Few in the Marvel Universe are strong enough to take down the Hulk, but Spider-Man proved that brute strength isn’t always necessary - the only thing he needed to beat the angry green giant was a solid sense of humor.
2005’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series starts off with everything going well in Peter’s life. He’s a member of the Avengers, married to his childhood sweetheart, and living rent-free at Stark Tower. But just as everything is going his way, Peter starts to be plagued by foreboding dreams, which makes him suspect something is about to go wrong. Sure enough, the next day he gets shot by a villain called The Tracer - but that’s not even the worst part.
After having the gunshot wound treated by a doctor, Peter later receives a call from the same doctor, who says she discovered that Peter has a mysterious, radioactive affliction similar to cancer. The doctor believes the affliction is fatal, but Peter decides to ask another doctor for a second opinion. This doctor is beyond qualified for all matters concerning radiation, but he also has a tendency to turn into a giant green rage monster. Still, if anyone can help, its Bruce Banner.
Unfortunately, Doctor Banner doesn’t have a practice Peter can just call up and schedule an appointment. In fact, no one knows where he is, so Spidey teams up with some other heroes to find him. They manage to track him to the desert, but the doctor isn’t in; he’s in full Hulk-mode. Iron Man cautions the group against engaging Hulk in a fight and instead tries to inoculate him with tranquilizer gas to turn him back into Banner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work, and Hulk attacks the heroes. He takes down both Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic before Spider-Man swoops in. He manages to avoid all of Hulk's attacks, but rather than punch back, Spidey hits Hulk with the oldest trick in the book: a knock-knock joke. He doesn’t even need to say the punchline; the mere notion of Spider-Man telling a knock-knock joke in the middle of a fight is enough to make Hulk laugh, which calms him down enough to change back into Bruce Banner. Black Widow should take notes - Spidey's joke worked even better than her lullaby.
Quipping in the midst of a battle is practically a Spider-Man trademark. In fact, this isn’t the only time Spidey’s sense of humor helped him defeat a stronger opponent. To be fair, the tranquilizer gas was probably partially responsible for calming Hulk down. Still, Spider-Man’s knock-knock joke was the final touch needed for the knock-out, so we'll give it to him.
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