Question: Why did the writers have Hulk leave the Avengers in Avengers #2 right after joining in Avengers #1?
Here's what Stan Lee says...
"You chose to make the Hulk an Avenger, at least at the beginning of the series, which you’ve said was because you knew he was a wildcard.
Variety is the spice of life with superhero teams, and what could give the team more variety than a jolly green giant? Having the Hulk in it made it easier to write the issues, because you never know is he gonna be good? Is he gonna be bad? Is he gonna cooperate, or will he be against the Avengers? So, it gave me a lot of little subplots I could use in the stories."
Here's what Roy Thomas says...
"How did the Hulk end up briefly in the Avengers?
Well, The Avengers was thrown into the breach at the last second. They were working on the first issue of Daredevil, and [artist] Bill Everett, bless his heart, he just couldn’t get it together. It was apparent it was going to be late. So Stan gets Jack Kirby overnight to just bring together this crazy story and they used pretty much whoever was lying around for the Avengers. Stan obviously discovered very quickly that somehow the Hulk didn’t work too well, because he really had him leave by the end of the second issue and then come back and fight them."
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...-ultron-80207/
"Only the Hulk could have attempted it! Only the Hulk could have been capable of it! Only the Hulk could have done it!" - Tales to Astonish #63
"Hulk can do ANYTHING!!! Hulk is mind over matter, mind over energy, mind over mind" - Lord Smash'emall aka Gamma Ra the Assassin aka Gamma Irradiated Being
Thanks for that! So I suppose that leads me to another question.
Do you guys think think the Hulk never works well when teamed up on the Avengers, or have there been times were you think he does work well with them even if the writers personally don't think so?
He doesn't work well with a team at all. There is a myth in the MCU that Hulk can only work if he is in a team or has supporting cast but that is only because the writers don't know what to do or how to properly write a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde type of character, he isn't as easy to write as all the others. So they put someone else in the book with him and focus on the comedy and the dumb Hulk, none of the drama or the psychological stuff.
The comics really prove that, whenever Hulk worked in the comics as an Avenger they either used him as a mindless brick to smash stuff for them or just focused on him being the good guy always in control.
In reality if they were the write Hulk properly he would never work in a team involvement. He is too unpredictable, impulsive, uncontrollable. You don't know what he will do next or how he will react to the things around him. IMO Hulk/Banner are the ultimate loner characters, teaming them up just wont work unless you do it properly kinda like Ewing is doing right now and even that is kinda hanging by a thread and i predict by the end of the run it will all fall apart again.
I admit that it probably works best when Hulk has Bruce's awareness like in Secret Wars, but he indeed seems more a loner character than anything else and he's all the more tricky of a character to right properly for. That said, he probably gelled best on the Defenders (him having appeared more than 100 times in the 1972 series) more than any other team, which is a series I quite liked too. I somehow get the impression Marvel probably feels he fares best in relatively short series these days. Then again, I'm not sure how long The Immortal Hulk will last though.
Yea Defenders worked because as Al Ewing himself explained all the Defenders felt like outcasts one way or another so they worked well of one another. As for how long Immortal Hulk will last i think for another 2-3 years at most. Al said he wanted to end on a high note as he has everything already planned out, he doesn't want to overstay his welcome or artifically drag the series beyond it's limits. And while i will miss him and i wish he would stay longer i understand him. Hopefully whoever comes after him shows at least as half as much respect for the character as he has.
Hulk works better alone. The Defenders being the only exception, and one that proves the rule, since their all loners.
Showing up and helping for a major battle is one thing, but honestly trying to fit Hulk on a team ends up with something that isn't the Hulk.
You're welcome.
I think Hulk can work well as a team player depending on who those teammates are and factoring in his different incarnations having different personalities. As mentioned by Stan Lee in the article above, Hulk can be a wild card, but he has worked with The Defenders, Warbound, and his family of other Gamma Affected Beings along with Team-ups before. So it's not out of the question. The only issue would be is how to make an ill tempered, independent minded character work in a team book.
Last edited by Gamma Irradiated Being; 08-23-2019 at 05:55 AM.
"Only the Hulk could have attempted it! Only the Hulk could have been capable of it! Only the Hulk could have done it!" - Tales to Astonish #63
"Hulk can do ANYTHING!!! Hulk is mind over matter, mind over energy, mind over mind" - Lord Smash'emall aka Gamma Ra the Assassin aka Gamma Irradiated Being
As one who admittedly is not fond of the idea of having a plethora of Gamma Irradiated Beings running around, however I can see the potential in having a group of them forming to rule, protect, save or do whatever it is that Al Ewing is scripting in the Hulk mythos. In the Marvel Universe, you have the a Godverse, an Eternalverse, an Inhumanverse, a Spiderverse, etc… but not really a Gammaverse. There haven’t been many writers of Hulk lore that I’ve seen writing the potential for it. Peter David had Leader build Freehold and Greg Pak had Leader try to establish Gamma World. Two ideas I thought were excellent, that should have been implemented into the mythos, but were short lived.
With the future of Banner having a fortress as a base of operations, and with the revelations that Al Ewing is writing about Gamma Irradiated Beings in general and what they are, this could turn out to be an ingenious idea for the future of all Gammas. I was always one for All Things Gamma. The Gammaverse's few gamma characters could affect change to the entire Marvel Universe in their own unique way if Hulk writers had the imagination and vision that Al Ewing has. I can truly see a great potential for it if Marvel would allow for smarter and more sophisticated stories in the Gamma lore and could see the Great potential that would be.
"Only the Hulk could have attempted it! Only the Hulk could have been capable of it! Only the Hulk could have done it!" - Tales to Astonish #63
"Hulk can do ANYTHING!!! Hulk is mind over matter, mind over energy, mind over mind" - Lord Smash'emall aka Gamma Ra the Assassin aka Gamma Irradiated Being