The creator of a 10,000-GBP statue of The Hulk which was decapitated by a vandal did not hand over the cash reward to the man who returned it – having him arrested instead.
The statue of The Hulk located in Switzerland’s largest city of Zurich was beheaded earlier this month by an unknown perpetrator after it was exhibited in public on the request of the head of a nearby care centre.
The perpetrator took the head away with them, leaving just the body standing.
The statue’s creator Eric Pauli of Recycleart – which mostly uses discarded car and motorcycle parts to create statues up to 26 feet tall – said that he was shocked by the violence against his Hulk figure with an estimated value of around 12,600 CHF (10,025 GBP).
Pauli said: “We have been exhibiting the figures for eleven years, but something like that has never happened before.
“I am simply just sad. Doing such a thing is reckless and criminal. Hundreds of people have been taking selfies with the Hulk for the last few weeks.”
Pauli has now revealed that he has received the Hulk’s decapitated head back after a curious encounter with the suspected perpetrator.
He said: “A young man called me and told that he saw the head in a park.
“I found the entire case a bit unbelievable.”
Pauli said he suspected the man had stolen the head himself rather than finding it in the park.
He said: “For the handover, I arranged a meeting with the young man last Thursday.”
Pauli decided to meet the man in the Letzipark shopping centre where the young man, who the artist estimates was only 17 or 18 years old, took out the Hulk’s head from a large bag.
The Recycleart chief however did not hand out the 1,000-CHF (796-GBP) reward which he promised to the person helping to solve the case and return the head.
Pauli said: “Two policemen were also in the Letzipark and arrested the young man.”
The Zurich city police confirmed that the young man was arrested and interrogated in connection to the vandalism and theft of the Hulk’s head.
The investigation is still ongoing.
The Hulk is a fictional superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby which appears in publications and films by the American publisher Marvel Comics.
In the comic books, Dr Bruce Banner, a weak and socially withdrawn physicist turns into his alter ego The Hulk after accidental exposure to gamma rays.
Banner often physically transforms into the Hulk at moments of stress leading to destructive rampages and conflicts.
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Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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