5 Forgotten Powers You Didn’t Know The Hulk Had

On the surface, you’d think that the Hulk’s superpowers would be simple. He’s normally a super smart scientist, but when he gets angry, he turns big, green, and powerful. The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. That part is very simple, but that’s far from where the Hulk’s powers end. On the contrary, the Incredible Hulk actually has a whole retinue of incredible powers that most don’t even know he possesses, from energy absorption to actual immortality. He has a healing factor that can rival Wolverine’s, and can open doorways between different dimensions with a single, rage-enhanced punch.

The Hulk’s auxiliary powers are some of the most fascinating in all of Marvel, and although they don’t always come up as often as his raw strength does, that doesn’t make them any less impressive. So today, we’re going to look at five of Hulk’s powers that you might not have known he has, and see exactly how much the Jade Giant is hiding inside that screaming head of his.

5) Supernatural Senses

While Banner has all the senses of a normal man, the Hulk can perceive far more. He developed the ability to see ghosts, which extends to seeing the astral forms of characters like Doctor Strange. As of his Devil Hulk incarnation, he also exhibited the ability to literally smell lies, which is a far more reliable way of detecting dishonesty than listening to someone’s heartbeat. Alongside that, Devil Hulk had a sort of supernatural sixth sense that pulled him towards bastions of gamma radiation. We don’t know yet if he has any special touch or taste-related powers, but if he does, the Hulk might just put Daredevil out of a job.

4) Fear Inducement

Yet another power developed under the Devil Hulk persona, the green behemoth can project an aura that can make everyone in his vicinity afraid of him. Sure, most people are already afraid of the Hulk, and for very good reason, but this goes deeper than that. The Hulk can play on the deepest, most primal fears that linger in the back of everyone’s minds, from normal humans to literal gods like Thor. It may not be enough to take the courageous out of a fight on its own, but trying to fight the Hulk is difficult enough without your knees knocking. 

3) Memory Alteration Immunity

While he’s still susceptible to things like mind control, the Hulk’s memories cannot be altered by outside means. Banner can have his memories changed as easily as anyone else’s, but the Hulk refuses to forget anything he’s experienced himself. The most famous example occurred in Immortal Hulk: Great Power, where Devil Hulk revealed that he never forgot Peter’s real identity, even though Doctor Strange’s spell affected the rest of the world. This wasn’t a one-off incident, either, as the Hulk also remembered the Sentry when reality was altered to wipe everyone else’s minds, as shown in Sentry/Hulk.

2) Eye Lasers

He might not be Superman, but the Hulk certainly started doing his best impression of the Man of Steel when he fired red lasers from his eyes. He first demonstrated this ability in Hulk (2021) #5. The Hulk channeled his endless supply of gamma energy into powerful optic blasts of pure destruction. This is a byproduct of the Hulk’s ability to absorb and redirect energy, shown in how the Hulk often steals energy from the people he fights. This power hasn’t shown up since this run, and while I don’t expect to see it anytime soon, it’s definitely a powerful tool in the Hulk’s arsenal. My biggest complaint is that the energy isn’t green. It breaks the color scheme.

1) Adaptive Mutation

This power is actually one of the Hulk’s most important, being the reason that all of the above powers exist at all. The Hulk possesses the ability to alter and evolve his form to match his situation. In the same way that Banner changes shape to express the power of the gamma flowing through him, his body further adapts to his surroundings and challenges when they become too much. In fact, his ability to see ghosts was developed in direct response to his guilt and fear over killing his father, and the terror that his ghost would haunt him. The Hulk is an ever-evolving creature of unparalleled might. If he’s not the strongest one around right now, he’ll just change until he is.

So there we have five of the Hulk’s strangest, least talked about powers. Did any of these catch you by surprise? Let us know what your favorite secondary Hulk power is your favorite?

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