Comic book crossovers with DC and Marvel characters inevitably make a big impact, and 44 years ago today, one such crossover finally happened: Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk. Following on the success of the preceding Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man in 1976, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk takes place in an alternate reality in which DC and Marvel characters have long since co-existed. Neither DC nor Marvel made any real effort to explain the preceding lack of interaction between their respective character rosters in this alternate continuity, yet Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk still stands as a fun meeting of titans from the world’s two biggest comic book publishers.
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Admittedly, DC’s greatest detective, Batman, teaming up with Marvel’s immensely powerful machine of rage, the Hulk, does not immediately jump out as the kind of DC-Marvel crossover most would readily expect either hero to feature in. Nonetheless, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk not only tells one of the best Hulk stories, but also illuminates the differences and similarities between Batman and the Hulk that made them perfect for a one-and-done crossover story.
How Batman & The Hulk Begin as Enemies (& Become Allies)
In the alternate universe of Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is a man on the run, trying to find a means to reverse the gamma mutation in his DNA that turns him into the Hulk when he becomes angry. Bruce finds new hope in that endeavor while working at Wayne Enterprises, which is developing an experimental Gamma gun, but the situation takes a turn when the Joker leads a heist of Wayne Enterprises to steal the weapon. In the chaos, Bruce transforms into the Hulk, with Batman arriving on the scene to stop him, eventually defeating the Hulk as the Joker gang escapes.
After Bruce Wayne appoints Bruce Banner to head up the production of a replacement Gamma gun, it is revealed that the Joker stole the original Gamma gun at the behest of a villain known as the Shaper of Worlds. Afflicted with a terminal illness and possessing the power to grant anyone their deepest dreams, the Shaper struck a bargain with the Joker to steal the Gamma gun to potentially cure himself in exchange for bringing the Joker’s dreams to life. This eventually leads Batman and the Hulk to battle the Joker and the Shaper to stop their shared plot, and though they succeed, Bruce once again is forced to go into hiding to keep the Hulk at bay as he continues to search for a reversal to his mutation.
Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk Was the Perfect Meeting of Heroic Opposites
Compared to the Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man crossover, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk brings together a pairing of DC and Marvel superheroes who couldn’t be more different. Batman’s brains and the Hulk’s brawn contrast with one another as perfectly as such disparate elements of Batman’s superb martial arts skill and the Hulk’s pure brute force, Batman’s tech resources against the Hulk’s purely emotionally driven might, and Batman’s masked identity against the common knowledge of Bruce Banner morphing into the Hulk. On paper, if one were to create a Marvel vs. DC clash of superheroes, Batman and Hulk would both be pitted against other opponents (as they indeed were in 1996’s Marvel vs. DC, with the Hulk fighting Superman and Batman fighting Captain America).
Despite all of that, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk works as well as it does because Batman and the Hulk are so fundamentally different as heroes. Even with all of fighting skill, tech, and genius intellect he’s got on his side, Batman’s fight with the Hulk is one of the most truly challenging he has ever faced on the comic book page. At the same time, Batman also represents the inverse of the Hulk as a man carrying decades of rage within him and who has trained himself to harness that anger in a wholly focused and controlled way. To take down the Joker and the Shaper takes the combined effort of Batman and the Hulk, but unlike Superman and Spider-Man’s team-up against Lex Luthor and Doc Ock, it is one in which Batman has to guide the Hulk as one hero who is a master of strategy and another who is the ultimate bull in a china shop.
Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk Is a One-Off & Works Best That Way
Like Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk is built from the idea of DC and Marvel superheroes co-existing in one reality, and yet, the former later got a follow-up story in 1981’s Superman and Spider-Man, while 44 years later, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk stands as a one-and-done. That distinction itself reflects the kind of heroic team-up that Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk is inherently of the Dark Knight meeting a hero far more internally scarred and lonely than he has ever been, meaning their partnership was never going to be more than a one-off. In that respect, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk nails its title characters as both opposites and two sides of the same coin.
For all the strong Batman comic book stories populating DC’s pantheon, Batman’s team-up with the Hulk stands out as the kind of classic Elseworlds tale that DC has long excelled in. Looking at the story through the Marvel lens, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk also gives Bruce Banner a hero to aspire to in Batman, Bruce seeing the Dark Knight’s control of his mind and body as a goal he can strive for in the hopes of one day mastering control of the monster within him. 44 years ago, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk took two completely different DC and Marvel superheroes and placed them into the unlikeliest of team-ups, with the story standing as an unexpected but illuminating tale of two Bruces who couldn’t be further apart on the surface, but who are far more alike than they seem within.
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