Hulk Doll's Monster Shock

A curious six-year-old was horrified to find her Hulk doll was hiding a giant surprise under its ripped purple shorts.

Leah Lowland noticed the bulge after winning the soft toy by knocking down cans with bean bags at a seaside fair on Brighton Pier.

After peeling off the green comic-book character's skimpy shorts, she found the two-inch appendage and rushed to her mum Kim to report the find.

Kim immediately called for a ban on the toy, saying: "A Hulk with a bulk like this just shouldn't be allowed...

We're left to wonder whether the toy's Spanish makers - Valencia based Play by Play - got their inspiration from an article in the Sunday Observer.

Following a screening of the Marvel superhero film, the London paper put the crucial question to Hulk star Eric Bana:

"When the Hulk grows why does everything Bruce Banner is wearing burst apart at the seams, except for his shorts?"

Bana, regarded as a comic in his native Australia, replied: "I'm as fascinated as you about that.

"Obviously it's got to do with the fact that otherwise we'd have a large green penis flopping around, which diminish the chances of us opening in 4,000 cinemas across the country."