Alternate versions of the Hulk

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In addition to his mainstream incarnation, Hulk has also been depicted in other fictional universes, in which Bruce Banner's transformation, behavior, or circumstances vary from the mainstream setting. In some stories, someone other than Bruce Banner is the Hulk.

Bruce Banner

Alternative versions of the character have appeared in a number of Marvel storylines. In the Age of Apocalypse alternate setting, Bruce Banner was never exposed to gamma radiation and instead experimented on mutants to transform himself into The Thing, a being similar to the Gray Hulk. In the altered reality of the 2005 company wide crossover House of M, Bruce Banner disappears in Australia, where he befriends an Aborigine tribe, and attempts to control his dark side. When the mutant rulers of the Earth attack his tribe he retaliates, and eventually conquers Australia with the aid of Advanced Idea Mechanics.

Earth X

The Earth X series featured a vastly different take on the character, one in which the Hulk and Bruce Banner have finally achieved separation. However, they still rely on each other, with Banner becoming a blind child who sees through the Hulk's eyes. In an interview in Comicology Volume I: The Kingdom Come Companion, Alex Ross said that the design of Earth-X Banner and Hulk was based on the appearance of Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur. The Warren Ellis series Ruins, a dark flip to the Kurt Busiek tale Marvels featured a Banner transformed by the Gamma-Bomb into a grotesque mass of bubbling green tumors.

Marvel Zombies

In the series Marvel Zombies, the Hulk has succumbed to a virus which makes him into an undead zombie. Although he retains his strength and invulnerability, he no longer heals, does not feel pain and now craves human flesh. The zombie Hulk's transformations are controlled purely by his appetite — after feeding, he transforms back into Banner, who is also a zombie, until the hunger returns. Banner, who retains much of his intelligence and thus guilt, has the defenders of the last human colony kill his human(ish) form.

Marvel Zombies Return

A second Hulk appears in the reality the Marvel Zombies of the original series are teleported to, known as Earth-Z. This version's life appears identical to his core counterpart up until the events of World War Hulk. When he reaches the Moon to attack the Inhumans, he is infected and his allies killed. Hungry, he heads to Earth and begins eating people, ultimately infecting the Sentry, who sets about forming a team of Zombie Avengers to eat humanity and wipe out any competition or resistance from other heroes, infected or otherwise. Hulk later is cured of his hunger by the Zombie Spider-Man and joins his New Avengers. The team succeeds in killing the Zombie Avengers and ending their plan to eat the multiverse, sacrificing themselves in the process.^[1]

The End

In other tales, possible futures for the character have been shown. Using a post apocalyptic wasteland as a backdrop, the Peter David written Incredible Hulk: The End one-shot features the demise of an elderly Bruce Banner leaving the Hulk as the last living being on the planet. This was a different future to that shown in David's Future Imperfect storyline. This tale also featured a post apocalyptic future but one where the Hulk has mutated into the dictator The Maestro ruling the remains of humanity with an iron fist.

MC-2

In another take, The Hulk is shown to still be active in the alternate future of the MC2 universe. There, he is shown as an amalgamation of his three main transformations; He has the strength of the Savage Hulk, the attitude of the Grey Hulk, and the intelligence of the Professor Hulk.

He's also shown to have fathered a son named David by an unknown spouse.

He was later seen within the pages of Last Hero Standing, where Loki manipulated him into attacking the heroes. When he was freed of his manipulation he was critical into punishing Loki within the voided dimension that Thor banished them to live out the rest of their days.

Old Man Logan

This reality is set 50 years in the future after many of the costumed villains and criminals joined forces. The result is the death of most of the various costumed heroes and the conquest of the American. In the case of Bruce Banner, excessive exposure to gamma radiation via nuclear weapons used during the conflict render him insane and results in another incarnation of the Hulk. Banner forcibly mates with his cousin Jennifer Walters and sires a progeny that possesses average human intellect, green skin and similar powers to themselves, though at lower levels. They form the Hulk gang that rule the entire west coast of the country, a domain formerly held by the Abomination. Banner, along with his children and grandchildren, live in a collection of caves and trailers, forcing those that live on the west coast to pay them rent in order to be allowed to live. Aside from affecting his sanity, the radiation Banner is exposed to earlier alters him physically. Even in his normal state, Banner possesses at least some degree of all the Hulk's superhuman abilities. After Logan returns home and learns his wife and children have been slaughtered by the Hulk gang, he proceeds to fight and kill all of them. He eventually confronts Banner himself and the two begin to fight, with Banner initially holding his own due to his strength. Logan soon gains the upper hand and impales Banner with his claws, which angers Banner enough that he transforms into the Hulk. The excess radiation has created a different incarnation of the Hulk, one in which Banner has complete control. Banner's Hulk form, while physically older, is much larger than any previous incarnation and is several stories tall. As the Hulk, Banner eats Logan and believes he's killed him. However, Logan's healing factor allows him to withstand the assult and heal the injuries sustained. He eventually claws his way out of Banner's body through his back, causing massive internal injuries to Banner that end up killing him. Logan spots Banner's grandson, Bruce, Jr. and spares him. Logan takes the boy to raise in an effort to someday help combat the various villains that still rule the country.

Ultimate Hulk

A version of the Hulk appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint, first appearing in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #2 (2001), written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Phil Hester. In the Ultimates series, Banner works for S.H.I.E.L.D., attempting to re-create the super-soldier formula that created Captain America. He injects himself with an experimental version of the formula, turning into the green-skinned Hulk, and rampaging through New York, and is only stopped through the combined efforts of Spider-Man and a S.H.I.E.L.D. battalion led by General Ross. He later combines Captain America's blood with his previous Hulk formula, and injects it into himself (Ultimates #4), thereby transforming him into the more powerful gray-skinned Hulk.^[2]

Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk shows that after escaping an execution attempt, Banner travels through France, Ireland and India, seeking a means to control the Hulk within. In Ultimates 2 #11, Bruce Banner appears in Washington D.C. He proclaims himself "in touch with [his] inner sociopath" before allowing a Crimson Dynamo robot to step on him. He immediately transforms into the Hulk and rips the droid apart. He then continues to aid the Ultimates against the Liberators in issue #12, by defeating, dismembering, and finally decapitating the Abomination.

He then appeared together with Iron Man in their own mini-series titled Ultimate Human, focusing on Bruce Banner approaching Tony Stark about the possibility of using the Iron Man nanites to control the Hulk transformations. The Leader is introduced as a scientist after the blood of both men, for use in in the creation of a superhuman. This series depicts the Hulk's physiology as almost infinitely adaptive to adverse conditions, including simulations of hostile extraterrestrial environments such as the surface of the planet Venus. It also described him as generating carbon Fullerenes in his skin structure, adding to his durability.

In issue #4 of Ultimate Origins, which takes place 15 years before the Ultimate timeline's present, Bruce Banner is shown to have been hired by the U.S. Government and Ultimate Nick Fury as part of a project to secretly recreate the Super Soldier Serum. At a covert lab in Dover, New Jersey, Bruce works alongside fellow scientists, Hank Pym, Franklin Storm, father of Sue and Johnny Storm, and Richard Parker, father of Peter Parker.

Bruce believes that he has come up with the correct formula for the serum, but needs to test it out. Eager to try his results on a human subject, Banner synthesizes his serum and injects himself with it. The serum turns him into the Hulk for the very first time. Banner goes on a rampage inside the laboratory and eventually destroys the entire complex, accidentally killing Richard Parker, along with his wife Mary, who had brought an infant Peter along with her to visit Richard.

During Ultimatum the Hulk appears in New York and is convinced by Spider-Man to help him rescue people. When demons start appearing they go to the home of Doctor Strange, only to learn that his body had been possessed by Nightmare. He then starts to torture them. Hulk in response heats the Orb of Acmantata, which causes an explosion. He survives and is recruited by the remainig Ultimates and X-Men to stop Magneto. In Magnetos Citadel he and Colossus are tasked with destroying some of the citadels machinery. They try to stop Mystique and Sabretooth from escaping, but fail. Hulk survives Ultimatum.

After the events of Ultimatium, Tony Stark's older brother creates a clone of the Hulk, with the brain of Bruce Banner within the body of the Hulk. Being code-named Nerd Hulk

Maestro

Other Hulks

For the Marvel 2099 imprint, Gerard Jones and Dwayne Turner created a new version of the character. First appearing in 2099 Unlimited #1, John Eisenhart, a selfish film producer in "LotusLand" (future Hollywood) is inadvertently exposed to gamma radiation by the Knights of the Banner (a cult worshipping the original Hulk) who intend to create a Hulk of their own. As the Hulk, Eisenhart finds himself representing freedom to a closed-off society. A Hulk 2099 series was published for 10 issues.

In the Bullet Points mini-series, Peter Parker finds himself on the test site for a Gamma bomb and absorbs a large dose of gamma radiation, becoming the Hulk. In a further twist, later in the series, in an attempt to find a cure for Peter, Dr. Bruce Banner examines specimens taken from the test site and is bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming Spider-Man.

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