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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Incredible Hulk #22!
There’s no question that the Hulk is one of the most powerful creatures Marvel has ever seen, but the very nature of that power has shifted radically. While Bruce Banner and his monstrous alter ego have traditionally been creatures of science, even Banner has now firmly become entrenched in the realm of magic.
Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein, and Matthew Wilson’s The Incredible Hulk #22 follows Charlie, the Hulk’s unlikely ward, as she grapples with the consequences of being bound to Lycana’s Skin, which allows her to transform into a monster herself.
After discovering that she has been changing shape and hunting humans in her sleep, Charlie is visited by the spirit of Bruce Banner, despite him being locked away in the back of the Hulk’s mind. “You see me because you’re a monster now, Charlie,” Banner explains, a statement that reflects the magical principles of sympathetic connection rather than any scientific reasoning.
The Incredible Hulk Goes All In On The Monster’s Magical Legacy
The Incredible Hulk #22 (2025) by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein, and Matthew Wilson
The events of The Incredible Hulk have been rife with magical incidents. The main antagonist, the Eldest, is a monster born of the cosmic Mother of Horrors who commands armies of skinwalkers and werewolves, making him practically an eldritch entity. At one point, Charlie even has her soul stolen by a monster and sealed within a wooden doll. When Banner reaches out to Charlie in this issue, he doesn’t tell her to seek out Reed Richards or any of Marvel’s other great scientists; instead, he begs her to go to Doctor Strange for aid.
While this marks a departure from the Hulk’s traditional sci-fi storytelling, all of these elements are rooted in established Hulk lore. The series draws heavy influence from the mythology established in Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Avengers #684 and Immortal Hulk #4 (2018), which asserts that the Hulk’s power doesn’t come from gamma radiation at all. Rather, the energy from the gamma bomb that granted Hulk his powers opened a metaphysical “Green Door” to a realm of monsters, allowing them to enter our world and cohabit within human bodies—or, more likely, completely take over their hosts.
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While the Hulk has a tenuous connection to this mystical realm, Bruce Banner has desperately tried to remain firmly planted in the realm of science. The series following Immortal Hulk, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s Hulk (2021), saw Banner attempt to control and “pilot” the Hulk through cybernetic implants, eventually using the Hulk to explore the stars. Now, however, Banner seems to have abandoned science entirely. Having failed to control the Hulk through the scientific means he understands, Banner is forced to reconcile with existing as a spirit in the back of the Hulk’s mind, living at the whims of monsters.
It’s fascinating to watch the duality of the Hulk as the character swings back and forth between storytellers. As things currently stand, Banner is psychologically defeated after the events of “Starship Hulk,” forcing him to open his mind to a magical world that confounds his scientific background. For as much as Banner loves science, the Hulk has firmly moved past his comprehension into the realm of magic, and the pair show no signs of ever going back.
The Incredible Hulk #22 is now available from Marvel Comics!
“}]] Sorry, science-side of Marvel, but Hulk is magical. Read More