Originally Posted by
verisimilitude
I'm a huge fan of Planet Hulk (Respect for you, Greg Pak. Much Respect!), and I'm an equally huge fan of 1987's "Mighty Thor" #385 (penciled by Erik Larson and co-written by Jim Shooter and Stan Lee), though I appreciate the stories in very different ways. And after years of internal debate I've finally decided that I'm an even bigger fan of "What If" #45. Yes, "What If" is non-canon, but I concede that to let both the Hulk and Thor completely off the chain, as well as writer Peter Gillis, for whose brilliance I am forever grateful, you might just need to go non-canon. What an incredible story! Not only was Peter's idea just flat-out awesome, but everything about the comic was brilliantly executed. You can literally hear this book. Within it, the scenario leading up to the climactic battle is conceptually horrific and terrifying. Thor, being separated from Mjolnir, had mere seconds to either (1) defeat and kill a fully enraged and tormented, murderous Hulk in hand to hand combat or (2) revert to the mortal form of Donald Blake to be killed by the Hulk himself (and consequently allow the insane, fully-amped Hulk to continue his unstoppable killing spree). My younger, more innocent eyes were terrified to see that Hulk earlier snapped the neck of Ben Grimm and subsequently crushed Iron-Man, killing them both among countless others. And faced with the immediate Kill-the-Berserk-Hulk-with-your-bare-hands-or-die-and-allow-the-Hulk-to-continue-killing scenario, the fight ended with a dead Hulk in mere seconds. But Thor did not relish the victory. He was disturbed on numerous levels, and he departed both saddened and mystified. That's the picture of a Mighty Thor we've not yet fully realized or yet had opportunity to see in the MCU. I'm all for an epic and entertaining intergalactic buddy-movie, and yet I hope in the midst of it we do finally get to see a worthy level of intensity and combat that fans of both icons can truly relish within the Gladiator arena of Sakaar. Let 'em off the chain, Taika! Both of them.
Two more things:
(1) "What If" #45, aka "WHAT IF THE HULK WENT BERSERK" is appropriately named. The word Berserk is of Old Norse origin, denoting a wild Norse Warrior who fought with frenzy. It's a fitting title given the story and its conclusion.
(2) My favorite Thor quote of all time was uttered in in "What If" #45 after Thor witnessed the Hulk's crushing murder of Tony Stark/Iron-Man. Thor's response, "There are those in the cosmos who do not die, monster! And one has pledged to halt thee!"