Comments on: Hulk #3: A Medical Review

By: M

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:09:09 +0000

If Hulking out just makes you bigger, and oddly pigmented, then an iris or retinal scanner that just looked for topographic features without regard to scale could work. Of course in real life I’d think if you grew that much you’d need additional blood vessels, but in real life gamma rays and mass are different too.

By: Jeff Edsell

Jeff Edsell — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:00:55 +0000

Of course it really depends on the details of the “bulking-up” process that occurs during the transformation, but I would argue yes. The structures of the body seem maintain their essential shape, even though they become enlarged.

Parts of the body, particularly muscles, get distorted by this growth. But the eyes probably remain essentially round, evidenced by the fact that Hulk can still see. So I think whatever process occurs that adds cells to the body’s structure would most likely build the same iris, only bigger. The recognition software could easily deal with a different sized iris, and probably even deal with some distortion — according to what I’ve read, iris structures are different even between genetically identical monozygotic twins.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:43:28 +0000

I thought about Iris Scans as well when I was writing the post, but I decided it was a retinal scan because if you trace the light beam (hard to do on my scanned-in-picture), it matches the pupils exactly.

An iris scan still brings up my other concern: would changing into the Hulk change the iris enough to make the scan no longer match. Clearly pigment alterations are part and parcel of turning into the Hulk…

By: Jeff Edsell

Jeff Edsell — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:10:39 +0000

The structure of the iris of the eye is also unique, making it a better candidate for biometric recognition in many ways — the subject can be scanned at a distance, for example. (The scanners in Minority Report were iris scanners, which is how they could recognize subjects passing nearby.) As long as Red Hulk stood still enough, for just a moment, a successful iris scan would be reasonable even without S.H.I.E.L.D.-level technology.

I’m guessing Loeb intended the scan pictured above to be a retinal scan, but I just looked over the issue again, and it doesn’t specifically say.

By: Nick F.

Nick F. — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:05:43 +0000

Hulk Smash puny logic!

By: sekuin

sekuin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:59:10 +0000

Scott, his eyes are glowing; I’m pretty sure they’re just checking the make of the bulb.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:32:20 +0000

GRRRR…

By: Arkonbey

Arkonbey — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:01:20 +0000

So, the question is: why not simply show Hulk’s profile and the retinal scanner in front of him? Even if it were closer than millimeters away, it’s be nearer to reality (and logic).

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:09:04 +0000

Loeb is suggesting that the Hulk’s retinal scan matches the scan of someone who’s already in the database.

By: Loren

Loren — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:24:20 +0000

Perhaps Loeb addresses this, but for a retinal scan to produce any identification results at all, wouldn’t it need to have a database of existing retinal scans to compare against? Or is the mere fact that the scanner *does* manage to confirm an ID supposed to suggest that the new Hulk is someone whose retinal scans would already be on file?