG9Zjg6AW-9DFzEMvolEwHvkICSURtiBkP9SKeBBYtDYkBpucRFLIVCEkl=s1600 rivals]] her being able to [[https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b215/Ginolioe/Titania.jpg lift massive weights]], [[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSqi9w-iXKs/WxMudDDlOpI/AAAAAAAA-5M/n18eq8eclQYk-WVB5mutCliP7peRENimQCLcBGAs/s1600/asm283_4a.jpg cars]], [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/09d1ba653c532f1e53f03a0d79680bf3/tumblr_o0dvrzj1hL1rvm5qqo2_1280.jpg vans]], [[https://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/SFNF7-8.jpg tractors]] and [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/WAUGR6xp3BQoNcCeHw53GlbPJb0wAhzPXxAMkeJg7PMRy2xHlMMXiTkls5xWHU1OUYJqIWfV57ec=s1600 bus-sized steel beams]]. Titania once obtained the Power Gem and was able to lift a [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/cmx-images-prod/Item/46246/Previews/ed185b8db5bde9aa7aaa0eb5a411181b._SX1600_QL80_TTD_.jpg mountain-sized rock]] and [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/083be1e080d460d9efb20d1f5d4b1d5b/tumblr_o8o5omEqif1rvm5qqo4_640.jpg drastically]] [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/c5ecc20538edc01470b8abf393b8a13b/tumblr_o8o5omEqif1rvm5qqo3_1280.jpg overpower]] her green rival. In ''Immortal Hulk'' Titania [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/0y4v9k4EEBb7sbgRMxeOCDIOGHhzz5DWSt0Q1X3JZx9oNepZt3eD3OTP3LiF7UM4mJBPrgPUYSo7nO0ngsYqrJSAs3eO90MoSiyCGwPRJjnQuD4i0jPEy-6u2BQr1_xJ1yiqtDIDgA=s1600 defeats one of the massive monsters]] by throwing massive debris down it's gullet. Even when weakened and skinny All-Might style, Titania [[https://i.imgur.com/NGTQduo.jpg could still lift rubble off herself]].
*** Her husband Crusher Creel aka Absorbing Man has his SuperStrength fluctuate all time depending on the material or power he's absorbing. [[https://i.redd.it/xapx10iplqb11.jpg He's successfully beaten Thor]] after absorbing ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s electromagnetism and ComicBook/ScarletWitch's magic. Another time when he absorbed the Cosmic Cube, [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ce0302261ed84043d6e062899ea2198f Creel overpowered The Sentry]].
** Betty Ross when she's transformed into the Harpy. As Red She-Hulk her super strength goes off the charts; in ''Incredible Hulks'' #634 Betty [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/r-6sOdCc_OOREZi6b5U55TJiPKDZVaLjXj8S4jANtPywS10iOd4JHIBGaoCUmwNaQzl_Hi4oR9JC=s1600 battles]] her former love Bruce/Hulk, [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/nKL9vdO3ZA0a2CIYyP_WM-mDSwL5fj549erutL3R3ZFV86pFbPYyVO1oZDjtWrcVe3LjH5f-RDY8=s1600 shattering a whole]] [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/JA45cD018qyXNq9Yiy9-mhpn7AoR5CxKiYHIh7BPGX86hM8BVi5kGoKi4gT0mKPVK-r0RyasvFCa=s1600 planet in a clash with him]]. As ''Red Harpy!'' in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' she's strong enough to rip out Hulk's heart and carry Abomination through the air.
** ComicBook/RedHulk, though he can't reach the levels Banner can when not enhancing his powers by absorbing energy. At top strength he's [[http://i.imgur.com/LBW2gJt.jpg destroyed a comet coming towards earth]], [[http://i.imgur.com/vGUNO79.jpg punched A-Bomb so hard it caused a earthquake]], [[http://i.imgur.com/R3wDhwS.jpg beaten up Thor]] and did a NeckLift [[https://pm1.narvii.com/6183/5dcc0ca19e6da012b12ec79f6a17d23d128b23e0_hq.jpg to Silver Surfer]], however after getting his ass kicked by ComicBook/{{Galactus}} he suffered from BadassDecay and hasn't been as strong since.
** In general many of Hulk's allies and family such as [[https://actionfigurecanada.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/a-bomb-rick-jones.jpg?w=776&h=395 A-Bomb]], [[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/8e/59/3a/8e593acb55beaed793d8032f088926f1.jpg Doc Samson]], [[https://i.imgur.com/3QZbZ0r.jpg Lyra]] and [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b0fa67187755bc2c92dc1173d87a0ccb-lq Skaar]] (his son) have plenty SuperStrength scaling to Savage Hulk level.
* SuperSupremacist: In his more aggressive or villainous forms, Hulk himself is this trope, as the "Banner" portion of his mind is typically portrayed as the side that drives him to save and protect humans. When absent of Banner, Hulk often hates humans (and many other species, such as HumanAliens) and finds them puny and not worth his time. In the BadFuture of ''Hulk: Future Imperfect'', this mentality eventually led to him becoming The Maestro, a superhuman despot.
* SuperToughness: The Hulk is [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerlisting/images/0/00/Hulks_Vol_1_615_Textless.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130520052936 famously]] [[http://www.incrediblehulkonline.com/finfangfoomresistance.jpg durable]], as are many of his gamma-irradiated allies and foes. Helped by the fact that like his strenght, [[https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SqBSmMBwqYs/VBNQ_Wxz3HI/AAAAAAAARvM/0Gm75F0ILI4/s1600/2.jpg his durability increases with his anger]]. One time Hulk and ComicBook/FantasticFour's ComicBook/TheThing were having an arm wrestle [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_medium/11111/111113173/4305667-hulkann018_06a.jpg and got nuked by the military and weren't even slightly bothered.]]
* SuperWeight: Level 5, but when ridiculously angry, in much the same manner that ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was level 5 towards the end. In terms of infinite potential upper limits of raw power only he is a level 6.
* SuperheroesStaySingle: The Hulk ran on this for decades. Even after he was married in the early 1980s, most of the time he was estranged/separated from his wife (and then she died). But now he's got a whole family of Hulks.
* SuperhumanTransfusion: How Jennifer Walters got her powers, from a transfusion of Bruce's blood.
* SuperpowerRussianRoulette: The Leader (who is also gamma irradiated, but his power is a highly developed mind) once set off a gamma bomb in a small city, in order to make more Hulks and Leaders, but 99.99% of the population just died of radiation poisoning. This is because only people who possess a certain genetic trigger inherited from a single common ancestor (or copied the trigger) can become gamma mutates.
* SuperpoweredAlterEgo: The series centers around a human who transforms into the powerful Hulk. The Hulk is portrayed as being an independent entity, and the extent to which Hulk and Banner share perceptions and experiences changes depending on the author. Some authors depict Banner as being aware of the Hulk's actions, but others do not. Some authors, such as Peter David, have attempted to combine Hulk's various personalities but these never last long. More recently, there were "team ups" between Hulk and Banner where their mental perspectives aligned for various reason, letting Hulk and Banner switch at will of the one "driving" but not combining.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: The Hulk's kids are an interesting case. His son, Skaar, inherited both his parents' power sets -- giving him the power to [[DishingOutDirt control the earth]] in addition to the Hulk's powers. His twin brother Hiro-Kala only got the tectonic powers. His daughter Lyra, created via genetic engineering, got only a measure of the Hulk's superstrength; instead, she developed the ability to attune herself to gamma radiation -- in combat, she can almost always position herself exactly where she needs to be. Unfortunately, thanks to deliberate tampering in her creation, the angrier Lyra gets, the ''weaker'' she gets.
** It's later revealed that Hiro-Kala [[spoiler:is a Hulk as well, but has never hulked out. And his transformation is triggered [[PowerOfLove by love]].]] Also, his tectonic abilities are absurdly powerful by his race's standards.
** And it turns out all Gamma mutates are descended from a single common ancestor who had the latent genetic trigger that causes gamma radiation to grant superpowers as opposed to nasty radiation sickness.
*** Not all; Bruce Banner's mentor, Professor Gregory Crawford, who discovered said genetic trigger while examining Bruce's blood, found a way to copy it through genetic manipulation, which he used to turn himself into the Gamma mutate Ravage. It's also suggested that the ComicBook/RedHulk and Red She-Hulk didn't have the genetic marker themselves, and were only created and stabilized after significant genetic modification.
*** Betty Ross (Red She-Hulk) has the genetic marker, as Modok had previously turned her into the gamma-mutate the Harpy to use her against the classic Green Hulk (her Red She-Hulk status being a result of combined gamma and cosmic ray exposure).
* SweetheartSipping: Indulged in by Bruce Banner/The Hulk and Jarella (a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe from a subatomic world) in issue #205.
* SwissArmyTears: One story (''Incredible Hulk'' #302-303) has the heroic monster stuck in what appears to be a typical Fairy Tale world: an evil ruler holds a princess (whose tears create flowers) hostage while his minions enslave the populace. Not only is Hulk completely helpless in this world (it is never explained why) but the princess realizes she can use her tears to create plant monsters... and uses them to ''massacre'' the bad guys.
* SympatheticMurderer: One issue features Doc Samson dealing with the vigilante Crazy Eight/Leslie Anne Shappe, who has been sentenced to the electric chair after murdering a senator. Not until after she has been executed, does Samson discover the motive for the murder. She killed the man because he had been beating his wife, who was an old friend of Crazy Eight from high school. The wife actually killed (or helped kill) her husband, the vigilante actually took the blame and died in her place, knowing it was unlikely that the wife would get a fair trial given her husband's position of power and the powerful friends he had that helped cover up the abuse. Crazy Eight sacrificed her life for her friend.
* {{Synchronization}}: A ComicBook/WhatIf issue had Bruce fail to push Rick into the ditch to save him from the gamma bomb. Instead the blast was effectively filtered through Bruce's body before irradiating Rick, which telepathically bonded the latter to the former in both his egos. When General Ross tries to exploit their connection to entrap the Hulk, he neglects to treat Rick's radiation poisoning until it's too late and Rick dies. This drives the Hulk murderously insane, and he ends up killing the Fantastic Four and Iron Man in his rampage before Thor can finally put him down.
* TakeThat: During the nineties period, somebody gave the Hulk a fin to wear on his head that resembled ComicBook/TheSavageDragon's. Hulk pointed out that despite this "ingenious disguise" everyone who saw him would think, "Hey there goes Hulk with a fin on his head."
** There was also the ongoing feud between Creator/PeterDavid and Erik Larsen. In the 90's, Larsen wrote a Sinister Six story where ComicBook/DoctorOctopus ''beat the fuck'' out of the Hulk without even trying, which pissed off David. David responded by writing a story where the Hulk subjected Doc Ock to a CurbStompBattle and effortlessly humiliated him without even trying. Hulk then explained that last time they fought, [[WorfHadTheFlu he only lost because he was holding back.]] The issue also mocked Larsen and the other Marvel creators who left to form Creator/ImageComics.
--->'''Hulk:''' Last time we met, Doctor, I feel I was robbed. Petty ''larceny'', as it were.
*** Bruce Banner, who was walking around big and green and smart, was in a quandary. His friend was dying of AIDS and wanted a Hulk-blood transfusion in order to get Hulk-healing powers. Bruce, afraid of Hulk 2.0 smashing up crap[[note]]and Banner had good reason to be worried about this; aside from the fact that giving a transfusion of his gamma-contaminated blood is what turned his cousin into ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', there was also a guy who tried to take a Hulk-blood transfusion to cure his cancer... and turned into a mindless BlobMonster[[/note]], declined. The same plot happened in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, but the Dragon said yes, saying, paraphrased, only an idiot would say no to the possibility. The friend who received Dragon's blood then exploded. So...um. [[InvertedTrope Yeah]].
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: This is a favored tactic of Dr. Leonard Samson who, as a licensed psychologist, often has insight into the inner workings of the Hulk's mind and rage. He's also used this to talk down other monsters and villains, usually while punching them at the same time.
* TameHisAnger: The Hulk tries this a lot. It doesn't work very often. Usually because his enemies won't [[LeaveMeAlone 'leave Hulk alone']].
* TanksForNothing: Tanks are nothing more than a convenient projectile to Hulk.
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: The Hulk is [[http://www.hulkmovie.com/images/hulkmash/hr121.jpg practically]] a poster child of this trope. There's a reason why YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry exists, after all. Well, at least he ''looks'' angry. Always. (Until {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s [[ExecutiveMeddling meddle]] with the franchise: [[http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hulkey-Pokey-Hulk-Dancing-Plush-Figure/9189398 does this look angry to you?]]) [[HulkSpeak Hulk can be forgiven for Hulk's constant reminders of Hulk's current mood. Hulk's mood very important to know for people around Hulk. Furthermore, Hulk not very articulate.]]
* ThereWasADoor:
** During Creator/PeterDavid's run, when he had the brains of Banner in the Hulk's body, he decides to sneak out the back way by creating a back way. Subverted in a later punch up with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, where despite being inside a fragile house, nothing is damaged. He's thrown cleanly out the front door thanks to Cap's judo skills.
** Broken subversion in ''ComicBook/EarthX'': Bruce Banner (separated from the Hulk) appears to be telling Hulk to be careful with Dr. Strange's walls. But he tells Hulk "We don't need to use a door here", apparently a typo for "We need to use a door" or "We don't need to make a door". Hulk use door anyway.
* TeachHimAnger: Bruce Banner has AesopAmnesia about this. The Hulk, of course, doesn't ''need'' to be taught anger. But the Hulk is usually considered a product of Banner's repressed rage, childhood abuse, and generally screwed-up psyche. Trying to control or get rid of the Hulk usually involves helping him with those issues, often meaning not bottling things up so much. Sometimes this results in fewer Hulk episodes, sometimes it results in a smarter Hulk, and at least once it resulted in a Banner with the Hulk's strength.[[note]]Meanwhile, Smart Hulk would sometimes transform back into Bruce Banner with Hulk's feeble mind, resulting in an unpowered Banner taking a grenade explosion untransformed while holding the firm belief of being invulnerable. The grenade won, leaving Bruce with a grenade shrapnel piece in his brain that would kill him if he ever depowered out of Smart Hulk form.[[/note]]
* TerseTalker: Surprisingly to modern audiences, the Hulk originally talked like this prior to the rising popularity of the Savage Hulk personality, speaking perfectly legible English but very gruffly. In most of his more intelligent personas, particularly the Green Scar, he often speaks like this.
* TerribleTrio: Gamma Corps: Black, a team made of three {{Distaff Counterpart}}s of Hulk villains Abomination, Zzazz and Glob; Aberration, Axon and Morras respectively.
* ThatManIsDead: The more verbal versions of the Hulk will respond to people calling him Dr. Banner with "The doctor is out."
* TheyDo: Bruce Banner and Betty Ross had a solid marriage despite everything they went through. It took her death and resurrection as [[spoiler:Red She-Hulk]] to break them up. Betty was earlier married to and divorced [[ColonelKilgore Glenn Talbot]], who was even more rabid about going after Hulk than General Ross.
* ThirdPersonPerson: The Hulk often refers to himself in the third person. DependingOnTheWriter, this is either simply primitive HulkSpeak, the Hulk being arrogant ("Hulk is strongest one there is!") or a mixture of the two. Although, this was lampshaded in the four-part story "Countdown" (when he was the Grey Hulk) and he was fighting the Leader's henchmen, one of whom talked like this. "How come these bozos always talk in third person?" he mused.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The Hulk rarely (if ever) gets his ass kicked. Or at least takes a hit powerful enough to bring him down in one go. When he does however, occasionally it depicts him transforming back into Bruce Banner.
* ThouShaltNotKill: With the exceptions of truly mindless incarnations of the character, the Hulk rarely kills anyone intentionally. Most deaths caused by his rampages are accidental and the result of property damage, that -- to be perfectly fair -- could result from most superhero battles (admittedly, the Hulk tends to cause more damage than most superheroes). Even then, deaths are fairly rare.
** The Hulk does makes exceptions for any thoroughly malevolent EldritchAbomination, OmnicidalManiac, and such, or as a very last option if too many other lives depend on it, but contrary to popular belief (due to that he loves to rumble and smashing inanimate objects), and similarly to Franchise/SpiderMan, the most heroic Hulk incarnations (including Banner, Savage Hulk, the merged version, and likely the Green Scar), are as close as the Franchise/MarvelUniverse gets, or at the very least far more so than the majority of the heroes. He really, ''really'' hates to kill, and has [[FriendTOAllLivingThings repeatedly gone into a panic or been brought to tears at times when he hasn't been able to save bystanders]]. It takes ridiculous extremes to get him to that point. Lampshaded by his son Skaar who considers him extremely "[[ARealManIsAKiller weak]]" in this respect. Of course, [[TokenEvilTeamMate Joe Fixit]] doesn't have that problem, although he seemed to avoid using lethal force during the Dale Keown run/towards the end. The Immortal Hulk likewise doesn't, being more than willing to kill if he feels it deserved.
** In one issue, where Bruce Banner admits to murdering his abusive father and making it look like an accident while defending himself, he stated that as the Hulk, [[NoEndorHolocaust he had leveled entire cities without killing a single person]]. All of this being said, it isn't clear just how much of this is intentional and how much is coincidental; in some cases the Hulk clearly intends to kill an enemy, with them happening to meet a KarmicDeath during the course of the battle.
** This is averted when it comes to the ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', who has no issue killing his enemies, having killed ArcVillain Fortean ([[DeaderThanDead twice]]).
* ThrowingOffTheDisability: In one story, Bruce Banner gets ALS and is eventually cured by Reed Richards using a complex procedure involving DNA samples taken from Brian Banner's corpse and infused into his damaged genetic structure by Ant-Man, the Hulk's transformation back into Banner infusing the new DNA into his system and healing his disease. (The issue ends with Banner BreakingTheFourthWall, saying it's Just A Story and there's no real cure for ALS, encouraging people to donate to the research to Find A Cure.)
** When Bruce Banner was in control of the Hulk during the original ''Comicbook/SecretWars1984'' he got his leg broken by Ultron. He was put into a brace by his friends, and returned to Earth he was still wearing it. When the Savage Hulk persona [[StatusQuoIsGod eventually reasserted itself]] the first thing it did was throw away the crutch Banner had been using, tear off the brace, and then proceed [[HesBack to total the Abomination as easily as he always had]].
* TinCanRobot: The Leader seem to prefer using OrganicTechnology, but he still sometimes build metal robots, which always come out looking like this.
* TooDumbToLive: The tendency for everybody in the entire Marvel Universe to go out of the way to antagonize the Hulk. Despite it being common knowledge that he is basically invincible and has unlimited strength triggered by rage everybody from [[BullyingADragon dime a dozen rent a cops with pistols to the military to even a irate fruit truck driver armed with nothing more than pepper spray whose truck the Hulk just knocked over for food decides it's a good idea to attack him with everything they've got on a near constant basis.]] This idiocy drives Hulk into his classic rages causing easily preventable massive destruction to everything in his path over and over until he decides to just take off somewhere until the next time it happens.
** Banner ''became'' the Hulk by rescuing Rick Jones from the gamma bomb testing site. What was he doing there? He was there on a ''bet'' and ignored his warning to leave.
** Whenever a superhero needs to put down the Hulk, they almost always resort to trying to out-punch him rather than using the powers Hulk can't as easily counter. Examples include Thor prioritizing slug fests over lightning, Iron Man's Hulkbuster armor mostly being very melee-focused, and Dr. Strange using the nearly infinite power of Zom to wrestle the Hulk.
* TooHappyToLive: The Hulk is not the Hulk unless he's upset. Therefore it's kind of a ForegoneConclusion that any happy relationship he is currently in will end poorly at some point in the near future.
* TokenBlackFriend:
** One of the Hulk's sidekicks in the 1970's was black teenager Jim Wilson, who like the Hulk felt estranged from society. They were reunited during the Creator/PeterDavid years in the 90's, when Jim was dying of AIDS.
** Although he was only actually around for one issue before dying, old homeless man [[MagicalNegro Crackajack Jackson]] made a huge impression on the Hulk in the 70's by teaching him to read a little bit, and just by being a genuinely loving and nonjudgmental friend. The Hulk mourned his passing for years afterward. When the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Shaper of Worlds]] briefly created a perfect world for the Hulk, one of the most heartwarming parts is the Hulk's sheer joy that Crackajack is there.
* TookALevelInBadass: Bruce Banner, following his loss of the Hulk, in Creator/GregPak's run.
** For that matter, the members of the Intelligencia all took one. The members? Red Ghost, M.O.D.O.K., Leader, Mad Thinker, and Wizard. The fact that these guys (who apart from the Leader, have become jokes in recent times) have become credible threats and being able of capturing Doom, Black Panther, Hank Pym, Beast and Reed Richards is nothing short of impressive.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Nearly every incarnation of the Hulk goes through periods where he goes from [[TheWoobie Woobie]] to JerkassWoobie to just plain {{Jerkass}}. Then again, it's The Hulk. His different personalities have different levels of jerkass. The most notable one was his Grey Hulk phase, or Mr. Fixit as he called himself. This Hulk enjoyed beating people [[BloodKnight a bit too much]] and even accepted to work as an enforcer in Vegas so he could earn money for punching people all day. His newfound intelligence allowed him to be much crueler with his foes than the classic Green Hulk ever was. For example, when attacked by the Rock and Redeemer, he took advantage of the Rock's spinning spikes attack, smashing Redeemer against said spikes and effectively killing him.
* TragicMonster: Even at his most savage, all the Hulk wants is to be left alone.
* TranquilFury:
** Lyra, who is the daughter of the Hulk from a future timeline, becomes weaker as she becomes angrier, in contrast to her father. She is at her strongest when she is calm and collected.
** One Hulk persona, "The Professor", worked on the same principle that Lyra did as a failsafe, growing weaker to the point where he'd become "The Savage Banner", a Bruce Banner with the Savage Hulk's rage and (lack of) self-control, but none of Hulk's strength or Banner's intelligence.
* TransformationIsAFreeAction: How long it takes Bruce to become the Hulk varies depending on the medium, writer and situation. Usually it takes minutes, but in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, he was able to become the Hulk in seconds [[spoiler:to spit out a bullet he had fired into his own mouth]]. It's entirely possible that the transformation speed itself depends on his anger level.
** At its most egregious, once Banner was shot in the mouth by a high caliber sniper rifle, ''but he transforms fast enough to catch the bullet with his teeth after the bullet hit him.
* TrueLoveIsBoring: Bruce and ''any'' of his wives.
** Bruce and Betty just can't be happy for long. Creator/PeterDavid did a worthy job of averting this for a while, as his wife said Betty was her favorite character, and he swore never to break them up or kill her off. After a very messy divorce between the RealLife couple however, guess [[CreatorBreakdown what he did]]. He later regretted that decision. Furthermore, Betty has subsequently come BackFromTheDead and become an [[EvilCounterpart Evil]][=/=][[DistaffCounterpart Distaff]] for Hulk and ComicBook/SheHulk. Their reunion is still ironing out some wrinkles.
** There is also the matter of The Hulk's other wives and love interests. Caiera, Jarella, Kate Waynesboro, etc. Kate Waynesboro is the only one that hasn't died at least.
** Gray Hulk (aka Joe Fixit) had his own "love interest" (though more like a [[FriendsWithBenefits Friend with Benefits]]) in Marlo Chandler. Any romance between the two ended after Marlo disapproved of Joe's brutality and cruelty, and she later married Hulk's on-again-off-again sidekick Rick Jones. This relationship ''started off'' on the wrong foot, as the feature at Rick's bachelor party was a softcore nude film Marlo had done in the past. They got married anyway, but would often separate for brief periods of time before getting together again. And then... the ''real'' weirdness started. First, Marlo began having an affair with Moondragon and briefly left Rick before Moondragon realized she'd always be second to Rick in Marlo's eyes. After that, Marlo disappeared and was transformed into the Harpy while Rick was transformed into A-Bomb. They've rarely been seen since then, but maybe now Marlo and Rick ''finally'' have a solid relationship.
* TraumaCongaLine: Bruce Banner's trauma conga line is more like trauma conga ''life''. He went from a traumatic, abused, isolated childhood right into an even more traumatic, abused, isolated adulthood, and has suffered through pretty much every misfortune and tragedy that life can throw at a person. On the rare occasions he does find a measure of peace or happiness, it never lasts and gets ripped away in the most brutal manner possible. Oh, and as of ''ComicBook/AvengersNoSurrender'' it's confirmed not even death will bring him peace.
* TrueCompanions:
** Any crew that includes The Hulk is doomed (ComicBook/TheDefenders, The Pantheon). True companions that fight him fare better, which may be why ComicBook/TheAvengers outlasted his membership in it.
* ATrueHero: Amadeus Cho has always said that he considers Hulk to be the truest hero in the Marvel Universe, because he has the most destructive, limitless power of them all and yet he somehow manages to control himself and protect innocent people despite the fact that [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood everyone, even his fellow heroes, misunderstand him at best or hate him at worst]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To his friends.
* UnfazedEveryman: Rick Jones, sidekick to the Marvel Universe. In his time, he's been partnered with the Hulk, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, two ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'s, and ComicBook/TheAvengers as a whole, and throughout most of it he's had no powers.
* UnexplainedRecovery:
** Betty Ross died of radiation poisoning from a blood transfusion by the Abomination, but her death was an illusion by Nightmare. She really washed up on a beach and was brought back to health by General Ross, but if the previous events never happened, it doesn't explain what she was recovering from.
* TheUnfettered:
** The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel version of the Hulk. In every way that Banner represses and limits himself; emotionally, sexually, socially, the Hulk has a complete lack of inhibition or limits. His only goal? Torment Banner. Banner refuses to eat meat. Hulk eats people. Banner doesn't act on his attraction to Betty Ross. Hulk keeps a harem of concubines.
** In the mainline Marvel Universe, we have the Grey Hulk, an amoral [[TheHedonist hedonist]] who had no qualms about working as an enforcer for the mob. Then there's the Maestro, a BadFuture version of the Hulk who dedicated himself to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil becoming the monster that people feared the Hulk was]]. And ironically enough, ''Bruce Banner'' turned into this during a time he was separated from the Hulk, becoming willing to do anything to get the Hulk back.
* UniquenessDecay: Over the years, many other gamma-powered powerhouses have appeared to rival the Jade Giant, including ComicBook/SheHulk, Doc Samson, The Abomination, ComicBook/RedHulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Skaar, Cosmic Hulk, and the Totally Awesome Hulk. You know, just to name a few. Worth noting, however, is that except for brief stints with TheWorfEffect, the Hulk hasn't been unseated as WorldsStrongestMan by any of them, mostly due to his uniquely-unstable mentality, which gamma power feeds from.
* UnlikelyHero: Rick Jones has elements of this. He is more of an Unlikely ''Sidekick'', though. He's just a normal guy who has ended up being the sidekick to a number of heroes from the Hulk to ComicBook/CaptainAmerica to ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}, usually because he stumbled onto the wrong place at the wrong time.
** Then he becomes a superhero of his own right as A-Bomb.
* UnskilledButStrong: The Hulk is massively strong but unskilled; after all, who needs skill when you can lift mountains?
** Hulk's skill level fluctuates almost as much as his strength. His strength is dependent on how angry he is, while his skill level is largely dependent on which of his many [[SplitPersonality multiple personalities]] is active at the moment. His default 'Hulk Smash' persona generally isn't intellectually capable of any kind of combat strategy beyond hitting things but is strong enough that it's basically futile for anything else to try and stop him in a straight fight, the grey 'Joe Fixit' Hulk compensates for his slightly lesser strength with better tactics even if he's a brawler rather than a martial artist, the Professor is more intelligent but has to restrain his anger and so could theoretically be overpowered as he can't let rip like the other Hulks, and the Green Scar of Sakaar is generally the most technically skilled fighter but isn't often released due to his other personal issues.
** In addition to his strength, the Hulk is often shown making up for his relative lack of skill with [[CombatPragmatist raw pragmatism]]. More particularly, while he's not exactly known for his finesse, the Hulk has gained a tremendous amount of experience in knowing just ''how'' to use his strength for best effect, including against those enemies he can't just smash.
* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: In issue #272, the Hulk and [=Sasquatch=] ram {{Wendigo}} [[http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/A_Flight5/TheIncredibleHulkv2-272-21.jpg using downed trees, with Wendigo in the middle]].
-->The Wendigo becomes the immovable force between two irresistable objects.
** This phrase is more overused in The Hulk than anywhere else. Whenever the writers want [[strike:belabor]] to impress that an opponent is a serious physical challenge to Hulk, they will be one of these, and Hulk will be the other.
* UnstoppableRage: The Hulk is the poster boy in every incarnation and medium, as his strength is fueled by rage. "The longer Hulk fight, the madder Hulk get! The madder Hulk get, the stronger Hulk get!" Subverted in that, again partially due to the issues with his dad, both Hulk and Banner are constantly terrified of accidentally hurting any innocent or defenseless "little people", especially children. Being put in a situation wherein he has to, or does so unintentionally, as with Hiro-Kala, is one of the worst things that can happen to him. Inanimate objects and seriously evil people who can take the punishment, on the other hand, are perfectly fair go.
** Beneath her calmer exterior, Betty is nearly as repressed as her husband. When she turns into Red She-Hulk all that rage finally gets an outlet.
* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: Hulk and Red Hulk (and Ultimate Hulk vs. Ultimate Abomination): Both are supposed to be 'improved' versions of The Hulk (among other things because they retain their full personality while Hulk is his typical "Hulk Smash!" self). Unfortunately, all of those improvements cannot really factor in that Hulk is just gonna get madder and more dogged to win such a situation... and eventually he's gonna get mad enough to be able to smash them flat, superior intelligence, battle tactics and powers be damned.
-->Ultimate Hulk as he rips Ultimate Abomination's head off: "You think too much!"
* VillainessesWantHeroes: Umar considers the Hulk extremely attractive, to the point of sleeping with him in one notable Giffen / [=DeMatteis=] Defenders miniseries. In this case Hulk... enjoyed himself so much that not only did he revert to puny Banner, but ''Umar couldn't torture Banner into turning back''. In a later issue, she appears to scoop up an out-of-control Hulk, super-charged by a reality-warping device, for an inter-dimensional booty-call. When the Red She-Hulk objected, Umar brought her along as well. Apparently, she thought that level of power, and the extra partner, would give them enough stamina to make for an interesting evening (by comparison, she wiped out the Hulk in their first encounter in under six minutes). [[BlueandOrangeMorality She saved the Earth, unintentionally, in the pursuit of really vigorous sex.]]
** [[EvilutionaryBiologist Monica Rappaccini]] was also interested at one point.
* VillainousFriendship: The Leader and The Abomination, who became friends through their mutual hatred of the Hulk. The Leader was even upset when the ComicBook/RedHulk killed The Abomination.
* VillainProtagonist: Truly Mindless Byrne Hulk, physically separated from Banner: An unconsciously mass-murdering force of destruction, with only the body remaining, and the Hulk himself literally not responsible for its actions. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Joe Fixit]] probably also qualified for a while.
* VillainTeamUp:
** A 1960's comic had the Mandarin team up with the Sandman. It ended with Mandarin sending the Sandman into a molten vat turning him to glass.
** There is the Intelligencia, a super villain team made of {{Mad Scientist}}s. So far they've managed to avoid infighting. In fact, they've been able to work perfectly as a unit. Not only that, but they apparently worked together for years, and various instances when they fought each other were retconned to be set-up so nobody would suspect a thing.
* VillainousCrush: Umar, ComicBook/DoctorStrange villainess and sister to [[GodOfEvil Dormammu]] has a huge crush on the Hulk. [[BlackComedyRape She actually kept him as her love-slave for a while,]] [[FanonDiscontinuity but why don't we just pretend that was fanfiction?]] [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/prev_img.php?pid=9307&pg=3 They've been reunited since.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: Although his friendships with other Marvel heroes come and go depending on who's blaming who for what at that point in time, this is as tolerant as he gets with anyone he views as a friend. Rick Jones and Betty Ross/Banner are about the only exceptions.
** The Hulk and ComicBook/SpiderMan. Their team-ups always start off as hostile, Hulk often finds Spider-Man very annoying, and Spidey obviously doesn't approve of Hulk smashing up New York. But after many encounters, they warm to each and Hulk starts saying "[[AffectionateNickname Bug-Man]] is Hulk's Friend", in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984''. In other comics, Hulk even lets Spider-Man take a [[ShoulderTeammate ride on his shoulders]].
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Hulk developed the ability to do this at one point in the early 1980s when Bruce Banner had taken complete control of the Hulk's form. While he normally stayed in his basic human body, Banner could transform himself into the Hulk at will and retained full control of his body while doing so. The emotionally reserved Banner couldn't get as angry as any of the actual Hulk personalities and so wasn't as strong, but he made up for it by using his scientific smarts to fight as a GeniusBruiser.
*** There is also his "Joe Fixit" personality, where he would be Bruce Banner by day, and "Mr. Fixit" Hulk by night.
*** The later "integrated" version of the Hulk (originally intended to be all of Banner/Hulk's personae combined into a functional whole, later [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] to yet another split personality) reversed this to a degree. Having control over his emotions and physical power, he stayed as the Hulk full-time, not reverting to "normal" even when sleeping or knocked out. However, when his mental control eventually began to slip, and the savage, destructive Hulk persona re-emerged, he would revert to human form as a sort of "safety valve", with the rampaging Hulk's mind stuck in the body of Bruce Banner and thus incapable of large-scale destruction.
*** Both ComicBook/SheHulk and ComicBook/RedHulk are typically able to control their transformations.
* WalkingDisasterArea: The Hulk's basically the equivalent of dropping a nuke wherever he transforms. Obviously most of the time [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom it's not his fault]] and the military are also to blame for some of the destruction, but it's nevertheless not a good idea to be near Hulk. [[YouWontLikeMeWhenImAngry Especially if you're the one who pissed him off.]]
* WalkingShirtlessScene: The Hulk. Not Bruce Banner, though.
* TheWallAroundTheWorld: The Hulk occasionally visited the [[ComicBook/RocketRaccoon Keystone Quadrant]] in his old comic-book series... basically a solar-system (possibly more than one) which was somehow 'walled off' from the rest of the universe, it could only be entered and exited through various types of teleportation. It was basically a SugarBowl without the sugar - populated by funny talking animals and hilariously incompetent Keystone Kops... and caught up in a long war between a MadScientist tortoise and his cybernetically-enhanced Black Bunny Brigade (not to mention a small army of robotic [[MonsterClown Monster Clowns]]), and the heroic Animal Resistance, led by a fast-talking Raccoon space-captain.
* WarriorTherapist: Dr. Leonard Samson, who treats Bruce Banner, [[Comicbook/XMen X-Factor]] and the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, and is gamma-powered himself without turning into a mindless freak.
** Since TalkingIsAFreeAction in comic books his fights with the Hulk are multiple-page slugfests with psychological analysis often being spouted the whole time.
* WatchingTheReflectionUndress: In one of the ''Hulk Magazine'' comics, a wandering Bruce Banner is accidentally splashed with water by a woman. She apologizes and makes him come inside and gives him some clothes to change into. Since he is in a hurry, she tells him that he can change in the room, and [[BlatantLies that she won't peek]]. She turns around and then secretly pulls out a hand-mirror, [[EatingTheEyeCandy clearly enjoying the show]].
* WeakButSkilled:
** Hideko Takata was a member of the [[CapeBusters Hulkbusters]] in the late 1980s. She's a normal, overweight, middle-aged woman, who managed to ''throw the Hulk to the ground,'' by expert use of judo.
** A variation of this applies to the "Professor" incarnation of the Hulk; one of Bruce Banner's many split personalities, the Professor Hulk is essentially Bruce Banner's mind in control of the Hulk's body. In terms of his raw strength, the Professor has the greatest base level strength of any of the Hulks, but due to psychic failsafes created after he became active, if he gets angry he will revert to "Savage Banner", a persona where the enraged mind of the Savage Hulk is in control of Bruce Banner's body. As a result, while the Professor is the smarter known Hulk persona, he lacks the Hulk's ability to get stronger as he gets angrier, putting a limit on how strong he actually is.
* WeaponizedLandmark: A 1971 story had Art/TheSphinx being [[AncientAstronauts left behind by aliens]] as a weapon.
* WeirdnessMagnet: The Hulk is this, especially in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Ages.]] Even when he had successfully eluded the military and anyone else who might be chasing him, he would inevitably just blunder into a landing alien spaceship, or try to take a nap in a cave and discover it's a supervillain's hideout, or try to find privacy on a desert island only to find it's full of monsters, etc... when all the poor lug really wants is some peace and quiet.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The "merged Hulk" was an extremely light version, with the best of dedicated altruistic aims, kept relatively very clean and non-extreme in his methods, and having much greater positive than negative effects, to the degree that it is highly arguable whether he was in the right or not. A major story arc during the era involved him joining (and eventually leading) the Pantheon, an organization of good-will that spent their time researching cancer cures and invading countries to depose cruel dictators. During this period, the Hulk got into conflict with other heroes not just because of his anger issues, but also because of conflicting moral outlooks.
* WhamLine:
** ''The Incredible Hulk #600'': "The Good Doctor is out. The Bad Doctor is in."
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk #16'': "I ain't Bruce." [[CloseOnTitle It's Joe.]]
* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: There was the Pantheon, a group that used Greek-themes names (such as Ulysses, Ajax or Atalanta). One of them, who was [[NighInvulnerability nigh invulnerable]], called himself "Achilles". Then he met Hulk, and discovered that he was vulnerable to low-level Gamma Radiation, which makes him loose his invulnerability. He was very pissed off at the idea of having a weakness. Who would have ever thought about [[AchillesHeel Achilles having a weak point?]]
* WildCard: Kind of played with in the case of the Hulk, as he genuinely is a good guy, but whether you're a good guy or a bad guy, if you do something he views as a betrayal or an attempt to hurt or hound him, it doesn't end well.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The gamma bomb gave Bruce Banner huge power and exacerbated his multiple personality syndrome. Plus, the madder he gets, the stronger he becomes.
** Interestingly for gamma ray mutants, what happens to the subject's mind depends on what part of their personality they had dissociated themselves from. Banner suppressed the rage that came from being abused as a child, ComicBook/SheHulk suppressed [[MsFanservice her sexuality]], Doc Samson suppressed his desire to be a hero,
* TheWhyWaitCombatant: never been one to stand on ceremony. Once the Hulk determines that someone is an adversary, the closest he comes to hesitation is to deliver his Battle Cry "Hulk smash!" before pounding the bejesus out of his opponent. The Tao of Hulk is essentially "Hitting solves everything."
* WorldsStrongestMan: The Hulk's ''potential'' strength is theoretically unlimited, making him the Franchise/MarvelUniverse's strongest character. [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk Green]] [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk Scar]] in particular is the strongest version of the Hulk. WordOfGod is that the Green Scar Hulk is "stronger than any mortal and most immortals in the Marvel Universe." So he is literally the strongest man; anyone stronger than him is at least a PhysicalGod, and he's stronger than most of those as the only heroes who were able to challenge the Hulk in Green Scar form were the Sentry (see below), ComicBook/TheMightyThor (in a "ComicBook/WhatIf" when he beat the Sentry to New York) and ComicBook/GhostRider (who only came to reason with the Hulk and never attacked since Hulk was not guilty). Devil Hulk (the Hulk incarnation who stars in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'') is on the cusp of this trope now, [[spoiler:given he [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeated]] [[TheAntiGod The One Below All]] (the counterpart to [[{{God}} The One Above All]]) ''with one ShockwaveClap'', though he admitted it only bought the protagonists a minute's breathing space to escape it. The last issue in the run outright confirms Hulk as the strongest character in Marvel as it turns out he's actually a direct creation/"child" of The One Above All meant the serve as the "counterweight" to creation by being [[DestroyerDeity the embodiment of destruction]]. Likewise, the reveal that The One Below All is actually the SuperPoweredEvilSide to The One Above All makes Hulk's aforementioned thunderclapping of the deity even more impressive given he essentially blow away the creator of everything.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: Your gender doesn't matter to the Hulk. If you're presenting yourself as an opponent or if you piss him off, you'll get what's coming to you. Just ask [[PowerIncontinence Va]][[PsychoForHire por]], [[TheVamp Moon]][[ManipulativeBastard stone]], [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident M]][[{{UsefulNotes/Suicide}} e]][[BizarreAlienBiology r]][[NinjaPirateZombieRobot c]][[DependingOnTheWriter y]], or [[DoubleAgent Ani]][[GenderBender mus]]! There are times when even She-Hulk has found out the hard way.
** Subverted against Selene. The Black Queen offered him to join the Hellfire Club in her service. And even though the Hulk could have just smacked her away (a supremely powerful immortal like Selene wouldn't have suffered much), after a brief battle, he just pulled a mix of ShamefulStrip and DefeatByModesty by removing her cape to turn the offer down.
* YouAreTooLate: The "Ground Zero" storyline of Peter David's run. Hulk finds a Gamma Bomb planted in the middle of a small town by the Leader. He fights off the Leader's guards, and is about to disable the bomb--when it blows up.
* YouNoTakeCandle: The Hulk, though he doesn't do as much talking as most other incarnations. Count on at least one of the people he's trying to "Hulk Smash" at the moment to tell him third-person speaking is a sign of conceit.
** This is parodied frequently in ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre''. "...You know Hulk's grasp of language tenuous at best."
* YouWakeUpInARoom: Parodied in one issue, when Amadeus Cho solves a logic puzzle involving this trope by replying that if there is "nothing in the room" then he is not in the room either.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: The {{Trope Namer|s}}. Bruce Banner uses this line to warn people of his HulkingOut ability. [[TemptingFate It doesn't always work.]]
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Skaar, The Hulk's son. He looks like an adult in Hulk form, a teenager when in 'human' form, but in actual fact is only a couple of years old, thanks in part to his mother being an alien with an accelerated aging rate. His twin, Hiro-Kala, looks like a young teen.
* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: Bruce Banner became the Hulk because Rick Jones accepted a dare to drive onto a ''[[TooDumbToLive nuclear testing site.]]'' To his credit, Rick has spent a good chunk of the rest of his life trying to make it up to Bruce as best he can.

!!!''Hulk'' original and ongoing series

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1962

[[folder:Tales to Astonish]]
-> See ComicBook/TalesToAstonish

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 1]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk1999

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 2]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2008

[[folder:The Incredible Hulks]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulks

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk Vol. 3]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk2011

[[folder:Indestructible Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/IndestructibleHulk

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 3]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2014

[[folder:The Totally Awesome Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 4]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2016

[[folder:The Immortal Hulk]]
-> See ComicBook/ImmortalHulk

[[folder:Hulk Vol. 5]]
-> See ComicBook/Hulk2021

[[folder:Skaar: Son of Hulk]]
* AntiVillain: Axeman Bone may be a brutal warrior but, as he makes a point of expressing, at least he knows what he's doing (trying to unite his people and re-establish formal society on Sakaar) and when to stop, unlike the aimless and animalistic Skaar.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Batman vs The Incredible Hulk]]
* BlindAndTheBeast: An old blind tramp who looks a lot like Creator/StanLee advises the Hulk that maybe puny humans would stop trying to hurt him if he showed a little kindness. Hulk thinks he's right. [[spoiler:{{Subverted| trope}} when the tramp is actually a disguised Batman, who needs the Hulk to go with the Joker ([[{{it makes sense in context}} long story]]).]]
* BoringInsult: The [[RealityWarper Shaper of Worlds]] gives Joker some of his power, allowing Joker to re-shape the world with his imagination. Batman soon accuses Joker of being uncreative, to which Joker begins re-shaping the world in more chaotic ways, eventually straining his mind to the breaking point.
* DealWithTheDevil: The Shaper of Worlds makes one with ComicBook/TheJoker.
* InsultOfEndearment: Pointy Ears for Batman
* KnockoutGas: Batman uses knockout gas on Ol' Greenskin.
* UnexpectedCharacter: The Shaper of Worlds, a RealityWarper born from a Skrull Cosmic Cube, is the villian of the crossover.
* StealthHiBye: Bruce Banner actually pulls this on Commissioner Gordon. Gordon seems to inspire this from ''everyone''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Incredible Hulk vs Superman]]
-> See ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkVsSuperman

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Annuals]]
* FatBastard: In ''The Incredible Hulk Annual'' #14, the villain of the story is St John Hubert, a rich man so morbidly obese he needs crutches to walk. He's been stalking the Hulk and experimenting with gamma mutation in a vain attempt to improve his health. He succeeds in inducing a gamma mutation but just becomes an even ''larger'' blob of man so heavy he dents the hull of the ship he's standing on. He also ends up dying anyway, like the rest of his test subjects.
* WaterSourceTampering: ''The Incredible Hulk Annual'' #11 focused on the Leader trying to turn all of Earth into gamma beings.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'':

* Nephewism: The only known relative of Rick Jones is his aunt. Also, although she is rarely brought up, a few stories and adaptations mention Bruce being partially raised by his aunt after his father kills his mother (and eventually gets arrested for it.)

* ChaoticGood: The Hulk practically embodies this trope; he is a force for good at almost all times, but is almost completely unpredictable and wants to be left alone. (DependingOnTheWriter, though, he sometimes enters ChaoticNeutral territory.)
* ChaoticNeutral: The Hulk arguably fits in here. Sure, he'll go AxCrazy if you make him mad, and he'll cause tremendous amounts of damage in the process, but a lot of the time he '''does''' go crazy, it's because one of his enemies pushed him too far. He's capable of showing a certain amount of empathy and friendship in rare cases, and rarely seeks to hurt people or try and use his power for personal gain... but God help you if you provoke him.

* FlipFlopOfGod: Marvel goes back and forth over whether or not the Hulk has ever accidentally killed someone during his city destroying rampages. This led to a notable {{Retcon}} at least once; the Hulk was sent into space for the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' storyline because a fight between him and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Thing]] inadvertently caused the deaths of over twenty people. This was later retconned into severe injuries, which made the whole "shoot him into space" thing into retroactive DisproportionateRetribution.

* SerendipityWritesThePlot:
** The Hulk was originally colored grey. However, the printing technology of the time kept turning him green. Over time, Creator/StanLee decided to keep green as the Hulk's signature color.
** Early in the Hulk's adventures, Lee would frequently alternate between calling the Hulk's SecretIdentity "Bob Banner" and "Bruce Banner". When informed of this mistake by fans, Lee decided to establish that [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Banner's full name was Robert Bruce Banner]].
** As noted above, when Hulk was first introduced in 1962, the writers at Creator/MarvelComics struggled with many aspects of his characterization and visual appearance before eventually settling on his now-iconic portrayal as a misunderstood green-skinned monster with child-like intelligence who appears whenever Bruce Banner gets angry. As a result, in his earliest appearances, the Hulk was a brutish ''grey''-skinned monster with roughly normal intelligence who appeared when the sun went down. Years down the line, the writers decided to explain the discrepancy by retroactively declaring that the "Grey Hulk" was actually a different character from the more iconic "Savage Hulk", and his consciousness came from a different aspect of Bruce Banner's shattered psyche. Later, other writers further explored this aspect of the character by toying with the idea that there are even ''more'' incarnations of the Hulk, each with its own slightly different personality. This resulted in some of the most popular and acclaimed stories in the character's history, like ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' (starring his "Green Scar" persona) and ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' (starring his "Devil Hulk" persona).

* CantUnHearIt:
** For many, Creator/LouFerrigno ''is'' the Hulk.
** For those who heavily admire ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' over the Marvel Cinematic Universe tend to hear Creator/EricBana as Bruce Banner, Creator/JenniferConnelly as Betty Ross, Creator/NickNolte as Brian Banner and Creator/SamElliott as General Ross.
** For General "Thunderbolt" Ross, there's the aforementioned Sam Elliott, Creator/WilliamHurt (the MCU), or Creator/ClancyBrown (the WesternAnimation/MarvelUniverse shows), either as Ross as himself or as the ComicBook/RedHulk.
*** For fans of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' they tend to hear either Creator/EdwardNorton or Creator/MarkRuffalo as Bruce Banner, depending on if they liked the 2008 ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' or not.

* DamselScrappy: Rick Jones was this from his first appearance, in which he stupidly drove out into an active military testing site, causeing Bruce Banner being subjected to Gamma radiation while saving him, turning him into the Hulk. This tendancy tends to annoy the Hulk, especially during his grey, intelligent phases, and is lampshaded by Rick himself in one issue where he manages to beat his captor and escape on his own.

* EscapistCharacter: The Hulk is a mix between ThisLoserIsYou and this. Most people can relate to feeling like poor, downtrodden Bruce Banner at least once in their life and he can provide wish fulfillment by turning into an unstoppable rage monster that can curbstomp almost anything that pisses him off. Less so in later storylines, as his Hulk persona wrecked his personal and professional life.

* GenreTurningPoint: The Hulk got a lot of attention as an ambiguous hero who was neither entirely a superhero nor entirely a monster, and his series pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code Authority by depicting the United States military as antagonists (the Code stipulated that comic books couldn't portray respected organizations in a negative light). With his anger, his inherently flawed nature, and his troubled relationship with authority figures, he also went on to become a counterculture icon, showing the potential for superheroes to act as a voice for the youth.

* InferredHolocaust: Although the Hulk is ostensibly a hero, many of his UnstoppableRage rampages have caused enormous and widespread destruction, which raises the question of exactly how many innocents have lost their lives as collateral damage. As it stands, only a single Hulk rampage (Incredible Hulk #300, which in Hulk's defense, was the result of Hulk being {{Mind Rape}}d by Nightmare, and all of Earth's heroes knew this) led to deaths (the number varies but as of ''Civil War'', the count is 26 dead men and women and one dog). Lampshading this is Amadeus Cho hypothesizing that the lack of carnage in every other Hulk rampage save the one from Hulk #300 is because [[NoEndorHolocaust underneath it all, the Hulk still retains Banner's super-math skills, maybe even to a greater degree than Banner, and so he's able to predict the trajectory of all the debris he sends flying and make sure it never hits anybody (Cho himself has a similar ability to instantly calculate trajectories)]]. Even so, the Hulk's rampages still ruin people's lives, as shown by Jackie [=McGee's=] backstory in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' -- her father worked himself to death trying to rebuild their lives after the Hulk destroyed their neighborhood. How many more like Jackie's father the Hulk's left in his wake is unknown, and probably unknowable.

* IronWoobie:'' Bruce Banner was abused as a child, turned into a green monster, endured the death of ''three'' wives, chased around the world by the Army, shot into space, enslaved by an alien empire, loses the empire once he conquers it, has his RoaringRampageOfRevenge crushed by a HeelRealization, and fails to save one of his troubled sons. Man it ''SUCKS'' to be a big green badass.
** How bad does Banner's life suck? In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' one issue of the series draws direct parallels between Bruce and Job. You know, the guy in Literature/TheBible whose life God absolutely and completely destroyed (Home destroyed, livelihood destroyed, family destroyed, riddled with ailments, etc.) as a test proposed by Satan to prove Job's loyalty to God was not bought. Yes, Bruce's life is so awful and absolutely f*#@ed that he can be compared to a guy who is the posterchild for human misery and being a CosmicChewToy.
** And, oddly enough, the Hulk himself, as depicted in ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd''.
--->'''Hulk''': [[spoiler: For years... forever... Hulk has listened to Banner, and Banner's friends, talking about how Hulk ruined Banner's life! Hulk made Banner's life! Banner was nothing before Hulk... nothing!...Hulk doesn't want friends, because friends will hurt him. Everyone hurts him. Everyone hurts Hulk.]]

* MisaimedMarketing: A children's book series has Hulk going around making friends and helping people. He's never angry and always huge and green. A sweet, [[TheVoiceless silent]] guy.

* MyRealDaddy: Creator/PeterDavid gets this with the Hulk, adding a lot of depth and characterization to Bruce Banner and other supporting characters.

* NeverLiveItDown: Umar will, understandably, never live down the fact she once raped the Hulk. It doesn't help that this instance was played for laughs when Hulk had been the victim of both an attempted ''and'' a successful rape before, and they were rightfully shown to be the horrible, traumatizing events they were.

* {{Woobie}}: Bruce Banner has to be one of the most unfortunate people ever born, even before the gamma bomb accident. His father was a [[AbusiveParents physically and verbally abusive alcoholic]] who was convinced that he was a "monster" just because he was so intelligent, from an early age, eventually murdered his mother right before his eyes by repeatedly smashing her head on the ground, and then browbeat him into not testifying against him in court otherwise he would go to hell; he repressed his emotions in order to avoid being like his father, which caused him to develop [[SplitPersonality Multiple Personality Disorder]]; he was picked on and beaten up in school, he took his father in after he was released from a mental institution, only to end up accidentally killing him in self-defence when dear ol' dad reverted to type (he repressed the memory of this for years), and the father of the woman he was falling in love with considered him a milksop. Since becoming the Hulk, he's been constantly harassed and hounded by the military, superheroes, and supervillains, accused of treason, imprisoned, tortured, exploited, and had to spend years on the run from the authorities. Whenever things look like they're looking up for him, his world always gets ripped apart. Brutally. And people wonder what the Hulk's problem is...

* DubPronunciationChange: Hulk is usually pronounced "Hoolk" in Italian dubs.