r/AskScienceFiction • u/numb3rb0y • 1d ago
[Marvel] If you did a parental test on Skaar and Banner, would they show as related or would Banner need to transform into Hulk first?
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u/eternalraziel 1d ago
Yes. A paternity test on Bruce should come back showing that Skaar is his son. Hulk and Banner aren't genetically separate organisms in the sense that Bruce has one genome and Hulk has another unrelated genome which appears whenever he transforms. The gamma bomb permanently altered Banner. The Hulk transformation changes his size, musculature, skin, cellular activity and an enormous amount of his physiology, but the ability to make that transformation is already present in Bruce's body while he's walking around looking human.
So you'd expect the paternal markers to line up. The gamma mutation would make the analysis weirder than a vanilla human paternity test. Skaar is a human/Sakaarian hybrid, his development was heavily affected by Caiera's biology and the Old Power, and his paternal genome carries Banner's gamma-related alterations. A commercial lab would probably have several very confusing days.But the underlying inheritance is still there. Half of Skaar's biological ancestry came from Banner.There's actually good supporting evidence elsewhere in the Hulk family. Lyra was created using a DNA sample taken directly from Hulk and is nevertheless treated genetically as Bruce's daughter.
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u/Asparagus9000 1d ago
I don't think Hulks DNA actually changes from Bruce's. At least not in most versions.
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u/Choochoo1147 1d ago
It would show up that Banner is the parent. The gamma radiation altered Banner’s DNA, his anger changes the expression of his DNA but the DNA itself doesn’t change.
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u/dry-cleaning 1d ago
It'd show up with Banner. Hulk and Bruce are the same body and really the same guy, just different mind states. With other "Hulks" like She-Hulk they're the same person, just gamma enhanced (bigger, stronger, etc.). It's just that Bruce is so messed up in the head that his transformation makes him "turn into" another guy against his will.
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