Millenia before the cataclysmic birth of theHulk, the deepest and foulest of all Devils enacted a plan to birth and foster a creature of immeasurable fate. Eons after cultivating its ultimate avatar of destruction, the titanous being has swelled to the size of planets. Now existing as a hollow puppet designed to house hate incarnate, the Hulk’s “Green Goliath” nickname has an entirely different meaning than before.
Throughout Al Ewing and Joe Bennet’sImmortal Hulkseries, Ewing explored the Hulk through a theological point of view,vastly expanding Hulk’s lore. Introduced to the Marvel Universe’s ultimate god of destruction, the One Below All, the Hulk and every other gamma mutate were revealed to be connected to the god as avatars for its immeasurable hate.
However, among them all, only the Hulkis considered the true doorway for the One Below Allto enter into the living realm. The Hulk, a behemoth whose strength and flesh grow proportionally to his hate, becomes the perfect home for the cosmic deity.
“Green Goliath” Has a Cosmic Second Meaning
Immortal Hulk #25 -Written by Al Ewing; Art by German Garcia; Color by Chris O’ Halloran; Penciling by Joe Bennet; Inking by Ruy Jose; Color by Paul Mounts; Lettering by VC’s COry Petit; Cover by Alex Ross
InImmortal Hulk #25readers are taken to a far-future reality where life has been obliterated and reborn. A reality where the color green is feared as a harbinger of death. A reality where physical bodies are considered alien. Floating throughout the cosmos lingers a living husk of planetary proportions,devoid except of the hate of a dreadful god.It’s in this far-future reality where the ultimate fate of the Hulk and the final goal of the One Below All is revealed.The Hulk is destinedto becometheGreen Goliath.
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The term “goliath” is derived from the Hebrew wordgola,meaning “captivity” or “captive one,” and was first used to describe the massive Philistine warrior that David faces in the Bible. While the term modernly describes large and brutishcreatures like the Hulk, its original meaning still applies to the gamma beast as well. Bruce Banner and his various Hulk alters wereborn to become the One Below All’s puppet, its doorway into reality.A captive agent to their own hate and rage, the Hulk’s hollow fate is one of millennia in the making.
Al Ewing frequently references the Bible and biblical elements throughoutImmortal Hulk.His use of Bible verses in the forward of every issue reinforces his theological exploration of the franchise.
The Hulk Is the Product of Cosmic Design
The First Secret Is Hidden In Bruce Banner’s Ancestory
While it was initially believed that the gamma bomb’s detonation was the force that birthed the Hulk, it was later revealed that Bruce’s father Brian had been self-experimenting with gamma long before Bruce’s birth. Brian’s paranoia that the gamma serum ran through Bruce’s veins turned the father into an abusive monster, but he was still correct. However, in the epilogue ofImmortal Hulk,a historical tale is told, set in the early 20th century involving Banner and the Leader’s ancestors. Even before Brian Banner’s birth, their family ancestors had been meddling with gamma,exposing their entire lineage to the radio wave.
Beatrice Banner, Bruce Banner’s ancestor, was married to Reverend Robert Sterns. Beatrice had an affair with Robert’s brother Samuel Sterns I, a scientist researching early gamma energy. Beatrice became pregnant with Samuel’s child, enraging Robert to kill Samuel and exile Beatrice.
As much as this interaction feels like fate, it’s worth remembering that gamma energy isn’t something purely scientific, it’s mystical. Gamma energy emanates from the Below-Place where the One Below All resides. It’s the marker that the god is twisting realitythrough the Green Doorsthat connect both dimensions. Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk isn’t a twist of fate, it’s cosmic design. It’s the result of an evil godenacting its plan to build the perfect vesselso that it would one day become the Green Goliath that ends existence.
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Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters -Written by Alex Paknadel and Al Ewing; Art by Juan Ferreyra; Lettering by VC’s Cory Petit
In the cradle of Neolithic Jordan, an emerald-colored meteor plummeted into the Earth. As if through design, a young man was tossed off of a cliff and onto the stone, betrayed and sacrificed by his people. His flesh was torn from his body and in his agonizing final moments a Green Door opened before him. This is the first knownbirth of a Hulkin human history. Before the emergence of written history,the One Below All was beginning to cultivate its avatars.
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During this period, the weaves of gamma threads were few and far between as the One Below All was making its first steps in the “modern” world. As the first vessel of the One Below All, a man known as Tammuz or Enkidu, fell before the Eldest, his bones would remain buried for generationsuntil being unearthed by Samuel Sterns I.From here, “fate” resumes its course asthe last living Hulkis brought to a new line of successors. While Tammuz was long-lived, he failed as the One Below All’s true puppet. But through Sterns, it would find another.
The Hulk Is a Captive in the One Below All’s Design
Bruce Banner Was Cultivated to Become a Vessel
Bruce Banner and the Hulkaren’t just instances of chance and random circumstance, but rather the product of cultivation and a heavy hand. Bruce’s earliest ancestors were caught in violence, vengeance, and gamma. This research would entice the Banner line for decades until the gruesomely violent Brian Banner’s experimentations and horrific parenting wouldfoster the birth of the One Below All’s final vessel.Bruce and the Hulk have never possessed true autonomy. Banner and his alters weren’t just chosen, they were crafted and molded to become beings of distilled rage.
Marvel’s own Green Goliath is a vessel for hate, suffering, and destruction, destined to become a husk under another’s control.
Before the word “goliath” described a being of great strength and size, it first translated to exile, captivity, or captive. The Philistine Goliath was an oppressive brute who wished to kill his challenger and take their people as slaves. In the modern age, as part of the One Below All’s design,both definitions perfectly describe the Hulk.Marvel’s own Green Goliath is a vessel for hate, suffering, and destruction, destined to become a husk under another’s control. The Hulk’s iconic nickname is more than just Stan Lee’s appreciation for alliteration, but rather the theological definition of theHulkhimself.
Hulk
The Hulk, a Marvel Comics superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is physicist Bruce Banner transformed by gamma radiation. He morphs into a giant, green-skinned creature of immense strength and invulnerability when angered. Struggling with his transformations, Hulk allies with other heroes, battling villains while balancing his intellect with uncontrollable rage, making him a central figure in Marvel’s universe.
