Anyone who has seen Avengers: Endgame will know that the Hulk is quite different from how we normally see him. Being one of Marvel's oldest and most popular characters the Hulk has gone through various iterations in the mainstream comics alone. As a fun little short post I thought it would be good to look over some of the various versions of the big green monster. Most importantly, don't get them angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.
Savage Hulk
This is the Hulk that everyone knows. A manifestation of Bruce Banner's rage and anxiety he turns into the tall, muscular monster. Savage Hulk's power is connected to his anger - the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. As a result, in theory, there is nothing stopping the Hulk from getting stronger and stronger. However, there are drawbacks. The Savage Hulk has his intelligence and reasoning skills decreased so he often becomes a destructive force of rage that causes more damage than good. In the comics written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s the Hulk could hold basic sentences and reasoning, but as the comics have progressed the Savage Hulk has become increasingly volatile. That's why his most famous phrase is 'Hulk Smash'. Not everyone sees Savage Hulk as a hero. The Planet Hulk storyline involved Earth's heroes jettisoning an unruly Hulk to an apparently uninhabited planet so he cannot hurt anyone again, and the world cheered when Bruce Banner was accidentally killed during the Civil War II event. Finally, on top of his super strength the Hulk has intense durability so bullets, and even tank fire, cannot hurt him.
Grey Hulk
This was the original Hulk, and Stan Lee was heavily inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when he co-created the Hulk with Jack Kirby. Instead of a formula it was a gamma bomb which turned Bruce into the Hulk. In the original comics the Hulk was more like a Mr. Hyde to Bruce Banner's Jekyll. Like all other incarnations, he is a manifestation of Banner's repressed anger, but, unlike many other versions, Grey Hulk retained most of his intelligence, was shorter, and not as strong. He was a brute, but a cunning one. He also only turned into the Hulk at night, his anger levels had nothing to do with his transformation. Kirby had differing opinions on the Hulk to Lee - for one, he argued that he shouldn't be grey for the simple fact that it was hard to keep a consistent shade over panel to panel with their printing techniques. He was correct. In the first few issues the Hulk's skin kept changing shades, and at times even looked green. Lee had to back down, and with that, Savage Hulk replaced Grey Hulk. Grey Hulk has, however, resurfaced a few times.
Joe Fixit
This was a version of Hulk who first appeared in Hulk #324. The writers wanted to spice up the Hulk so had Banner permanently stuck in his Hulk form. With his mind trapped in the Hulk's subconscious this allowed the beast out, however, he was different to the Savage Hulk. Instead, he was more like the Grey Hulk - he was grey, had some intelligence (albeit not a lot), was shorter, and was weaker but still easily stronger than any human. Unsure about what to do with himself now that he couldn't turn back into Banner or Savage Hulk, he became an enforcer for Las Vegas casinos. He even got his own suit! Eventually Banner managed to regain control of the Hulk and we got the Savage Hulk back.
Merged/Professor Hulk
In the 1990s Marvel wanted to do something different with the Hulk again, and Merged Hulk was the result. Bruce Banner, Savage Hulk, and Grey Hulk were all fighting for dominance in the mind of Banner himself, so an ally of the Hulk, Doc Samson, decided to use hypnosis to solve the situation. He managed to hypnotise Banner and merge the three identities together. He would have the body of the Savage Hulk, the drive of Grey Hulk, and the mind of Bruce Banner - he was the Merged Hulk. No longer fearing that he could lose control and hurt people, Banner decided to become a regular member of the Avengers. When the Marvel vs. DC event came around it was this version of the Hulk who fought Superman (and lost), and was later merged with Solomon Grundy to form the Skulk. Despite Doc Samson's best efforts, the psyches in Banner's mind kept on fighting and tearing each other apart. One time he reverted back into Banner form but with the Savage Hulk's mind! Due to this, Merged Hulk gave way to Savage Hulk once more. Later, in the alternate future MC2 it is revealed that Banner managed to solve this issue and become Professor Hulk - he had the body of Savage Hulk and the mind of Banner. This version would become the Hulk which we saw in Avengers: Endgame.
World War and World Breaker
During the Planet Hulk storyline, the ship which sent the Hulk to space went off course and landed on the planet Sakaar where the Hulk was enslaved, and forced to fight as a gladiator. His mind improved, despite locking Banner deep down in his subconscious, and he retained his Hulk body. He managed to overthrow the planet's ruler, get a wife, and almost became a father. The ship which sent him to Sakaar then exploded killing most life on Sakaar, including his pregnant wife, Caiera. Blaming the heroes of Earth he formed a team to return to Earth and get revenge - this gave birth to World War Hulk. When arriving on Earth he had so much rage that his power levels grew to unknown levels. Upon seeing Mr. Fantastic he yelled 'None of this would have happened. I'll hate you forever, almost as much as I hate myself'. His anger peaked and the force of him slamming his feet started breaking the tectonic plates of the Earth! This was World Breaker Hulk.
Maestro
Maestro is the only alternate reality version of the Hulk that we're going to look at - if we were going to look at more we would be here for a long time. Maestro was introduced in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect in 1992 when the regular Hulk was sent into a future where nuclear war had dosed the Hulk with radiation. Instead of dying it made him even stronger, and somewhat merged the minds of Banner and the Hulk. Maestro had Banner's intelligence with the malevolence and strength of the Hulk creating one of the most powerful superheroes. Maestro then wiped out the Earth's heroes and became king of the planet for a century. Just like Red Skull in Old Man Logan he had a room of the paraphernalia of the slain heroes and villains including Dr Doom's mask, some Iron Man suits, Spider-Man's mask, and Magneto's helmet. Truly showing Maestro's power you can even see Thor's hammer and the broken board of the Silver Surfer.
Red
The Red Hulk is not Bruce Banner - it is instead the father of Betty Ross (Banner's love interest) Thunderbolt Ross. In 2008's Hulk #1 a Red Hulk appeared and killed the Abomination, and we later find out that, two years later, that it's Ross. Ross underwent a project by the US military to create a more powerful version of the Hulk that had a tactical mind. As a result, Ross became the Red Hulk - a being stronger than the Hulk, and had the ability to increase his power by absorbing radiation from others. This power makes him hotter to the point that his skin can go on fire! With ease, in his initial appearance, he caused an earthquake in San Francisco, killed two of Hulk's enemies, destroyed the SHIELD Helicarrier, and had to be defeated by the combined forces of the Hulk and Thor. Despite being far stronger than the regular Hulk his own power was his undoing. When fighting the Hulk got madder, so Red Hulk absorbed more energy, which made the Hulk even madder, so the Red Hulk absorbed too much that he could handle and collapsed. Betty also underwent this project becoming a red version of She-Hulk.
Totally Awesome
The final version of the Hulk that we're going to discuss today is also the most recent introduction. Since the mid-2010s Marvel has updated its roster to include younger and more diverse heroes - these include Miles Morales and the new Ms. Marvel. This new version of the Hulk was Amadeus Cho, who had been introduced as a close ally of the Hulk in Amazing Fantasy Vol. 2 #15 when the Hulk saved him. Amadeus is one of the ten smartest people on Earth, something serious considering that some Marvel characters can make a time machine as easily as a mechanic can make a car, and when Banner was hit by a new dose of radiation he decided to help the scientist. Making a device that could absorb the radiation he took all the gamma radiation from Banner and stored it in himself which he could control via a machine. As a result, in Totally Awesome Hulk #1 in 2016 Bruce Banner finally could stop being the Hulk, and Amadeus Cho became the new one. Cho could control his Hulk identity so he basically became a version of Professor Hulk - super strong and super intelligent. However, the strength of the Hulk kept on pulling at him, and he quickly found it hard to keep control. When Banner died in Civil War II he almost lost control of the Hulk and came close to rampaging. Since 2018, in Champions Vol 2. #22, Cho has given up most of his Hulk power becoming Brawn instead. He still looked like the Hulk and was very strong, but not nearly as strong as the Hulk.
These are just a fraction of the many different versions of the Hulk. We haven't covered the Old Man Logan Hulk, MCU Hulk, Marvel Zombies Hulk, and, of course, She-Hulk (she deserves an entire post for herself). Anyway, I hope you found this interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.
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