Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner, we learn in 2012's The Avengers, is "always angry" – able to initiate his transformations into the Hulk seemingly at will.
But for the writers of earlier screen adaptation The Incredible Hulk, which aired on CBS from 1977 to 1982, starring Bill Bixby as 'David' Banner, there was no such shortcut.
Sticking to the rules set down by the original Marvel comic books – that Banner's transformations could only be instigated by fits of anger or great stress – the Incredible Hulk team had to dream up new scenarios for a Hulk-out every single week.
Inevitably, this meant that, alongside some genuinely threatening situations – stabbings, shootings, near-drownings – David was also seen to lose his cool over matters that were either pretty trivial, or just flat-out bonkers.
Check out some of the funniest below. You wouldn't like him when's angry...
(Credit to the website of Incredible Hulk showrunner Kenneth Johnson, which includes a list of every single Hulk-out compiled by super-fan Kevin Koster.)
1. Flat tyre!
From: 1.1, 'The Incredible Hulk' (Series pilot)
Granted, a flat tyre is annoying. Having to replace your tyre in a rain storm, doubly so. But is it worth getting this mad about? David's inability to use a jack properly is what instigates his first ever Hulk-out in the show's pilot episode.
2. Angry gorilla!
From: 1.4, 'The Beast Within'
The big-screen Hulk battles giant alien monsters and inter-dimensional beings. Lou Ferrigno had to make do with a stuntman in a monkey suit, when Banner – now working in a zoo – was locked in a cage with a juiced-up gorilla by pervy villain Carl.
Cue Hulk-out!
3. Stuck in traffic!
From: 1.6, 'Terror in Times Square'
"You don't understand, I have to be there by 4pm!" "Hey, mac, it's rush hour, we ain't gettin' there 'til 5pm!" "BUT I HAVE TO BE THERE BY FOUR!!!"
Yes, being stuck in a cab in New York rush hour traffic is enough to send David over the edge. Actually, we can sympathise with this one.
4. No change for a phone booth!
From 1.9, 'Never Give a Trucker an Even Break'
This episode not only borrows plot points from Steven Spielberg's 1971 film Duel, it actually uses whole chunks of footage from the movie about a tanker trunk relentlessly pursuing a terrified motorist.
Desperate to call for help, David finds himself thwarted by the pesky operator who demands a quarter for the privilege of using the payphone. "I DON'T HAVE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS!!!" he growls, prompting a Hulk-out.
Seriously, we're not making this up.
5. Lethal injection!
From 1.10, 'Life and Death'
Now we know what you're thinking. "Lethal injection? Pretty serious stuff."
This Hulk-out earns its spot, though, for the politeness of David Banner's would-be killer, corrupt Dr Rhodes. "Oh. I just gave you a lethal injection," he deadpans. "Sorry, David."
Superb.
6. Computer crash!
From 1.10, 'Earthquakes Happen'
It's always irritating when your computer crashes, but David Banner faces a more literal (and more violent version) of this problem when he's crushed by a giant computer bank during an earthquake.
(The earthquake footage came from the 1974 disaster movie Earthquake starring Charlton Heston. The Incredible Hulk never knowingly let a vintage '70s movie go unimitated.)
7. Remembering his wives!
From 2.1, 'Married'
David falls in love and gets married in season two's two-hour premiere. D'awww. Sweet, right?
Nope. Traumatic memories of his first wife's death, experienced under hypnosis, cause him to Hulk out. (She'd died off-screen before the series began, with David's inability to save her after a car accident inspiring his research into unlocking man's buried potential.)
Later, a dream of both his first wife, Laura, and his new wife, Caroline, dying sends him into another frenzy. When Banner's love life turns sour, it's not just his heart that gets broken...
8. Drops a crate on his foot!
From 2.2, 'The Antowuk Horror'
Alright, so we're being a little mean. David drops a crate on his feet, then falls into a stack of barrels. RAWWWRRRR.
9. Bullies snap wet towels at him!
From 2.8, 'Killer Instinct'
Anyone who's ever been forced to spend time in a boys' changing room will know how irritating it is to be whipped with a wet towel.
It's enough to make David see green when two mean football players do just that, then shove him into a very hot steam room.
10. A really bad trip!
From 3.1, 'Metamorphosis'
David befriends a depressed rock star in season 3's opener but quickly learns that the rock 'n' roll lifestyle isn't for him when his orange juice is spiked with LSD.
Cue a freaky acid trip in which Banner is haunted by a vision of the Hulk, followed by a bona-fide Hulk-out. (Don't make him high, you wouldn't like him when he's high.)
11. Walks into a minefield!
From 3.2, 'Blind Rage'
When an accident at a chemical warfare test site leaves him blinded (what is it with this guy and scientific experiments gone wrong?) David ends up wandering onto an Army training course, then into a minefield.
We never saw it coming. *ahem*
12. Out of gas!
From 3.7, 'Behind the Wheel'
Fugitive David is now working as a cab driver. So of course a pregnant woman whose water has broken ends up in the back of his taxi.
Running out of gas, Banner is thwarted by a series of awful gas station attendants who refuse to fill him up. Hulk smash!
(Note: if you were wondering what happened to the pregnant woman, don't worry. After the Hulk trashes the place, he wanders back to the cab to find that the woman has delivered her own baby in the backseat. No sweat.)
13. Falls out of plane without a parachute!
From 4.3, 'Free Fall'
...then is given a parachute while in free fall. Then has the straps to his parachute shot off by a villain, while he's still 30 feet above an empty house. Then falls through the roof and hurts himself.
14. Poison sushi!
From 4.11, 'East Winds'
Naughty gangsters feed David some seriously bad sushi in Chinatown. And you thought your food poisoning was bad! (Sushi's actually Japanese, but that's hardly the biggest problem with this scene.)
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