We Finally Have an Evil Hulk (and It’s About Time)

The Hulk is one of Marvel’s most interesting characters for numerous reasons, but the one that sticks out the most is that he’s not actually a superhero. This was honestly there from the beginning. The Incredible Hulk #1 asked the most important question about the character right away on the cover, “Is he man or monster or… is he both?” His first enemy was the US military and General Thunderbolt Ross, which was very different for ’60s Marvel, when the publisher was carrying water for Cold War jingoism. Hulk has definitely did heroic things over the years, helping save the world numerous times, but at the character’s core, Hulk is not actually a superhero. He’s a monster. It’s just he sometimes eats the right people.

The Infernal Hulk #1 goes in a different direction. The last volume of The Incredible Hulk ended with the Hulk being possessed by the Eldest, the child of the Mother of Monsters, a primordial godlike being related to the One Below All, the source of Hulk’s power. This is a straight up evil Hulk, one where the monster is all there is. It’s something that has been teased for decades, but no one has ever gone all-in on it. However, I’m here to say it’s about time that we got this new evil Hulk. We’ve been waiting for it for years, honestly.

The Hulk Is the Perfect Marvel Star Turned Villain Ever

Let’s be real — the Hulk has been on fire lately. Sure, we try to forget the Cates/Ottley run, but The Immortal Hulk is one of the greatest Marvel series of the 21st century (and the latest run The Incredible Hulk has been pretty good as well). It took the ideas of the Hulk from over the decades, and brought them all to the forefront. The series was very much pitch-perfect Hulk horror, and hit all the sweet spots. There’s something fearful about the Green Goliath, and Al Ewing’s masterpiece writing found a way to make us fear and feel sorrow for the Hulk. It completely changed the character in some ways while also using the ideas of the past to make the character better.

It reminded us of the best Hulk stories, blending the psychological storytelling and the horror to create something new with the character. You never forgot that the Hulk was a monster and a force for destruction, and this is an important aspect of the character. The Hulk is a monster, and monsters are scary. We’ve seen him tear through entire towns and watched him defeat armies, from terrestrial to extraterrestrial, and bash through our favorite heroes. But we’ve always been told that somehow, no one died. We’re always told to remember the man. However, none of that makes him any less a monster.

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Marvel has circled around the Hulk as a villainous monster for years. In the late ’00s, we got stories like World War Hulk and “Old Man Logan”. Before that, we got Hulk: Future Imperfect with the Maestro. Numerous alternate universes have an evil Hulk, but somehow Marvel has always tried to keep the 616 version from falling. He’s destroyed billions of dollars of property, yet he basically has no body count. It’s honestly made the character less scary than he should have been, and always felt childish. We’ve seen the Savage Hulk almost beat Thor to death with an adamantium statue, but he wasn’t evil, no. He was savage. It honestly makes a lot of the character development of the Jade Giant meaningless.

If Marvel doesn’t want the Bruce Banner Hulk to be a villain in the 616, despite it all, that’s fine. However, to never make the character actually evil, despite his many evil actions over the years, is a waste. The Infernal Hulk #1 has found the perfect way to make evil Hulk work. though. This isn’t Bruce, but the Eldest in control of the body, so now there’s only a monster. This is what everyone has been afraid of happening, and finally getting to see it is something we’ve wanted for a long time. Marvel has taken so long to pull the trigger on this plot line, that a lot of past stories that called him a monster have been wasted. The Infernal Hulk #1 is paying something off we’ve been waiting years for.

Evil Hulk Is Good

The Hulk has reached a new height with The Infernal Hulk #1, because it finally shows a side of the character that has always been there: the evil monster. In a lot of ways, it echoes what has been happening with Godzilla over the years. We have the American heroic Godzilla movies, and they’re good, but they have nothing on the last two major Japanese movies, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One. These movies have shown “evil” versions of the monster; he was still sympathetic, but he was evil and it made the dichotomy of the character shine. Those moves are considered better than the American ones because of this. The Hulk has reached his Shin Godzilla/Godzilla Minus One phase, and it’s about time.

Marvel has circled this for years, giving us stories where the Hulk was almost the bad guy. However, there was always a reason he wasn’t evil. There was always an excuse. The Infernal Hulk #1 takes that away in the best possible way; Marvel gets to keep the Hulk “pure”, since he’s not in control, but also gets to have the Hulk grab soldiers and crush them (as wonderfully drawn by Nic Klein). This is the ultimate evolution of the character. The Hulk is evil, finally, and that’s a good thing.

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