I’ve been playing the Hulk game a bit, and there’s a code that you can use to play the Grey Hulk. In this version, he actually talks, and sounds quite bloodthirsty (He even says “Hulk SMASH!”). I was curious what the whole history of this fellow was, since he also seems to be much more interesting than the brainless green one (at least to me.)
Could someone fill me in (and what you thought of the game, if you feel like it?)
The Hulk originally was gray, but became green after a few issues. No explanation for the change was given, since no one cared all that much about consistency in continuity back in the 60s.
The Hulk had varying levels of intelligence throughout his run. Sometimes he was stupid and violent; at other times he retained Bruce Banner’s intelligence.
The game evidently tried to mix in all intelligences of the Hulk and used the gray version to portray that.
In the first few issues, of The Incredible Hulk, Hulk was grey and fairly intelligent. he quickly went green and stupid and the grey Hulk was pretty much ignored for decades. Maybe 15 years ago there was a storyline which IIRC had Rick Jones get turned temporarily into a green Hulk, while Bruce Banner reverted to the grey. Grey Hulk got a job in Las Vegas under the name “Joe Fixit.” Eventually they merged back together. At one point it was then revealed that Bruce Banner, as the result of childhood abuse, developed multiple personality disorder. The grey Hulk was one personality and the green Hulk another. The three personalities (Banner, Grey and Green) were integrated by Doc Samson (a gamma-irradiated psychiatrist…don’t ask) and Hulk ended up green, with Banner’s intellect and some of the aggressiveness of grey hulk. I stopped reading comics about six years ago so my information may be out of date or retconned into oblivion by now.
Actually, the Hulk was green by his second issue. The change was made because it looked better and because the coloring technology of the time could achieve a more consistent green than grey.
While it’s correct to say the Hulk was more or less intelligent during various periods in the 60’s, the idea of identifying various periods or linking them to his other characteristics is something that’s only done in hindsight and doesn’t really fit the text. At the time, the Hulk’s intelligence and demeanor varied wildly from issue to issue – not via any plan, but because of Silver Age Marvel’s strange and chaotic production process. (Stan Lee would hand his artist a half an idea, the artist would draw something, and then Lee would spend 20 minutes writing dialogue which fit the story.) This process led to a pretty inconsistent set of comics. The Hulk suffered in particular from this problem, both because he always was somewhat undefined, and also because he had rotating artists (Kirby, Ditko, John Buscema, Romita, Kane, Marie Severin, etc. all had their shots illustrating the character). Sometimes the Hulk was childlike, merely wanting to be left alone. Sometimes he was aggressive and violent. Sometimes he spoke in complete sentences, sometimes in monosyllables. While he never had the intelligence of his nuclear-physicist alter-ego, in some issues he was no dumber than your average street thug. The Hulk’s transformations into Banner and vice versa were also inconsistent – sometimes they were triggered by nightfall, sometimes by additional doses of gamma radiation, sometimes by becoming angered. Indeed, in some early issues, when the Hulk got angry it would make him revert into Banner!
It was in the 80’s, when Peter David tried to make sense of all this early variability and shoehorn in an explanation for it that the idea of different Hulk personalities emerged. David’s version of the grey Hulk, who went by the name “Joe Fixit,” had average human intelligence and super strength (though nowhere near the green Hulk’s power), lots of cunning, a vicious streak, and IIRC he appeared regularly at sundown. He got a job working as a strongarm man in Vegas.
In Paul Jenkins’ recent underrated run on the title, he brought back the idea of the Hulk(s) being a sympton of Banner’s multiple personality disorder; Banner, Fixit, the childlike green Hulk, the “merged” Hulk, and a number of other personalities. In the current run by writer Bruce Jones, all of this complexity has been shelved for the time being; the Hulk is nothing but a savage destructive force of nature, and most of the time the book focuses on Banner and his efforts to keep himself calm enough that the Hulk can’t get out.
–Cliffy
speaking of mixed intelligence, anyone here ever read the old Incredible Hulk issue where he’s green, smart, and teams up with Sasquatch against the Wendigo? that was a damn fine issue.
I also remember a later one where the bad guys get mad because the smart hulk is constantly talking, explaining how their super powers work, etc. ‘You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. of course, i happen to BE a rocket scientist in my spare time.’
I seem to remember the “nightfall” trigger for the Hulk and the Vegas Gray Hulk idea. I guess the idea of a character with that amount of physical power AND a big brain was too uneven. I liked the nastiness of the Grey (Gray?) Hulk best, personally, from what I remember.
Did they ever explain why the grey version was weaker than the green?
Part of why Grey was weaker is because he apparently doesn’t have the “angrier equals stronger” trigger of Green. Green was theoretically imbued with limitless strength because the madder he got the stronger he got. I think this was explained as an effect of adrenaline. Which is why remaining calm is so important for Banner.
Plus, Grey wasn’t around that much so there was less time spent developing his character parameters.
Just wanted to chime in as a big fan of Peter David’s Hulk run. I found the “merged Hulk” to be interesting – Banner’s brain in the Hulk’s strength – and the idea of a cocky Hulk who figures “Hey, I’ve got the power, why shouldn’t I reshape it for the greater good?” had potential (and more than a few parallels to current events). But I’m not sure if the Pantheon was the best direction to take the series.
That’d be issue 393, Hulk vs the People’s Protectorate.
I thought the Peter David years were excellent. I thought he really explored the hulk by taking him in all sorts of new directions, whilst keeping the story well paced. All with some fantastic jokes as well. The Pantheon stuff was a very different direction for the hulk, but I thought it really worked well.
What I really want to know is why is the Hulks pants always purple and how does it stay on like that after his massive transformation. His shirt always gets ripped to shreds but his pants are intact.
OK i understand that the comic industry will not allow a green person with anatomically monstrous proportions hopping around nekkid but how do they explain the color and the pants incredible resiliency?
apologies for the hijack. I didnt think this was a significant enuf question to warrant its own thread.
That’s quite all right.
Because purple and green go well together? Interestingly, he is not wearing purple in the game (can’t speak for the movie). It would be pretty funny to have a naked Hulk jumping around. “Hulk no need puny Banner pants! Hulk free and happy!” Imagine THAT as a crisis in the Marvel universe: “Hulk: The Naked Now, or The Nightmares Of Betty Ross”. "
I want to find the name of the guy who does the Grey Hulk voice. He’s scary and deep and gleefully violent; very Hulk-like. Eric Bana is just annoying, and he mispronounces “series”.
Ah.
Y’see, it has to do with the effects of Comic Book Gamma Radiation.
As we all know quite well, the effects of radiation on comic book characters can be quite unpredictable, often leading to superpowers, right?
Well, when the Hulk changes from Bruce Banner to the big green cheese, he emits a fair amount of low-level gamma radiation, right?
Now, the radiation levels he emits can be measured, but they aren’t powerful enough to go triggering superheroic mutations in anyone standing nearby. They ARE, however, potent enough to trigger superhuman mutations in his TROUSERS!
No, seriously.
Note that when the Hulk starts out as Bruce Banner, he could be wearing nearly any kind of nether garments, right? His most common pants seemed to be black Sansabelt slacks.
But after he changes into the Hulk, the slacks remain tightly wrapped around his butt, regardless of the fact that his booty has more than quintupled in size! Furthermore, rather than remaining black, the trousies seem to have changed color to a rather violent purple color?
Whazzup wid dat?
Simple. The effects of Comic Book Gamma Radiation, in low, consistent bursts, on Comic Book Character Trousers is to render them FAR more flexible than normal trousers, and to turn them purple, in much the same way that the radiation rendered Bruce Banner bigger, stronger, tougher… and greener.
Simple, no?
Let’s remember our SPOILER boxes, please! This movie hasn’t been released and plot points like the presence of Grey Hulk are spoilers.
yeah, that kinda makes sense… :dubious:
so how come the background radiation didnt affect his shirt?
I guess denim is more conducive to radiological mutation than polyester.
I can safely say that I now know why the Hulk is so damn mad all the time. Howd you like to go around with a killer wedgie like that?
I believe that this is explained somewhere- Bruce Banner, genius that he is, took a cue from Einstein and bought 5 of the same color suit so that he would not have to think about what to wear. the fact that he is often seen wearing different clothes pre-change is beyond me.
as to how it stays on him, your guess is as good as mine.
This part just kills me, I don’t know why.
or greyer, as the case may be 
ACK!! The grey hulk is in the Movie?? I thought it was only in the game!! AAAAAAAAHHH!H!!! I’ve been SPOILED!!!
…aaahhh’ll get over it. It aint that critical of a plot point. Its kinda a transistion phase. The movies never follow comic origins anyway. It’ll be just like hollywood to change the hulk’s race
…waitaminit…
Actually, OttoI was only talking about the game. I haven’t seen the movie. I apoligize if I didn’t make that clear.
Pants with elastic side waist bands. Duh.
He probably got some pants made of unstable molecules from Reed Richards. Every superhero with some sort of power that would destroy their clothes had them. The Human Torch was the first character to get clothes made of unstable molecules, otherwise he’d be naked after every “Flame On!”
Peter David had a scene where Banner has changed back from being Mr. Fixit and is holding up his giant pants with one hand…a sales clerk is trying to sell him discounted purple stretch pants.
For years the green Hulk was sort of a Frankenstein’s monster figure…he’d wander around, friendless and sad until someone or something made him angry. Then he’d smash, of course. With the green Hulk, Banner would disappear and the Hulk would appear, but there never seemed to be much connection between them.
Peter David played up the werewolf side with the gray Hulk…the constant transformations between Hulk and Banner and the question of how much of the Hulk was really Banner and how much of Banner was really the Hulk, and how impossible Banner’s life was since he was constantly transforming into an out of control monster. The gray Hulk remembered what people did when he was Banner and carried a grudge, even though he always denied he had anything to do with Banner. And most of the gray Hulk years were done with Todd MacFarlane, back when he used to draw comic books.