Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who created the character The Hulk?
The Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in publications by the American publisher Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of "The Incredible Hulk" (May 1962). In his comic book appearances, the character is both the Hulk, a green-skinned, hulking and muscular humanoid possessing a vast degree of physical strength, and his alter ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved physicist, the two existing as independent personalities and resenting of the other.
Wendigo (occasionally: Wen-Di-Go) is a fictional monster appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Marvel character is based on the Wendigo legend of the Algonquian peoples. The monster first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" #162 (April 1973), created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Herb Trimpe, fighting the Incredible Hulk in the Wendigo's first comic book appearance.
Over the long publication history of the Hulk's adventures, many recurring characters have featured prominently, including his best friend and sidekick Rick Jones, love interest and wife Betty Ross and her father, the often adversarial General "Thunderbolt" Ross. Both Banner and Hulk have families created in their respective personas. Banner is son to Brian, an abusive father who killed Banner's mother while she tried to protect her son from his father's delusional attacks, and cousin to Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, who serves as his frequent ally. Banner had a stillborn child with Betty, while the Hulk has two sons with his deceased second wife Caiera Oldstrong, Skaar and Hiro-Kala, and his DNA was used to create a daughter named Lyra with Thundra the warrior woman.
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #1 (March 1963), making him the first member of Spider-Man's rogues' gallery, based on issue publication date, excluding the burglar who murdered Ben Parker (Supercharger was the first Spider-Man supervillain chronologically). He is also well known to be related to Kraven the Hunter. That revealed relationship helped evolve him as a major villain compared to his original depiction of being just a solo villain in the original issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man".
The Weapon X organization first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" #181 and was created by Len Wein and John Romita Sr.
During the late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books, Moldoff became a prolific cover artist for the future DC Comics. His work includes the first cover of the Golden Age Green Lantern, on issue #16 (July 1940) of All-American's flagship title "All-American Comics", featuring the debut of that character created by artist Martin Nodell. Moldoff created the character Black Pirate (Jon Valor) in "Action Comics" #23 (April 1940),
and became one of the earliest artists for the character Hawkman (created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville, though sometimes misattributed to Moldoff). Moldoff drew the first image of the formerly civilian character Shiera Sanders in costume as Hawkgirl in "All Star Comics" #5, based on Neville's Hawkman costume design.
The initial comic-book character called Fighting Yank first appeared in Nedor Comics' "Startling Comics" #10 (September 1941), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writer Richard E. Hughes and artist Jon L. Blummer. Later artwork was produced by Jack Binder's studio, and by Elmer Wexler.
Most of Charlton's superhero characters were acquired in 1983 by DC Comics, where former Charlton editor Dick Giordano was then managing editor. These "Action Hero" characters were originally to be used in the landmark "Watchmen" miniseries written by Alan Moore, but DC then chose to save the characters for other uses. Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them. The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, starting in the epic "Crisis on Infinite Earths" miniseries of 1985.
Terence Stamp's name was deliberately kept out of the opening credits in order to keep the secret he was voicing Jor-El. Stamp originally portrayed General Zod in the first two "Superman" films, starring Christopher Reeve. Gough and Millar wanted to provide answers for certain aspects of the Superman mythology, so at the start of season three they tied Jonathan's heart condition to Jor-El, where Jonathan makes a deal with Jor-El to be given the power to bring Clark back. This power ultimately puts a strain on Jonathan's heart. The refusal by the film department to allow "Smallville" to cast a body as a physical representation of Jor-El forced the special effects crew to come up with a creative way to display some sort of aid to help the audience visualize this disembodied voice which was supposed to be talking to Jonathan in season three's "Exile". They decided to create a force field around whoever was speaking to Jor-El, which acted as Jor-El's voice, rippling as he spoke. To save money on this effect, the crew filmed John Schneider on a black backdrop, and Entity FX digitally added the force field around him. Wind machines and a spot light were added to help synthesize the atmosphere in the force field. At the time of season three's "Memoria", where a scene depicting Jor-El and Lara placing baby Kal-El into his ship before the destruction of Krypton was scripted, Warner Bros. was working on a new "Superman" film, and it was going to be an origin story, and as a result was still banning "Smallville" from showing Jor-El. Millar was forced to take inspiration from comic book scribe Jeph Loeb. In one of Loeb's book, Jor-El and Lara are depicted as just a pair of hands holding on to each other after they place Kal-El into his spaceship. In season nine, the producers were able to provide the character with a physical appearance, and Julian Sands was cast for the role.
The code-name "Weapon X" was originally mentioned in the first appearance of Wolverine in "The Incredible Hulk" #180, in 1974, since which, it had been implied that he was connected to a shady and malevolent government program. In the 1991 "Marvel Comics Presents" story arc "Weapon X," the project was designated Experiment X, and it was revealed that it was responsible for bonding the adamantium to Wolverine's skeleton, making him indestructible. It also subjected him to brainwashing in order to bring out his most basic murderous instincts and to transform him into the perfect assassin. The scientists christened their new killing machine "Weapon X".
The first known female superhero is writer-artist Fletcher Hanks's minor character Fantomah, an ageless, ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in Fiction House's "Jungle Comics" #2 (Feb. 1940), credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg". The first widely recognizable female superhero is "Wonder Woman", from All-American Publications, one of three companies that would merge to form DC Comics. In an October 25, 1940, interview conducted by former student Olive Byrne (under the pseudonym 'Olive Richard') and published in "Family Circle", titled "Don't Laugh at the Comics", William Moulton Marston described what he saw as the great educational potential of comic books (a follow up article was published two years later in 1942.) This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form the future DC Comics. At that time, Marston decided to develop a new superhero. In the early 1940s the DC line was dominated by superpowered male characters such as the Green Lantern, Batman, and its flagship character, Superman. According to the Fall 2001 issue of the Boston University alumni magazine, it was his wife Elizabeth Hollowy's idea to create a female superhero. Marston introduced the idea to Max Gaines, cofounder (along with Jack Liebowitz) of All-American Publications. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed "Wonder Woman" with Elizabeth (whom Marston believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman). In creating Wonder Woman, Marston was also inspired by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polygamous/polyamorous relationship. In a 1943 issue of "The American Scholar", Marston wrote:
The character of Batman made his first appearance in the pages of "Detective Comics" #27 in May 1939. In Spring of 1940, "Batman" #1 was published and introduced new characters into Batman's pantheon, most notably those of Catwoman and Batman's eventual nemesis, the Joker. Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler, was introduced in issue #16 (April–May 1943). 
Editor Whitney Ellsworth assigned a "Batman" story to artist Dick Sprang in 1941. Anticipating that Bob Kane would be drafted to serve in World War II, DC inventoried Sprang's work to safeguard against delays. Sprang's first published Batman work was the Batman and Robin figures on the cover of "Batman" #18 (Aug.-Sept. 1943), reproduced from the art for page 13 of the later-published "Detective Comics" #84 (Feb. 1944). Sprang's first original published Batman work, and first interior-story work, appeared in "Batman" #19 (Oct.-Nov. 1943), for which he drew the cover and the first three Batman stories, and penciled the fourth Batman story, inked by Norm Fallon. Like all Batman artists of the time, Sprang went uncredited as a ghost artist for Kane.
According to Clive Barker, as the writing of the "Hellraiser" script took place during the height of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" film series, his intended portrayal of Pinhead as an articulate and intelligent character was initially not well received by the producers: some suggested that Pinhead should act more like Freddy Krueger and crack jokes, while others suggested that he be a silent character like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. Barker insisted that Pinhead's personality be more evocative of Christopher Lee's portrayal of Count Dracula: "Part of the chill of Dracula surely lies in the fact that he is very clearly and articulately aware of what he is doing – you feel that this is a penetrating intelligence – and I don't find dumb things terribly scary – I find intelligence scary, particularly twisted intelligence; it's one of the reasons why Hannibal Lecter is scary, isn't it? It's because you always feel that he's going to be three jumps ahead of you."
The Guardians of the Universe are a fictional race of extraterrestrials appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Green Lantern. They first appeared in "Green Lantern" Vol. 2, Issue 1 (July 1960), and were created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The Guardians of the Universe have been adapted to a number of films, television programs, and video games.
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, the character made his first appearance in "Showcase" #8 (June 1957).
Iron Fist (Daniel "Danny" Rand) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Iron Fist first appeared in "Marvel Premiere" #15 (May 1974). The character is a practitioner of martial arts and the wielder of a mystical force known as the Iron Fist, which allows him to summon and focus his "chi". He starred in his own solo series in the 1970s, and shared the title "Power Man and Iron Fist" for several years with Luke Cage, partnering with Cage to form the superhero team Heroes for Hire. The character has starred in numerous solo titles since, including "The Immortal Iron Fist", which expanded on his origin story and the history of the Iron Fist.
The series was created by Shotaro Ishinomori, then known for the 1971–1973 "Kamen Rider" TV series and the long-running manga "Cyborg 009". He developed the first two Super Sentai Series "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger", which ran from 1975 to 1977, and "J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai", released in 1977. Toei Company put the franchise on hiatus in 1978, collaborating with Marvel Comics to produce a live action "Spider-Man" series, which added giant robots to the concept of "tokusatsu" shows. The giant robot concept was carried over to Toei and Marvel's next show, "Battle Fever J", released in 1979, and was then used throughout the Super Sentai Series.
Thor, a founding member of the superhero group the Avengers, often battles his evil adoptive brother Loki, a Marvel character adapted from the Norse god of mischief. He is among Marvel's most powerful superheroes. Many recurring characters in his stories are based on Norse Mythology. Apart from this main superhero, Marvel features a number of characters based on him.
Liebowitz, now in control of the fledgling company, devised the title for what was to become National/DC's most important comic book: "Action Comics". He asked editor Vin Sullivan to find material to fill the new title, and Sullivan, Liebowitz and Sheldon Mayer ultimately created comics history and kickstarted what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books by selecting writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster's character Superman to star in the new title.
The first known female superhero is writer-artist Fletcher Hanks's minor character Fantomah, an ageless, ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in 1940 in Fiction Houses "Jungle Comics".
In 1966, Marvel Comics introduced the Black Panther, an African monarch who became the first non-caricatured black superhero. The first African-American superhero, the Falcon, followed in 1969, and three years later, Luke Cage, a self-styled "hero-for-hire", became the first black superhero to star in his own series. In 1989, the Monica Rambeau incarnation of Captain Marvel was the first female black superhero from a major publisher to get her own title in a special one-shot issue. In 1971, Red Wolf became the first Native American in the superheroic tradition to headline a series. In 1973, Shang-Chi became the first prominent Asian superhero to star in an American comic book (Kato had been a secondary character of the "Green Hornet" media franchise series since its inception in the 1930s.). Kitty Pryde, a member of the X-Men, was an openly Jewish superhero in mainstream American comic books as early as 1978.
Kirby, commenting upon his influences in drawing the character, recalled as inspiration the tale of a mother who rescues her child who is trapped beneath a car. Lee has also compared Hulk to the Golem of Jewish mythology. In "The Science of Superheroes", Gresh and Weinberg see the Hulk as a reaction to the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attack, an interpretation shared by Weinstein in "Up, Up and Oy Vey". This interpretation corresponds with other popularized fictional media created during this time period, which took advantage of the prevailing sense among Americans that nuclear power could produce monsters and mutants.
For "Thor: Ragnarok", ILM had to add much more detail to the character's facial features, due to the Hulk's increased dialogue. ILM visual effects supervisor Chad Wiebe explained that Ruffalo's expressions were captured fresh for the film using Medusa, a performance capture technology. With 90 different expressions captured, ILM "built an entirely new library that would allow [Hulk] to cover a full range of normal human visual characteristics." To help create the Hulk, a person on set was covered in green body paint, and would replicate the intended motions of the character to aid the visual effect artists. Additionally, stunt actor Paul Lowe, who is under tall, stood in for Hemsworth during some of his interactions with the Hulk so that the Hulk's stunt men would be proportionally correct. In some instances when Thor and the Hulk interacted, a digital double was used for Thor, also created by ILM, to have greater flexibility for the shots. ILM worked on all of the Hulk moments in the film outside the final fight sequence, which was completed by Framestore using ILM's assets, as Framestore was primarily responsible for rigging that sequence. Framestore completed nearly 460 shots, which featured digital doubles of Thor and Hela, Fenris, Korg, Miek, the giant Surtur at the end of the film, and over 9,000 buildings for Asgard, based on assets D Negative had from "The Dark World", resulting in over 263 character, vehicle, prop, and crowd rigs. Taika Waititi also provided additional motion capture for the Hulk after Ruffalo had completed his scenes.
Among the characters co-created by Trimpe during his run on the title were Jim Wilson in issue #131 (Sept. 1970) and Doc Samson in #141 (July 1971). During his time on the comic, he became the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who would go on to become one of Marvel's most popular. The character was conceived by Roy Thomas, written by Len Wein and designed by Marvel de facto art director John Romita, Sr., was an antagonist for the Hulk, introduced in the last panel of "The Incredible Hulk" vol. 2, #180 (Oct. 1974) and making his first full appearance the following issue. Trimpe in 2009 said he "distinctly remembers" Romita's sketch, and that, "The way I see it, [Romita and writer Len Wein] sewed the monster together and I shocked it to life! ... It was just one of those secondary or tertiary characters, actually, that we were using in that particular book with no particular notion of it going anywhere. We did characters in "The [Incredible] Hulk" all the time that were in [particular] issues and that was the end of them." Trimpe co-created nearly all of the characters introduced during his run on "The Incredible Hulk", with Wolverine being a rare exception.
The Hulk appeared in the 1978–1982 live action television series, "The Incredible Hulk", and its subsequent television films. Created by Universal Studios, it starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. It does not follow the comic book-fantasy format, omits the typical villains or supporting characters, and Hulk does not speak, but only growls and roars. In this series, David Banner becomes the Hulk, is assumed dead, and goes on the run while being pursued by tabloid investigative reporter Jack McGee (Jack Colvin), who is bent on proving that the creature exists. The two-hour pilot movie, which established the Hulk's origins, aired on November 4, 1977. The series was originally broadcast by CBS from March 10, 1978 to June 2, 1982, with eighty-two episodes in five seasons, and later followed by three television films.A sequel to 2008's "The Incredible Hulk" has been discussed, with Marvel Studios having suggested a possible release after 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" due to the positive audience reception towards Ruffalo's portrayal of Bruce Banner in "The Avengers". Ruffalo is set to reprise his role in any future adaptation of the character. In June 2014, Ruffalo said he believed the studio might be considering doing a new standalone Hulk film, saying, "I think they are, for the first time, entertaining the idea of it. When we did "The Avengers" it was basically 'No!', and now there is some consideration for it. But there's still nothing definitive, not even a skeletal version of what it would be." In December 2014, Joss Whedon stated that, for the time being, a new solo Hulk film has not been announced or confirmed, due to Marvel wishing to have a character that only appears in "Avengers" films, despite the positive reception to Ruffalo. In April 2015, Ruffalo told Collider that Universal holding the distribution rights to Hulk films may be an obstacle to releasing a future Hulk standalone film. Two nights after the release of "Infinity War", fans started a petition for Marvel to extend Ruffalo's contract for him to appear in an "Incredible Hulk 2" and for Universal to let Disney have the distribution rights to any potential post-"Avengers 4" Hulk films and Disney, in return, give Universal, for each, a marquee credit (including placement of the studio's opening logo) and 8-9% of the profits as they have for Paramount with "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3".
Pocket Books published two mass market paperback solo novels starring the character, "The Incredible Hulk: Stalker From the Stars" in 1978 and "The Incredible Hulk: Cry of the Beast" in 1979. The Hulk has appeared in the following novels: