sparkymat

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was a military scientist working on a new weapon called a “gamma bomb”. During the first testing of the gamma bomb, Bruce watched with horror as a teenage boy strolled casually into the fenced test area. Instructing his assistant to cease the countdown, he rushes out to save the teenager. Unknown to him, his assistant is a Russian spy, who, having failed to obtain the secret of the gamma bomb, had received orders to kill the inventor of the gamma bomb. Reaching the teenager in time, Bruce pushes him into a military trench and needed one more second to save himself, a second that was denied him.

Catching the full blast of the gamma explosion, Bruce is wracked with intense pain and he blacks out. Hours later, he wakes up in a hospital bed. Agitated on finding his life’s work sabotaged and his life threatened, he gets worked up and loses his temper and in the process, transforms into the gamma powered being known as the Incredible Hulk. Originally grey and not much larger than a very large person, the Hulk soon mutated into a larger and emerald skinned form.

Bruce Banner has the most unique form of multiple personality disorder, in the sense that his multiple personalities manifest physically as well. The two most dominant personalities, apart from that of Bruce Banner’s, are the Grey Hulk and the Savage Hulk personalities.

The Savage Hulk was the largest and strongest of the Hulk persona and like all the Hulk variations, had immense strength that increased as he got angrier (”The madder Hulk is, the stronger he gets”). The Savage Hulk had the personality of a small child and just wished to be left alone. This personality represented Bruce’s inner child, a product of childhood abuse and emotional scarring caused by his mother’s abuse at his father’s hands. Not very articulate, the Savage Hulk’s frequent quote is “Hulk Smash!!!”.

The grey hulk was smaller than the savage hulk and considerably more intelligent and cunning. Adopting the name Joe Fixit, he worked for some time as an enforcer in Mardipoor, where he had a few run-ins with Logan (aka Wolverine). This persona represented the teenager in Bruce Banner.

Doc Samson, attempting to cure Banner of his disorder, tries hypnotic suggestion, which unleashes yet another persona, which calls itself the Professor. The Professor has the body of the Savage Hulk, with the face and mind of Bruce Banner. However, despite his thinking so, Professor is not Bruce Banner but just another persona of his multiple personality disorder.

Bruce Banner’s life is a sad one, always on the run, avoiding the police and the armed forces, forever hunted for the destruction he causes as the Hulk. The Savage Hulk persona (which is the dominant one of the Hulks) has also saved the Earth on many occassions and is also a founding member of the Avengers. However, his temper caused him to part ways (violently) with his former teammates. Seeking to escape his tormentors, he travels around the globe, wanting only to be left alone.

J’onn J’onzz (popularly known as the Martian Manhunter) is a native of the planet Mars and a green Martian by race. Accidentally teleported to the planet Earth by a human scientist, he was unable to return to his home planet through the portal that brought him to earth. Thus, he used his powers to fit in, adopting a human-like appearance and calling himself “John Jones”. He joined the police force and secretly used his alien powers to help the inhabitants of his new home planet.

John possessed most of Superman’s powers, as well as added abilities like invisibilty, telepathy and the ability to control his molecular structure, which enabled him to shape-shift. His only weakness was towards fire, which affected him in much the way kryptonite affected Superman.

A founding member of the JLA, Martian Manhunter has been a key member of the League since its founding. Telepathically linking the Leaguers during combat, John plays a pivotal role in the League’s functioning. Furthermore, his immense strength and durability makes him one of the team’s foremost powerhouses, along with Superman.

The death of his entire race, has caused Jones to choose to remain on his adopted planet. It was later revealed that his race’s sworn enemies, the White Martians, have survived and their plans of conquest of Earth have brought them into conflict with the JLA several times. The White Martians consider Jones to be a traitor for opposing them, and as such have captured and tortured him.

Superman and the Martian Manhunter have much in common. Both are super powerful aliens who have come to adopt Earth as their planet. Both are good hearted people who fight for truth and justice and wouldn’t hesitate to lay down their lives to save others. However, where Superman is loved and admired by the public, Jones is shunned and feared, primarily due to his alien appearance. Jones is well aware of this and tends to avoid exposing himself to humans, except in the guise of police detective John Jones. His complex is deep rooted and though he bears no malice or ill-will towards Superman, on more than one occassion, he has asked himself, why people love Superman and not him. This changes when, after saving the world yet again, for the first time ever, a small kid comes up to him and hugs him, thanking him for saving the world.