Spoiler Alert: The following article contains Avengers #684 spoilers. You have been alerted!
By showing Bruce Banner’s resurrection, it has been revealed by Marvel Comics that the original Hulk is an immortal. However, the Avengers #684 drives home the fact that this new revelation is not a recent addition or a modification of the character that a lot of fans assumed it to be. Direct references to earlier comics have been made to indicate that the Hulk has been immortal right from the time he debuted in 1962.
Fans would quickly recall the latest example, when during Civil War II, Hawkeye killed Bruce Banner by using a special arrow, at Banner’s behest. Banner was afraid of getting “Hulked Out” again. Shortly after that, Amadeus Cho’s Totally Awesome Hulk replaced Banner. The original Hulk was shown to be dead until he appeared alive and with sparkling green eyes in “Avengers: No Surrender,” which was a 16 issue story which brought together three Avenger series: The Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, and U.S. Avengers.
This would clarify to fans why Hulk is never dead for a long time (and it is not something added later due to fan demand).
Marvel Comics attributes Hulk’s comeback to the fact that he is actually immortal, and he has always been so. Avengers #684’s prologue mentions various other times when Hulk or Banner died, starting with the gamma bomb which hit Banner. Among other such incidents is the time when he was murdered in Tales to Astonish #69, and when he died after suffering a shock in The Incredible Hulk #225.
At the end of the comic, an infographic is given which refers to the various issues which featured those deaths of Hulk/Banner, in an attempt to clarify that the Hulk’s immortality isn’t an after-thought or a recent phenomenon. It is an element of the Hulk’s character which has been there right from the start. It is just that, they never mentioned it.
During a recent interview, Avengers writer Al Ewing discussed about the decision to reveal Hulk’s immortality. Ewing claims that the idea germinated from the fact that there have been various resurrections of the Hulk in the past. He further explained that Hulk’s origin story showed Bruce Banner getting killed by the gamma bomb and transforming into the Hulk for the first time, and that was “the first demonstration of his immortal nature.”
This is something that’s been brewing for a while – the last time I was in the Marvel ‘writer’s room,’ way back at the start of last year, we were talking about the Hulk. And I pitched the idea that he was resurrecting so often because that’s just what he does. Like, we don’t need a MacGuffin or magic or Hydra science every time – he just comes back. That’s what he does. That’s what he is. I don’t think it went anywhere at the time, but when I sat down on my own and really thought it through, that led very naturally into the idea that when the gamma bomb went off, Bruce died… and then he came back. The birth of the Hulk was also the first demonstration of his immortal nature.
The new version of the character might turn out to be a game changer for the old and new Hulk fans. It also explains the numerous resurrections of the green monster over the last five decades (apt, considering Marvel’s overall ‘Legacy’ mindset). In fact, being an immortal might make Hulk, one of the strongest and most fearsome characters in the Marvel Universe.
Fans can look forward to Hulk’s immortality to further featured in the upcoming comic book series titled The Immortal Hulk.
You can now buy Marvel’s Avengers #684.
