Warning: Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #1 ahead!
The first issue of Hulk-like villain who demonstrates the horrors that gamma radiation can wreak. Following the conclusion of the recent Spider-Man: Beyond storyline, The Amazing Spider-Man returned this month with a brand-new first issue for the first time since 2018 and things are already shaping up to be quite interesting.
Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.'s first entry into this iteration of Marvel Comics' flagship title also serves as a celebration of 60 years since Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first created the Wall-Crawler way back in 1962. The Amazing Spider-Man relaunch brings back many familiar faces such as Aunt May, classic villains like Hammerhead and Tombstone, and again seemingly puts Peter Parker at odds with the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson. While there are many villains that this new creative team could've chosen to include, the reemergence of a more obscure enemy may leave some fans surprised.
The issue sees Tombstone ready to go to duke it out with the Rose, Kingpin's son, over territory in New York City. While Tombstone is certainly ready to prevent the Rose from gaining any more ground, the Rose has a special trick up his sleeve in the form of Digger, a villain Romita Jr. helped create with J. Michael Straczynski for 2003's The Amazing Spider-Man #51. Digger is a fascinating character, the result of an experimental gamma test in the Nevada desert. Most fans may recognize gamma radiation as the catalyst that transformed Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk, but there are actually a lot of stranger characters that gamma radiation has spawned.
For example, Digger is the combination of thirteen dead mobsters who were killed in 1957 as the result of an ambush by a rival boss. When an experimental gamma test was carried out in close proximity to the mass gravesite where the gangsters were buried together, it melded all thirteen bodies together to form a terrifying zombie-like being. Gamma and its effects are completely unpredictable in nature and Digger is the perfect example of peak gamma weirdness. While he possesses increased strength and durability, the patchwork nature of Digger's body makes it difficult for him to maintain his structure. During Digger's first encounter with Spider-Man, the Wall-Crawler managed to push him so hard that his body melted and fell apart.
Of course, there are many other characters within the Marvel Universe who have been affected by gamma to varying degrees. Jennifer Walters, who fights crime as She-Hulk, has always retained her human consciousness as her alter-ego, even shedding many of her human insecurities because of the way the gamma-infused blood she received from her cousin Bruce in a transfusion altered her brain. On the other side of the coin, Bruce Banner's former sidekick Rick Jones transformed into the terrifying A-Bomb when exposed to gamma, becoming a violent animalistic creature similar to how Hulk was before learning how to control it.
While it's a sure bet that exposure to gamma will alter one's genetic makeup, there's just no telling how deep the effects will go; it is that dangerous and bizarre of a compound. Digger is such an extreme case of gamma radiation that there is no way to see what's in store for Peter Parker as long as this Frankenstein is involved. Alas, one thing is for certain; Wells, Romita Jr., and Marvel Comics threw readers an unexpected curveball with this zombie Hulk villain, and in its sixth installment in 60 years, The Amazing Spider-Man is gearing up to be quite the wild ride.
