The Hulk, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, was originally a character made for Marvel in the early-60s. The Hulk was the gamma-empowered form of Bruce Banner, who exposed himself to gamma radiation while trying to save a young man from a gamma bomb test. Banner has since been defined by a creature that he transforms into whenever he is angry, going on rampage when that happens.
The Hulk in the MCU is a bit of a far cry from this origin, as Banner now has far more control over his Hulk side. While earlier films depicted him as a hard-to-control force, he was still fundamentally part of a superhero team. It was only in solo movies, which have since been partially retconned, that he resembled the Hulk as he was first created: a fully uncontrollable monster. Especially with the introduction of She-Hulk, who has much more control over her Hulk side than her cousin, it’s possible we may never see the Hulk as that terrifying monster again.
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If the MCU intends to make a new solo Hulk movie, then they are spoiled for choice when it comes to good storylines. From Planet Hulk to his saga as Joe Fixit, there’s a lot you can do with the Hulk. However, this article will make the argument that a Hulk solo movie in the MCU should instead become more of a horror franchise. That kind of change would likely have to be non-canon, given the fact that the MCU is focusing more on She-Hulk now and Banner is not in the right place for it, but the MCU has done similar non-cannon or alternate universe spin-offs like the What If…? series. Indeed, here’s why horror is the right way to go.
The Hulk’s Roots are in Horror
Via Marvel Comics
The Hulk has many of his roots and inspirations in Gothic horror. He is a living symbol of the dangers of nuclear weapons, given that he was the product of a radioactive bomb. In that way, he’s a similar stand-in for the horrific results that can happen from scientific curiosity as Frankenstein is. Both are symbols of what happens when humanity goes “too far” with science and plays god, and both end up hurting their creators. As Victor Frankenstein is harassed by his monster, Banner is cursed with his own monster. Stan Lee has commented on his own fondness for the monster in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, saying that he had a “soft spot” for the character (via Bold Entrance).
Lee also talks about another key influence on the Hulk, which is the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This influence added another dimension to the Hulk, who can now be understood in more of a psychological lens. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tells of a Victorian man who has split himself into two personalities, one which can indulge in his hidden desires and one which remains clean of the guilt or shame of that indulgence. Similarly, the Hulk is a physical manifestation of Banner’s negative emotions, which he keeps inside him. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll finds that he can’t make a clean division between his good and evil half, and the consequences of his actions as Hyde come to haunt him regardless. Banner’s life has been defined by the consequences of the Hulk’s rampages, over which he has almost no control. The Hulk and Banner split would also add to this dynamic by differentiating between the two sides as separate personalities, while for Dr. Jekyll the alternate persona of Hyde is more of an anonymizing mask than a totally separate personality.
Despite all this, the Hulk was originally intended to be a hero or sympathetic figure in his own right. In early Hulk comics, the Hulk does defeat supervillains or alien threats to the world. Lee compares him to The Thing, a character who looks monstrous but is actually very human. More modern writers have done well to keep in mind the Hulk’s humanity, but have also accentuated him as a monster.
The Hulk’s Best Stories Have Some Elements of Horror
There are several key Marvel Comics storylines to understanding the modern Hulk. The first is Planet Hulk, in which the Hulk is embroiled in a sci-fi adventure on a far-off planet after The Illuminati send him to Sakaar in order to stop him from rampaging on Earth. The Illuminati wanted to send him to a peaceful planet, but he was accidentally sent to Sakaar, a world of violence and gladiatorial combat. The Hulk ends up rulling this planet after overthrowing the ruler, but an explosion from the ship that sent him there ends up destroying the entire world just as he was beginning to find a home. Where the horror elements appear is in World War Hulk, where the Hulk returns to Earth in order to take revenge on The Illuminati and anyone who gets in his way. The Hulk in this storyline is an unstoppable, an almost Kaiju-esque monster of destruction, who lays waste to some of the biggest powerhouses in Marvel like Sentry and Black Bolt. Here, the horror is familiar to anyone who’s seen a Godzilla movie, and it even has a similar reasoning for both their monstrous rampages, as both their homes were bombed.
Then, there’s Al Ewing’s run on the Hulk, which brings out the horror in in spades. From body horror to cosmic horror, The Immortal Hulk is a tour de force of how to make the Hulk genuinely scary. The Immortal Hulk is exactly what it says on the tin, the Hulk and Banner both find that they’re immortal. The Hulk’s personality has also changed to be more malevolent and intelligent, with the personality known as the Devil Hulk becoming more and more present.
Older runs have made great use of the tension between Hulk and Banner, pitting them against each other. This was a bit of a fixture of Peter David’s run, especially the Grey Hulk known as Joe Fixit, who was always looking for a way to repress and remove banner so he could stay as the Grey Hulk longer. In any horror story with Banner, that sense of conflict between Banner and Hulk should remain. This conflict has been somewhat lost in the MCU, where Banner has mastered Hulk completely.
