Hulk’s Immortality Gets a Terrifying New Meaning as Bruce Banner Dies

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Incredible Hulk #14! It’s been well established at this point that the Hulk is immortal, though that immortality doesn’t seem to extend to Bruce Banner. The Hulk isn’t immortal just because he’s impossibly strong, or because of his god-tier healing factor, but because his very essence is linked to the most powerful cosmic being in the Marvel Universe. But now, even after an entire series dedicated to the Hulk’s immortality, that particular power gets a terrifying new meaning – especially as it concerns Bruce Banner.

In a preview for The Incredible Hulk #13 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein, Bruce Banner is hitchhiking his way to Las Vegas. Last issue, Bruce and Hulk were searching for a way to restore the body of their teenage sidekick Charlie after she was turned into a figurine. While they didn’t find the help they sought (even after venturing to a hellish prison world), they did learn that someone has the power to help Charlie in Las Vegas – so that’s where Banner is headed in this preview.

While on the side of the road, Banner is run down by a semi truck (whether that was accidental or deliberate is currently unknown). The truck kills Bruce, and his soul awakens inside a cage in a mysterious hell dimension, surrounded by skeleton versions of himself in their own cages. One of them tells Bruce that his ability to die and come back to life won’t last forever, and pretty soon, he’ll be trapped in this hell forever upon his final demise.

The Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett

In The Immortal Hulk, it was revealed that Hulk’s gamma is linked to the Below-Place, and by extension, the One Below All (aka the One Above All). Whenever he died, both Hulk and Banner would pass through the Green Door, returning from the Below-Place to the physical world without any problems. Though after the events of The Immortal Hulk, the Green Door closed forever. And now, Banner’s soul is seemingly sent to another hellish dimension upon his temporary death (as the Hulk is no less immortal), but even that apparently has its limits.

Banner now faces an eternity in hell, which is actually something he semi-experienced in the Below-Place during The Immortal Hulk. In that storyline, Banner’s soul was stolen from his body, brought to the Below-Place, and was placed in an agony engine of perpetually swirling flesh. If Hulk hadn’t saved him, Banner would have spent eternity in this hell with no hope of resurrecting. The fate Bruce escaped in The Immortal Hulk is one he’s in danger of enduring in The Incredible Hulk, and only time will tell how (or if) he will avoid it.

In the previous The Incredible Hulk issue, an eldritch evil called Sumanguru sliced the Hulk’s flesh, and used his dark magic to create a vicious clone of the Green Goliath. This happened while the two were in the prison dimension created to contain evil such as Sumanguru, as they were seeking a way to help Charlie. And just one issue later, Bruce finds himself dead, in a hellish world where past versions of himself have already rotted into skeletons. Could his new resurrection process be linked to the otherworldly horrors he and Hulk previously faced?

Perhaps Sumanguru left a stain on Banner and Hulk’s souls, and is slowly draining their immortality to give life to his newest vile creation. Or perhaps, after the Green Door closed, another hellish one opened, one which threatens to eventually keep Banner’s soul for all eternity. Unfortunately, right now, there are more questions than answers surrounding this new revelation regarding the Hulk’s immortality, but no matter what, it doesn’t look good for Bruce Banner.

The Incredible Hulk #14 by Marvel Comics is available July 17, 2024.