Since the Green Goliath first manifested, Bruce Banner has considered theHulkhis personal curse. Sadly for Bruce, that curse hasn’t remained with its creator, with countless gamma monsters manifesting since. Most tragically of all, many of these gamma monsters - both heroes and villain - werecreated specifically fromBruce’sgamma radiation, directly passing on his incredible powers to others.
Here are the 12 strongest characters inIncredible Hulklore who got their powers directly from Bruce Banner. Despitehis hatred of the Hulkand his belief that gamma monsters will potentially end the world, Bruce has created more of them than anyone else, acting as the Patient Zero of gamma beasts being unleashed across Earth.
12The Boar Brothers and Bruce Banner’s Other Gamma Beasts
First Seen in Incredible Hulk Volume 3 #1 by Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri
InIncredible Hulk Volume 3, Bruce separates himself and the Hulk into different bodies, but there’s a problem. Since they’re actually the same person, Hulk takes a huge chunk of Bruce’s personality with him when he goes, stripping Bruce of his empathy and morality. This turns Bruce Banner into a mad scientist who sets up on an island and performs Dr. Moreau-style experiments on its fauna.Bruce creates gigantic gamma snakes, gamma insects and gamma sharksbefore deciding that for his research to move forward, he needs to recapture the original.
For that mission,Bruce creates 27 and 26 - two mutated, humanoid boars with superhumans strength and durability. While not on the Hulk’s level, the two were Bruce Banner’s toughest enforcers, and fanatically devoted to bringing the Jade Giant back to their creator.
11The Savage She-Hulk, aka Lyra
Debuted in Hulk: Raging Thunder #1 by Jeff Parker and Mitch Breitweiser
In a distant future ruled by the United Sisterhood, an all-woman society send their most powerful warrior on a secret mission. Known as Thundra, the warrior is sent back in time to collect the genetic material of the Hulk, allowing the ruling Gynosure to create the ultimate warrior. Thundra is successful in her mission,leading to the birth of Lyra- Hulk’s daughter, whose gamma powers make her stronger the calmer and more focused she is. Lyra eventually traveled back to the present, meeting her father andinheriting the Savage She-Hulk name from her first cousin Jennifer Walters.
10Doc Samson, aka Doc Sasquatch, aka Leonard Samson
Debuted in Incredible Hulk #141 by Roy Thomas & Herb Trimpe
InIncredible Hulk #141, Bruce Banner finally ends the curse of the Hulk, using a device known as the Cathexis Ray to harmlessly drain his gamma radiation. However, even as Bruce is cured, unscrupulous psychiatrist Leonard Samson exposes himself to a small amount of Bruce’s gamma, becoming the superheroic Doc Samson. Sadly, believing that his longtime love Betty Ross was attracted to Samson because of his strength, Bruce exposed himself to gamma once again, becoming the Hulk and making it so the Cathexis Ray could never cure him again.
While initially an immoral actor, Doc Samson has since become a major hero, andlater traded bodies with Alpha Flight’s Sasquatch, becoming the shaggy green hero Doc Sasquatch. While Samson is strong, he’s nowhere near the Hulk’s power level in either form.
9Brawn, aka the Totally Awesome Hulk, aka Amadeus Cho
Debuted in Amazing Fantasy Volume 2 #15’s ‘Mastermind Excello’ by Greg Pak & Takeshi Miyazawa
Another hero who stole Hulk’s powers, Amadeus was at least trying to help Bruce Banner,stealing his gamma via custom-made nanite technology. Amadeus spent a short time asthe Totally Awesome Hulk, seemingly dealing much better with his powers than Bruce Banner… but all the time his rage was building. When Amadeus finally lost control, Marvel’s other heroes used his nanite tech to limit his powers, and he willingly gave up the majority of his gamma. Today, Amadeus retains a small amount of gamma strength as the young hero Brawn.
8Monolith and the Hulk Planet Hulks
First Seen in Hulk #9 by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley
During a battle in an alternate reality, Bruce Banner shunted a lethal gamma bomb attack through a portal, accidentally exposing an entire planet to intense gamma radiation. Hulk later visited this Hulk Planet, discovering an entire society of gigantic gamma monstrosities,ruled over by the ultra-powerful Monolith.Monolith is capable of absorbing gamma energy from others, allowing her to achieve vast amounts of power.However, even the average citizens of Hulk Planet - like the sportsman Pave - possess strength in excess of Hulk’s baseline abilities.
7She-Hulk, aka Jennifer Walters
First Appeared in Savage She-Hulk #1 by Stan Lee & John Buscema
When young lawyer Jannifer Walters was shot by gangsters,her cousin Bruce Banner gave her a life-saving blood transfusion. While Bruce feared that his blood would turn She-Hulk into a monster, she actually became the most well-balanced gamma mutate in Marvel lore. As She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters retained her personality and intellect, balancing superheroism with a law career as a frequent member of the Avengers and Fantastic Four.
Like any Hulk, She-Hulk has experienced some fluctuations in her power, becoming stronger and more bestial both as the Grey She-Hulk and afterhaving her powers enhanced by the Celestials. However, for most of her comic career, she’s been the platonic ideal of a superhero.
6Skaar, Son of Hulk
First Seen in World War Hulk #5 Greg Pak and John Romita Jr.
During his time on the planet Sakaar, Hulk fell in love with Caiera the Oldstrong - the reluctant bodyguard of the tyrannical Red King. Ultimately, Hulk defeated and replaced the Red King, bringing peace to the planet… at least until a bomb set by Red King supporters decimated the planet and killed his love, sending him on a mission of revenge. Little did Hulk know that Caiera had been pregnant, using her immense control over tectonic forces to protect their son Skaar at the cost of her own life.
Skaar has a mix of his father’s gamma power and his mom’s Oldstrong abilities, and is powerful enough to punch the Juggernaut across multiple states. Bruce was eventually able to forge a fatherly bond with Skaar, who now resides on Earth as a barbarian hero.
Skaar has a twin inHulk and Caiera’s other son Hiro-Kala. However, Hiro-Kala appears to have inherited none of Hulk’s gamma powers, instead inheriting the majority of his mother’s ‘Oldstrong’ ability.
5Red Hulk, aka General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross
Introduced in Incredible Hulk #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
General Ross has been pursuing the Hulk since Bruce Banner’s first transformation, but in 2008, he finally became what he hated.Ross became the Red Hulk thanks to Hulk’s gamma radiation, which the villainous Intelligencia group siphoned away using a new version of the Cathexis Ray. Combining it with cosmic radiation, the Intelligencia created their own Hulk - one they believed they could control.
Thankfully, they were wrong, and after a brief start as a villain, the Red Hulk became a hero, even joining the Avengers at Captain America’s request. While Red Hulk is immensely strong, that base strength doesn’t change as he gets angrier, as with the original Hulk. Instead,Red Hulk generates more and more explosive heat.He also possesses the ability to siphon exotic energy from others, allowing him to depower more powerful rivals like Hulk and the Silver Surfer.
4Spider-Hulk, aka Peter Parker
First Seen in Hulk #4 by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley
While traveling the multiverse, Bruce Banner stumbled across a world where Peter Parker had been turned into a towering monster. Created by the experiments of this world’s Bruce Banner, the Spider-Hulk is even stronger than Hulk’s default strength, though couldn’t match the Green Goliath once Bruce got angry enough.
3Behemoth
Introduced in Heroes for Hire #12 by John Ostrander and Pasqual Ferry
When the Heroes for Hire went up against the Master of the World, the genius villain revealed that he had cloned various heroes to create Strikeforce One. This group had all the power of those they were cloned from, withHulk being cloned into the hyper-aggressive Behemoth. The Master of the World also commanded Amazon (a clone of She-Hulk), Dragonfist (a clone of Iron Fist) and Demi-God (a clone of Hercules.)
When Hydra Island was blown to pieces, Strikeforce One were presumed dead, however it’s far more likely that they’re still out there somewhere, waiting for the right time to return.
