With Bruce Banner's MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder), his rage-fueled alter-ego, The Hulk, has gone through several changes in personality and appearance, from having child-like behavior to having a genius-level intellect, and from being gray-skinned to his more famous green tint. Which is your favorite
Hulk Incarnation? (
*Note: I just did the CORE / more well known incarnations. I know there's more, but feel free to share yours if its not listed.)
GRAY HULK / JOE FIXIT: First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
The Gray Hulk (though possibly not the original) worked for a time as a Las Vegas enforcer called "Joe Fixit". The Gray Hulk has average intelligence, although he occasionally displays knowledge and intellectual ability normally associated with Banner. He is cunning, crafty, hedonistic, arrogant, and distant, with a hidden conscience. In most of his Las Vegas appearances, he appears only at night. According to the Leader, the Gray Hulk persona is strongest during the night of the new moon and weakest during the full moon. This aversion to sun/moon light vanished when the Gray Hulk's night-induced transformation trigger was later removed. Although he is the smallest of the Hulks, the Gray Hulk towers over the average human. He prefers to dress in tailored suits. Joe Fixit's base strength level is also the lowest of the three primary Hulk incarnations. While in a functionally calm emotional state, Joe Fixit is able to lift about 70 tons.
SAVAGE HULK First Appearance: (in green color) Incredible Hulk #2, (as Savage Hulk) Tales to Astonish #60
The Savage Hulk is the most common version of the Hulk, though it possesses the mental capacity and temperament of a young child and typically refers to himself in the third person. He often claims that he wants to be left alone. The Savage Hulk is usually depicted as green-skinned and heavily-muscled with a loping, ape-like gait. While in a functionally calm emotional state, or at least as calm as the Hulk can be, the Savage Hulk is capable of lifting about 90 tons. When angry, however, he is capable of lifting well over 100 tons, with the potential for limitless strength, depending on the height of his temper.
MERGED HULK / THE PROFESSOR First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #377
The Merged Hulk was once believed to be the merger of Banner and the Savage and Gray Hulks. The Merged Hulk was later discovered to be The Professor. The Professor, rather than being a merger of the three core personalities, was actually a fourth, separate personality that represented Banner's ideal self. The Merged Hulk was an associate and leader of the team of superheroes called the Pantheon. Despite his exaggerated musculature, the Merged Hulk had a relatively normal looking face, resembling that of Banner. The Professor is the largest of the three primary Hulk incarnations and he also possesses a higher base strength level. While in a calm emotional state, the Professor is capable of lifting about 100 tons. However, unlike the other Hulk incarnations, Bruce Banner subconsciously installed a type of safeguard within the Professor. When the Professor's anger reaches a certain level, he will transform back into Bruce Banner, though with the mind and personality of the Savage Hulk. Due to this safeguard, the Professor is ultimately the weakest of the three primary Hulk incarnations despite being the physically largest.
Incredible Hulk vol.2 #401
The Maestro is a version of the Hulk from a future timeline when he has conquered mankind after it had already been brought to the brink of extinction through nuclear warfare. The Maestro's green skin is darker than that of the other green skinned incarnations, and his hair is gray and balding on top. Due to the increased radiation from nuclear fall-out, the Maestro is significantly stronger than the Merged Hulk (as demonstrated in the "Hulk: Future Imperfect" mini-series), and his strength still increases with rage, making him more powerful still. The Maestro's base strength level is considerably greater than that of the other primary Hulk incarnations, including his younger self. The Maestro's body absorbed the ambient radiation of the nuclear fallout, dramatically increasing his strength. While calm, the Maestro can lift well over 100 tons.
MINDLESS HULK First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #299
Nightmare, in an attempt to find new ways to hurt his enemy Doctor Strange by going through his friends, penetrated Bruce Banner's mind and discovered his influence had an unexpected side effect; a new personality began to develop out of Banner's worst visions of the Hulk. At this period in Banner's life, he had just gained control over the Hulk's body, but was constantly on alert and terrified this was just temporarily, and that the Hulk, which he saw as nothing but a savage and destructive beast, would break free once more when the world least expected it. Far from being identical with the original Hulk, this version was based on a nightmarish imagination made of all of Banner's worst fears and ideas of his former alter ego. Nightmare continued to manipulate and increase his influence, allowing this dark incarnation to gradually rise to the surface. It finally became its own personality after Banner made his "psychic suicide", allowing it to break free of Banner's domination. Eventually, with the assistance of three creatures created by his subconscious, (Glow, Goblin, and Guardian), this Hulk gained the ability to speak and behave much less savagely. Since then, this personality has not been seen again, and it has been suggested that it is no longer a part of Banner's personality. A part of the Hulk, with the assistance of Doctor Strange, entered the Dimension of Nightmare as a similar manifestation as Mindless Hulk, threatening to kill him. Nightmare was forced to seek out Spider-Man's help, as this Hulk was destroying the whole domain. Spider-Man eventually pushed the Hulk into another realm, but he pulled Nightmare in with him. Nightmare has since been seen still alive, but this Hulk seems to have disappeared. While calm, the Mindless Hulk can lift well over 100 tons.
Planet Hulk - Incredible Hulk v2 #92
The Hulk of World War Hulk is a cunning and more powerful version than the previous incarnations, for he is the insanely enraged version of the "Gravage Hulk". His rage is at its most focused, due to meditation training by his ally Hiroim. This incarnation has extremely high durability. He has had training in combat arms, including broadswords, spears, and battle shields, and is a capable leader and strategist. Another source of the Green Scar's strength in comparison to other versions was his lack of inner conflict, if not alliance, with Bruce Banner. There were several instances where the Hulk and Banner worked together strategically, such as acting to disable Dr Strange. Caiera, the Green Scar's wife, understood Banner as well, and both personalities loved her equally. This was the driving factor in the Banner/Hulk alliance. As a result of being caught in the explosion of the warp core of his ship which brought him to Sakaar, which destroyed the planet, Green Scar's base level of strength was dramatically increased.
He can lift well over 100 tons in a functionally calm emotional state. During a burst of unexplained anger from the Hulk in New York City, Professor X attempted to slow down the angered Hulk with intense power; however, the Hulk proved to be resistant to the Professor's psionic effects[citation needed]. The Green Scar reached a new level of anger at the end of World War Hulk, after his fellow Warbound Miek attempted to provoke him to destroy the world. At this level, he started to release huge amounts of gamma energy from within his body, devastating New York, and causing quakes across North America. It would have taken but a couple of footsteps from the Hulk to completely destroy the eastern seaboard. If he hadn't let himself be stopped, then he definitely would have lived up to his "Worldbreaker" title, and would have completely destroyed the Earth. After World War Hulk, Banner suppressed the Green Scar, preventing him from surfacing. He momentarily reappeared in battle with the Hulk's son Skaar, still identifying himself as the "Worldbreaker". He seems to have resurfaced after Bruce regained his Hulk powers, his anger tempered from its "Worldbreaker" levels by another confrontation with Skaar, and was proven even strong enough to take down the Red Hulk without much of a fight.