Hulk Question

[HardyGirl]

OK, most of you know I love the Hulk TV series w/ Bill Bixby. That is the majority of my Hulk exposure. I do have the 60s Hulk cartoon series as well, and I'm still in the process of getting thru all the eps. I was just at a website that has the Power records stories on it, and they called Dr. Banner, Robert Bruce Banner. Now I knew about Bruce Banner from the 60s toon, and David Bruce Banner from the TV series. So what's w/ this Robert stuff? Why does his name keep changing? It's not like anyone changes Clark Kent or Peter Parker. Why Dr. Banner?

[kingdom warrior]

Marvel writers were drunks back in the day and couldn't get anything right! ....

[MegoNinja]

I believe that he was refered to by his middle name because Robert reminded him of his father since his father named him. I MIGHT be wrong although I think I'm on the right track.

[The Toyroom]

He was originally called Bruce Banner but somewhere early on Stan Lee wrote "Bob Banner" by mistake in either Incredible Hulk (1st series) or The Avengers (I forget which). Eventually the error was caught but not before some minor confusion. So his name, retroactively, became Robert Bruce Banner. When the TV show with Bixby and Ferrigno came around, they changed his first name to David since "Bruce" is sometimes perceived as a "gay" sounding name. Go figure...

[HardyGirl]

Bruce sounds gay? Since when?

[Comic Book Geek]

Yeah, I never understood how Bruce was an effeminant name. I can understand changing it if his name were Francis, Alice or Fi Fi Banner, but Bruce?

If producers can stick with the name Dick Grayson, why couldn't they live with Bruce?

[Earth 2 Chris]

If you look up Bruce in one of those baby name books, you'll see that it means "Manly". But for some reason, some folks think it is...sissified. My dad told me not to name my son Bruce for that reason. That's not why I didn't name him Bruce, but that notion is out there.

Stan got a bit slap-happy with his alliteration one day,didn't he? With his Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, Matt Murdock, Scott Summers, etc. he was bound to goof sooner or later!

Chris

[Hulk]

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Hulk_(Bruce_Banner)

Marvel does list his name as Robert Bruce Banner. This middle name confusion was likely a good excuse for the TV guys to change it as well.

[filmation batman fan]

Hey Hardy Girl.
I myself wondered why Bruce Banner's first name was Robert, but was clearly a referecne name since he went by Bruce in the comics. You and I have something in common since the TV series was my first exposure and in my humble opinion, the best version of the Incredible Hulk that ever existed. If you get either the season one DVD set or the original Television Series Premiere with the pilot movie and the Married episodes, Producer Kenneth Johnson does audio commentaries on both episodes.
Ken explains that he changed his name from Bruce to David not only because someone thought Bruce sounded "gay" but also Ken Johnson was not a comic book person and had no desire to get involved in a comic book franchise, but he changed his mind about the Hulk after reading Les Miserables. Ken Johnson could not deal with illiterative names as mentioned above. Interestingly enough, he named Dr. Banner on TV after his own son David. It was interesting to find that out.
I'm assuming in the comics, Robert was a reference name while on the TV series, Bruce appears as David Banner's middle name and is used as a reference point such as the print on his gravestone in the pilot. I'm going to watch the Married episode with Ken's commentary tonight.
Cheers.

[samurainoir]

He was originally called Bruce Banner but somewhere early on Stan Lee wrote "Bob Banner" by mistake in either Incredible Hulk (1st series) or The Avengers (I forget which). Eventually the error was caught but not before some minor confusion. So his name, retroactively, became Robert Bruce Banner.

I believe it was The Avengers (the issue where they fight their former team-mate), and I think a reader wrote in about it with the explanation that Bruce was his middle name and that netted the reader a no-prize.

To get a no-prize, a reader who found a mistake had to come up with an explanation to help Marvel out of their error. No-Prize being exactly what it sounds like. The winners would receive an empty Marvel envelope.