Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers Mech Strike: Monster Hunters #2!
The Incredible Hulk’s infamous brainwashing at the hands of the Scarlet Witch has finally been acknowledged by Marvel in a moment practically designed as a reversal of 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron MCU film. The film was quite controversial among Marvel fans for numerous reasons, but a chief concern was the Hulk’s status as an enemy among his friends. Now, in Avengers Mech Strike: Monster Hunters #2, the strongest Avenger is finally given a chance to live up to his name – not just in terms of physical strength, but raw mental fortitude.
The new Avengers Mech Strike: Monster Hunters series begins as Doctor Doom obtains the Eye of the Kraken, a powerful magical artifact that bestows upon him (and Loki, Venom and the Green Goblin) powerful now monstrous forms. The Avengers, in a bid to stop Doctor Doom from taking over the world, consult Doctor Strange – who uses the other Eye of the Kraken to grant the Avengers powerful abilities on top of their already-strong mech armor. Unfortunately, the Eye is stronger than the Avengers realize.
In the opening to Avengers Mech Strike: Monster Hunters #2, written by Christos Gage with art by Paco Diaz, the influence of the Eye proves too much for the Avengers to handle, and one by one attack Doctor Strange in a vicious frenzy. Even with all his powerful magic spells, Doctor Strange can’t fight the Avengers by himself – but he doesn’t have to, as the Hulk comes to his aid. Strange is thankful that the Hulk has stabilized, but Hulk disagrees. “Hulk is not ‘stabilized.’ Hulk is Hulk. Monster eye tried to tell Hulk what to do, but no one tells Hulk what to do.”
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Scarlet Witch was able to successfully manipulate Hulk into rampaging through a city and attacking Iron Man in the Hulkbuster armor when the latter tried to stop him. Multiple fans were less than thrilled with the ease at which the Witch forced Hulk into a (near-murderous) frenzy (especially since Hulk has previously avoid mind control attempts in the past), so this could be seen as a direct answer to the MCU film. Hulk even tries his hand at snapping the others out of their evil trances, and while he’s not the most eloquent of speakers (to a corrupted Black Panther, he says “You are king! You are cat man! Be cat man!”), he gets the job done just as well.
The fact that the Hulk is the first one to shake off the Eye’s influence should not be discounted either. On a team of kings, geniuses, space aliens and alternate-universe variants of dead characters, Hulk is the only one to resist the Eye without any help from any other Avenger. The Scarlet Witch may have bested Hulk in the MCU, but when it comes to Marvel Comics, the Incredible Hulk’s mantra rings true: “Hulk is strongest one there is.”
