Everything That Happened To Abomination After Incredible Hulk

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for She-Hulk episode 2!

Emil Blonsky's return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Edward Norton's Hulk. The Incredible Hulk showed his transformation from a decorated soldier tasked with hunting down Hulk to a raging monster created from a mixture of super soldier serum and Bruce Banner's blood. It seemed that could be the only time Abomination appeared in the MCU, but Phase 4 has finally brought him back.

Over a decade after last playing Emil Blonsky, Tim Roth returned for a recurring role in She-Hulk. The Disney+ series follows Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), but it is firmly entrenched in Hulk's MCU mythology. Marvel decided to use the show as an opportunity to finally continue Abomination's story after The Incredible Hulk. His return and storyline on Disney+ led to an Abomination cameo in Abomination fighting Wong ties directly into She-Hulk's story and Emil Blonsky's attempt to clear his name.

Viewers will quickly notice that Abomination is quite different in MCU Phase 4 than in The Incredible Hulk. Blonsky is more peaceful, and there are plenty of teases about how his life played out after fighting Hulk in Harlem. Even though Phase 4 marked Abomination's first appearance since Phase 1, Marvel Studios continued to plant seeds about him. The combination of past teases and Phase 4's storylines have brought massive reveals and helped fill in what happened to Abomination after The Incredible Hulk.

Abomination Was Imprisoned By SHIELD After Incredible Hulk

The Abomination smiling in The Incredible Hulk

Abomination's fight with Hulk in The Incredible Hulk put him on everyone's radar as a threat. While Emil Blonsky may have thought he was the good guy in this scenario, Hulk defeating Abomination and saving Thunderbolt Ross changed his future. Hulk eventually overpowered Abomination and kept him subdued until the proper authorities could come and collect the villain. Thunderbolt Ross and the United States Army took control of Abomination at first, but Agents of SHIELD season 1 revealed that he also became SHIELD's problem. Abomination was put in a cryo-cell in the secret Alaskan base known as the Vault, where SHIELD agents guarded him for extra protection. However, this was a secret for SHIELD agents with at least Level 7 clearance. Abomination remained in SHIELD's control for the foreseeable future.

Abomination Learns To Control His Powers

Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky in The Incredible Hulk

It appears that part of Abomination's imprisonment included Emil Blonsky learning to control his powers after The Incredible Hulk. The movie only showed Blonsky's transformation into Abomination and stopped short of showing him revert to his human form. She-Hulk including Abomination's human form confirms that Blonsky learns to control his abilities better. It would also appear that he does so rather quickly, as Abomination is quite similar to She-Hulk. While Bruce Banner has to fight his Hulk alter ego repeatedly, Abomination is like She-Hulk in that neither of them has an alter ego that makes them lose consciousness. Since She-Hulk learns to control her powers very fast, Abomination theoretically could do the same. It would also make sense that Abomination learned to control his powers after The Incredible Hulk to set up what comes next.

Abomination Nearly ed The Avengers After Incredible Hulk

Tony Stark the incredible Hulk The Abomination

One of the biggest revelations about what happened to Abomination after The Incredible Hulk came from the Marvel One-Shot The Consultant. It was through this short that Marvel revealed that Abomination nearly ed the Avengers. When Nick Fury attempted to put the initial Avengers roster together, the World Security Council thought Abomination would be a perfect fit. They went as far as suggesting releasing him from prison and arguing that he acted in self-defense when fighting Hulk. SHIELD rejected this argument and fought back against Abomination ing the Avengers, a viewpoint that Thunderbolt Ross eventually came to share. Once Abomination was out of the picture, SHIELD refocused its attention on getting Hulk to be one of the original Avengers.

Damage Control Oversees Abomination's Imprisonment

Jennifer visits Emil Blonsky in She-Hulk trailer.

After missing out on ing the Avengers and getting a chance to fulfill his idea that he is a hero, Emil Blonsky's fate changed hands. It is unconfirmed exactly when this happened, but Abomination's imprisonment was eventually transferred to the Department of Damage Control. While the organization was founded in 2012 after The Avengers, Tony Stark originally thought of Damage Control as a clean-up business. The combination of the organization's origin and SHIELD's collapse in 2014 after Captain America: The Winter Soldier likely means that Abomination's transfer happened around this point in time. This could mean that the DODC's reach expanded after SHIELD fell. Abomination eventually became a prisoner at Damage Control's Supermax prison.

Something that She-Hulk reveals happened to Abomination after The Incredible Hulk is an attempt to make amends with Bruce Banner. After years of reflecting on his life and actions while in prison, Emil Blonsky had a change of heart. No longer wanting to be viewed as a villain (or Thunderbolts candidate) and instead shifting his focus to being peaceful, Abomination took it upon himself to reach out to Hulk. Blonsky sent Bruce a letter that helped the two men patch up their relationship. It is not revealed when exactly this takes place in the MCU timeline, but Smart Hulk refers to him getting the letter "a few years ago." That could point to him receiving Blonsky's message during The Blip after Bruce returned to Earth. This timing and the mass devastation could have made Hulk even more forgiving of Abomination. In any case, it appears Hulk and Abomination no longer view themselves as enemies after The Incredible Hulk thanks to this reunion.

Abomination Fights Wong In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Blonsky's first appearance since Phase 1 included a significant revelation about what happened to Abomination after The Incredible Hulk. In addition to having a different look that is more comics-accurate, Abomination is shown participating in an underground fighting tournament. The only thing that made this appearance more shocking is that it pitted Abomination against Wong, the MCU's new Sorcerer Supreme. Blonsky would seem to have the advantage in such a fight based on pure strength, but that proved to be his demise, as Wong used one of his own punches against him. She-Hulk reveals that Abomination broke out of the DODC Supermax prison to fight Wong in Shang-Chi, but the movie also shows the Master of the Mystic Arts returning him to his cell. Footage of their fight leaked months later.

She-Hulk Becomes Abomination's Lawyer For Parole Hearings

Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky AKA Abomination

She-Hulk continues to reveal what happened to Abomination after The Incredible Hulk by revealing that he is now up for parole due to his good behavior while in prison. Emil Blonsky specifically asks for Jennifer Walters to be his lawyer after she gets a new job leading GLK&H's Superhero Law Division. Even though Jennifer refused to represent Emil initially, he convinced her to take on his case after their first conversation. Abomination's parole chances not only set up where his story can continue in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, but it also signals ways for the MCU to continue using him afterward as long as he is freed from prison.

New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law release on Thursdays on Disney+.