Who is the strongest one there is: Hulk or Godzilla? That’s the question in Godzilla vs. Hulk #1 — from writer Gerry Duggan (Iron Man, X-Men) and artist Giuseppe Camuncoli (Predator, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters) — which pits the Green Goliath against the King of the Monsters in a knock-down, drag-out brawl between gamma mutates. (Like Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four, an amalgamation of 1954’s Gojira film and 1966’s Fantastic Four #50, the one-shot is set in an alternate version of the 1970s.)
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The issue begins at Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’ Thunderbolt Ranch in Texas, where the mustachioed Army General announces plans for the ranch’s most dangerous project ever: to capture and pacify Godzilla. Ross’ Thunderbolts have a reputation for having defeated mighty monsters like Fin Fang Foom, the Asgardian Fire Giant Surtur, Mothra, the giant spider Kumonga — and the Hulk.
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Eighty stories below Thunderbolt Ranch, yet another monster has been pacified: mild-mannered Thunderbolt scientist Bruce Banner, who learned the art of meditation to keep his gamma-fueled alter-ego in check. Dr. Banner meets with the skeleton-masked Douglas Birely, a.k.a. Dr. Demonicus, who has developed an egg-shaped Kaiju Incinerator he says is capable of handling the King of the Monsters.
Demonicus, using a device to take control of Kumonga, uses Mothra as bait to lure Godzilla to Thunderbolt Ranch. Demonicus is waging a war on the Kaiju, revenge for raving his body.
Meanwhile, Thunderbolt pilot Samuel Sterns (a.k.a. the Leader) is struck down as Dr. Demonicus’ demented plan brings Godzilla to San Antonio. At “The Barn,” Ross and Banner suit up in mechas rebuilt and tinkered with by the late Tony Stark: Mechagodzilla (from 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) and Mechagodzilla 2 (as seen in 1975’s Terror of Mechagodzilla). Stark was crushed by Godzilla, but he might yet be avenged.
As the Ross and Banner-piloted mechas attack Godzilla, Demonicus directs Kumonga to ensnare Godzilla in its webs. Mechagodzilla (a.k.a. Thunderbolt One) and Mechagodzilla 2 (a.k.a. Thunderbolt Two) are disarmed and defeated by Godzilla. The intense heat of the kaiju’s atomic breath overwhelms Ross and Banner, so Demonicus reveals his fail-safe: a secret plan to get his revenge on the monsters and the men who brought him to ruin. Now unmasked, Demonicus says he’s been using his Kaiju Incinerator to break down monster bodies, but he’s also been incubating a monster killer. The Kaiju Incinerator “egg” hatches a new monster that Demonicus will use to kill Godzilla and cull kaiju across the planet.
Demonicus unleashes Hedorah (from 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah), an amalgamation of monsters made from the deadliest traits of slain kaiju. The battle between Godzilla and Hedorah causes Banner to become trapped in his mecha and, as he’s crushed, triggers his transformation into the Hulk.
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“Hulk hate robots — and Hulk hate bugs,” the Jade Giant roars, “but Hulk hate slime monsters most of all!” Hulk saves Ross as Hedorah melts his mecha and then does what Hulk does best: smash monsters. Demonicus’ sludge monster melts Mechagodzilla with its acidic touch and burns away at Godzilla faster than he can heal, so Hulk gives Godzilla some of his gamma-irradiated blood to create Gamma Godzilla. An abomination, the Hulk Godzilla smashes Hedorah and finishes off the monster with his nuclear gamma breath.
Demonicus dies as he’s dissolved by Hedorah’s acidic sludge, and Hulk frees Kumonga and Mothra. Their gamma rages subside, and the gamma radiation that empowers Hulk and Godzilla causes them to revert to their respective base forms: Bruce Banner and the regular Godzilla. Ross goes to shoot Banner, but he warns the general: “I wouldn’t make Godzilla angry. We monsters stick together, Ross.” And so ends the tale of two towering Jade Giants: the Incredible Hulk and Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
Demonicus Was Godzilla’s First Supervillain in the Marvel Comics
In the original Godzilla comics published by Marvel in the late 1970s, Dr. Demonicus debuted in the pages of 1977’s Godzilla #4. That issue, written by Doug Moench and penciled by Tom Sutton, saw Demonicus use the Lifestone, a fragment of a radioactive meteor, to create monsters like Batragon (a bat-like dragon hybrid).
A war of giants took place on the Isle of Lost Monsters, where Godzilla faced the Monster Menagerie made by Demonicus: the moth-like Lepirax, the mutated centipede Centipor, and the lizard-like Ghilaron.
Demonicus would go on to create creatures like the five-headed dragon Hand of Five and the robot Cerberus to battle the mecha Shogun Warriors — Combatra, Raydeen, Dangard Ace — in 1979’s Shogun Warriors #14. He returned in 1985’s Iron Man #193, and by that time, had further mutated and subjugated Godzilla (who was referred to as the “greatest living dinosaur” as Marvel’s rights to the Toho character had lapsed). He seemed to die in a 1993 issue of Avengers West Coast, which would be Demonicus’ final appearance until he inexplicably resurfaced in Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch’s New Avengers run in 2005.
Dr. Demonicus was among the supervillains who escaped the floating Raft prison when Spider-Man villain Electro broke them out in New Avengers #1. He’s mostly appeared in the background in recent years: Demonicus joined the Hood’s gang of criminals (in 2009’s Dark Reign: The Hood #1) and battled the New Avengers. The last we saw him, Birely was hanging around other D-list supervillains in Chip Zdarsky’s Earth-set Star-Lord run in 2017 before being blasted by the Wakandan superhero Asha in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther run that same year.
Godzilla vs. Hulk #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
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Image courtesy of Marvel Studios
