The question of the Hulk’s true nature as either hero or villain has loomed over the character since its origin.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Hulk #3, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
The question of the Hulk’s true nature as either hero or villain has loomed over the character since its origin. Yet, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley invite us to ask if the monster might actually be the human inside of the creature. The creators launched this new series with a question: “What is Hulk exists to protect us from Banner?” The end of the second issue saw the Hulk Starship blast through a multiversal barrier and land in a world where he was greeted by another Doctor Bruce Banner. Hulk #3 (by Donny Cates, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, Frank Martin, Federico Blee, and VC’s Cory Petit) reveals how evil this Banner truly is and shines the light on the evil inside the 616 Banner.
616s Hulk Starship, piloted by Banner, comes face to face with the evilest version of himself. This alternate reality Bruce Banner is no stranger to the Hulk, however, he’s shocked that the Hulk can speak. The others he’s encountered appear to be mindless. This new universe’s Banner knows what he’s become. He replies, “I am not one of you . . . Hulks. I’m afraid I’m something much, much worse.” He pursued gamma energy to fuel the world. Somehow the gamma bomb he experimented with was used across the planet in every populated area except the United States.
However, the evil doesn’t stop there. After discovering that the gamma radiation produces “abominations” like the Hulk, Banner reveals he created an interdimensional void, the very one the 616 Hulk Starship traveled through, to hold them. Each and every Hulk created in the fallout of Banner’s bomb is tossed into an endless expanse—disposed and forgotten. Cowering before the Hulk’s rage, the other Banner blames Ross for this decision as well. Yet, none of these travesties could have occurred without Banner’s intellect and his action.
One of the variant covers, drawn by David Nakayama, hearkens back to the first issue of Hulk and asks, “Is he man or monster or . . . Is he both?” This is the question that has hung over the Hulk’s and Banner’s journey. Yet, in Nakayama’s art, Banner is front and center in full color and the Hulk is tri-toned behind. The question is clearly about Banner.
Without the tragedy of the Hulk in his life, Banner’s mind overcomes his morality. Perhaps, Banner needs to be near the devastation that the Hulk creates up close for him to see the personal cost that others pay for his own experiments. Perhaps it’s simply seeing the unrestrained aspect of him, that truly is him, come to the surface that reminds him that other parts of him that can be restrained should be.
This entire issue though is a mirror for 616 Banner. His manipulation of Hulk into an interdimensional Starship demonstrates his acceptance of his own ruthless nature, a nature that has lurked inside him from the beginning. Now, in the new Hulk series, Banner’s own instability has propelled him to use the Hulk’s raw power to fuel his naked ambition. Abandoning his Earth, his friends, and reminders of the devastation of the Hulk, 616 Banner looks to be headed down a path where he truly becomes the true monster at the heart of the Hulk.
Even the manner in which Banner controls the Hulk is monstrous. Banner tortures the Hulk over and over through augmented memories, turning the rage into power to cross the cosmos. The Hulk’s psyche is locked inside a massive mental prison in which Banner constantly attacks to instigate rage. It’s a cruel mechanism that effectively makes the Hulk a slave to Banner’s whims. Banner separated from the Hulk in either universe is a cruel man. The answer to the original question looming over the Hulk appears to be “He is both man and monster.”
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