Hulk

Bioscience genius Dr. Bruce Banner focused his major studies on the effects of gamma radiation on humans, working alongside Dr. Betty Ross at a Virginia University lab. Dr. Ross’ father, General “Thunderbolt” Ross of the U.S. Army, channeled Banner’s work into a program to develop weapons for the military, unbeknownst to both doctors. When Banner decided to test what he learned on himself, he triggered a fantastic transformation in himself that resulted in an immense, hulking figure fueled by his own rage.

Having destroyed his lab as the creature, and inadvertently harming Ross in the process, Banner slipped away to avoid capture and study by the Army and began a desperate quest for a cure to his bizarre affliction.

As intelligent and cerebral as Bruce Banner is, his alter-ego the Hulk is a completely physical phenomenon. The green behemoth possesses the greatest raw strength of any natural being on Earth, with an upper limit that has yet to be fully tested. His leg muscles allow him to leap great distances and land without harm, and his skin can resist damage from heavy weaponry, as well as the natural elements and even unnatural ones.

The Hulk has grown somewhat more intelligent over the years, beginning with the mind of nearly an infant and progressing to what might be described as the personality of a toddler. His speech has increased from growls and roars, to one or two words at a time, to full sentences, albeit broken and naïve. Banner recognizes the Hulk as himself, but often refers to him as “the other guy,” while his alter-ego seems to have little love or respect for the mild scientist and may not even be cognizant that Banner is himself.

Banner is considered one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, possessing "a mind so brilliant it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test." Norman Osborn estimates that he is the fourth most-intelligent person on Earth. Banner holds expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, physiology, and nuclear physics. Using this knowledge, he creates advanced technology dubbed "Bannertech", which is on par with technological development from Tony Stark or Doctor Doom. Some of these technologies include a force field that can protect him from the attacks of Hulk-level entities, and a teleporter.

The Hulk possesses the potential for seemingly limitless physical strength which is influenced by his emotional state, particularly his anger. This has been reflected in the repeated comment, "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets." The cosmically-powerful entity known as the Beyonder once analyzed the Hulk's physiology, and claimed that the Hulk's potential strength had "no finite element inside."Hulk's strength has been depicted as sometimes limited by Banner's subconscious influence; when Jean Grey psionically "shut Banner off", Hulk became strong enough to overpower and destroy the physical form of the villain Onslaught. Writer Greg Pak described the Worldbreaker Hulk shown during World War Hulk as having a level of physical power where "Hulk was stronger than any mortal—and most immortals—who ever walked the Earth" and depicted the character as powerful enough to completely destroy entire planets. His strength allows him to leap into lower Earth orbit or across continents,and he has displayed superhuman speed. Exposure to radiation has also been shown to make the Hulk stronger.It is unknown how he gains biomass during transformation but it may be linked to the One-Below-All.

His durability, regeneration, and endurance also increase in proportion to his temper. Hulk is resistant to injury or damage, though the degree to which varies between interpretations, but he has withstood the equivalent of solar temperatures,nuclear explosions,and planet-shattering impacts. Despite his remarkable resiliency, continuous barrages of high-caliber gunfire can hinder his movement to some degree while he can be temporarily subdued by intense attacks with chemical weapons such as anesthetic gases, although any interruption of such dosages will allow him to quickly recover. He has been shown to have both regenerative and adaptive healing abilities, including growing tissues to allow him to breathe underwater, surviving unprotected in space for extended periods, and when injured, healing from most wounds within seconds, including, on one occasion, the complete destruction of most of his body mass.His future self, the "Maestro", was even eventually able to recover from being blown to pieces. As an effect, he has an extremely prolonged lifespan.

He also possesses less commonly described powers, including abilities allowing him to "home in" to his place of origin in New Mexico; resist psychic control, or unwilling transformation; grow stronger from radiation or dark magic; punch his way between separate temporal or spatial dimensions; and to see and interact with astral forms.Some of these abilities were in later years explained as being related; his ability to home in on the New Mexico bomb site was due to his latent ability to sense astral forms and spirits, since the bomb site was also the place where the Maestro's skeleton was and the Maestro's spirit was calling out to him in order to absorb his radiation.

In the first Hulk comic series, "massive" doses of gamma rays would cause the Hulk to transform back to Banner, although this ability was written out of the character by the 1970s