Stan Lee originally wanted The Incredible Hulk to have gray skin, but it didn’t work visually. Colorist Stan Goldberg added green, which made the character stand out and allowed for catchy nicknames. Lee was inspired by Frankenstein’s monster and wanted a “ghostly” demeanor. In 1986, the character briefly transformed into a granite-colored version called Joe Fixit.
When Stan Lee had his first thoughts on The Incredible Hulk comic series in 1962, he saw Bruce Banner’s monstrous alter ego as almost a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and the evil Mr. Hyde. Lee wanted his Hulk to have gray skin so there would be no connection to any particular ethnic group.
But Marvel Comics colorist Stan Goldberg couldn’t make the gray work visually. On tests, the gray looked too silvery or too dark. However, a touch of green made the character stand out on the page. It turns out that green was a stroke of genius for both Lee and the Hulk. “By making it green,” Lee said, “I was able to give it nicknames like ‘The Jolly Green Giant’ (or) ‘The Green Goliath.’ So, I’m very happy that we made it green.”
Shades of Hulk:
Color was Lee’s way of making the Hulk pop. An angry Hulk didn’t wear tights or capes, so Lee initially decided to give him a strange skin color. He thought the gray would give the character a “ghostly” demeanor, which is how he appeared in issue #1.
Lee said he’s always had a soft spot for Frankenstein’s monster. “He never wanted to hurt anyone; he just attempted his tortuous way through a second life trying to defend himself,” Lee wrote in The Origins of Marvel Comics.
Though green is now iconic to the Hulk, in 1986, alter-ego Bruce Banner unexpectedly transformed into a granite-colored badass who called himself Joe Fixit.
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