The Incredible Hulk / Tropes T to Z

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T

• Take That!: During the nineties period, somebody gave the Hulk a fin to wear on his head that resembled The Savage Dragon'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 Peter David and Erik Larsen. In the 90's, Larsen wrote a Sinister Six story where Doctor Octopus 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 Curb-Stomp Battle and effortlessly humiliated him without even trying. Hulk then explained that last time they fought, he only lost because he was holding back. The issue also mocked Larsen and the other Marvel creators who left to form Image Comics.
    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 She-Hulk, there was also a guy who tried to take a Hulk-blood transfusion to cure his cancer... and turned into a mindless Blob Monster, 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. Yeah.
• Talking the Monster to Death: 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.
• Tame His Anger: The Hulk tries this a lot. It doesn't work very often. Usually because his enemies won't 'leave Hulk alone'.
• Tanks for Nothing: Tanks are nothing more than a convenient projectile to Hulk.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: The Hulk is practically◊ a poster child of this trope. There's a reason why You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry! exists, after all. Well, at least he looks angry. Always. (Until Corrupt Corporate Executives meddle with the franchise: does this look angry to you?) 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.
• There Was a Door:
  • During Peter David'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 Captain America, 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 Earth X: 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.
• Teach Him Anger: Bruce Banner has Aesop Amnesia 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.
• Terse Talker: 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.
• Terrible Trio: Gamma Corps: Black, a team made of three Distaff Counterparts of Hulk villains Abomination, Zzazz and Glob; Aberration, Axon and Morras respectively.
• That Man Is Dead: The more verbal versions of the Hulk will respond to people calling him Dr. Banner with "The doctor is out."
• Third-Person Person: The Hulk often refers to himself in the third person. Depending on the Writer, this is either simply primitive Hulk Speak, 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.
• This Was His True Form: 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.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: 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 Eldritch Abomination, Omnicidal Maniac, 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 Spider-Man, the most heroic Hulk incarnations (including Banner, Savage Hulk, the merged version, and likely the Green Scar), are as close as the Marvel Universe gets, or at the very least far more so than the majority of the heroes. He really, really hates to kill, and has 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 "weak" in this respect. Of course, 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, 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 Karmic Death during the course of the battle.
  • This is averted when it comes to the Immortal Hulk, who has no issue killing his enemies, having killed Arc Villain Fortean (twice).
• Throwing Off the Disability: 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 Breaking the Fourth Wall, 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 Secret Wars (1984) 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 eventually reasserted itself the first thing it did was throw away the crutch Banner had been using, tear off the brace, and then proceed to total the Abomination as easily as he always had.
• Tin-Can Robot: The Leader seem to prefer using Organic Technology, but he still sometimes build metal robots, which always come out looking like this.
• Too Dumb to Live: 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 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.
• Too Happy to Live: The Hulk is not the Hulk unless he's upset. Therefore it's kind of a Foregone Conclusion that any happy relationship he is currently in will end poorly at some point in the near future.
• Token Black Friend:
  • 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 Peter David 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 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 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.
• Took a Level in Badass: Bruce Banner, following his loss of the Hulk, in Greg Pak'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.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Nearly every incarnation of the Hulk goes through periods where he goes from Woobie to Jerkass Woobie 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 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.
• Tragic Monster: Even at his most savage, all the Hulk wants is to be left alone.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • 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.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: How long it takes Bruce to become the Hulk varies depending on the medium, writer and situation. Usually it takes minutes, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was able to become the Hulk in seconds 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.
• True Love Is Boring: Bruce and any of his wives.
  • Bruce and Betty just can't be happy for long. Peter David 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 Real Life couple however, guess what he did. He later regretted that decision. Furthermore, Betty has subsequently come Back from the Dead and become an Evil/Distaff for Hulk and She-Hulk. 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 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.
• Trauma Conga Line: 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 Avengers: No Surrender it's confirmed not even death will bring him peace.
• True Companions:
  • Any crew that includes The Hulk is doomed (The Defenders, The Pantheon). True companions that fight him fare better, which may be why The Avengers outlasted his membership in it.
• A True Hero: 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 everyone, even his fellow heroes, misunderstand him at best or hate him at worst.

U

• Undying Loyalty: To his friends. If the Hulk considers someone an ally, he’ll do everything in his power to protect them.
• Unfazed Everyman: Rick Jones, sidekick to the Marvel Universe. In his time, he's been partnered with the Hulk, Captain America, two Captain Marvel's, and The Avengers as a whole, and throughout most of it he's had no powers.
• Unexplained Recovery:
  • 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.
• The Unfettered:
  • The Ultimate Marvel 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 hedonist who had no qualms about working as an enforcer for the mob. Then there's the Maestro, a Bad Future version of the Hulk who dedicated himself to 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.
• Uniqueness Decay: Over the years, many other gamma-powered powerhouses have appeared to rival the Jade Giant, including She-Hulk, Doc Samson, The Abomination, Red Hulk, 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 The Worf Effect, the Hulk hasn't been unseated as World's Strongest Man by any of them, mostly due to his uniquely-unstable mentality, which gamma power feeds from.
• Unlikely Hero: 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 Captain America to Captain Marvel, usually because he stumbled onto the wrong place at the wrong time.
  • Then he becomes a superhero of his own right as A-Bomb.
• Unskilled, but Strong: 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 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 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.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: In issue #272, the Hulk and Sasquatch ram Wendigo 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 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.
• Unstoppable Rage: 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.
• Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: 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!"

V

• Villainesses Want Heroes: 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). She saved the Earth, unintentionally, in the pursuit of really vigorous sex.
  • Monica Rappaccini was also interested at one point.
• Villainous Friendship: The Leader and The Abomination, who became friends through their mutual hatred of the Hulk. The Leader was even upset when the Red Hulk killed The Abomination.
• Villain Protagonist: 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. Joe Fixit probably also qualified for a while.
• Villain Team-Up:
  • 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 Scientists. 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.
• Villainous Crush: Umar, Doctor Strange villainess and sister to Dormammu has a huge crush on the Hulk. She actually kept him as her love-slave for a while, but why don't we just pretend that was fanfiction? They've been reunited since.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: 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 Spider-Man. 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 "Bug-Man is Hulk's Friend", in Secret Wars (1984). In other comics, Hulk even lets Spider-Man take a ride on his shoulders.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: 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 Genius Bruiser.

  • 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 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 She-Hulk and Red Hulk are typically able to control their transformations.

W

• Walking Disaster Area: The Hulk's basically the equivalent of dropping a nuke wherever he transforms. Obviously most of the time 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. Especially if you're the one who pissed him off.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: The Hulk. Not Bruce Banner, though.
• The Wall Around the World: The Hulk occasionally visited the 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 Sugar Bowl without the sugar - populated by funny talking animals and hilariously incompetent Keystone Kops... and caught up in a long war between a Mad Scientist tortoise and his cybernetically-enhanced Black Bunny Brigade (not to mention a small army of robotic Monster Clowns), and the heroic Animal Resistance, led by a fast-talking Raccoon space-captain.
• Warrior Therapist: Dr. Leonard Samson, who treats Bruce Banner, X-Factor, and the Thunderbolts, and is gamma-powered himself without turning into a mindless freak.
  • Since Talking Is a Free Action in comic books his fights with the Hulk are multiple-page slugfests with psychological analysis often being spouted the whole time.
• Watching the Reflection Undress: 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 that she won't peek. She turns around and then secretly pulls out a hand-mirror, clearly enjoying the show.
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • Hideko Takata was a member of the 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.
• Weaponized Landmark: A 1971 story had The Sphinx being left behind by aliens as a weapon.
• Weirdness Magnet: The Hulk is this, especially in the Silver and 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.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: 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.
• Wham Line:
  • The Incredible Hulk #600: "The Good Doctor is out. The Bad Doctor is in."
  • Immortal Hulk #16: "I ain't Bruce." It's Joe.
• What Did You Expect When You Named It ____?: There was the Pantheon, a group that used Greek-themes names (such as Ulysses, Ajax or Atalanta). One of them, who was 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 Achilles having a weak point?
• Wild Card: 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.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: 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, She-Hulk suppressed her sexuality, Doc Samson suppressed his desire to be a hero,
• The "Why Wait?" Combatant: 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."
• World's Strongest Man: The Hulk's potential strength is theoretically unlimited, making him the Marvel Universe's strongest character. Green Scar in particular is the strongest version of the Hulk. Word of God 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 Physical God, 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), The Mighty Thor (in a "What If?" when he beat the Sentry to New York) and Ghost Rider (who only came to reason with the Hulk and never attacked since Hulk was not guilty). Devil Hulk (the Hulk incarnation who stars in Immortal Hulk) is on the cusp of this trope now, given he defeated The One Below All (the counterpart to The One Above All) with one Shockwave Clap, 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 the embodiment of destruction. Likewise, the reveal that The One Below All is actually the Superpowered Evil Side 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.
• Would Hit a Girl: 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 Vapor, Moonstone, Mercy, or Animus! 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 Shameful Strip and Defeat by Modesty by removing her cape to turn the offer down.

X

Y

• You Are Too Late: 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.
• You No Take Candle: 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 Twisted Toyfare Theatre. "...You know Hulk's grasp of language tenuous at best."
• You Wake Up in a Room: 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.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: The Trope Namer. Bruce Banner uses this line to warn people of his Hulking Out ability. It doesn't always work.
• Younger Than They Look: 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.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Bruce Banner became the Hulk because Rick Jones accepted a dare to drive onto a 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.

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