# The Immortal Hulk (comic book)

The Immortal Hulk is a superhero horror comic book series written by Al Ewing, pencilled by Joe Bennett, and published by Marvel Comics. The series starred the various dissociative identities, or "alters," of Bruce Banner as they grapple with the discovery that gamma-irradiated beings such as the Hulk are unable to die.
It quickly garnered critical acclaim, including three Eisner Award nominations for Best Continuing Series. After spawning numerous one-shots by various creative teams and a spinoff miniseries starring Gamma Flight, the series concluded with issue #50 in October 2021.

## Plot

After staging his death at the hands of Clint Barton, Bruce Banner realizes the Hulk always returns from death through a "green door." His vindictive "Devil" Hulk personality begins to emerge at night, or when Bruce is threatened. Investigative reporter Jackie McGee follows him, wanting to become powerful after the "Savage" Hulk destroyed her home as a child. Walt Langkowski contacts her and agrees to help her in her search, only for his Sasquatch form to become possessed by Brian Banner's spirit and rampage. Devil Hulk stops him by absorbing his gamma radiation, taking Brian into Bruce's mind in the process. On orders from General Reginald Fortean, head of the covert "Shadow Base", the Avengers attempt to capture Bruce but are bested by Devil Hulk, forcing Tony Stark to kill him. Bruce's body is taken to Shadow Base Site A and is experimented on until Devil Hulk re-forms and escapes.
He is lured to the site of the gamma bomb that created him by Brian and is attacked by Carl Creel, enhanced by Shadow Base with gamma absorption powers. Creel accidentally absorbs Brian, who possesses him and opens the green door to the "Below-Place", the bottom layer of Hell. Brian explains to Bruce that after being killed a second time in the Chaos War, the "One Below All", the ruler of the Below-Place and the source of all gamma, took his form and plans to possess Bruce. Creel restores Devil Hulk's gamma, allowing him to defeat the One Below All and close the door, returning them to Earth.
Shaken, Bruce goes to Betty Ross and she is killed by Carl Burbank, working as a Shadow Base assassin. She revives as the gamma mutant Red Harpy, while Leonard Samson, back from death through the green door, interrogates Devil Hulk, who explains that he is the manifestation of Bruce's desire for a protective father figure. Rick Jones's body is stolen by Shadow Base and Devil Hulk returns to Site A, where Fortean uses UV radiation to turn him back into Bruce. Burbank wounds him, forcing his "Joe Fixit" personality to take over, who outwits and kills Burbank. Shadow Base revives and mutates Rick with Emil Blonsky's DNA, sending him after Devil Hulk, who defeats him with the help of Red Harpy.
Devil Hulk pulls Rick's withered human form out of the mutant's corpse, while Fortean steals the body and kills Langkowski, leaving him unable to revive without his gamma. Fortean fuses with the corpse as Rick awakens with gamma powers and takes Devil Hulk to Shadow Base Site B, where Devil Hulk kills a degenerating Fortean in a violent struggle before dying. Joe kills Fortean in the Below-Place, halting his resurrection, and Devil Hulk revives and takes over Site B, allowing its head scientist Charlene McGowan to aid him as he and Bruce publicly broadcast their goal to end capitalistic society for the good of the planet.
Devil Hulk begins attacking Roxxon, so CEO Dario Agger unleashes several monsters on the public, which overwhelm Devil Hulk and cause him to revert to Savage form. Xemnu, summoned by Agger, kills the last monster and brainwashes the world to remember him as the Hulk. Only Savage Hulk is unaffected by Xemnu, while his brainwashing causes Bruce to lock Savage Hulk out. Inside Bruce's mind, Savage Hulk and the Green Scar find Devil Hulk mysteriously imprisoned, while Savage Hulk destroys Xenmu's influence and takes back control. He storms Roxxon with his allies as Xemnu partially digests Agger, while the Green Scar emerges and kills Xemnu. Rick reveals himself to Agger as being controlled by Samuel Sterns, having received a distress call from a future universe where the One Below All uses the Hulk to become a cosmic destroyer, inspiring Sterns to harness the power of the Below-Place.
As Devil Hulk remains trapped, Hulk rehabilitates his image until Rick frames him for releasing a large, fatal burst of gamma energy at a public event. As Gamma Flight arrives to detain Hulk, Del Frye, a young man injected by his father with gamma that was being experimented on by Shadow Base, is taken over by Sterns, killing Samson. Sterns reveals that he has control of the Below-Place, closing the green door and preventing Samson from returning to life. As McGowan transports Rick out of the battle, Gamma Flight kills Hulk, allowing Sterns, having disguised himself as the Green Scar, to imprison him within Bruce's mind. McGowan decapitates Rick with a teleporter when he attacks her while Sterns attempts to take Bruce to the Below-Place, causing Devil Hulk to break free. Having absorbed Brian's spirit after the incident at the bomb site, Sterns uses his guise to manipulate Savage Hulk into stalling Devil Hulk long enough for Sterns to kill him. He takes Bruce to the Below-Place to make him a vessel for the One Below All, who also possesses Sterns.
Samson escapes by inhabiting Langkowski's body. Returning to Site B to retrieve his body, he finds Rick's head fused with Del after the two were released from Sterns's control, while Langkowski revives in Samson's body. With Hulk imprisoned on Gamma Flight's space base, Joe takes over to escape and falls to Earth as Hulk, where he lands in New York and fights Ben Grimm. Henry Gyrich sends the U-Foes after Hulk, who kill him with cosmic radiation, trapping him and Joe in the Below-Place. As they fight Sterns, made infinitely powerful by the One Below All, the cosmic rays allow Joe to attain a powerful Hulk form that is fueled by cosmic energy. He resurrects and easily defeats the U-Foes, forcing Gyrich to call the Avengers. Harpy and Gamma Flight arrive to fight them with Joe.
While hiding out, Joe and Harpy have sex before she reverts back to Betty, having refused to do so for Bruce. She admits she was hurt by Bruce's disgust of her Harpy form after getting her killed in the first place, only to become furious when she learns Joe left him in the Below-Place. Tired of being strung alone by Bruce and his personalities, she accuses Joe of being Bruce's most selfish desires manifested and leaves. Joe takes Jackie, given the power to see hidden gamma beings after Savage Hulk's gamma burst, to the Fantastic Four to be sent to the Below-Place. Reed Richards uses his Forever Gate to send Joe there, only for Jackie to jump in after him.
It is revealed that Bruce and Sterns's ancestors were brothers, Bruce's great-grandfather having killed his brother for sleeping with his wife. In the Below-Place, Sterns takes control of Savage Hulk to kill Joe, only for Jackie to wound Sterns with a beam of gamma from her eyes. The Hulks pull Sterns's human form out of his deformed body and demand the One Below All tell them why they exist. In response, it reveals itself as an extension of the One Above All, an omnipotent being of cosmic energy, explaining that the Hulk destroys so things can be built anew. It leaves Savage Hulk to decide what to do with Sterns. Realizing Sterns's thinking had been deformed by the gamma, Hulk decides they are the same and shows him mercy because "Hulks should forgive Hulks." Langkowski uses his gamma signature to find the Below-Place, and the Hulks and Jackie leave with Bruce and Sterns. Joe promises his services to Jackie as penance for destroying her home, and when they return to Earth, Bruce, having found equilibrium with the Hulks, slips away from his friends and leaves, wondering if his decisions have made him a good person.

## Themes

In its 50-issue span, The Immortal Hulk addresses a wide range of themes. Its opening issues focus on the idea that all people have a monstrous side to their nature. After Hulk travels to Hell, questions of the Problem of Evil and the nature of morality come to the fore. The introduction of Joe Fixit and the Savage Hulk into the story, as well as the sealing away of the Devil Hulk (the main Hulk persona seen in the first half of the series) in Bruce's mindscape, leads to an exploration of Dissociative Identity Disorder and the reconceptualization of the Hulk's psychological makeup as a "system" rather than a Banner-Hulk binary. The Roxxon storyline takes an environmentalist approach, portraying the dangers of capitalism and propagandistic media. Additionally, race, gender identity, and religion (particularly Judaism) are also explored.

## Reception

The Immortal Hulk garnered high praise following its debut in 2018. Matt Lune of Multiversity Comics called the first issue "extremely well done," praising the reimagining of the Hulk as "a terrifying figure, with a grim, twisted, toothy smile, piercing stare and distinctly disturbing eloquence." In 2019, 2020, and 2022, the series was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series. Upon completion of the series, Tony Thornley of Comicon.com called it
   the greatest run ever written about [the Hulk]. This is a seminal story that started as a monster movie, evolved into a supernatural thriller, then a cosmic horror. It further molted into an anti-capitalist protest. A psychological thriller. Back to cosmic horror. And then a meditation on the character himself and what made him great. [...] In the end, we got a single, continuous Hulk story that redefined the character, his powers, his world, even his mental illness. [...] We find ourselves at the conclusion of one of the greatest comics series Marvel has ever published.

## Artist controversy

Bennett caused controversy by including what was interpreted as antisemitic imagery in the background of a panel in The Immortal Hulk #43. Though the imagery made it to print in the single issue, it was removed in collected editions. Following this, a 2018 political cartoon resurfaced in which the then-Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was allegorically depicted as an “Independence Dragoon” (a member of a historical Brazilian military unit) fighting political opponents (including former presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer) in the shape of monstrous rats. In response to this illustration, Ewing severed ties with Bennett. On 9 September 2021, Marvel announced that he had been removed from his current assignments and was not on any future Marvel projects.

## One-shots

In addition to the main fifty-issue run, several Immortal Hulk one-shots were released. Initially created as a way for the series to tie into crossover events without intruding on the main series, these one-shots expanded their focus to allow other creative teams a chance to tell self-contained Immortal Hulk stories.
| Title | Writer | Artist | Colorist | Notes | Release date |
| Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense #1 | Al Ewing | Simone Di Meo | Dono Sánchez-Almara | Tie-in to The Best Defense crossover | December 5, 2018 |
| Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1 | Al Ewing | Filipe Andrade | Chris O'Halloran | Tie-in to Absolute Carnage crossover | October 2, 2019 |
| Immortal Hulk: Great Power #1 | Tom Taylor | Jorge Molina Adriano Di Benedetto Roberto Poggi | David Curiel | | February 5, 2020 |
| Immortal Hulk #0 | Al Ewing | Mattia de Iulis | Mattia de Iulis | Original framing story | September 16, 2020 |
| Immortal Hulk #0 | Bill Mantlo | Mike Mignola Gerry Talaoc | Bob Sharen | Reprint of Incredible Hulk #312 | September 16, 2020 |
| Immortal Hulk #0 | Peter David | Adam Kubert Mark Farmer | Dan Brown | Reprint of Incredible Hulk #-1 | September 16, 2020 |
| Immortal She-Hulk #1 | Al Ewing | Jon Davis-Hunt | Marcio Menyz | Tie-in to Empyre crossover | September 23, 2020 |
| Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place #1 | Jeff Lemire | Mike del Mundo | Mike del Mundo Marco D'Alfonso | | September 30, 2020 |
| King in Black: Immortal Hulk #1 | Al Ewing | Aaron Kuder | Frank Martin Erick Arciniega | Tie-in to King in Black crossover | December 16, 2020 |
| Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1 | Declan Shalvey | Declan Shalvey | Declan Shalvey | | February 17, 2021 |
| Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 | Alex Paknadel Al Ewing | Juan Ferreyra | Juan Ferreyra | Introduces prehistoric "original Hulk" | May 19, 2021 |
| Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 | David Vaughan | Kevin Nowlan | Kevin Nowlan | | May 19, 2021 |

## Collected editions

The series has been collected into a number of hardcover and trade paperback collections:

### Trade paperbacks

| Volume | Title | Material collected | Page count | Publication date | ISBN | Additional notes |
| 1 | Or Is He Both? | Immortal Hulk #1-5 and material from Avengers #684 | 136 | November 20, 2018 | 978-1302912550 | |
| 2 | The Green Door | Immortal Hulk #6-10 | 112 | February 12, 2019 | 978-1302912567 | |
| 3 | Hulk in Hell | Immortal Hulk #11-15 | 112 | May 14, 2019 | 978-1302915063 | |
| 4 | Abomination | Immortal Hulk #16-20 | 136 | September 3, 2019 | 978-1302912550 | |
| 5 | Breaker of Worlds | Immortal Hulk #21-25 | 136 | November 19, 2019 | 978-1302916688 | |
| 6 | We Believe in Bruce Banner | Immortal Hulk #26-30 | 112 | March 17, 2020 | 978-1302920500 | |
| 7 | Hulk Is Hulk | Immortal Hulk #31-35 | 136 | September 1, 2020 | 978-1302920517 | |
| 8 | The Keeper of the Door | Immortal Hulk #36-40 | 112 | January 19, 2021 | 978-1302920524 | |
| 9 | The Weakest One There Is | Immortal Hulk #41-45 | 112 | June 8, 2021 | 978-1302925970 | |
| 10 | Of Hell and of Death | Immortal Hulk #46-50 | 184 | December 7, 2021 | 978-1302925987 | |
| 11 | Apocrypha | Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense #1, Defenders: The Best Defense #1, Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1, Immortal Hulk #0, Immortal She-Hulk #1, King in Black: Immortal Hulk #1, and material from Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 | 248 | January 11, 2022 | 978-1302931162 | Anthology collection of the Ewing-written Immortal Hulk one-shots |
| | Great Power | Immortal Hulk: Great Power #1, Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place #1, Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1, and material from Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 | 112 | November 2, 2021 | 978-1302931179 | Anthology collection of the non-Ewing-written Immortal Hulk one-shots |
| | Gamma Flight | Gamma Flight #1-5 | 112 | January 4, 2022 | 978-1302928063 | Spinoff miniseries following Gamma Flight after the events of Immortal Hulk #47 |
| | Defenders: There Are No Rules | Defenders #1-5 and material from Marvel Comics #1000-1001 | 144 | May 3, 2022 | 978-1302924720 | Related miniseries revealing where Harpy went at the end of Immortal Hulk #48 |

### Hardcovers

| Volume | Material collected | Page count | Publication date | ISBN | Additional notes |
| Book 1 | Immortal Hulk #1-10 and material from Avengers #684 | 264 | October 15, 2019 | 978-1302919658 | Compilation of Vol. 1 & 2 trade paperbacks |
| Book 2 | Immortal Hulk #11-20 | 232 | July 7, 2020 | 978-1302923471 | Compilation of Vol. 3 & 4 trade paperbacks |
| Book 3 | Immortal Hulk #21-30 | 256 | May 11, 2021 | 978-1302928308 | Compilation of Vol. 5 & 6 trade paperbacks |
| Book 4 | Immortal Hulk #31-40 | 248 | November 16, 2021 | 978-1302931285 | Compilation of Vol. 7 & 8 trade paperbacks |
| Book 5 | Immortal Hulk #41-50 | 304 | December 6, 2022 | 978-1302945268 | Compilation of Vol. 9 & 10 trade paperbacks |
| Omnibus | Immortal Hulk #1-50, Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense #1, Defenders: The Best Defense #1, Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1, Immortal Hulk #0, Immortal She-Hulk #1, King in Black: Immortal Hulk #1, Gamma Flight #1-5, and material from Avengers #684 and Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 | 1,616 | August 15, 2023 | 978-1302916688 | Collection of all Ewing-written Immortal Hulk material. Does not include Immortal Hulk: Great Power #1, Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place #1, Immortal Hulk: Flatline #1, the non-Ewing-written material from Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1, or the Defenders miniseries |