First of all, I havent read any Hulk comic, just saw the movie. My question is, how do his pants expand when he changes into Hulk? Why dont they just rip apart? I am thinking that when Bruce Banner was irradiated, he was wearing those purple pants (bad taste :eek: ), and they got irradiated s well. Hence, they grow along with him, as he gets angier. Mind you, this is just a wild theory. My question is, is there a story behind his pants? how do they manage to always fit him? and does he always wear those, even when he is not the Hulk?
The reason is called the Comics Code Authority. Kind of the same reason they went to great length to not give Hulk nuts in the movie. Please don’t make me explain.
Purple has to do with the printing process and that…never mind, I’ll wait for Fenris to answer that one.
But why do the pants always manage to fit him?? Any what did the Comic Code Authority have to do with the purple color?
Bruce Banner get hit with a massive dose of gamma rays, and instead of dying a painful death due to radiation poisoning, he mutates (though, of course, no creature can “mutate” – it can only be born with a mutation) into a giant green man (with his added mass coming out of nowhere), and you’re wondering why his pants don’t fall down? :rolleyes:
Bruce did manage to survive all the radiation poisoning, with little side-effects, so its a happy ending imho. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ELASTIC PRUPLE PANTS??? 
Why purple?
Cos’ the Hulk is fun-kay!!!
I’d like to know where all the muscle mass goes when Hulk turns back into puny Banner. Matter cannot just disappear, right? So where does it go?
Hulk obviously was a fan of these. 
The Hulk’s pants don’t rip to shreds in the comics because no comic book aimed at a mass market would be able to present a naked hero. From a creative standpoint it would cripple the illustrator by making it nearly impossible to include the lower half of the character’s body. From a business standpoint comics outlets wouldn’t distribute it and cultural watchdogs would have a collective cow.
Per the last time I followed comics, the Hulk’s extra mass was drawn from and returned to an extradimensional source. It wasn’t stated but it’s possible that early examples of non-shredding pants were supplemented by extradimensional mass as well. In issues where Hulk is shown wearing something other than his tattered pants, the likely explanation is that the garment in question is made with “unstable molecules.” Unstable molecules were invented by Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and are near-infinitely adaptable for costuming purposes.
In the movie, they actually seemed to pay attention to the pants question.
In Banner’s first transforman, Banner wasn’t mad enough to destroy his pants (remember, Hulk gets bigger the madder he gets; they actually showed this happening once or twice). But they were extremely tattered.
In the second transformation, [spoiler] fighting the dogs, he actually was naked but his privates were masked in shadows. When he transformed back, he was still naked.
And in the last, lab-induced transformation, the people who captured him put him in expandable pants, I assume since they expecte him to transform. So the last time he had pants specifically designed to withstand the transformation.[/spoiler]
As for where the extra mass goes, I remember in the movie that when he transformed back to Banner in one late scene, they showed green steam coming off him. So I guess it just evaporates.
True, but I seriously doubt that Sansabelt slacks made of unstable molecules are available at most men’s outlets, which would have to be the case for Banner to keep obtaining them, since he lives pretty much on the run; the Army is more or less under constant orders to capture and contain the Hulk.
My chums and I came up with a theory in college that we rather liked.
Y’see, the Hulk is a walking nuclear reactor. When he’s Bruce Banner, he’s safe enough, but when he begins the transformation, he begins shedding Comic Book Radiation like crazy. No, seriously. He can be measured on geiger counters during the transformation. AFTERWARDS, his radioactivity dies down to background levels, but is significantly higher than yours or mine would be, but DURING THE ACTUAL TRANSFORMATION, he’s hotter’n a five-dollar H-bomb.
Now, we are aware that Comic Book Radiation is significantly unlike real-world radiation. It has a far greater chance of triggering latent mutation and causing the development of superpowers (or deformities, or psychological states, or a pair of antlers, or whatever) than radiation in our world, and (apparently) a far reduced chance of causing cancer or leukemia. We also know that humans are not the only things weirdly affected by Comic Book Radiation, as the Marvel and DC universes have been swarmed by giant insects (and stranger things) from time to time.
No, folks, I think what we’re talking about here is The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Cheap Sansabelt Slacks.
Bruce Banner, when not green and stupid, is a scientist, and frankly a nerd. He’s a nerdy little man who really knows his way around a laboratory, but other than that, the man’s clueless. This is not a man who buys his clothes at The Gap, you know? Or even Banana Republic.
No, this guy goes down to the outlet mall and picks up five or ten pairs of identical black sansabelt polyester slacks at $27 a pair. Yup. I’m sure of it. They’re easy to launder, hard to ruin or stain, inexpensive due to being out of style, they hold a crease forever, they’re incredibly convenient, low-maintenance clothes… and they’re remarkably stretchy.
And most of the time, Bruce Banner bops around Gamma Base in his white Arrow shirt, his unfashionable 1970s tie, wide as a bedsheet, his military-issue white lab coat with attached credentials and pocket protector full of pens…
…and his cheap black polyester Sansabelt slacks, oblivious to the chicks in the secretarial pool who laugh at him behind his back. Hell, the guy probably wears Corfam loafers, too. He strikes me as the type.
And so goes the life of Bruce Banner, and this would be totally irrelevant if not for a terrible accident, one day, during the first field test of Banner’s ultimate brainchild: the Gamma Bomb. Caught in the blast wave, Banner was irradiated by the bomb’s radiation; he set a new record for the amount of radiation a man can absorb and live. According to records, after being rescued, he spent most of the remainder of that day delirious and screaming in the facility’s first aid station.
Until nightfall… when he came out of it. For a while. And then… the first transformation into the great gamma-powered brute the world would come to know as The Hulk!
Yes, Bruce Banner is considerably smaller and masses far less than the Hulk; the difference between the two runs around 650 pounds… and the Hulk doesn’t have enough fat on him to grease a skillet.
But, cry the Teeming Millions, what’s the deal with his PANTS?
Well, THIS is the deal. When Bruce Banner becomes angry, or triggers the Hulk transformation in any way, he immediately begins to emit Comic Book Radiation like mad. The radiation is largely confined to a fairly small area around his body – otherwise, the Army would be able to track him with geiger counters fairly easily – but we know it’s intense as all hell.
What is the effect of Gamma Rays on cheap black polyester Sansabelt slacks?
Well, it seems fairly obvious. The radiation seeps deeply into the fine-woven fibres of hydrocarbon-based petrochemical product, and triggers a chemical change of wondrous reflection. The fabric becomes incredibly tough, while sacrificing none of its flexibility and stretchiness. Indeed, areas of double thickness (like the waist, buttocks and crotch) invariably show little or no tearing; damage seems to be limited largely to the knees and cuffs, even though the Hulk may be leaping miles through the air, punching his way through mountains, or fighting off brigades of crack American troops or even mega-powerful supervillains! The seams invariably hold together just fine.
The only other side effect of this seems to be the color change. No matter what color his slacks were before, they are invariably a rich purple after their radiation bath. It is unknown whether this is an effect of the radiation on the dyes, or on the fibres themselves; research is underway. It is noticeable, however, that even after the Hulk transforms back to Banner, the trousers retain their violet violence, although the stretchiness is obvious, as well; even after losing nearly 700 pounds of body mass, Banner’s trousers don’t fall off, no matter what he does. He usually doesn’t even seem to need to hold them up with his hands.
This begs the question: Do the trousers eventually return to normal, or has Banner been leaving a trail of irradiated purple trousers all over the country in his aimless wanderings? Are there even now homeless guys in major cities all over the country risking cancer or accidental superpowers, just for having picked up a pair of Brucie’s old trousers at Goodwill?
Time will tell…
I thougt that was funny, then I read Diogenes’ question and for the sake of non-silliness, maybe we should stick to the pants.
I’m sticking with the Comics Code over business smarts anyway.
As for the printing, purple looks a lot better than some of the other colors given the color reprod tech. of the time (recall that they played around with this too, the Hulk was originally gray, etc.). The thing I’d really be wondering about is, “why do Banner’s pants always turn purple when he turns into the Hulk?” Maybe they’re his undies. I recall that She-Hulk’s swimsuit was also purple…
To find out the real answer, we’ll have to ASK HULK.
In comics, it can and does. The “laws of physics” aren’t even guidelines. They’re really just a joke that physicists like to play on the rest of the public.
Er, which is why I said
Actually, in the first run of the original She-Hulk comic, she seemed to always be dressed in a tatty white nightshirt or hospital gown that extended to about mid-thigh length. I used to spend a lot of time wondering if her underwear had held together or not.
Later, after associating with the Avengers (and serving as a member of the Fantastic Four during one of the Thing’s introspective absences) she wore various blue or purple leotard outfits. It’s safe to assume that during this time frame she had access to Reed Richards’ unstable molecular wardrobe.
It was only relatively recently that Marvel officially stated that The Hulk changes size depending on his emotions, right? From the beginning, he wasn’t always drawn the same size from one issue to another, mainly due to artistic licence. Though a similar retroactive proclamation may not have yet been made about She-Hulk, I’ll assume Marvel would consider her powers to work in a similar fashion.
That said, Jennifer Walters - after getting over the fact that she was green - has long preferred her She-Hulk form over her regular human form. Being a wallflower before the change, maybe she just likes having big breasts. (Which also seem to change in size from one issue to another. 
) Of course, for a while now (unless something has recently changed), she has been unable to turn back into her Jennifer form.
Anyhoo…
I believe he ends up sweating it off in the movie – witness the end of the San Francisco rampage, when Hulk/Bruce walks towards Betty, there’s a rapidly-growing puddle of water beneath him.
Maybe he’s just peeing in his very stretchy purple pants.
Green pee?
I do not like pee in my pants…
I do not – Oh, wait! Wrong thread!