The Incredible Hulk made his debut in Marvel Comics in 1962 when Bruce Banner was bombarded by gamma rays in an explosion and found himself transformed into the green giant Hulk. Since that time, Hulk has been a menace, a hero, found himself wanted by the police, and served as an Avenger. A few villains have pushed Hulk, but he has limitless strength, and those are never the best stories concerning the big guy. Instead, when it comes to his storylines, The best Hulk comics are when he is battling both his inner monster and the surrounding society that fears and hates him.
Updated on August 9th, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: Hulk returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in August 2022 with his appearance in She-Hulk. While this is a Disney+ series about Hulk's cousin, Jennifer Walters, it is the first extended appearance of Smart Hulk since Avengers: Endgame and it will be interesting to see the direction that the MCU takes Hulk in after this series. There are so many storylines from the comics that could work well in the MCU, from the always rumored World War Hulk to something like Maestro, where Hulk turns evil and becomes a despot that the heroes have to defeat. Add in some more personal stories, such as his Immortal and Indestructible days, and there are a lot of the best Hulk comics to choose from.
Maestro
When Maestro first appeared in the Incredible Hulk storyline Future Imperfect, he was a future version of Bruce Banner who ruled over the United States and had conquered anyone and everyone who stood in his way. Rick Jones brought in Hulk from the past and the two fought. In the last two years, Marvel released Maestro comics and showed his journey from hero to dictator.
This series was a great story, with Hulk fighting and killing everyone from Hercules and M.O.D.O.K. to Doctor Doom, Namor, and more. One of the best Hulk comics, it showed what would happen if a smart and angry Hulk decided to conquer the world.
Pardoned
Years before Hulk and Joe Fixit merged into Smart Hulk, the big green guy regained his intelligence and set out to make amends. This led to the "Pardoned" storyline in The Incredible Hulk. With Bruce Banner's brain and Hulk's strength, the U.S. President pardoned Hulk, and he became a free man and a hero.
This opened up the Incredible Hulk for a fresh set of the best Hulk comics where he got to fight as a hero for the first time. It was a fun story and saw Hulk a little less powered, but as with all Hulk stories, tragedy was around the corner and the peace wouldn't last.
Indestructible Hulk
One of the best Hulk comics where he was a hero and not a man wanted by the police or military was Indestructible Hulk. This series started out with Bruce Banner finding Maria Hill and he blackmails her into giving him a lab for his scientific inventions and in return, she can use Hulk to point at S.H.I.E.L.D. enemies.
Throughout this Hulk story, he fought Iron Man and Frost Giants and took part in a major angle concerning the time stream. The story also went into detail about the complicated relationship between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.
Days Of Rage
Some of the best Hulk comics see him fighting against superheroes rather than his rogue of villains. This was one of the key points of the storyline "Days of Rage," which started in Incredible Hulk#300. In this story, Hulk is enraged and on a rampage, and no one can stop him.
In "Days of Rage," Hulk fights S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, The Avengers, and even Thor, and none of them can stop him, although Thor came closest. This brought in an old Hulk ally in Doctor Strange to stop him. This is Hulk at his most savage, and those stories are always fun.
Stay Angry
Hulk had a line in The Avengers where he told Captain America he can control his transformations because he is always angry. This line is a play off one of the best Hulk comics of all time, one called "Stay Angry." In this storyline, Bruce Banner is trying to take over and isn't a very moral person here. As a result, Hulk has to stay angry to keep Banner at bay.
This has one of the most intriguing team-ups in Hulk comics as he worked with Punisher, who was more than happy to keep shooting Hulk to keep him angry. From here, he had to find anyone and everyone to keep him angry for his own survival, finishing with a battle with X-23 and The Thing.
Always On My Mind
One Hulk enemy has the power to push Hulk as far as he can go, and that is the Abomination. The monster is another gamma-radiated creature and has a lot in common with Hulk, yet with the one advantage of having his brainpower intact throughout most of his existence.
In 2001's Incredible Hulk #24-25 by Paul Jenkins and John Romita Jr., Abomination was in hiding, teaching a class as Emil Blonsky. However, Abomination had killed Betty Ross, and General Ross told Hulk where he was and sent him to get revenge on one of the best fights of their rivalry.
Hulk: Gray
Most fans saw a great gray Hulk during the Mr. Fixit stories. However, the best gray Hulk story came in Hulk: Gray in 2003-04 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
This series went back to the early days of Hulk's adventures and featured Hulk's untold stories while Bruce Banner and Doc Sampson had sessions in the present day. This was one of the best Hulk comics for people who wanted to see what Hulk was like before becoming an icon.
Hard Knocks
Nothing is better for Hulk fans than when he ends up fighting Ben Grimm, The Thing. Hulk always believes he is the strongest there is, and Ben will never give up in a fight. This was while Hulk still had his intelligence and just wanted to be left alone.
The Thing showed up and punched Bruce Banner to bring out the Hulk because he wanted to talk. The two ended up fighting and talking and then fighting some more. This was a two-issue miniseries by Bruce Jones and Jae Lee and was the best battle these two ever had against each other.
Return Of The Monster
The "Return of the Monster" storyline played out in 1999s Incredible Hulk #34-39 by Bruce Jones and John Romita. The storyline lasted six issues and was a return to form for Hulk at the time. Bruce Banner was walking from town to town as the military searched for him to bring him in.
While he wanted to find peace and keep his head down, the monster returned time and time again. This was the closest the comics came to the classic 1978 Hulk television show.
Hulk: The End
Hulk: The End by Peter David and Dale Keown is the perfect final story for Hulk. The world has been destroyed, and Hulk realized he couldn't stop it and didn't care to save anyone anymore.
Instead, he locked himself away in a cave and just waited it out. When he came out, everyone on the planet was dead except for him. A robot from outer space arrived on Earth to reveal when the last human died, and while Bruce Banner wanted to end it all, Hulk fought him every step of the way.
Future Imperfect
Hulk: Future Imperfect featured Maestro, the alternate world version of Hulk that took over to rule the survivors after a nuclear war destroyed the planet. Because this is a future version of Hulk, he knows everything Hulk knows, is smarter, more vicious, and has no limits to what he will do to win.
Hulk, in this series, was the smart Hulk, and he needed his brains more than his brawn to win this fight. Maestro proved to be so popular in one of the best Hulk comics, that Marvel recently brought him back to reveal his origin story.
Planet Hulk
"Planet Hulk" is one of the best Hulk comics for the hero. Playing out in Incredible Hulk #92-105 by Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan, and Aaron Lopresti, this started with Earth's heroes banishing Hulk from Earth and sending him to what they believed was a barren planet he could live on in peace.
The planet wasn't barren, and Hulk had to fight as a gladiator to earn his freedom before finally finding his place in a world where he was finally accepted and loved. This storyline played out partially in Thor: Ragnarok.
World War Hulk
Sadly, Hulk could not remain living in peace on Sakaar, as a bomb killed his pregnant wife - one of the worst things to ever happen to Hulk - and many of his loyal followers. As a result, Hulk wanted revenge against the heroes who banished him and set out with his troops to attack Earth.
When he arrived, he destroyed the men who hurt him, the Illuminati, and showed the world what these so-called heroes did to him. World War Hulk took place in Incredible Hulk #106-112.
World War Hulks
There was another "World War Hulk," except this one was bigger and included all the Hulks. In Hulk Vol. 2 #22-24 and Incredible Hulk #609-611, Doc Sampson betrayed all his friends as The Intelligencia set out to take over the world.
The war featured Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk, and everyone discovered the secret identity of Red Hulk as General Ross. This was also where Bruce Banner finally returned as Hulk after an extended absence.
Immortal Hulk
The latest Hulk run might be some of the best Hulk comics of all time. Immortal Hulk has taken the idea of Hulk battling his inner demons to the extreme.
This started with Bruce Banner traveling the country again, but the twist is that he would die and resurrect as Hulk when the sun went down. This led to the Green Door and the Below-Place, where the dead gamma mutated people go when they die. It eventually brought back Joe Fixit and more and has been the most fantastical and creative Hulk story ever told.