Just in case anyone's wondering, Hulk gets jobbed bad in Absolutell Carnage 4.
Bad enough that I'm considering dropping Cates Venom run and anything else he writes for the foreseeable future.
You are being way to melodramatic, we all knew Hulk was gonna job to Carnage since Hulk can't beat him otherwise the story is over then and there and the way he lost is probably the best way he could have lost.
I was afraid Carnage was gonna knock him out with a punch or rip him to pieces but no he actually went inside Venom/Hulks mind and forced him to revert back to Banner, probably the best outcome i could have hoped for tbh, especially since Carnage was arguably losing there since Venom/Hulk was holding him in his hands ripping his mouth off.
If anything the way it was resolved makes me happy and breathe a sigh of relief, what is disappointing actually is the fact that the fight was extremely short, like it didn't even last2 whole pages, i think writers need to learn to give more of a pay off when they build up something big like the Hulk/Venom thing. The fight between them and Carnage should have lasted at least half an issue with lots of smashing and carnage all around.
Last edited by Subzero89; 10-16-2019 at 05:37 PM.
Isn't that a bit of an overreaction?
It's an event about Carnage. Would you really expect Hulk to be the one who ends it?
Baby Thanos
The first year of the comic is mainly establishing the new persona, how he works, and newer concepts such as the One Below All, Shadow Base, Jackie Mcgee etc. We also see the Hulk face off against others in the Marvel Universe such as the current Avengers (including the savage version of his cousin), Sasquatch, Absorbing Man and a new incarnation of Alpha Flight called Gamma Flight.
The second year which is wrapping up features all that still but also dwelves into the Hulk "family": Betty, Rick, Doc Samson etc. where we learn that pretty much any gamma being can come back to life-and fairly quickly too at times, with even more mutations (despite the Hulk curing them during the Duggan/Doc Green run). Betty, for instance, now can turn into a combination of her Harpy and Red She Hulk forms. Rick can emit gamma radiation (He also was briefly another abomination, but the Abomination is pretty much an "Armor" that can be used by others) and fly....Samson's pretty much still the same though. Also the Hulk's other personas have made an appearence: The Savage Hulk appears at times (although identical in form to the "devil" Hulk.) and also Joe Fixit AKA the Grey Hulk is now an alternate human persona for Banner. It's also pretty much confirmed that the current Hulk is the devil persona first introduced in Paul Jenkin's run. Other personas mostly remain dormant, although curiously, the Devil Hulk is said to have mentally killed whatever Hulk appeared in Secret Empire. Devil, Savage, Joe and Banner seem to have an uneasy alliance.
Last edited by ChrisIII; 10-16-2019 at 05:53 AM.
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I agree with you bro!. Hulk was indeed holding him off and was about to rip his mouth to shred until Carnage got into his brain with his tendrils. That was the only thing he could do to hulk because he had no other option. If not, the hulk would have destroyed him and again, this is Carnage book. Venom is the main focus.
Something that's confused me, while reading the run, is what exactly separates the Hulk's regeneration from others? (Assuming that he's special)
At the end of the most recent issue, we see that he's the only one left after the universe ends, so I guess he has a better chance of coming back?
2 other things I was confused about after reading the most recent issue:
1. Banner is able to kill the general off by killing him while they're in the afterlife. Would the same work for any of the other members of the Gamma family?
2. When was it established that the Hulk persona we see is the Devil Hulk? I kind of recall this being mentioned in the issue where he fought the Avengers, but I'm not 100% sure.
Jesus Christ taking Cates off your pull list because of this... People will think Hulk fans are the most sensitive fanboys ever.
What happened in this issue isn't really jobbing, it was probably the best outcome for Hulk to have him forcibly revert to Banner rather than humiliate him in a physical fight.
The fight with Thing was jobbing, considering the punishment Thing took and that Care Bears moment in the end where the power of love amped his punch, that was cringe, that kinda made me roll my eyes.
But this was perfectly fine.
Edit: forgot to mention one little important fact, this was Savage Hulk, not Devil Hulk.
Last edited by Subzero89; 10-16-2019 at 03:45 PM.
I guess my point, is that if you're gonna have a street level fight, and have the villain win, don't bring the Hulk in to be you're Worf.
If they'd been knocking each other across state lines or something it still be a low showing, but not this bad.
As a fan of more powerful characters in general, I hate to see them get downplayed in order to service street level stories. If you need to keep it street level that's fine, but don't involve Hulk, or Thor, or Blue Marvel or whoever, just to have them get whipped by someone they should take in moments. And this is supposedly a powered up Hulk.
Venom Hulk joins the long list of Nul, Doc Green, and...british axis Hulk of supposed powerups for the Hulk that actually seem to be noticeably weaker than standard. Venom Hulk is way, way weaker than Classic Savage Hulk ever was. Hell we saw him operating without most his brain in Immortal Hulk, but suddenly getting stabbed there is going to depower him? Whatever Donny.
Despite all the sales, all the praise that Immortal Hulk has been getting, he's still getting dragged into other books just to show how big the threat is. I'm done supporting these appearances and I'm done supporting writers who do them. I get this isn't as big a deal to other people, but to me it is. If it doesn't matter to you and you want to buy Cates stuff still, it's your money, more power to you. But I'm done with him. Same way I'm done with Slott.
I understand your point but this is Donny Cates we are talking about. His King Thanos stuff was the most all over the place in terms of power stuff i have ever seen.
My only real problem is that the fight was too short and as you said not enough "smashing" i wish fights had more destruction behind them, they seem to be a lot more toned down these days.
Sure but this Carnage is also powered up greatly, he has the powers of dozens of different powerful characters inside him, Donny Cates even said that he hit Venom harder than anyone else and Venom was hit by guys like Hulk and Juggernaut before, so he was clearly way above his normal level.
Sure, although i don't think the stab is what depowered him but he somehow got inside his mind and started messing with him, showing him what real crazy feels like, which is so cliche, i hate that idea when you write your character to be ultra at something he has to one-up every other character out there in existence. Like oh Carange is crazy we know that but Banner is also crazy so we have to show Carange out-crazy Banner... ugh... Feels so forced and predictable.
Sure you can do what you want, it's your money but i feel like you are getting way too dramatic over this, like what are you gonna do when Hulk get's beat up next time, it's bound to happen. Even with all that's happening Hulk is still having a far, FAR better time in comics than guys like Superman and Thor who have been jobbing for years now with some of the most inconsistent writing i have ever seen, imagine how their fans feel like lol.
It's fine honestly, Savage Hulk has the most inconsistent feats out of any incarnation because his anger fluctuates all over the place, also he lost because Carnage went into his mind and reverted him to Banner, so i am fine with that.
That used to happen to Savage Hulk all the time actually.