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I just saw the new Hulk movie and thought it was great. After the movie was done I couldn't help but think that it would be a particularly good model for a werewolf story. (I don't consider this a spoiler about the Hulk since the story is well known.) Lets see...

-He's an otherwise completely normal person who lives in constant fear of his curse.

-Hides from those that want to exploit his ability, even jumping countries to protect himself.

-Has spent the past few years of his life trying to keep the beast inside of him at bay. His ultimate goal is to find a cure.

-The transformation is brought about by strong emotions, mostly negative.

-When transformed, he's a wild, barely communicative, monstrous beast who lives in the moment and who has the propensity to lash out at those around him. When angered, his thirst for destruction is almost unquenchable.

-However, the beast can be calmed by strong positive reinforcement (like the words of a loved one.) It can even be gentle and protective with the right stimulus... part of his human personality can reveal itself.

-For a long time, the beast's inhuman instincts are so overwhelming that control is almost impossible. The most he can do is try and point himself in the right direction.

-After the transformation, he has flashbacks of memory about what he's done.

-Through intense meditation and personal training, even drugs, eventually he learns how to control the transformation. Still, he's afraid of losing himself to the beast.

Overall I think it combines the best of "monster" type werewolves and "realistic" Freeborn-type.

You're right. I've always felt that the Hulk was basically just another werewolf type story and I've even considered seeing it because of that.

Just no green fur please.

I could do without Hulk's signature swollen brow muscles.

NO comedy plz im already lauging uncontrolably for no reason as it is... please dont give it one

The Incredible Hulk; the dreaded phantom "Other" is an excellent format for the destructive Werewolf story to emulate.

I have to wonder though; which came first, the Werewolf or the Hulk. They are alike on so many levels, and I agree about the swollen brows; he looks constipated...

The major way that the Hulk differs from a Werewolf is in the fact he's not going to make more Hulks by biting or scratching them.
Even the She-Hulk got her powers in the same way Bruce Banner did, at least in the Marvel stories.

Good observation!

Actually i thought he looks more like Thing after he came out of extreme plastic surgery, or merely resembles Kirby's original design of Hulk (which i absolutely loathe). I've come to like Eric Bana's Hulk much more because his mutated swelling of the whole body is more evenly distributed. In fact, I like Hulk best in Marvel VS Capcom, as i would with other Marvel characters within the game.

But i digress.

RedEye wrote:I have to wonder though; which came first, the Werewolf or the Hulk.

Probably the Werewolf; the Hulk's only been around since about 1962.

There's definitely parallels that can be drawn between the stories (as there are parallels that can be drawn between werewolf legends and the Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde story) but it's probably just an illustration of how writers are all working from the same pool of cultural knowledge. Sort of like how parallels can be drawn between Golem legends, The Sorcerers' Apprentice and the story of Frankenstein and his monster.

The Jeckel / Hyde formula predates The Hulk for decades, maybe centuries. As a werewolf story template, it's been done, probably fairly often. Aside from the TV series "Werewolf" that ran from 1988 to 89, there's Marvel Comics' own Werewolf by Night.

The Hulk differs from Jeckyl & Hyde significantly in that the Hulk can see himself behaving in such a terrible way, but he simply can't control it. He's broken by overwhelming emotions, whereas Hyde is a different personality entirely. Thus Hulk can be peaceful and gentle on occasion, whenever he gets "unscrambled." (He works as a severely flawed hero as a result, unlike Hyde, who is a pure monster.)

A Hulkish werewolf would be this: he doesn't forget how to act "good" when he becomes the wolf, and unlike the Wolf-Man of old, his least likely target is the love of his life; he's just driven purely by raw instinct, which results in reckless destructiveness.

"The Lizard" is a much better character to represent the Jeckyl & Hyde trope.

MoonKit wrote:Just no green fur please.

Though the ratings were good, I still have yet to see the new Hulk movie; the other most recent one was a bomb.

The Hulk story is pretty close to the classic perception most have of werewolves-something (IE the moon) induces change, they don't have complete control over their actions, and they wake up later either conscious or not so much of what they just went through. Not my views, but hey.

RedEye wrote:Even the She-Hulk got her powers in the same way Bruce Banner did, at least in the Marvel stories.

Actually, no, she got her powers by getting an emergency blood-transfusion from "cousin Bruce" after some thugs tried to kill her.

(Yes, I'm a She-Hulk fan.)

The original Hulk stories also had Bruce Banner transforming into the Hulk from sunset to sunrise also, as opposed to having the transformation trigger whenever he was angry.

Good observation. Berserker.

Too some degree yes but there are those other flaws as several of you have stated such as emotional transformation and passing it on through mating even though we've hit that subject in the other forums, and reaction to pain as in the Hulk series in the 70's. If we did make a story with a Hulk transformation similarity, the ww would have change at anytime and place if any pain or emotional reaction would come about. This is just my opinion though.