# Why wasn't The Hulk Nude The First Time He Transformed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548 "2025-03-13T23:12:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/41 "2025-03-14T16:59:30Z")
I may be misremembering, but I think Dynamite Magazine (ordered from Arrow Book Club) had Hulk’s origin story and had him Green. They did mention that he was originally gray, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/42 "2025-03-14T16:59:42Z")
If Thing can throw a car as far as Hulk can, then the differentiators would be: 1. Thing weighs significantly more. 2. Thing skips leg day. 3. Thing’s ability to move fast is highly limited in his legs but, somehow, isn’t in his torso and arms. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/43 "2025-03-14T17:05:03Z")
The thing I find funny about this perennial topic about Hulk’s indestructible (yet easily tattered) pants is that nobody ever asks, “Who the Hell wears purple pants?” I’m not sure I have ever seen Bruce Banner wearing purple pants. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/44 "2025-03-14T17:10:25Z")
Currently the editors/writers have his origin and powers emanating from some supernatural “hell” dimension. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/45 "2025-03-14T17:10:43Z")
I can think of another important difference. The Hulk has a healing factor. He is not only very hard to injure, he heals any injury at a greatly accelerated rate. Ben Grimm is very strong and very tough to hurt. But, he has no healing factor. Should the Hulk land and cause himself serious injury, he will be fine in a minute or two. The Thing would remain injured > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Currently the editors/writers have his origin and powers emanating from some supernatural “hell” dimension. And this is why over 99.999% of retcons suck ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/46 "2025-03-14T17:14:17Z")
Which in the end doesn’t matter because they, too, will be retconned. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/47 "2025-03-14T17:16:29Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > nobody ever asks, “Who the Hell wears purple pants?” Back in the '60s, when they seemed to have a fairly limited color palette to work with in the comics (given the printing techniques used), it seemed like green + purple was a common way to contrast colors on a character, and it was often specifically used for villains. In addition to the Hulk, the Green Goblin, Lex Luthor, Doctor Octopus, the Joker, Molecule Man, etc., all used it, and it may have been a way that Marvel leaned into the Hulk’s sometimes-ambiguous status as a hero. > **[Why So Many Comic Book Villains Wear Green and Purple](https://screenrant.com/comic-supervillains-green-purple-colors-joker-lex-luthor/)** > > The secrets behind the colors of evil, explained ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/48 "2025-03-14T17:18:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > n addition to the Hulk, the Green Goblin, Lex Luthor, Doctor Octopus, the Joker, Molecule Man, etc., all used it, and it may have been a way that Marvel leaned into the Hulk’s sometimes-ambiguous status as a hero. I have an Impossible Man special where it takes Spider-Man a while to realize who he is dealing with. Impossible Man turns into a bunch of villains. But all of them are supposed to be green and purple ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/49 "2025-03-14T17:21:54Z")
In Alan Moore’s “Top Ten” comic which is riddled with background in-jokes, there’s a billboard in one panel advertising stretchable pants with a picture of a Hulk-like figure and the tagline “You wouldn’t like me when I’m naked”. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/50 "2025-03-14T17:29:41Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m not sure I have ever seen Bruce Banner wearing purple pants. I haven’t read my old Hulk comics in a while, but I thought I remember seeing Banner in different pants at different times, but always in purple when he changes later that day. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/51 "2025-03-14T17:35:29Z")
A funny (and comprehensive) look at the Hulk and his purple pants: [Why Were the Hulk’s Pants Always Purple?](https://www.cbr.com/hulk-pants-purple-origin/) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/52 "2025-03-14T17:48:12Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > And this is why over 99.999% of retcons suck Not in this case. Al Ewing’s run on _Immortal Hulk_ (where that retcon came from) is hands down one of the best runs of The Hulk ever written. It takes a more horror-themed approach to the character, playing up the Jekyll and Hyde influence, and dives really deep into the character’s history, bringing up a lot of details from older stories. Like the best retcons, it recontextualizes the character’s past, rather than just undoing it. And it’s a really sensitive look at topics like abuse and surviving trauma, without cheapening or sensationalizing it. One of my favorite scenes is the Thing and the Hulk sitting in a diner, discussing the Book of Job. Genuinely made me reconsider my entire take on that book of the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/53 "2025-03-14T17:57:01Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I may be misremembering, but I think Dynamite Magazine (ordered from Arrow Book Club) had Hulk’s origin story and had him Green. You’re probably not misremembering. For quite awhile, the fact that the Hulk was colored gray in the first issue was considered just a bit of a false start. Stan decided the gray didn’t look that good, and changed him to green for the second issue. Nobody in-story commented on his color changing, and everybody just kind of pretended he had always been green. To that end, whenever they had occasion to reprint or flash back to that first issue, he would be recolored as green. It wasn’t until Peter David started writing the book in the 1980s that he introduced the idea that Banner had multiple personality disorder, and that the “Gray Hulk” was a manifestation of a different personality than the more familiar “Green Hulk.” It doesn’t really work in retrospect–the Hulk’s personality hadn’t actually changed that much between the first and second issues. But it did re-introduce his gray color back into continuity. Prior to that, the fact that the Hulk was gray in the first issue was just a bit of half-forgotten trivia that most people didn’t care about very much. So if you saw a reprint from, say, the 1970s, the Hulk would have been shown as being green right from the start. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/54 "2025-03-14T17:57:13Z")
In the 80s Epic (Marvel subsidiary) had a limited series called [_Steelgrip Starkey_](https://totally-epic.kwakk.info/2020/01/04/1986-steelgrip-starkey-and-the-all-purpose-power-tool/), about a construction worker with a magical toolbox. I’m making it sound infantile, but it was actually really (mostly) well-written and nicely illustrated. He’d basically open up the box and it would form into whatever massive piece of equipment he needed, whether it’s repairing a collapsed bridge or propping up a damaged building or repairing a space shuttle, what have you. The explanation was something to the effect of the box would borrow mass and materials from another time in history and restore it when it wasn’t needed any more, so the mass of the universe didn’t actually change overall. Yeah, comics logic. This series is so obscure it doesn’t have a wiki page, but I found the explanatory link above. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/55 "2025-03-14T18:00:07Z")
That sounds great. However, I don’t see why any of that requires or warrants changing it from ‘gamma radiation gave him weird powers’ to ‘there is a hell dimension involved’. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/56 "2025-03-14T18:04:28Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > but I thought I remember seeing Banner in different pants at different times, but always in purple when he changes later that day. Well, clearly he just always wears two pairs of pants, that’s why they’re called, “pairs” of pants, duh. The top layer is normal pant, and is shredded when he changes. The under-pant, if you will accept such crude terminology, is made from that special super-fabric, which is always purple, since we can’t expect such a fibre to be super-stretchy but _also_ able to accept just any color dye. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/57 "2025-03-14T18:06:11Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > nobody ever asks, “Who the Hell wears purple pants?” One of my favorite Order of the Stick strips is #387 (link below). But for a long time I couldn’t figure out why Thog says “how thog’s pants turn purple?” in panel 21. Eventually it dawned on me. > **[387 The Cliffport Redemption - Giant in the Playground Games](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0387.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/58 "2025-03-14T18:22:07Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > That sounds great. However, I don’t see why any of that requires or warrants changing it from ‘gamma radiation gave him weird powers’ to ‘there is a hell dimension involved’. Oh, gamma radiation still gives him weird powers. It’s not, “instead there’s a hell dimension,” it’s “and also there’s a hell dimension.” > [@MrAtoz](#): > > It wasn’t until Peter David started writing the book in the 1980s that he introduced the idea that Banner had multiple personality disorder, and that the “Gray Hulk” was a manifestation of a different personality than the more familiar “Green Hulk.” It doesn’t really work in retrospect–the Hulk’s personality hadn’t actually changed that much between the first and second issues. But it did re-introduce his gray color back into continuity. Prior to that, the fact that the Hulk was gray in the first issue was just a bit of half-forgotten trivia that most people didn’t care about very much. Peter David brought back more than just the color scheme, though - the early comics featured a very different Hulk than what the character was when David took over the book. The Hulk started out intelligent, eloquent, and a bit amoral, and it took some time before his characterization as a semi- or non-verbal brute took hold. David didn’t just bring back that color scheme, he brought back that entire characterization. The multiple personality retcon - which holds to this day, and is a cornerstone of Al Ewing’s _Immortal Hulk_ - addressed that _personality_ change, not just the colorization change. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/59 "2025-03-14T18:32:35Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I can think of another important difference. The Hulk has a healing factor. He is not only very hard to injure, he heals any injury at a greatly accelerated rate. Ben Grimm is very strong and very tough to hurt. But, he has no healing factor. Should the Hulk land and cause himself serious injury, he will be fine in a minute or two. The Thing would remain injured That would explain a reticence to jump but, if he needed to, he’d still be able to do it. In which case, there’d be no point in asking someone else to throw him. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548/60 "2025-03-14T18:32:35Z")
For the record, I’ve read some of, but not all of the Immortal Hulk run, and while it has some issues (I’m not exactly happy with the quasi-immortality aspects), it does an excellent job of integrating a personal favorite (and to me strangely likely) once-and-future variant of the Hulk: Maestro. I was a fan of the original (though very dated) outing, and it always seemed to me that the Banner/Hulk combination is _extremely_ unhappy, and also strangely unable or unwilling to make much use of Banner’s intellect. Maestro though… that always seemed a far more likely, and possibly even _happy_ (though evil, granted) scenario than “Professor Hulk”. Especially given the various traumas that keep being applied to a person with an already fragmented personality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-the-hulk-nude-the-first-time-he-transformed/1015548.md?page=4)