A clone of the Hulk named "Behemoth," was killed off way too soon after being introduced in the late 1990s. When the Heroes for Hire face off against the Master of the World, they find themselves facing a team of cloned superheroes, including Behemoth. According to the Master, he is an exact copy of the Hulk, except for his mind. The Behemoth's heroic counterpart is nigh immortal, however, this doesn't stop the clone from dying in the very same issue. This must mean that there is more to the Hulk's resilience than his muscles alone.
In the 1998 issue Heroes for Hire #12, by John Ostrander and Pasqual Ferry, the Heroes are pitted against "Strike Force One," an evil team of cloned heroes. The Master, in an effort to protect his nefarious plans from the heroes of the Marvel universe, purchases DNA samples from a variety of heroes. According to the Master of the World, the Behemoth and his compadres are genetically identical to the heroes they were sourced from, with one important deviation. The clones are all given the memories of the Master himself, rather than being allowed to form their own. Aside from this fact, the Hulk and the Behemoth should be identical. However, all of Strike Force One is rather easily bested in mere minutes by their counterparts in the Heroes for Hire! The Behemoth apparently dies in an explosion at the end of the issue, and he is never seen again.
How was the Behemoth killed off so quickly when his perfect clone is completely indestructible? The answer lies in the one difference between the two characters: their brains. The Hulk is the strange marriage of two minds, Bruce Banner, and the Hulk. Fueled by anger, and bolstered by intellect, his strength is directly proportional to his rage. This is demonstrated in comics like the classic World War Hulk, by Greg Park and John Romita. The psychological complexity of the character plays a huge role in his overall power. The Behemoth, on the other hand, boasts a grand total of one line in all of his comic lifespan. This lack of inner anger in the Behemoth is the only factor that could explain the drastic gap in power level between him and his clone source.
A brief interaction between the clone and She-Hulk shows just why this character is so weak compared to Hulk. She taunts Behemoth, saying, "Which Hulk are you copying? The dumb one? The smart one? The sort of smart but sometimes tricky one? I get it. You're the wrong one." To which Behemoth responds, "Wrong guess." His reply demonstrates that he simply doesn't understand the mental complexities that make the Hulk so incredibly powerful. The difference that this simple contrast between the two characters makes proves monumental, as the Behemoth is killed before readers ever have a chance to see him in action.
Had he not been killed off so soon, the Behemoth surely would have provided great insight into Hulk as a character. The simple alteration of replacing the Green Giant's mind rendered him practically powerless in comparison to the original. Surely Hulk's psychological fortitude (or lack thereof) could have been explored further in a face-to-face match between him and the Behemoth. From the brief history of Behemoth, one thing is sure, nobody can be the Hulk, except for the Hulk.
