The Hulk’s Most Shocking Enemy is Actually Himself

The Hulk is the strongest one there is and that’s really all there is to it. Bruce Banner had a childhood defined by terror because of his alcoholic father, escaping the world in science, and created the gamma bomb. In order to save a kid named Rick Jones from the detonation of the device, Bruce drove out on the range and was there when the One Below All opened the Green Door, inundating Banner with gamma energy and creating the Hulk. Since then, we’ve seen many sides of the Hulk. We’ve see the child who just wants to be left alone, the savage monster destroying everything in front of him. We’ve see the professor and the world-breaking warrior. We’ve seen an undead monster, a powerful mobster, and an environmental crusader. He’s been a Defender, an Avenger, and a member of the Fantastic Four. We’ve seen nearly every facet of the character, and there’s one thing all of these different pieces of the Hulk have shown — the Hulk is his own greatest enemy.

The Hulk has faced powerful villains his entire existence, but none of them are more dangerous than himself. The Hulk being his own worst enemy is nothing new, but it’s still quite shocking for many. We’ve been conditioned to see Banner as a victim and the Hulk, at worst, as a mindless monster, a child with the strength of a god and rage to match. However, the Hulk has always been the most difficult enemy that the Hulk has faced, for a variety of reasons.

The Hulk Is the Ultimate Embodiment of Destruction

The Hulk exists, first and foremost, as a defense mechanism for a very broken man. Bruce Banner was exposed to terrible mental and physical abuse as a child, and he created his own protector, a Devil Hulk that would take on its own life once the Green Door was opened. This protector was given basically infinite power and just wanted to be left alone, because it was Bruce and Bruce knew that people brought pain. The only person who hadn’t hurt Bruce yet was Betty Ross, and even that would become a source of pain as the years went on. Bruce Banner never learned to deal with his trauma, and that’s where the Hulk comes from. The Hulk’s violence is part and parcel of the violence that defined the young Bruce Banner’s life. His boundless rage doesn’t come from the One Below All, it comes from the rage of a young boy watching his father berate and attack his mother, a young boy who would have those same words and fists turned towards him. The Hulk is a horror story of a man turned into a monster, but it’s a very human one. It’s born of the poisonous fruits of humanity; we have people like Bruce Banner in the real world, and their pain has sometimes spur them on to do horrific things to their fellow man. This is what makes Hulk so dangerous to himself and the world.

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The One Below All merely gave the Hulk power, but the rage was always going to be there. It’s that rage, and the pain of Banner, that make the Hulk his own enemy. One of the most interesting thing about the Hulk is that when he’s in a rage, nothing can take him out of it. Even the world’s most powerful telepaths, like Charles Xavier, can’t assuage the anger of an enraged Hulk and we’ve seen the Hulk lose complete control of himself numerous times. For the Hulk and Banner, that rage will always be a time bomb waiting to explode. The Hulk is always right on the verge of exploding; that is the curse of his power. When he does explode, there’s nothing that can stop him. Look at all of the different versions of the Hulk, and the one throughline is the rage that control all of their actions. That rage is the thing that the Hulk can’t control, and we’ve seen where it leads the Hulk. It’s a rare Marvel future where the Hulk isn’t some kind of monstrous psychopath or abomination, a creature who long ago abandoned any semblance of sanity. From “Old Man Logan” to Hulk: Future Imperfect to Avengers: Twilight, the Hulk’s destiny is always destruction, whether it be by taking what he wants from the world or by becoming the pawn of someone who knew how to point his rage in the direction they went it to go. We’ve even seen the ultimate future of the Hulk — a planet sized giant flying through the contracting universe as the heat burns away, destroying entire worlds with one punch. This is what the Hulk is in the end — a ravening force of destruction — and that’s a greater threat than any of his enemies.

The Hulk’s Destiny Is Always Destruction

The Hulk has enemies, but there is no greater enemy to the Hulk than himself. It’s one of those things that makes sense when you say it, but it’s actually hard to believe because we’ve spent so long reading about him overcoming the monster or using the monster for good that it’s hard to really believe on any conscious level. But on a more visceral level, the same one the danger of the Hulk exists on, we know it’s true.

The Hulk is basically a force of nature. One second, he’s a big teddy bear, speaking like a five year old. Innocent. Childlike. Then, something happens and a switch is flipped. The child is replaced by the monster and the deafening din of destruction replaces that child’s voice. The bellows of the beast and the booms of his fists are all you can here. That’s the reality of the Hulk, and it’s why the Hulk’s greatest fight is always with himself.

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