Warning: contains spoilers for Immortal Hulk #47!
The One-Below-All - a cosmic entity who intends to hollow out the Hulk and use him to end the cycle of creation forever.
To that end, the One-Below-All - working through Hulk villain the Leader - recently stripped the Hulk of two vital personas: the powerful Devil Hulk and Bruce Banner himself. This left Hulk severely depowered, with the classic Savage Hulk and the Sunshine Joe persona struggling to survive in a new, emaciated form. But going up against the One-Below-All allowed Joe to harness Cosmic Radiation, upgrading the Hulk's body with more power than ever. Sadly, the Avengers aren't aware of everything going on behind the scenes, and attack Hulk with the intent of ending what looks from the outside like a chaotic reign of terror.
It's not the first time the Avengers have clashed with the Hulk in his most recent series. The Immortal Hulk #7 saw the team take down the Hulk, though they would have been defeated without Iron Man's satellite weapon preying on Hulk's weakness to sunlight. At that time, Thor sensed the Hulk had tapped into a more primal form of power, confessing to Captain America that he suspects "your mortal world may have produced something very close to a god. Or a devil, perhaps." Cap believed Thor was simply suffering from a concussion, but the God of Thunder doubles down on his assessment in Immortal Hulk #47's brutal rematch, accusing Hulk of being, "The hidden blight behind the World Tree! The untamed storm that tears the longhouse asunder! You are the darkness of Midgard made flesh... Midgard's God of Wrath!"
Thor isn't just talking about Hulk's incredible new strength. The issue suggests that Hulk's connection to the One-Below-All means that he literally leaks anger, causing others to lose themselves to rage and act more rashly than they would against any other enemy. Both Thor and Black Panther brutally attack Hulk, with even Captain America taking an unusually hard-line approach to a hero with who he's shared a mutual respect in the past. But they're right to worry. Readers have already seen Hulk's true potential - a being called the Breaker of Worlds, just as powerful and even more destructive than Galactus.
Hulk is fighting against that destiny, and Thor's reminder that he can't count on the human world for is as ill-timed as it is brutal. The God of Thunder has been growing less and less empathetic as he tries to shoulder the responsibility of ruling Asgard, but his "gift" of rage at least pushes She-Hulk into making a choice between the Avengers and her cousin, giving the newly rogue Gamma Flight team a chance to spirit Hulk away into seclusion, where he can muster his forces and hopefully find a way to stop the One-Below-All. Powerful as the Hulk may be, he's about to take on perhaps the most dangerous force of evil in the Marvel Universe - hopefully, Thor is right about his godly credentials, because he'll need every ounce of power he can muster if he's going to triumph in the final confrontation.
