Summary

• The What If...? animated series didn't do justice to the Hulk's appearance, with awkward animation and a strange hairstyle.
• In the Marvel 1602 episode of What If...?, the Hulk maintained his traditional look with a beard to reflect Bruce Banner's imprisonment.
• Smart Hulk in Avengers: Endgame combined brains and brawn but lacked the complexity and monstrousness of Hulk's default form.

The Hulk has had a long history of movie and TV appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a variety of forms as varied in appearances as they are in quality. Historically, Bruce Banner has had many different Hulk incarnations and alternate personalities beyond simply the base Hulk. Many of these never made it into the MCU, such as the gray-skinned "Mr. Fixit" persona or the twisted, suppressed evil presence, Devil Hulk. Still, the MCU has provided audiences with plenty of different takes on the Gamma-fueled behemoth.

Some of the Hulk's different appearances can be attributed to a continuum shift from outside the story, such as a change in art style or casting. However, Bruce Banner and the Hulk have also evolved across their appearances in MCU movies, reflecting the two's journey in the story from hunted monster to gladiator champion to unified superhero. Whatever the case, not every MCU incarnation of Hulk has been created equal, and some designs clearly stand head and shoulders above the others as a stronger presentation of the character.

6 What If..? Season 1 Classic Hulk

What If...? Season 1, Episodes 3, 5, and 8

The first season of Marvel's What If...? animated series brought the comics line of the same name to life, throwing the various Avengers into unfamiliar hypothetical situations through the observant lens of Uatu The Watcher. While he never got an episode featured on him alone, Bruce Banner and Hulk made several appearances across the first season in their classic Marvel Cinematic Universe iteration, re-treading the events of previous films with key changes. Because of this conceit, The Hulk essentially looks the same as he did in the first two phases of the MCU, albeit translated into the show's animation style.

Unfortunately, Hulk didn't make the translation to What If...?'s trademark cell-shaded art style very gracefully. Being mostly a green mass of muscle, the series' animation makes Hulk look somewhat awkward, a bulbous collection of vague green shapes with no well-defined texture. If that wasn't enough, the show also changed up Hulk's hair from the early movies, replacing his close-cut tuft of hair with a strange middle-parted mop of a bowl cut that makes Hulk look like a member of a muscle-bound boy band.

5 What If...? 1602 Bearded Hulk

What If...? Season 2, Episode 8

Adapted from the excellent standalone comic written by Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602, the eighth episode of What If...?'s second season took the Avengers back in time to examine what the Earth's mightiest heroes would look like had they appeared 400 years earlier. Here, Hulk looks mostly the same as his previous versions, still a shirtless green monster with little character design changes to speak of. However, his overgrown hair makes more sense here, and is even accompanied by a beard to reflect Bruce Banner's captivity as a prisoner in this universe.

4 Smart Hulk

Avengers: Endgame (2019), She-Hulk

Perhaps the only Avenger that was positively influenced by the five years following Thanos' snap in Avengers: Infinity War, Smart Hulk has taken over as Bruce Banner's default state in the MCU. Merging the brain and the brawn, in Banner's own words, Hulk's body was taken over by Bruce Banner's personality, resulting in the being known as Smart Hulk. While similar in concept to the comics' Professor Hulk, sometimes even being referred to by the same name, Smart Hulk tragically misses out on his comics incarnation's signature bunny slippers and bulky 90s weaponry.

Appearance-wise, Smart Hulk is impressive, and there's a certain charm to Mark Ruffalo's lovable dorkiness attached to Hulk's imposing body. However, his seemingly endless supply of massive custom-made clothes and relative ease interacting with the world around him extends credibility a hair too far, and is a less fascinating figure than Hulk's default form. The glasses, stubble, and streaks of gray in Banner's hair are great details, presenting an interesting, if not especially complex, adaptation of The Hulk, but it's hard not to feel like Smart Hulk was a cop-out to avoid featuring Banner's monstrous side in future films.

3 Edward Norton's Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's more forgotten early entries, The Incredible Hulk presented a strikingly different-looking green giant compared to the body replacement actor Mark Ruffalo inhabited for most of the MCU's lifespan. The most obvious difference is Edward Norton's clear inspiration for Hulk's face. Though not bearing as strong of a resemblance as Mark Ruffalo's Hulk does to his own Bruce Banner, the distinct likenesses between the two versions are night and day. It would've been interesting to see this Hulk progress through the MCU as Mark Ruffalo's had.

Beyond Marvel's recast of The Hulk from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo, The Incredible Hulk's titular angry green giant boasts some other creative distinctions. Norton's Hulk is more hypertrophied, has more vasculature, and is overall more human-looking, with shaggier hair, more of a shredded bodybuilder physique compared to Ruffalo's simian-looking Hulk. Sadly, the 2008 film was too cowardly to commit to Hulk's classic torn purple shorts, relying on some navy-colored pants instead, docking major points from the final design.

2 Gladiator Hulk

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Because of Universal's moratorium on other studios distributing Hulk films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has thus far been unable to release a solo Hulk movie following 2008's The Incredible Hulk. Circumventing this, Marvel Studios decided to weave Hulk's various comic stories across the background of other projects, most notably, a nod to World War Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok featuring Hulk in his signature gladitorial regalia from the iconic comic. There's a lot to appreciate about this costume change, paying homage to one of the character's most famous comic events.

From his iconic spiked shoulder guard to his proud centurion helmet, Hulk's gladiator armor is a fantastic homage to the World War Hulk comic. His choice of weaponry is a great sight to behold as well, hefting a hammer that appears to be little more than an engine block on a stick. The white Sakaarian markings on his body suggest his long history as a champion on the alien planet, and the knee-high sandals pay their respects to the Peplum genre his colosseum fight with Thor evokes.

1 The Standard "Avengers" Era Hulk

The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Sometimes, the simplest designs are the strongest, and no MCU outfit better reflects that than the classic Hulk look from the first three Avengers movies. Ever since his first appearance in The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo's iconic Hulk design looks as though he's leapt right out of the comics and on to the big screen. It helps that he's also a dead ringer for Ruffalo, the actor's motion capture performance making Hulk's face surprisingly expressive, an important aspect of the design to nail considering how little he relies on spoken words.

The MCU also added their own personal touches to the design beyond adapting the classic purple ripped pants and heavy neanderthal eyebrow ridge. The Hulk of the early days of The Avengers was also a good deal more animalistic, moving like a gorilla and roaring like a lion, owing to Bruce Banner's suppressed bestial rage making up the character's DNA. Muscular, comics-accurate, and massive in size, the classic MCU Hulk does the character better visually than any incarnation before or since.