Who is Professor Hulk? Know his History

Professor Hulk may be one of the alternate personas of Bruce Banner, but his creation is entirely unique compared to the other versions of the Hulk. Banner’s exposure to the gamma radiation that gave life to the Hulk essentially broke his mind and created multiple personalities as a result that were inhabiting the same body. Bruce Banner, the Hulk, and Grey Hulk are all different personalities that reside within Banner’s body, but the Professor Hulk is different. He was created to heal Banner’s fractured psyche.

MARVEL COMICS ORIGIN

Professor Hulk’s first appearance in the comics is in In The Incredible Hulk #377, with the help of Leonard Samson, a gamma radiated psychiatrist and a lesser known character called the Ringmaster. He uses his powers of hypnosis, along with the psychiatric guidance of Dr. Samson, to enter the mind of Bruce Banner in an attempt to uncover the hidden demons in Banner’s past and help the scientist regain control over his mind. During the treatments, Samson guides Banner and his other personalities, Hulk and Joe Fixit, through Bruce’s repressed memories of his childhood. They discover that Bruce came to create the personalities of the Hulk and Joe Fixit when he was a boy as a defense mechanism against his traumatic experiences (owing to the abusive father that he had), and it was revealed that the other two personalities inside Bruce’s mind weren’t created with the exposure to gamma radiation, as was initially assumed. 

Convinced that without external help, the Banner, Green Hulk, and Grey Hulk identities would eventually destroy each other, Samson had to resort to merging the three to create a new single identity combining Banner's intelligence, the Grey Hulk's and Banner's attitudes, and the Green Hulk's body. And thus, a new Merged Hulk or Professor Hulk came into being, and considered himself cured and began a new life. However, since the merger was not perfect, the Hulk still considered Banner a separate person at times, and when overcome with rage he would transform back into Banner's human body while still thinking himself to be the Hulk. The Merged Hulk is the largest of the three primary Hulk forms. While in a calm emotional state, Professor Hulk is stronger than the savage Hulk when he is calm. Unlike the savage and the grey Hulk, Banner subconsciously installed a type of safeguard within this incarnation. This safeguard is that when the Professor gets angry, he regresses back to Banner with the mind of the original, savage Hulk.

MCU ADAPTATION

Professor Hulk makes his MCU debut in Avengers:Endgame when the Hulk and Bruce Banner personas are merged into one, thus creating a new identity. We see the build to this starting in Thor Ragnarok, with The Hulk being in control of Banner’s psyche for a majority of the movie. He turns into Banner for a brief while, but again becomes the Hulk during the final battle. We see the Hulk and Bruce Banner separating into two different identities. 

Bruce Banner suffers from a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID); there are two minds, trapped in the same body. In human form, Bruce is in control; but whenever Banner transforms, the Hulk takes charge. The MCU has always shown Banner and the Hulk as distinct personas, with Bruce referring to the Hulk as "the other guy." In Avengers: Infinity War, Banner is shown to have trouble in turning into the Hulk after the fight with Thanos. We even see him conversing with the Hulk persona during the battle at Wakanda. But it wasn't until the events of The Avengers that he first began to understand that the Hulk is truly a person in his own right, not just a rampaging monster. When the Hulk chose to redirect his fall from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to avoid endangering innocents, Bruce realized the Hulk actually had the ability to empathize. Although he didn't completely trust the Hulk, he still chose to let him out when required. In Endgame, however, he comes to terms with the Hulk’s persona and manages to enter a sort of a truce with it, retaining Banner’s mind and the Hulk’s physique.

This article is contributed by Pranav