10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About The Hulk

9. His Original Series Was A Bomb

Not “the bomb”. And not a gamma bomb, although that was right there from the start in his origin story. The Incredible Hulk would eventually become one of Marvel's best-known characters, bringing them one of their earliest live action successes and becoming one of the founding members of the Avengers. At first, though? He bombed.

The Hulk was a complete failure. The X-Men took a while to get off the ground, but at least they reached fifty some issues before going into reprints. Meanwhile, Marvel abandoned the Hulk idea after just six instalments. The Incredible Hulk title was cancelled and Banner was shunted over to guest appearances in the likes of The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.

Things eventually picked up – mainly thanks to his role in the nascent Avengers book – and a year and a half after his own book was cancelled, The Hulk became one of the starring characters in anthology series Tales To Astonish, alongside Thor. From there, he went from strength to strength. At first, though, he was an utter failure.