No one likes taking a punch. The shock and confusion, followed by the sting, and, potentially, the bright shiny lights that tickle the edges of the vision is a hard pass for most people. And throwing a punch? Kiss goodbye to your knuckles because the phrase “glass jaw” is a misnomer. No one truly enjoys fighting, and the Hulk is no exception to this rule.
Readers were provided a glimpse of a unique turn of character for the usually rage-filled Hulk when he recently went up against Fantastic Four member, the Thing, in a knock-down, drag-out fight between the two strong men. Instead of continuing to fight, the child-like Savage Hulk began to cry and plead with the Thing to stop hitting him. Much like Hulk refusing to fight with the Infinity War big bad, Thanos, Savage Hulk is less than willing to take a beat down these days.
In Immortal Hulk: King in Black #1, Savage Hulk’s quiet “night before Christmas” is interrupted by a fight with a symbiote on a cold, city street corner. The fight ends poorly, with the Savage Hulk retreating and the symbiote consuming nearby police officers. Unlike how Bruce Banner berated the Hulk for not coming out to fight in the movie, comic hero Joe Fixit takes the Hulk’s childish fear in stride and plans his own escape. Trapped in a department store with a rampaging symbiote, and with no Hulk, Joe has to rely on his wits to escape his sticky situation. Using some of the electronics, he MacGyvers himself a concussive blast and grabs a lighter and hairspray to cremate what’s left. No Hulk, just a man and a plan.
Free of the immediate threat of the symbiote trying to kill him, Joe shows an astute understanding of the Savage Hulk when he spots the toy section of the department store and frees the Hulk to play amongst the spoils – a Christmas treat for the baby. The action shows that Joe, even more than Bruce Banner, understands this Hulk and responds to it in a genuinely empathetic manner, caring for its feelings and desires, instead of reviling it for its destructive ways.
The Hulk is an imperfect hero, and the Savage Hulk even more so. So, it’s nice to see a character like Joe working in tandem with the creature, and attempting to understand it, rather than, essentially, bully a traumatized child into battle with a monster. It’s choices like Joe’s that truly exemplify what it means to be a hero.
Immortal Hulk: King in Black #1 by Al Ewing, Aaron Kuder, Frank Martin, Erick Arciniega, and VC’s Cory Petit is out now.
