Warning: SPOILERS for O Incredible Hulk #20Underneath dense layers of compact gamma flesh and years of unbridled rage, the Hulk He genuinely wishes he could be the one thing he never had: a father. The Hulk exists as a response to Bruce Banner's tragically violent father, but he quietly wants a chance to prove he can be better. Although the Green Goliath has had the chance to be a father before, he can finally live his dream – and soon.
The Incredible Hulk #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Danny Earls reunites the Hulk with his adopted daughter,Charlie Tidwell. In a recent story, Charlie became the vessel of Lycana, the God of Skinwalkers.
Now, the human child can leap boundaries, crush with ease and unleash a beast within, just like Bruce Banner does. In the brief respite of peace the pair share before more monstrosities arrive to challenge their strength, the Hulk seems genuinely content. For the Hulk, family is everything.
The Hulk was born to be Bruce Banner's father
The Incredible Hulk #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Danny Earls, Matthew Wilson and Cory Petit
On Al Ewing and Joe Bennett Immortal Hulk series, Bruce Banner's dissociative identity disorder is addressed with a genuine sense of respect and truthfulness. Brian Banner, Bruce's father, was a terribly violent father. After frequent self-experiments using gamma energy, Brian became fearful that the gamma infused into his genetics had passed on to his son.
Brian viewed Bruce as a monster from birth, physically and verbally abusing the boy and his mother whenever he could. In response, the first Hulks were born. A Hulk was all of Banner's childhood fear personified and the other was Banner's warped sense of what a father figure should be.
Nicknamed the “Demon Hulk”, This gamma alterer loves Bruce like his son. Although violent, vengeful, and cruel beyond comprehension, this Hulk would do anything for his son, even if it meant breaking the world. In the shadow of Brian Banner's rampant abuse, Bruce wanted nothing more than to have a father who loved him. He wanted a father who saw his brilliance as something to celebrate. To fill this role, Bruce's psyche had to construct an identity that cared for the young genius. But as Bruce grew older, his entire system felt the call of fatherhood.
Hulk's first chance at fatherhood burned in flames of rage
Skaar and Hiro-Kala became products of Hulk's Rage
Once again, in the shadow of tragedy, Bruce Banner and the Hulk find family among the fallen. Throughout the Planet Hulk plot by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan, Banner's newest gamma alter, the Green Scar, has risen through the ranks of gladiators and emerged as a revolutionary leader with a found family of outcasts and warriors. Over time, Bruce gave himself over to the Hulk when they both fell deeply in love with Caiera the Old strong. Together, the Hulk and Caiera got married and the two lived happily together. Of course, for the Hulk, happiness turned to ashes when Caiera was killed.
The products of the Hulk's greatest happiness emerged alone, abandoned and consumed by rage.
Unbeknownst to him, Caiera was pregnant, and their children were left behind to be born in the flames of a burned planet while the World Breaker waged war against Earth. The products of the Hulk's greatest happiness emerged alone, abandoned and consumed by rage. His oldest desire, a chance to be a father and raise children like him, has been stolen along with his wife and his home. Instead, their boys were born twisted and angry; one was raised as a wild beast and the other as a slave turned warlord. Once again, Banner and the Hulk have been deprived of the thing that unifies their competing psyches: family.
The Hulk has a new chance to live for someone else
Charlie Tidwell will need all the guidance he can get
Time has somewhat healed some family wounds. The Hulk's eldest twin son, Skaar, has overcome his hatred for the Hulk. Now, he serves as a member of Gamma Flight, a new foster family of gamma mutants. Meanwhile, Hiro-Kala, the Hulk's other boy, now exists as a living star as a way to make up for the cosmic war he caused in life. The Hulk even has a daughter who is currently adventuring with her mother in Weirdworld. However, despite his and Banner's desire to be a father to their children, the Hulk couldn't keep his family together.
Now, Johnson moves on The Incredible Hulk is giving the Hulk a new chance at family happiness. Charlie, like Bruce, is the child of abuse. Your pain defines your strength. Your persistence informs your power. Just like Bruce, Charlie turned into a monster. Just like the Hulk, she loves being a monster, and the Hulk loves her for it. Bruce Banner and his many gamma alters sought to provide what they were not given: a chance to overcome their anger and pain to save someone else from theirs. Finally, the Incredible Hulk He's getting another chance to be the father he always wanted to be.
The Incredible Hulk #20 is now available from Marvel Comics.