The Incredible Hulk and Subspace: An Essay
For decades, the world has been plagued with an inexplicable mystery. Since the days of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in the 13th century, humankind has grasped the essence of the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, later formally attributed to Lomonosox and Lavoisier in the 18th century. Simply put, this law states that in a closed system, Matter and Energy can neither one be destroyed, but rather are converted to each other.
However, the subject named Bruce Banner and more commonly recognized as The Incredible Hulk somehow seems to circumvent this law. Again and again, the closed system of a biological form delineated by ectoderm has demonstrated variations in mass and density without recognizable opposing changes in energy level. If this system worked as predicted by the above Law, for example, the amount of mass gained in the transformation of Banner to Hulk should be accompanied by a tremendous loss of ambient energy; i.e. the skin of the Hulk should be so cold as to freeze dihydrogen oxide. Conversely, the loss of mass involved in the transformation of Hulk to Banner should be accompanied by an increase in energy; in layman's terms there should be a second sun formed upon the surface of the Earth.
However in no instance has this been observed, completely flummoxing the majority of modern scientists, some of whom have devoted prestigious careers in looking into the matter. On the contrary, in the recent documentary aptly named "The Incredible Hulk", Banner changes to the Hulk and back again while lying on a pneumatic table. As he transitioned to his Hulk form, the table began to buckle, clearly announcing the increase in mass; however the humans near him were able to touch his skin without any heat or freezing burns.
As is often in science, a seemingly unrelated observation became the breakthrough in understanding this perplexing phenomenon. The branch of science dedicated to studying the alien robots known as Transformers had noted a similar occurrence in some of the members of that species. Fortunately, they know exactly what happens to the disappearing/reappearing mass in their systems and have deigned to share some portion of their knowledge with humankind. Transformer physiology appears to be inextricably linked to a outer dimension known as "subspace". Via internal subspace links, Transformers can call upon or dismiss a considerable portion of their intrinsic mass without significant changes in energy state. For whatever reason, the female of the species appears to engage in this process moreso than the male. The question immediately arose: What happens to the extra mass if a Transformer perishes in a decreased-mass state? The current leading hypothesis is that the matter remaining in subspace eventually loses its integrity and drifts in a general subspace field.
This of course directly leads to the puzzle of matter acquisition by Bruce Banner as he becomes The Incredible Hulk. Testing has revealed that gamma-irradiated biological material can cause "tunnels" into subspace, allowing the access and retrieval of the now-dissociated atoms of deceased Transformer's lost subspaced bits. As much of the material in subspace came from the near-extinction of Female Autobots, one must then proceed to the hypothesis that much of the Hulk's mass and density comes from access to their particles.
Which explains why the Hulk wears purple pants.