The Hulk is one of the most popular Marvel characters ever. There was a time when the three most popular Marvel characters weren’t the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Iron Man, but Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Hulk. The Hulk was always very different from the other Marvel heroes. While people like Spider-Man and Thor fought to protect the people of the world, the Hulk just wanted to be left alone. The Hulk would definitely save the day at times, but usually that was almost accidental. The Hulk is a monster, and the best Hulk stories use this to their advantage. The Hulk isn’t a traditional superhero, and never really works in more traditional superhero fare.
One of the things that people forgot about the Hulk for years was that when he was originally created, he was basically Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Hulk would come out at night, and Bruce Banner couldn’t control the monster that he became. The Hulk was a horror superhero before that sort of thing became popular, using the trappings of monster stories to tell the tale of Bruce Banner and his shattered psyche. In recent years, Marvel has embraced this conception of the Hulk, all thanks to a little series called The Immortal Hulk.
The Immortal Hulk Was Hulk Horror at Its Finest
On the surface, The Immortal Hulk had lots of the trappings of older Hulk stories. Hulk smashed everyone in his way, but the book embraced the horror that was always at the center of the character. Hulk’s transformations became body horror at its finest, and the Hulk became the unpredictable, crafty monster that was always a part of the character. The Immortal Hulk took the main idea from the Hulk’s old Silver Age comics — “Is he a man or is he a monster?” — and took it to its apex. The Immortal Hulk boasted appearances from Hulk’s greatest villains, but it was more about the horror of the Hulk, both to the people of the world and to Bruce Banner himself, than Hulk fighting evil in his own special way. The Immortal Hulk is a horror masterpiece, and it showed off that the Hulk worked much better in scary stories. The Hulk is a rage monster who gets stronger as he gets angrier. His power potential is infinite. The Hulk is scarier than most supervillains, and The Immortal Hulk reminded everyone just how destructive the Hulk could be. When Marvel followed it up with a less horror oriented story, fans revolted, and the publisher quickly moved back to a more horror focused Hulk comic with the newest volume of The Incredible Hulk.
Over the years, we’ve gotten a lot of great Hulk stories. Peter David’s run on The Incredible Hulk was psychological storytelling at its finest, and tapped into the horror behind sharing your body with a beast like the Hulk. The Bruce Jones run of The Incredible Hulk in the early ’00s revolved around the return of the monster. While stories like “Planet Hulk”, World War Hulk, and the entire Red Hulk saga left behind the horror trappings of the past, you can’t argue against the fact that the Hulk works best as a horror character. There’s a reason that the Hulk never really works longterm as an Avenger, or as a heroic alter ego for Bruce Banner. Leaving behind the horror trappings of the Hulk can only work for so long. Hulk horror stories can take fans to all kinds of places, while more traditional superhero Hulk stories get boring after a while. There’s only so many times you can watch the Hulk smash everyone in his way before it gets boring. We all love seeing the Hulk beat on the Avengers, but if that was every Hulk story, it would quickly get tiring. One of the biggest problems with Hulk in the MCU is that they keep ignoring the horror roots of the Hulk to make him a quippy MCU character.
The Hulk Is Marvel’s Premiere Horror Character
When it comes right down to it, DC has always had better horror comics and characters than Marvel. One of the reasons is because Marvel is always so superhero oriented. Look at Ghost Rider; he’s the Spirit of Vengeance, but would you call many of his stories horror stories? No, they’re usually just supernatural superhero stories. The same goes for most Marvel characters that could be considered horror characters. The Hulk is different and that’s because the best Hulk writers have embraced the terror of the Hulk and everything he represents.
Before The Immortal Hulk reminded everyone what a great horror character the Hulk could be, the Hulk wasn’t in the best place. After the Red Hulk saga ended, Marvel kept trying to tell superhero Hulk stories, a la the MCU, and it just didn’t work. The Hulk was in a pretty bad place by the time he died, and The Immortal Hulk basically saved the Hulk as a character. The Hulk can be used in traditional superhero stories, especially in other people’s books, but Hulk solo stories need that taste of horror to shine.
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