Hulk Has Multiple Children The MCU Won’t Ever Adapt

The Incredible Hulk, for all his strength and longevity in comics, has not been treated kindly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has the dubious honor of being the only character with a solo film that did not receive a followup sequel (and one of the most high-profile characters in the MCU to receive a replacement actor – Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo). But to add insult to injury, the Hulk has multiple children, and thanks to various changes in the MCU, they’ll likely never been seen on screen.

In the MCU, Bruce Banner doesn’t talk about his family – indeed, he spends most of his first film attempting to live a life as far away from human connections as possible. Thanks to the upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk, viewers know that Jennifer Walters is Bruce’s cousin (in the comics, she obtained her powers via a blood transfusion from Bruce after nearly dying from a gunshot wound). But the Hulk does indeed have twin sons in the comics: Skaar and Hiro-Kala.

In the series Planet Hulk, written by Greg Pak with art by Carlo Pagulayan and Aaron Lopresti, the Illuminati (Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Black Bolt and Reed Richards), decide to send the Hulk to space after a battle nearly destroys Las Vegas. This was also the reason why the Hulk wasn’t involved in the Civil War event. Hulk’s ship went off-course and landed on the war-torn planet of Sakaar; he would fight in a gladiatorial arena, inspire a revolution, and eventually rule and have the children Skarr (green and muscular, like his father) and Hiro-Kala (still quite strong, but with a more humanoid appearance). But Hulk’s two sons would survive without his knowledge on Sakaar while he traveled back to Earth. Both sons can use the “Old Power”, inherited from their mother Carina, meaning they can move entire planets through space.

Unfortunately, Planet Hulk was already adapted in the MCU in Thor: Ragnarok – but in the transition from page to screen, multiple elements were dropped from the original story. Sakaar was changed drastically, and the Hulk did not become the Green Scar – an incredibly powerful incarnation of the Hulk who was able to speak properly. Furthermore, Carina was adapted out of the story entirely, and the entire narrative focused on Thor rather than Banner.

Hulk would have other children outside of Planet Hulk: his daughter Lyra (Hulk’s child from the future, created by Thundra obtaining Banner’s DNA), and others in the Old Man Logan continuity. Thanks to changes made by the directors to the Marvel Universe, Hulk’s best story was taken from him and it’s highly unlikely that Planet Hulk could be adapted again. But at least the comics stand independent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and can tell the story of the Hulk’s forgotten children.