Marvel Characters Who Slept With Hulk And Survived

The sex life of the Incredible Hulk is undeniably as fascinating as it is perplexing. Surely most of us are aware of the jolly green giant's romantic dilemma. Though his alter-ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is perhaps one of the most emotionally-driven comic book characters — who also retains the same predilection for the sort of high-stakes, often toxic attractions that most Marvel heroes do (see Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters) — his liaisons are made all the more dangerous by his condition. 

Whether triggered by high emotional or physical stress or mere anger (depending on the particular iteration of the character), Banner teeters on the edge of becoming a monster incapable of both controlling his actions and (depending on anatomy) mating with a human person. In some interpretations, even getting a little flustered puts those close to him at risk of experiencing the wrong kind of "Hulk smash."

And yet, his list of lovers is considerably long and varied, ranging from journalists of multiple species to several members of interdimensional royalty. Though we'll try to be as mature in writing this as possible (we take fictional romance very seriously here, after all), be advised that this article may not be appropriate for all audiences.

Arguably the most famous romantic partner of Bruce Banner or the Hulk is Betty Ross, thanks to her portrayal in multiple live-action adaptations including Ang Lee's "Hulk" (in which she's played by Jennifer Connelly) and the early Marvel Cinematic Universe installment "The Incredible Hulk" (where Liv Tyler takes the role). The daughter of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (also known as the future Red Hulk), Betty first meets and falls in love with Bruce in most stories while he's working for her father in the gamma lab.

They begin dating after the famous lab accident that curses him with his alter-ego. Broadly speaking (and not accounting for the period of time in which she was the Red She-Hulk), it doesn't seem as though the Hulk is involved in their sex life, though they definitely have one while together (despite the MCU film depicting the two as incapable of even making out without risking an outburst). 

Betty becomes pregnant with his child very briefly in the comics, though she ultimately loses the baby when tortured by the villain Nightmare. It was later revealed by writer Peter David that Marvel editors had mandated the miscarriage in order to keep the couple youthful — a decision over which David nearly quit the title for good. This storyline could potentially come to the screen in the future, considering that "Captain America: Brave New World" is finally bringing Tyler's Betty Ross back to the MCU.

Compared to Betty Ross, there's really not much to say about Dawn Michaels, the poor Daily Bugle reporter who drags Bruce Banner into a local conspiracy and gets herself killed in the process — though not as a direct consequence of sleeping with him. This all takes place in an issue of the late 1970s series "Hulk!," in which she plays a supporting role.

Dawn rescues Bruce, apparently stranded in the wilderness with no memory following a Hulk-induced blackout. When they aren't enjoying each other's company (with Bruce safely in human form), she puts him to work in a local mine — which she's also secretly investigating for corruption. Shockingly, this puts them both in danger once the miners discover her true intentions, and they even attempt to kill Bruce after murdering her in retaliation. Fortunately, the Hulk saves him from a vengefully collapsed mine.

If the name Bereet sounds familiar, it's because director James Gunn actually featured the obscure character in his MCU debut, "Guardians of the Galaxy." She was played by Swiss actor Melia Kreiling (who also plays Sofia on "Emily in Paris"), and is seen waking up aboard Peter Quill/Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) spaceship, presumably after a one-night stand. But long before Gunn paired these two up, she was one of the Hulk's many comic book flings.

And when we say the Hulk, we mean the Hulk. When she first comes to Earth from her home planet of Krylor, she's attracted to him as a cinematic subject — a warrior she'll study through documentary filmmaking. The resulting project (created by tricking the Hulk into thinking an alien invasion was nigh) jolts her burgeoning career as a so-called "techno-artist," and it isn't too long before she returns to Earth once more to continue their collaboration. By this point, there's no separation between Bruce Banner and the Hulk, so when Bereet begins a romantic relationship with him, she does so with all of him.

She survives the encounter and even gets a decent film out of it, but she ultimately chooses a Hollywood filmmaking career over further entanglement with her incredible muse. Though her planet is eventually destroyed in a Marvel event, she's presumably safe on Earth at the time.

Of all the Hulk's many flames, none have been quite as consequential as his relationship with Caiera the Old Strong, the Shadow Queen of Sakaar. Similar to what transpires in the MCU film "Thor: Ragnarok," the Hulk finds himself stranded on the distant planet in the comics — though in this case it's not an accident of his own doing that brings about his predicament, but the cynical machinations of the shadowy superhero group the Illuminati.

Upon his unexpected arrival, the Hulk is forced to serve and entertain the villainous Red King through manual labor and fighting for sport. But rather than encounter his "friend from work" in the arena, he earns the respect and affection of Caiera while she too serves at the Red King's side. She soon became pregnant with the Hulk's child, though both she and their offspring are presumed dead soon after, casualties of the explosion which destroys Sakaar (if you're keeping count, that's two Hulk exes left without planets — so far).

However, it's eventually revealed that Caiera sacrificed herself to protect their twin sons — Hiro-Kala and Skaar, the latter of whom was introduced in the finale of "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law." As such, it seems this Hulk fling will be imminently adapted for the MCU, which shed some light on how any being survives such a dalliance.

In another instance in which the Hulk eventually finds himself in a sexual entanglement after his fellow Avengers plot against him, his Tibetan retreat begs many questions about what exactly a normal human being does when involved with the Hulk. In the Ultimate Comics universe, the Avengers attempt to execute both Banner and the Hulk for killing hundreds of New Yorkers during a heartbroken rampage, fueled in large part by that Earth's Betty Ross leaving him for, and this is 100% true, Ultimate Universe Freddie Prinze Jr.

The nuclear death sentence they try to give him doesn't take, however, and only drives him into hiding in the Himalayas, where he's tracked down by Wolverine (on the orders of Nick Fury). When Logan first finds the Hulk, he's practically buried in the entirety of a town's female population (not an exaggeration, as the X-Man notes he doesn't see another woman during his stay). 

All of them are in various states of undress, and the imagery clearly implies that he's been enjoying his own garden of earthly delights in order to get over Betty. Whether or not it works emotionally, it seems to be working physically for all involved. The "how" of it all is left up to the reader's imagination. It's worth noting that the Hulk's aged alter-ego Maestro has also been known to enjoy large groups of human women.

Speaking of the Ultimate Universe variant of Betty Ross, she's isn't exactly on board with Nick Fury's plan to re-sentence he ex-boyfriend to death by X-ecution. While Wolverine is tracking him to Tibet, she secretly steals a vial of an experimental serum from SHIELD scientist Jennifer Walters and turns herself into the Ultimate She-Hulk.

She drops into the mountains mere moments after Wolverine and the Hulk have finished the first bout of their brawl (Wolverine decisively loses, witnessing her entrance with his legs separated from his body). When Betty and Hulk see each other, they lock eyes and begin tussling — or, at least, Logan hopes that's what's happening. 

As he tells Fury later, he couldn't tell if they were fighting or ... doing the other thing. There's solid evidence for the latter, given the lack of clothing they have on by the end of whatever happened, and that they reunite in Casablanca soon afterward to properly get it on. Take that, Freddie.

One of many MCU characters to make a surprising comeback after "Avengers: Endgame," Emil Blonsky aka The Abomination (played by Tim Roth in "The Incredible Hulk" and "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law") is probably the Hulk villain general audiences know best. What they may not be aware of is that, in the comics, Blonsky was once married to a working-class Russian woman named Nadia Dornova.

Their marriage is fairly horrible, with Emil treating her poorly and often abusing her. Nevertheless, she attempts to stay faithful to him by working with the organization Home Base — which is trying to entrap Bruce at the time — in order to save her husband. However, as she gets closer to Bruce throughout the operation, she develops romantic feelings for him. Bruce feels the same way despite being a recent widower (Betty having recently been "killed" by Emil), and the two began a brief, tragic, and emotionally complicated tryst.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

One of the Marvel female superheroes that can actually beat She-Hulk in a fight, Thundra has long been one of the Hulk's toughest (and apparently most alluring) foes. She is a warlord from a possible future Earth on which all men have been subjugated by a force called the Femizons.

Like many visitors before her, she finds herself drawn to the Hulk, and the two presumably have sex. However, this does not directly result in her having a child — that comes about as a result of a science experiment conducted in the future using the Hulk's genetic material. She gives birth to Lyra, an immensely strong being who herself travels back in time to knock some sense into her mother, earning the mantle of She-Hulk in the process.

In keeping with the trend of Hulk getting close to alternate-reality, Amazonian-adjacent warrior-royals, he also had a very brief sexual encounter with the Utopia Island princess Zarda — aka Power Princess of the Squadron Supreme. To catch you up to speed, the Squadron Supreme are a Marvel superhero team that take a lot of inspiration from DC's Justice League, Zarda being their analog for Wonder Woman (comic book movie fans have long been advocating for Henry Cavill to play the Squadron's Superman-analog, Hyperion).

Unlike Princess Diana of Themyscira, Zarda is often characterized as an antihero who comes into frequent conflict with major Marvel superheroes, especially when she and her team venture to the Ultimate Marvel Universe. There, she encounters the Hulk and decides to sleep with him after a battle. She dies during the "Ultimatum" event, alongside the Squadron and essentially (at the time) that entire Earth — which makes at least three Hulk exes that have had to suffer an extinction-level event of some kind.

Fair warning, this is far and away the most disgusting and disturbing entry on the list. Feel free to scroll to the next slide if you don't want to read about the Hulk's incestuous relationship with his cousin.

In the "Old Man Logan" universe, the villains of the world basically win the battle between good and evil, and subsequently decide to divide the world between the conquerors. Unfortunately for the Abomination, he doesn't get to enjoy his slice for very long, eventually being unseated and killed by an increasingly violent and cruel Hulk. As ruler of this territory, Hulk begins procreating with his own cousin, Jennifer Walters. Together, they and their children are known as the "Hulk Gang" — a band of landlords that torment their tenants for their own twisted enjoyment.

At one point in his life, the Hulk adopts the persona of Joe Fixit, a ruthless casino enforcer who runs in many of the same shady circles as Wolverine's alter-ego Patch. While on the job, he comes into contact with model, athlete, and aerobics instructor Marlo Chandler, who is perhaps a tad too quickly attracted to the dangerous "Mr. Fixit." Nevertheless, the two have an ongoing sexual relationship that ends when she can no longer stomach his violence.

Oddly enough, she eventually winds up in a long term, endgame relationship with Rick Jones — the longtime sidekick and best friend of Bruce Banner. She also briefly shares a home with Betty Ross after the latter separates herself from a permanently Hulkified Bruce.

Maybe it just proves the old saying that opposites attract, but we still find it pretty amazing that the Hulk finds one of his most compatible partners in one of Marvel's tiniest beings. Jarella is yet another royal who develops feelings for the Hulk, hailing from the Microverse micro-world K'ai (if this all sparks your memory, it's likely because her niece Jentorra caused a bit of a stir by appearing in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania").

The pair are brought together by the Hulk's acts of heroism while in K'ai, having been unexpectedly embraced by the community thanks in part to his green skin. After their initial spark, they enjoy an on-again, off-again relationship that involves both Bruce Banner and the Hulk, up until her tragic and untimely death in "The Incredible Hulk" Vol. 2 #205, in which she dies saving a child. Writer Len Wein had never intended for this to be her final death, but ultimately left the series before he had the chance to revive her for further stories.

Several characters on this list prefer Bruce Banner to the Hulk as a sexual partner. Others happen to encounter the Hulk when Banner either doesn't exist or is mentally fused with his alter ego. Few if any other people in the Marvel Universe have ever expressly rejected Bruce Banner in favor of his seemingly unwieldy counterpart — save for Umar the Unrelenting.

Umar is a rather infamous figure in the Hulk's love life, the mystical elephant in the room whenever the subject comes up thanks to the frankly bizarre storyline in which she essentially tries to manipulate the Hulk with sexual favors. The villain is a powerful entity who resides in the Dark Dimension, and at one point ensnares the Hulk with hopes of literally seducing him to the dark side. Unfortunately for her, Banner experiences some performance anxiety — which, in this case, means that he is actually so un-anxious that he can't transform into Umar's desired mate.

It eventually takes driving him dangerously to the limits of his anger threshold, at the apex of which Umar finally manages to initiate their sex-for-destruction dynamic. But not even her powers can keep him from Betty for very long, and both Bruce and the Hulk are soon reunited with their true love.