Immortal Hulk has brought a breath of fresh air to Marvel’s Hulk franchise by looking towards the past. Al Ewing and Joe Bennet's run on the titular character has shown the Hulk engaging with both friends and foes from his past and draws much inspiration from Peter David’s classic run. One of the ways this is most prevalent is Ewing returning to a storyline that delves into the psyche of Bruce Banner and utilizes his various Hulk personas. This gives readers the chance to enjoy a smashing good time with not just the green Hulk, but the Grey Hulk as well.
Back in the 80s, comic book writer Peter David took the reigns of the this was due to a printing error, but Peter David brilliantly tied a simple printing mishap into his storyline. The Grey Hulk was the ‘original’ Hulk, and in David’s run, this cunning, conniving, and hedonistic version of the Hulk was freed at last.
In Peter David’s Incredible Hulk, It was concluded that Banner’s multiple Hulk personas represented different stages of Bruce’s life. The green ‘Savage’ Hulk was a distillation of the rage Banner suppressed as a frightened child, while the Grey Hulk represented the rebellious teenager Banner never allowed himself to be. In a classic display of his cunning, the Grey Hulk duped Banner into letting him out via a Gamma Ray projector and then destroyed the device - rendering it impossible for Banner to manually induce transformation into his original self. Grey Hulk subsequently spent much of his time Grey Hulk worked as an enforcer for the mob and spent several months without transforming back into Banner.
Now in Al Ewing and Bennet's Immortal Hulk run, another new Hulk persona has emerged. The ‘Devil’ Hulk, which again ties into David’s run. During a period where Banner, Savage Hulk, and Joe Fixit were all battling for control of Bruce’s body, Doc Sampson had the trio enter Bruce’s psyche where they confronted this dangerous Devil. At this time the Devil Hulk was represented as a scaly reptilian creature locked away in Bruce’s psyche. The Devil was the distillation of all of Banner’s hatred and self-loathing and sought nothing but to lash out and destroy the world. Banner and his alter-egos came to an understanding with one another, and the Devil was locked away, leading to the emergence of yet another persona, the Professor Hulk. Though the Professor thought himself to be the true Bruce Banner, Sampson realized this was yet another new persona - with the Professor representing an idealized version of Bruce that possessed the strength of the Hulk and the intelligence of Banner. Eventually, Bruce’s alter egos subsided, and the childlike Savage Hulk came back to the forefront.
In issue #43 of Immortal Hulk we pickup with Joe, pulling schemes and scams to himself (and by extension Banner) as he eludes the authorities who are now fully aware that Bruce Banner is alive and the Hulk walks among them. But things aren’t all peaches and sunshine for Joe Fixit, as Gamma Flight’s (an offshoot of Alpha Flight) newest recruits the U-Foes are hot on his tail. Joe Fixit’s modus operandi is to look out for number 1, he’s selfish, conniving, hedonistic - and spends the majority of his time convincing himself that he’s not a hero. His top priority is figuring out where his next dollar is coming from and keeping the authorities off his back. However, it seems Joe is a bad liar after he witnesses the police assaulting a kid wearing a Hulk-themed hoodie. Joe has a brief inner conflict as he tries to convince himself the kid’s dilemma is not his problem, but he can’t fight off his conscience, or perhaps it’s his inner demon, as he witnesses the Devil Hulk in his reflection - becking him to act on what he knows he must do deep down inside. Throwing caution to the win, Joe Hulks Out and a weakened Savage Hulk emerges. Hulk makes short work of the cops but falls right into Gamma Flight's plan in the process. The U-Foes only needed a gamma signature to locate the Hulk, and thanks to Joe’s heroism they now have one.
With Banner helpless inside his psyche and at the mercy of The Leader, a weakened Hulk and Joe Fixit are the only things standing between him and certain doom. Banner now needs Grey Hulk more than ever, perhaps more so than the mean green machine himself. With Savage Hulk depowered, perhaps Grey Hulk’s wits and ruthlessness will be the difference-maker in the battle against the U-Foes. Maybe this act of heroism will leave Joe Fixit kicking himself after, or maybe Grey Hulk will accept that he’s more of a hero than he’d like to believe.
