Hulk

You could speculate that the inspiration for the Hulk came from doping in sports. After all, Russian Olympic weightlifters used anabolic drugs for the first time in the decade before his 1962 debut. The Hulk's source of inspiration was, however, much less likely. He was actually modeled after a woman.

Creator Jack Kirby described seeing a young child playing beneath a car while crawling around in a gutter in an interview with Comic Journal in 2011. The toddler needed assistance as he struggled to crawl onto the sidewalk. According to Kirby, the mother appeared to be about to scream. She didn't, though. To let the child out, "she raced over... and, extremely resolute,... hauled up the entire rear of that car."

It made Kirby consider what each of us is capable of when we're experiencing intense emotions, whether they be wrath or desperation. He declared, "We can pull down a house, we can go berserk, and we can smash down walls." I absorbed whatever the Hulk's origin was through that experience.

Publisher: Marvel Comics
First appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962)
Created by: Stan LeeJack Kirby