Bruce Banner - The Hulk Appreciation 2021

[Kingkalamari]

I don't think the end of Immortal Hulk means the end of Bruce Banner as he is now, hopefully. That Defenders cover that was teased a month or two ago had both Hulk and Red Harpy on it, along with the Masled Rider Ewing has been hyping for awhile. Could be that Immortal Hulk ends with Leader/OBA's plans stopped and history changed for the better, for now, and Ewing carries the Immortal Hulk cast over to Defenders, maybe later pick up a "season 2" of Immortal Hulk if he sees to resume it.

[Hypestyle]

is issue 50 double sized or something, perhaps? We shall see. Or there may be some kind of one-shot epilogue apart from the regular series.

[Intothevoid]

is issue 50 double sized or something, perhaps? We shall see. Or there may be some kind of one-shot epilogue apart from the regular series.

Ewing said we are gonna get another double sized issue like issue 25 was, so i imagine it's gonna be issue 50.

[Jody Garland]

I'd say a strict or lengthy rogue gallery feels more cumbersome in a shared universe. It should be more fluid with villians going between different heroes because they have different goals etc.

Ewing's run relies mostly on outside villians for Hulk.

Does it? Leader, Abomination, Xenmnu, Gyrich, the UFOes are all pretty classic Hulk villains. Fortean and Shadow Base comes from Red Hulk's title. The only outside villain that isn't new is Dario Agger, and he ultimately played second fiddle to Xemnu.

[Bad Witch]

Why is it ending at # 50? Is ewing just wanting to move on? I mean when you're locked in you're locked in. If I'm attempting to answer my own question is it one of those leave while you're on top? I cant.imagine marvel wants him to stop. Does anyone have any insight as to why it's ending at.50?

[Immortal Hulk]

Why is it ending at # 50? Is ewing just wanting to move on? I mean when you're locked in you're locked in. If I'm attempting to answer my own question is it one of those leave while you're on top? I cant.imagine marvel wants him to stop. Does anyone have any insight as to why it's ending at.50?

He said, since the beginning, that He always had exactly how the book would end in his mind; it would end with everything He wanted to say about the character.

Also He mentioned quite a few times that He wouldn't want to overstay his welcome.

[Immortal Hulk]

Hulk by Alex Ross

[Hypestyle]

^^^ available as a large poster?

[ChrisIII]

Don't forget the first one in issue #3, Hotshot, who was a fairly obscure Leader henchman.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Does it? Leader, Abomination, Xenmnu, Gyrich, the UFOes are all pretty classic Hulk villains. Fortean and Shadow Base comes from Red Hulk's title. The only outside villain that isn't new is Dario Agger, and he ultimately played second fiddle to Xemnu.

There's Bushwacker and Absorbing Man but I might've miscounted.

[Immortal Hulk]

There's Bushwacker and Absorbing Man but I might've miscounted.

Creel has been fighting the Hulk since the 60s, if I'm not mistaken.

[Intothevoid]

Creel has been fighting the Hulk since the 60s, if I'm not mistaken.

His first fight with Hulk was in Incredible Hulk #125, which actually came out in 1970. But still i think most people think of Absorbing Man as more of a Hulk villain than Thor nowadays.

Apart from Dario and Bushwacker, everyone else can effectively be called a Hulk villain even if they didn't start off as that, like if Juggernaut appeared in Immortal Hulk and fought the Hulk, I'd still count him as a Hulk villain as well at this point given their history, which doesn't mean he is no longer an X-men villain as well. I guess you can also mention those 4 B.E.S.E.R.K elite units Hulk fought, they were primarily created as Thor villains and this was the first time Hulk encountered them, but everyone else has been a Hulk villain at one point or another.

[ChrisIII]

^He was sort of the villain in the first movie, although "David Banner" was sort of a composite of Brian (The father), Sterns (The Janitor/evil genius, plus I think there's one part where David grows a giant head), and Creel (The absorbing stuff).

The Bruce Jones issues released the Summer the movie came out also featured Absorbing as the villain, although as a more psychotic version with altered powers (Which I think Peter David explained as some kind of cosmic hiccup).

I'm not sure but I think Creel and Sterns were in earlier (David Hayter?) drafts but James Schamus changed that around.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

My specualtions for the remaining issues. God I don't want this series to end... it's so good.

# 45. "Hulk is at his weakest". We've seen him go back to Below-All place (Gamma Hell) again. Is he going to confront Leader? I don't think it's going to happen at this point of the story, maybe his goal is to secure Bruce and to regain his strength somehow. Gray Hulk is back? Another persona is free at last?
# 46. Probably rematch vs UFOs. Gamma Team reunites with Hulk?
# 47. No cover huh. Another filler/preparation issue? Maybe here we will finally hear the rest of "Hulk walks into a bar" story x) I wonder if Ewing is going to resolve the situation with Gyrich or is he going to be left as SWORD's villain?
# 48-49. Big battle with Avengers? Hulk jumps into Red Door? Cover for issue 49 is pretty... interesting. I think relationships with Betty are finally going to be addressed.
# 50. Double-sized grand finale. Last showdown vs One Below All.

[Intothevoid]

Considering there are 6 more issues until the end(assuming there are no more delays like we got when Covid first hit), this means that the series ends in 6 more months. At this point, maybe give it 2-3 more months but i expect Marvel would announce who the next creative team for IH is? Unless of course Al Ewing still continues to write the series maybe under a different name(very unlikely) or the Hulk is put on a hiatus for a few months/years(a few months possible, years very unlikely however).

So the question remains, who is the likely candidate for the next Hulk run? At this point i am guessing Marvel already has secured who it will be, they just haven't told us, from what i know these things are usually known several years in advance, i know Donny Cates for instance spoke how he knew he was gonna write Thor a whole 3 years before Jason Aarons run ended.