“I was a nerdy little kid in West Tennessee with no real outlets for nerdy little kids, and the [Hulk] tv show came on a week before my seventh birthday,” recalled AP Statistics teacher Darin Clifft, remembering how he became infatuated with the Marvel character, the Incredible Hulk, during his youth.
Clifft’s collection began in April of 1987, during his junior year of high school on a date with his wife, who was his girlfriend at the time.
“We were on a date at Hardee’s, and I saw that they had a Hulk happy meal that came with a Hulk on a little yellow bulldozer. I still have the box, the cup, and the action figure. Ever since then, I’ve just added to it.”
Now, forty years later, a quick stop into Clifft’s classroom results in views of floor-to-ceiling Hulk paraphernalia, and Clifft’s daily accessories often take some form of green. A pair of Hulk hands resembling boxing gloves sit on the filing cabinet of his office.
Among this wide collection, his favorite item is a roll of mint, in-box 1978 toilet paper, with each piece featuring a comic strip.
Instead of finding his infatuation odd, Clifft’s family has embraced his obsession with the Hulk.
“My wife, my son, my daughter all know what to get me for every holiday or birthday,” Clifft said. “My son, Aaron, even keeps a list of certain things I don’t have so he knows exactly what to get me.”
As he kept progressively collecting, he eventually went on to add a neon green Dodge Charger to the collection, but the car, of course, comes with a unique story of its own.
In 2017, his desire for such an exotic car began when his son Aaron (MUS ’13), who now teaches at MUS, bought a black Dodge Charger, keeping with the theme of Venom, another Marvel character.
“I got to drive his car a couple of times, and it’s just a really nice comfortable car with a little bit of kick to it.” Therefore, as soon as he drove his son’s car, he immediately searched for the same one but in neon green for the Hulk.
“I was fantasizing that when I get rid of my Ford Focus, that I would be able to purchase this neon green Charger.”
The opportunity presented itself in an unorthodox way, when Clifft got into a devastating car wreck in the fall of 2025 and luckily survived. His Focus was totaled.
“As soon as I got into the accident, my wife hopped online and immediately found it. She got it delivered from Minnesota, and we eventually bought it. She’s the one who arranged all of it from delivering it to getting it paid for. It was all her idea,” Clifft said.
He does not plan on limiting the car to being just a solid neon green, because he wants it to wholeheartedly insinuate his love for the Hulk. He has already made additions, from a Hulk start engine button to Hulk cupholders, but he is also pretty sure that a wrap is in the future.
Clifft’s new set of wheels has drawn attention from all his students as well as his colleagues, and for Clifft, he now has an incredible story to tell about the neon green Charger parked in the Lower School parking lot.
