Hulk Confronts The One-Below-All

[Music] what's up my comic comrad we hope you all had a safe and happy christmas and that the holidays are treating you well this year as for us here at variant we're closing out the christmas weekend with a recap of the immortal hulk finale in the extra sized issue 50. this titled by writer iwing and artist joe bennett explores the characters of both bruce banner and the hulk from psychological and mystical perspectives and was easily among the greatest hulk stories ever told which is saying something because the hulkas had some of the most compelling stories in comic book history including world war hulk and future imperfect not to mention many of the covers for the immortal hulk series were drawn by the one and only alex ross so it was just a really solid run and one of the rare times in comics where the creative team is able to tell a long form story over 50 straight issues another reason we're covering the finale of the mortal hulk run is that al ewing and donnie cates have swapped books with ewing having taken over the venom title and kate is writing the follow-up to the immortal hulk series with a six-issue hulk mini-series we already covered ewing's venom issue 1 earlier this month which you could find right here and we'll be bringing you a breakdown of kate's folk issue 1 just after the new year so today's episode is both the tip of the hat to ewing's great run and a primer for where kate is taking the hulk with his follow-up series so let's jump in and see how the immortal hulk came to an end for those of you unfamiliar with the immortal hulk story i will say up front that we're not going to be doing a lot of recap of the events that led to this final issue because as i already mentioned it's a 50 issue run and a ton went down in the broader story so if you haven't been reading this series we highly recommend you pick up the trades and get the full story you will not be disappointed especially if you're a hulk fan with that understood a very general overview of the series so far would be that it's an exploration of the various hulk personalities developed within the mind of bruce banner all of which he created to cope with his abusive father and upbringing however something the series revealed along the way was that the gamma radiation bruce was poisoned with didn't just give bruce slash the hulk his powers but it also tied his soul to hell and in turn the one below all allowing for the emergence of a dark and powerful hidden hulk identity called the devil hulk or immortal hulk those of you familiar with marvel comics mythology know the all-powerful god creator of the marvel universe is known as the one above all well the immortal hulk title introduced us to his opposite the one below all who as it turns out is this hulk-like beast responsible for the creation of all gamma-mutated rage driven characters in the marvel universe for example as a gamma-powered villain the leader is under control of the one below all and acts as a guardian and gatekeeper of the below place which is essentially hell but as you might imagine by revealing the true mystical origins of gamma energy the writers gave themselves a lot of room to explore various themes and complex human issues within the different story arcs over the 49 previous issues anyway for the broader story it turns out the devil hulk locked the other hulks away became the dominant personality within bruce banner's mind and gradually set out to destroy the world so as banner struggles to regain control and his allies get closer and closer to the green door that leads to the below place the hulk is hunted by various teams and organizations like the avengers and the shadow base the resulting conflicts demonstrate that the immortal hulk is not just the most evil hulk he's also the most powerful hulk we've ever seen there's a lot more we could get into because it's an epic story with many twists and turns and great additions to the hulk's mythos so grab the collected trades and enjoy but that leads us to the conclusion of this run with issue 50. the issue begins appropriately with a quote from revelations 1 18 which reads i am he that liveth and was dead and behold i am alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell and of death we are then taken back in time to 1901 and the snowy went to reunion between two brothers in ohio as reverend robert stearns approaches his brother's house samuel stern stands at the doorstep telling him to hurry before he freezes to death we then enter the house and the two continue heckling each other as brothers tend to do as they continue to go back and forth we learn that samuel is a scientist so obsessed with his work that his wife left him and took their son to live on a farm he tells robert she sends letters she's in oklahoma with her folks and little phillip she hopes i'll join them on the farm she still has this fanciful idea that my work is somehow hurting me that it's unhealthy but while samuel is telling him these very personal things robert seems rather indifferent and disinterested he abruptly changes the subject by asking about an artifact in his study which samuel explains is a fake but that he keeps it to remind him to be honest in his own work at which point he uses the old saying there but for the grace of god but robert snaps at him saying and what do you know about the grace of god now realizing that something is wrong samuel says excuse me what's gotten into you today robert but robert just replies never mind what is this work you've engaged in this quickly distracts samuel as he excitedly begins to tell robert that he's working on their future a newly discovered form of gamma radiation called radium and as he holds up a piece of the radium it shines brightly casting their shadows on the ceiling above with samuel shadow looking like the infamous hulk villain the leader and robert shadow looking like the hulk all that samuel says this is a night our great grandchildren will have cause to remember this will make us immortal the story then jumps forward in time somewhere in arizona where we see a young jackie mcgee and her father distraught and weeping over the destruction of their home mr mcgee tells the young jackie the men from the army are going to take us somewhere safe to which jackie replies through tears where where safe he took our home why would he do that to us what did we ever do dad why is he here at all her father hugs her and says i don't know why there's a hulk but we will get through this i swear we will there's a plan for us baby girl there's a reason there's got to be and as the camera pulls back we see they're surrounded by destruction caused by the hulk with military everywhere we then quickly return to the present where we catch up with the greenhulk joe fixit who is now depicted as the newest incarnation of the red hulk after absorbing cosmic rays and the now older investigative reporter jackie mcgee who's also tied to the one below all because she has gamma-powered eyesight anyway they all return to the below place where they intend to confront the one below wall and rescue bruce banner at least they're gonna try but they have to get through the leader first so as they're walking through the wasteland that is the below place jackie and joe fix it are discussing how brian banner bruce's father was also once trapped here until the leader came along fixit says this place is the leader's territory now and the last time they were down here which you could find in issue 45 the leader didn't look like the sam stearns he used to know he says he looked more like well more like that as we see a huge splash page of the leader's fortress which looks like a massive multi-headed spider-looking monster with fix it saying i gotta tell you i don't much like our odds on the next page we are taken above to our world in present day where we find reed richards telling the rest of the fantastic four infinity to one those are the probabilities we're dealing with here i'm afraid referring to their chances of locating the entrance of the below plates now that the hulk is gone as reid was using continuous extrapolation from hulk's unique gamma frequency to isolate its location and while mr fantastic struggles for a solution he begins to wonder out loud saying if there's any field of science that isn't my specialty it's exotic gamma i can't think of anyone who could truly grasp it outside of bruce banner himself and maybe one or two others in fact sometimes i wonder if you could call it science at all or if it's something else so it seems that reed richards is slowly starting to piece together the supernatural aspect to all of this but we are then quickly taken back to 1901 and the scene between robert and samuel stern where the exposure to gamma radiation is clearly starting to affect both of them as we see their eyes glow green and over the next several panels we find out why robert was so angry as we learned his brother samuel had an affair with his wife robert confronts samuel and says yes samuel i could see through a man even when he thinks me blind and before samuel could get out any form of explanation robert breaks his cane across his face i guess maybe don't be sweating on your brother's wifey and you won't get an iron-fisted cane across your forehead a solid life lesson if ever there was one but i digress over the next two pages we're taken back to the below place where we see the two hulks and jackie trying to burst into the leader's fortress but before they even enter the leader starts messing with their minds so the greenhouse gets angry and punches a hole through the wall thinking it's going to reveal the leader himself but they just find themselves in a maze of illusions including projections of people in bruce banner and hulk's past many lives like his former love jarella and samuel stearns the hulk's interaction with the projection of samuel stearns takes us back to 1901 where robert cerns continues to attack his brother samuel and is literally choking him to death as we finally learned that robert's rage was driven by his knowledge of a sexual affair samuel had with robert's wife samuel attempts an explanation but it's too late robert's anger had turned to homicidal vengeance and as he watches the life leave his brother's eyes he shoves a piece of gamma rich radium in his mouth he then walks away from samuel's lifeless body and back into the snow he then returned to the labyrinth at the leader's fortress where joe fixed it is confronted by a projection of his old las vegas boss and mentor mike berengetti he was a very important figure in the hulk's life and even gave him his name and just like the green hulk followed by the projection of jarella joe followed mike upstairs and right into the leader's trap because when they reach the top of the stairs they come face to face with the now monster-like incarnation of the leader who has already got the green hulk wrapped up in his tentacles we also see what remains of bruce banner as he's been transformed into something that looks like a deformed tree anyway while the green hulk calls out for help and jackie and joe fix it look on in shock we see a xenomorph like appendage of the leader worm its way out of his eye saying sorry just growing something to speak through the big mouth up there is only for feeding on prey the leader goes on to say you completed my gamma circuit hulk you gave me this power you can't complain now you can't get away either the green doors are closed and locked referring to their previous encounter which as i mentioned you could find in issue 45. the leader then tells green hulk now beat him down slave and feed him to me as the green hulk begins to unload on fixit's face and pound him into the ground jackie desperately looks for how she can help when an eyeless projection of her father appears and starts trying to manipulate her by preying on her grief and love for her dad which is so wrong on every level and the eyeless nature of these projections are pretty freaking creepy i might act anyway jackie struggles to resist the manipulation of the leader as she says i can't die talking to ghosts she then closes her eyes as the projection of her father says there's a plan repeating some of the things we saw him comfort her with all those years ago jackie tightens her closed eyes as tears run down her face and screams what is the plan dad come on tell me what am i supposed to be looking at and after she remembers her father on his deathbed telling her how proud he was of who she'd become she begins to say to herself i've been angry i've been scared i've been reacting acting like who i am was lost in all of this but i'm still me i'm jacqueline mcgee i'm an investigative reporter i look into things jackie's eyes then snap open glowing with gamma energy and she releases a gamma blast slicing the leader's talking worm in half which frees the green hulk and stops him from pummeling joe fix it the two hulk quickly sees the opportunity to grab the rest of the dangling tentacles hanging from the leader's mouth and as they put it pull his brains inside out so both of them grab hold and pull and something big and gross comes flying out but it turns out it's not his brain it's a grotesque cocoon holding none other than the human form of sam stearns himself as the cocoon crashes to the ground and breaks open stern comes pouring out of the use saying bruce you gotta help me green hulk says leader's puny human self and joe fix it follows up by adding unless it's a trick mcgee you want to put the eyes on him referring to her ability to see gamma but jackie replies there's nothing to see his game is gone stern then tells them i'm nothing just the guy just sam from the plant that's all i saw a green door and i wanted to know but the things i knew i don't want to know anymore get it out of my head and as stern goes into the fetal position he continues to mumble i don't want to know about him don't want to know he's coming don't want to know he's here immediately followed by the entire structure of the fortress beginning to collapse around them as the roof in the entirety of the below place is crumbling a bright light emerges and fix it says maybe we shouldn't have popped the leader like a zit he was all that was holding this place together to which jackie responds we might have a bigger fish joe stern begins to scream he's here the one who turned me into this the one below all green hulk responds to that by saying good and joe fix it seconds that by saying yeah and i've been waiting for my shot at this punk but for the green hulk it's much more personal he says maybe stearns not want to know but hulk wants to know hulk wants to know why and he's saying this as a massive green beast emerges and he starts to climb toward it the hulk looks in its face and continues angrily screaming why why was hulk hurt so much why is hulk broken inside why always afraid always in pain and why hulk hurt friends why do friends have to suffer for hulk why hulk have to be hulk at all tell hulk hulk want to know why the beast then finally opens his mouth with his eyes glowing green and responds i howl through many mouths i break with many hands they are themselves but they are also me i burn the good earth for what is not real i poison your mind and kill all love in you i am wrath without judgment i am fear and i have all the power but at this point the now triggered joe fixit has heard enough and says no that ain't what he asked greenhulk follows by saying yes hulk has heard this big talk from big bad thing but no why it's at this point joe fixer begins to realize that things might not be as they originally thought and they might not be facing who they originally thought they were fury fills his eyes as he yells you all want to know why you get it because we don't need to know who you think you don't know whose hulk you are come on show me your face you piece of crap show me your real face so i could look you in the eye and on the next page we see the green monster dissolve in a bright yellow light like the sunlight shine through as a thundering voice responds very well i am the one above all as we get a wide shot of the one above all in his massive form hovering over the below place that's right here's a freaking massive reveal for the entire immortal hulk story over the entirety of the previous 49 issues the one below all was the hulk's ultimate enemy and the entity supposedly behind the greatest evil played out through the hulk that is until now because this reveals that the one below all was really just a hulk for the one above all in other words the one above all in disguise but the hulk's question still remains unanswered so let's keep going on the next page we see the hovering one above all say look upon me to which the green hulk looks away and responds hulk is afraid but fixit reluctantly looks up and says now answer the question the one above all answers because you are my child fixit pauses and replies no mike berengetti was my father you're just the guy who knocked me around the one above all snaps back you are my creation you are necessary there is weight and there is counterweight where were you when i laid these foundations declare if you have understanding this only makes fix it angrier and he says screw you it ain't right as he starts climbing further towards the bruce banner tree and his creator he reaches banner and he starts tearing away the roots growing out of him all while questioning the one above all's actions and telling him i say we deserve to know why tell me why we hurt tell me why there's a hulk but the one above all just responds by asking fix it why are you as you are fix it then yells back that's what i'm asking you tell me or so help me but the one above all just responds again no i ask of you what is the hulk what have you become tears begin to stream down the face of a seriously confused and frustrated green hulk as he repeats over and over again hulk not no and it's at this point the one above all begins to explain by saying with these hands i build with other hands i break i break to build anew have you my strengths have you an arm like mine would you build or break he continues you are my creation i made you the counterweight to ask of you are you gaborah or golishab and of what mercy and as the one above all is laying this heaviness on the hulks we see various key moments in time including a massive flood a meteor blast through a planet bruce banner being hit by gamma rays for the first time and robert stearns killing his brother samuel back in 1901. now for those of you wondering what the words gabora and golesha mean don't feel bad most who read that were probably confused by it both are terms that come from the jewish mysticism known as kabbalah and are aspects of the kabbalistic tree of life with gabor representing strength and power and golojab representing a destructive force so by asking are you gabor or golishab followed by what of mercy the one above all was asking the hulk what he will choose to be a powerful force of destruction or the hand of mercy but this story has one more secret to reveal because we are then taken back to 1901 where we see robert stearns return home and throw his wife out of the house while saying you and my brother have soiled my good name thus i deny it to you and to your bastard child let the little monster take your name his wife shouts at him samuel was right about you you're not simply cold you're cruel you're the monster robert stearns but robert justin differently responds by closing the door saying save your histrionics for i am strengthened against them the lord has made me the strongest there is be gone from my door beatrice banner and with that one line alewing reveals that bruce banner and sam stearns are actually the blood relatives and have been bound to those acts of betrayal and revenge i told you this finale hit hard but this returns us to the below place where the one above all asks the hulks one last question by saying what will you become for the left hand is strength but before he could finish the green hulk again replies hulk not understand what you mean and fixit jumps in telling him forget it he's got no answers not for us let's just get out of here jackie isn't sure if they should leave but fix a response to her saying i tried to get answers mcgee but i don't think it could end not the big picture you know and just as fixit is about to leave with what's left of bruce banner the green hulk says no not yet hulk is thinking he then turns to sam stearns who is still on the ground in the fetal position and says i'm trying to understand stearns but stearns quickly replies leave me alone i caused this i killed people my own brother i damned myself just let me die here but the hulk seems to finally understand and tell stearns you hurt hulk a lot but if i left you here left anyone here it would hurt hulk worse it would hurt who hulk is so i forgive you you are hulk too same as hulk hulk should forgive hulks someone has to and as he reaches out his hand to help stearns we see the one above all finish what he was saying earlier with but the right hand is mercy the hulks and jackie then begin walking away from the old fortress would fix it carrying banner and greenhouse carrying stearns and as they walk fix it in his own way begins to ask jackie for forgiveness for all the hulks i've done to her he tells her what we took from you it can't be paid back but whatever you want or need from me anytime anyplace any favor forever find banner say the word i'll come running twitch jackie smiles and responds okay sunshine joe i'll let you know it's at this moment that thing appears alongside walter langowski and leonard sampson's body who helped the fantastic four locate the below place and open the forever gate to free jackie and banner thing says you folks want a lift home or what and on the next page we see narration from bruce banner saying i remember screaming for help dragged through a green door in my mind but then it's all blank i've been told i was in the below place that when the hulks rescued me one red one green i was half gone only the broken remains of a human soul he continues to say but then i was already only part of a larger hole and when we all walked into the gate three parts of his system a whole bruce banner was what walked out i sobbed like a child i vomited i avoided myself but i remembered nothing of what had happened below that at least was mercy mrs mcgee followed with cerns they put him in cuffs but he was as docile as a lamb as for me reed lent me a tailored suit altering their unstable molecules to fit me reed richards is a good person they all are and on the final pages we see everyone back in the fantastic four's lab talking when mr fantastic realizes that bruce is missing bruce's narration continues by saying unobservant but good people as we then see a restored bruce banner walking out of the baxter building as he tells us i don't remember what happened in hell but i feel more confident more myself did i somehow absorb the devil on my shoulder did i lay an old ghost to rest have my fellow altars worked out some differences or is it just a feeling of a door as old as gamma closing itself and a new one opening wide whichever it is i still have work to do we have work to do and the issue concludes with banner asking the reader so are we good people well what do you think as he walks away into the heart of new york city and that my friend is the epic conclusion to al ewing and joe bennett's immortal hulk title this issue wrapped things up so well gave us some big surprises and a couple huge additions to the hulk's mythos it also drastically altered what we know about the one above all altogether ewing and bennett did an incredible job with this 50 issue story and set things up so nicely for the new hulk six issue miniseries by donnie gates the first two issues of that series dropped earlier this month and you better believe we're gonna be covering that right after the new year in fact we'll be posting our breakdown of donnie kate's hulk issue one on january 5th so tell siri or google to remind you about that in the meantime tell us your thoughts on the conclusion of the immortal hulk story in the comment section below we're always curious to know what you guys think and that's gonna bring today's episode of ant to a close if you like today's episode check out this one right here and if you like all of our content you know the deal subscribe like and comment always helps us out i'll see you guys next time when i talk about all things comics

Channel: Variant Comics

Views: 301,665

Keywords: Immortal Hulk, Red Hulk, Jackie McGee, The Leader, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Marvel, Variant, Variant comics, The One Above All, The One Below All, Joe Fixit, Gamma, Reed Richards, Mr Fantastic, Fantastic Four

Id: _6BA6EeJyLQ

Length: 20min 13sec (1213 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 26 2021