A Beginners Guide To The Different Alters Of Bruce Banner: Part 1
• Bruce Banner: This is the host alter and the original personality of Bruce Banner. He is usually a kind hearted, soft spoken human man with a genius level intellect. He had a habit of repressing his negative emotions until a terrible accident.
• Savage Hulk: This is the most common Hulk. The strongest one there is. The Savage Hulk is comparable to a child, being the manifestation of Bruce's anger from a childhood of abuse from his father that he never released. As a child, Bruce would be powerless to stop his father from hurting him and his mother, Bruce repressed his rage, thusly the Hulk was formed as a way of expressing his rage as a child
This alter is almost always guaranteed to emerge when Bruce is either under extreme distress or in grave danger, depending on whether he is the dominant Hulk at the time.
When Bruce shifts to this alter, his physical form changes also, growing in size and muscle mass, his skin also turns bright green.
The Savage Hulk's strength depends on how angry he is. The angrier he is, the stronger he becomes, this strength is seemingly unlimited. Savage Hulk is one of the strongest alters. However, while Savage Hulk excels in raw strength and power, he lacks in intelligence. He has intelligence akin to a child, and lacks any form of control over his emotions.
• Joe Fixit/ The Grey Hulk: This is Bruce's first Hulk transformation in universe. Joe has a cunning and ruthless personality, usually being selfish and rarely looking out for nobody but himself, though he can be shown to care deeply for others. He is of average human intelligence, but is particularly street smart, being an expert in the art of crime. Bruce developed the Joe Fixit alter from watching black and white movies as a child after his father had beaten him to the point of having two black eyes. Joe was Bruce's idea of what a man was as a child, a tough guy who wisecracks and would beat somebody to death for pissing him off.
Joe's appearance in physical form usually depends on whether or not he is the dominant personality. He was initially the dominant Hulk when Bruce Banner was struck by the gamma bomb, but was made dormant when The Savage Hulk appeared.
When he initially began shifting to this alter, Bruce would grow in size and muscle mass, with his skin turning grey. Sometimes Joe Fixit would remain in Banner's human form. Most recently after being exposed to cosmic radiation, Joe would become a Hulk with gray skin and glowing red veins.
Initially, when Joe was The Grey Hulk, he would essentially act as a middle ground for Banner and Savage Hulk, being stronger than Banner and smarter than Savage Hulk, while being less intelligent than Banner and weaker than Savage Hulk. When in his human form, he is seemingly just a normal human in terms of abilities. When in his Cosmic Hulk form, Joe is seemingly stronger than his former Grey Hulk form, but it is unknown how his cosmic form compares to the other Hulks.
• Devil Hulk/ Immortal Hulk: One of Bruce's earliest and most dangerous alters, Devil Hulk feels responsible for protecting Banner and destroying anyone who poses a threat to him. This alter manifested from Bruce's subconscious urge to kill his abusive father and lash out at those who would hurt him. Devil Hulk is extremely protective of Bruce, going to great lengths to keep him safe and loving him in an almost parental way. He is especially protective of Savage Hulk, who is the manifestation of Bruce's inner child.
Bruce kept Devil Hulk locked away for most of his life, terrified of the consequences of releasing such a terrifying being into the world. When Bruce was a child, Devil Hulk would plead with the young boy to let him take control so he could murder Brian Banner and protect Bruce, with Bruce seeing him as a monster under the bed. Devil Hulk's need to protect Bruce is to a deadly extent, willing to do anything to protect Banner. Although Devil Hulk does seem to carry a moral compass, however small and twisted it may be, as he once went out of his way to track down a robber to punish them for killing a little girl and attempting to kill Bruce, and promptly broke every bone in that robber's body, leaving him permanently comatose and disabled.
The circumstances of Devil Hulk's appearance are rather unique. When in the physical world, Devil Hulk takes the form of the classic green Savage Hulk, but in Bruce Banner's mindscape, Devil Hulk takes the form of a draconic monster, with red and orange scales and sharp teeth.
In terms of strength, Devil Hulk seems to be on the same level as the Savage Hulk in terms of strength, but it isn't known how strong he is exactly. What makes him dangerous is his sinister intellect, seemingly on the same level of intelligence as Bruce Banner himself.
