Warning: SPOILERS for The Incredible Hulk #20Underneath dense layers of compact gamma flesh and years of unbridled rage, the Hulk genuinely wishes that he could be the one thing he never had: a father. The Hulk exists as a response to Bruce Banner’s tragically violent father, but he quietly wants a chance to prove that he can be better. While the Green Goliath has had his chance at fatherhood before, he may finally get to live his dream - and soon.

The Incredible Hulk #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Danny Earls reunites the Hulk with his adoptive daughter, Charlie Tidwell. In a recent story, Charlie became the vessel of Lycana, the God of the Skinwalkers.

Now, the human child can leap bounds, smash with ease, and release an inner beast just as Bruce Banner does. In the brief respite of peace that the duo shares before more monstrosities arrive to challenge their strength, the Hulk looks genuinely content. To the Hulk, family is everything.

The Hulk Was Born to Be a Father for Bruce Banner

The Incredible Hulk #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Danny Earls, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit

In Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk series, Bruce Banner’s dissociative identity disorder is approached with a genuine sense of respect and truthfulness. Brian Banner, Bruce’s father, was a horrifically violent parent. After frequent self-experimentation using gamma energy, Brian was terrified that the gamma infused into his genetics had ed to his son.

Brian had seen Bruce as a monster since birth, physically and verbally abusing the boy and his mother at every chance. In response, the first Hulks were born. One Hulk was all of Banner’s child-like fear personified and the other was Banner’s twisted sense of what a father figure should be.

Nicknamed the “Devil Hulk,” this gamma-alter loves Bruce as his son. While violent, vengeful, and cruel beyond understanding, this Hulk would do anything for his boy, even if it meant breaking the world. In the shadow of Brian Banner’s rampant abuse, Bruce wanted nothing more than to have a dad who loved him. He wanted a dad who saw his brilliance as something to celebrate. To fill that role, Bruce’s psyche had to build an identity that would look after the young genius. But as Bruce grew older, the entirety of his system felt the call of fatherhood.

The Hulk’s First Chance at Fatherhood Burned in Flames of Rage

Skaar and Hiro-Kala Became Products of the Hulk’s Fury

Once again, in the shadow of tragedy, Bruce Banner and the Hulk find family among the fallen. Throughout the Planet Hulk storyline by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan, Banner’s newest gamma-alter, the Green Scar, rose through the gladiatorial ranks and emerged as a revolutionary leader with a found family of outcasts and warriors. In time, Bruce gave himself over to the Hulk as both fell deeply in love with Caiera the Oldstrong. Together, the Hulk and Caiera married, and the two lived happily together. Of course, for the Hulk, happiness turned to ash when Caiera was killed.

The products of the Hulk’s greatest happiness emerged alone, abandoned, and consumed by rage.

Unbeknownst to him, Caiera was pregnant, and their sons were left behind to be born in the flames of a scorched planet while the World Breaker waged war against Earth. The products of the Hulk’s greatest happiness emerged alone, abandoned, and consumed by rage. His oldest desire, a chance to father and nurture children like him, was stolen alongside his wife and home. Instead, his boys were born twisted and angry; one was raised as a feral beast and the other as a slave-turned-warlord. Again, Banner and the Hulk were deprived of what unifies their competing psyches: family.

The Hulk Has a New Chance to Live for Someone Else

Charlie Tidwell Will Need All the Guidance She Can Get

Time has somewhat healed some familial wounds. The Hulk’s eldest twin son, Skaar, overcame his hatred for the Hulk. Now, he serves as a member of The Hulk even has a daughter who currently adventures with her mother in Weirdworld. However, despite his and Banner’s desire to be a father to their children, the Hulk has failed to keep his family together.

Now, Johnson's run on The Incredible Hulk is giving the Hulk a new chance at familial happiness. Charlie, like Bruce, is a child of abuse. Her pain defines her strength. Her persistence informs her power. Like Bruce, Charlie has transformed herself into a monster. Like the Hulk, she loves being a monster, and the Hulk loves her for it. Bruce Banner and his many gamma-alters have all sought to provide what wasn’t given to them: a chance to push past their rage and pain to save someone else from their own. Finally, the Incredible Hulk is being given another shot at being the father he’s always wanted to be.

The Incredible Hulk #20 is available now from Marvel Comics.