Just the Facts: The Incredible Hulk

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  • What's more believable: a 9-foot-tall green-skinned monster or a Canadian woman fighting a polar bear? Who'd be a better superhero: the governor of California or a gymnast from Cirque du Soleil? And would blasting a chicken with gamma rays make it safe to eat or an unstoppable destructive force? The answers to these and any other questions you have about The Incredible Hulk can be found here.
  • After revitalizing the superhero comic book with The Fantastic Four, Stan Lee was looking to create another flawed but heroic character. His brainstorm: make a hero out of a monster. He took Frankenstein’s oversized creation, mixed in the dual personas of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, put him in stretchy purple pants, and suddenly he had the Hulk.
  • In the character’s first appearance, “The Incredible Hulk #1,” published in May of 1962, the creature’s skin color is gray. But due to the difficulty in producing the color in the printing process, Lee decided to shift it to a brighter and more manageable green hue. Later in the comics, the Gray Hulk would develop into his own character, eventually becoming a mob enforcer who called himself “Mr. Fixit.” Courtesy of Marvel Comics
  • To remember his many characters’ secret identities, Lee liked to give them alliterative names (e.g. Peter Parker, Reed Richards). He gave The Hulk’s mousy other self the name Dr. Bruce Banner, but he still got confused and for several issues called him “Bob.” When he was alerted to the mistake, Lee decided his full name was Robert Bruce Banner.
  • Furthering the name confusion, when the character was adapted for TV, his name was changed yet again to David. Series creator Kenneth Johnson said he didn’t want the show to feel too much like a comic book, so he renamed the good doctor after his own son. If you look close at the end of the new movie, you’ll see that when Bruce escapes into hiding, he goes by the name “David.” UNIVERSAL/Everett Collection
  • In adapting the comic for television, the most obvious concern was how to portray the Hulk. Arnold Schwarzenegger auditioned for the part, but the producers felt he wasn’t tall enough. 7’ 1” actor Richard Kiel was then cast, but he didn’t have the Hulk’s signature bulky build. Finally, 6’5” bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno was given the role. UNIVERSALTV/Everett Collection
  • The source of Hulk’s transformation has always been an exposure to gamma radiation. In reality, gamma rays are extremely damaging to living cells, and they are used to sterilize surgical equipment and remove harmful bacteria from food. So gamma exposure won’t give you super-strength, but it will keep you from eating salmonella-tainted chicken.
  • It’s often said, “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets.” And there is some truth to that. A sudden rush of adrenaline into the system in a moment of high stress can make ordinary folk do amazing feats of strength and bravery. Scientists call it “Hysterical Strength.” In one instance in 2006, Lydia Angyiou of northern Quebec tackled a 700-pound polar bear that was threatening her 7-year-old son and successfully fended it off.
  • Hulk’s amazing abilities aren’t as consistent as one might hope. At various points in the series, he survived a direct hit from a nuclear explosion, getting launched into space by a catapult, and having the entire Andes mountain range dropped on top of him. But in other issues, he was coldcocked by Thor, knocked out by a pygmy and rendered unconscious after being choked by a snake for less than a minute.
  • Hulk’s size is also not a constant. According to the comic books, 5’ 9 ½” Bruce Banner grows to 7-8’ tall during his transition to the green, or “savage” Hulk. In the 2003 film directed by Ang Lee, the Hulk got progressively bigger as he got angrier, topping out a 15 feet tall. For the new movie, the director kept the Hulk at a steady 9 feet.
  • Ferrigno cameos in both big screen versions, and in this one he provides the voice of Hulk as well. Creator Stan Lee makes an appearance, as he does in nearly every movie based on one of his comic books (he isn’t in X2). Even TV’s Dr. Banner, the late Bill Bixby, shows up in the new movie, along with a very familiar piano tune. Lester Cohen, WireImage.com
  • Actor Edward Norton is a natural choice to take on the role of Bruce Banner just on the strength of his filmography. He has a history of playing characters with repressed violent sides, like in Fight Club and Primal Fear. But he also grew up reading Marvel Comics, and he contributed an uncredited rewrite of the screenplay. 20TH CENTURY FOX/Kobal/WireImage.com
  • The new movie continues the tortured love story between Bruce Banner and Betty Ross that’s been a fixture of the comics but was left out of the TV show. In the 2003 movie, Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly played Betty, and in the new one Liv Tyler takes on the role. Connelly and Tyler played sisters in the 1997 film Inventing the Abbotts. 20TH CENTURY FOX/Everett Collection
  • One problem in past adaptations of the Hulk has been the lack of a villain that could stand up to the Green Goliath. That’s not the case here. Tim Roth plays Emil Blonsky, who intentionally exposes himself to gamma rays and transforms into the malevolent Abomination. And true Hulk aficionados will spot two future villains: the Leader and Doc Sampson.
  • To create distinct movements for the computer generated Hulk and Abomination characters, the visual effects team brought in former Cirque do Soleil member Terry Notary as a movement coach. He spent two months choreographing the extensive fight scenes. Actors Norton and Roth then had their facial expressions scanned in 3D to give the virtual characters real expressions.
  • If you stayed through the credits of Iron Man, you saw S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury recruit Tony Stark into the “Avenger Initiative.” Comic fans already know that Hulk was also a founding member of The Avengers, Marvel’s original super-team, so it should come as no surprise that Stark drops in at the end of this movie. Plans are for The Avengers to assemble in their own movie in 2011. Courtesy of Marvel Comics

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