Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Incredible Hulk #1 The Hulk has always been as powerful as a god in the Marvel Universe, proven true alone by his many bouts with the God of Thunder himself, Thor. But now, Marvel Comics is making his divine ascension official, as Hulk takes his place as an actual Marvel god - a place that had been discreetly set for him for some time.
One of the first times fans were given evidence that the Hulk may have been linked to divine entities like Mother Gaea or Thor was in Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1. The issue seems to indicate that Thor regarded Hulk as a god in The Immortal Hulk series, quite literally calling him “Midgard’s God of Wrath”. The Hulk’s supernatural connection to the Below-Place and the Green Door also gives the impression that he’s of something greater than this world, especially when considering his original origin was being a fractured psyche personified, the literal manifestation of rage born of abuse. Now, the Hulk seems to be something a bit more otherworldly, something Marvel - and especially Thor - had been hinting at for years.
The Hulk is a God Who Is Worshiped Through Fear
In The Incredible Hulk #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein, readers are introduced to the Eldest and her following of hellish beasts with a strange and yet-to-be-explained connection to the Green Door and - by extension - the Below-Place. These creatures serve the Mother of Horrors under the leadership of her oldest daughter, the Eldest, and right now, they’re looking for the Hulk. Unlike other Hulk villains, however, these monsters don’t seem to be seeking him out to harm or use him in any way, they seem to know him on a deeper level than he may even know himself. They recognize him not as a creature created by gamma from the psyche of a broken man, but as “godflesh”, worthy of fearful worship.
While everything about these new creatures and their strange connection to the Hulk is a complete mystery - with nothing more than tidbits of information for fans to only begin to formulate theories around - there are some solid clues that link back to older Hulk comic runs that indicate he very well may be an ancient god. The Immortal Hulk established that gamma is somehow inherently supernatural, as anyone exposed to it was granted access through the Green Door. What fans have been assuming, however, is that the Hulk originated within Banner’s psyche, and was introduced to the world of the supernatural through the Green Door. But what if the Hulk originated behind the Green Door, and possessed Bruce after the gamma exposure? That could explain how these monsters - who also have a connection to the Green Door - know who the Hulk is, and why they only refer to Banner as ‘the vessel’. Not only that, but this would also explain why Thor keeps referring to Hulk as a god in different comic series, as perhaps he has an intuition about his fellow Avenger that even he can’t explain.
This latest comic series is exploring the deepest horrors associated with what it would mean to be possessed by a rage monster hellbent on creating nothing but death and carnage (which isn’t normal for Hulk, but given his anger over how Banner treated him in Donny Cates’ Hulk series, is totally warranted). And now, older pieces of Hulk’s literary puzzle are being pulled from past storylines to weave an all-new proverbial tapestry for the character, one which sets Hulk up as an official Marvel god.
The Incredible Hulk #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.
