STAR HULK
STAR HULK
Real Name: Bruce Skyhulker
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-81091), (presumably) human mutate
Occupation: Unrevealed - possibly freedom fighter (see comments)
Group Membership: US Army
Affiliations: Unidentified blue-skinned female
Enemies: Hulkbuster droids
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Outer Space
First Appearance: Marvel Super Heroes II#101 (September 1981)
Powers/Abilities: Star Hulk possessed superhuman strength and durability, presumably on a par with his Earth-616 counterpart. He presumably retained more of his intellect than his 616 counterpart commonly did, as he was intelligent enough to remember how to use blasters and spacesuit helmets.
History: (Marvel Super Heroes II#101) - Long ago, in outer space, Bruce Skyhulker was Star Hulk, fighting the dreaded Hulkbuster droids. (see comments)
Comments: Created by Herb Trimpe.
By the early 1980s, the US incarnation of Marvel
Super-Heroes was a reprint title republishing early 1970s Hulk stories. In
MSH #97, a series of new, bonus posters were included after the reprint story,
initially drawn by Herb Trimpe. In MSH #98, Trimpe produced two tongue-in-cheek
alternate versions of the Hulk, and through the remaining run of the title,
up until its cancellation with MSH #105, several more variant Hulks were
showcased, alongside more standard Hulk posters (MSH #102 has only a regular
poster, and MSH #105 has an alternate Hulk alongside a regular poster, while
MSH #100 skipped the posters entirely). For the main image above, I've scanned
a close-up of the Hulk himself, but the full poster can be seen to the left
for those who are interested.
We have little confirmed data on Star Hulk, though we can speculate on at least some of his background, given what we know of 616 Hulk. Star Hulk is Bruce Skyhulker, his name a clear parody of Luke Skywalker, but we don't know if his powers are gamma exposure related (probably) or alien (less likely) or something else (even less likely). He's fighting the Hulkbuster droids, but there's no clue as to their masters or origins, beyond being created to fight him or perhaps other Hulks. At a guess, given the Star Wars theme, he may well be a freedom fighter.
The full list of the "alternate Hulk" posters is as follows:
It is interesting to note the stylistic differences between the two creative teams: Trimpe's Hulks could all potentially be the 616 Hulk transported to various settings during a period when Banner's intellect was dominant; Stern and Austin's Hulks are definitely alternate reality Hulks.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Star Hulk has no known connections to
Unidentified blue-skinned female
An ally of Bruce Skyhulker, a.k.a. Star Hulk, she tried to warn him of a spaceship passing overhead, but he was preoccupied by the approach of Hulkbuster droids.
--Marvel Super Heroes II#101
Opponents of Bruce Skyhulker, a.k.a. Star Hulk, they down their foe, but some of them were swiftly destroyed.
--Marvel Super Heroes II#101
images: (without ads)
Marvel Super Heroes II#101, p22, pan1 (all images)
Other Appearances:
None
Last updated: 08/19/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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