Bruce Banner is considered one of the greatest minds on the planet, with an intellect so high some say it can’t be measured on standard IQ tests. The Hulk, on the other hand, is often seen as a stupid, savage brute with a very limited vocabulary. While there have been versions of the Hulk with Banner’s intelligence, most people still stereotype the Hulk as a big, dumb, green monster.
Surprisingly, however, this is not true. Even in his allegedly “stupid” form, the Hulk regularly shows he’s a super genius with an intellect that matches and possibly exceeds Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking. Moreover, he uses his smarts for the benefit of humanity every time he leaps, smashes a building, or tears apart a tank.
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Right from the beginning, the Hulk was classified as a menace for the way he routinely caused massive amounts of property damage wherever he went. While the Hulk rarely started a fight, once the army or a supervillain attacked him, he had no problem finishing a battle – often by completely obliterating the battle field with his powerful blows and thunderclaps. Despite this, however, very few of the “puny humans” Hulk fought sustained any serious injuries or died during his rampages.
From a storytelling standpoint, the reason for this was obvious – if the Hulk regularly killed people (even if by accident) he would become a less sympathetic figure and readers would have less reasons to root for him. Thus, it seemed that no matter how much damage Banner caused as the Hulk, human casualties would be very light and often non-existent. After a while, however, this started to seem absurd – until Hulk’s friend Amadeus Cho offered a possible explanation.
A popular addition to Hulk’s supporting cast, Korean-American teenager Amadeus Cho has some powerful abilities of his own. Although he did not begin as a mutant or enhanced human, Amadeus’ IQ is incredibly high, gifting him with a “hypermind.” This allows him to process massive amounts of data like a super computer, allowing him to make incredibly rapid and accurate calculations. His flawless memory allows him to recall virtually any fact he’s ever been exposed to, enabling him to break practically any code and invent highly sophisticated machines. His most interesting use of his hypermind, however, lies in what he can do with it on the battlefield.
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When faced with an opponent more powerful than himself, for instance, Amadeus can simply calculate his enemy’s weak points and the best angles of attack. He can then throw ordinary objects like pennies or pebbles with such precision that he can start chain reactions that immediately disable his opponent. Fortunately, Amadeus isn’t a murderer, so even when he does things like down a helicopter by reflecting a beam of sunlight into the pilot’s eyes, he makes sure it crashes without killing anyone.
Naturally, these incredible abilities soon earned Amadeus some unwanted attention from various government and private agencies who tried to abduct the teenager for their own purposes. While Amadeus was able to use his own abilities to evade his pursuers, at one point they became too much for him. Fortunately, Doctor Bruce Banner happened to be in the area and hulked out, allowing the Hulk to stand up for Amadeus and save him. Surprisingly, although the Hulk normally shows nothing but disdain for “puny humans,” he recognized Amadeus’ powerful mind and claimed he was “strong” like him.
At one point, Amadeus pointed out that the Hulk also had a few things in common with him. Noting that the Hulk could rampage through army bases and tear apart millions of dollars of equipment without killing a single soldier, Amadeus reasoned that the Hulk unconsciously calculated probabilities and worked out geometric equations at such blinding speed that even when it looked like he was throwing things at random, he was actually making sure he could destroy without killing anyone.
Surprisingly, Amadeus’ theory was not unprecedented. Bruce Banner has regularly been shown to restrain the Hulk even when his mind is buried within the Hulk’s consciousness. This prevents the Hulk from completely cutting loose with his strength, but it could also mean that Banner is using his mind to direct the Hulk’s attacks so he doesn’t kill people. Alternately, Banner has shown he can imbue different versions of the Hulk with new superpowers such as the ability to see ghosts or breathe underwater. Thus, he could give the Hulk superhuman calculating skills that would operate unconsciously during his rampages and prevent loss of life.
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Hulk's own version of the "hypermind" can also help explain how he can minimize the destructive potential of one of his main abilities - his leaps. While being able to leap miles in a single bound looks very impressive, Hulk inevitably causes a lot of damage when he lands. Yet somehow, he still manages to avoid landing on people or crashing through buildings (most of the time), indicating he actually has an advanced knowledge of trajectories and isn't leaping completely at random.
Of course, there are multiple exceptions to Amadeus’ theory. While Hulk’s rampages rarely result in human casualties, there have been instances when people have gotten seriously hurt or even killed because of him. Hulk has often expressed shame or horror at these times and has even made attempts to get these people medical attention. Amadeus’ theory also doesn’t take into account other versions of the Hulk, such as the Ultimate universe’s homicidal Hulk who intentionally killed thousands of people, indicating that Hulk’s failsafe isn’t infallible or even active in all incarnations of the Hulk.
Nevertheless, the fact that Hulk’s long and destructive career has also seen an impossibly low level of actual bloodshed indicates that, from a comic book logic perspective, some factor must be in play to keep the Hulk from leaving thousands of dead bodies in his wake. Bruce Banner might be renowned for his smarts, but the Hulk also uses a similar level of intelligence every day. And we’re lucky that he does.
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