Marvel is officially unleashing the “Age of Monsters.”

Bruce Banner is no longer the Hulk. With a terrifying status quo, Marvel just introduced a “New normal” for the Hulk franchise. Bruce Banner’s new successor is “ten times the monster”.

Enter the Infernal Hulk

Marvel announced ‘The Infernal Hulk’, a new Hulk series, where a new host tears Bruce Banner and Hulk apart as they take over the Green Goliath, in a press release. Hulk gains purple skin with a large gamma scar on the middle of his body — a reminder of tearing it to discard Bruce from Hulk’s body and mind. 

‘The Infernal Hulk’ will start with the end of the ongoing series ‘The Incredible Hulk’ from the same creative team. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson has teased that the Infernal Hulk is “ten times the monster” of Bruce’s version. He has also promised that this “new normal” franchise will be unleashed in every corner of the Marvel Universe in “New Age of Monsters.”

Lil’ more on the New Host

The new host is Eldest — an eldritch demon born before the creation. The Eldest is the child of another ancient demon, the first creature in existence not created by Marvel’s supreme being, the One-Above-All, the Mother of Horrors. And she needs her child to awaken her and bring her back into this reality. This makes the new Hulk more of a Cosmic Horror!

Philip has assured that with the power-up Eldest received, monsters will be set loose on the Marvel Universe. He states that: There are monsters way worse and more powerful than anything we’ve seen so far, bigger and stronger than Hulk, with origins that go back to the foundations of the Earth. It’s time to take this story to the next level, and no corner of the Marvel Universe will be left untouched before the end.

Speakin’ about Bruce…

Currently, Bruce Banner is trapped, or to be precise, he’s locked within a phantasmic world representing his own shattered subconscious, the Hulkscape, with his different personas, Joe Fixit, Doc Green, and Devil Hulk, tortured for his sins. For now, coz in New Avengers #3, Bucky Barnes’ team seems to be attempting to recruit Banner.

The coming issues will near the end of The Incredible Hulk as we see Hulk and Bruce part ways, and Eldest grabs the opportunity to be the Infernal Hulk.

Eldest isn’t the first Infernal Hulk in the Marvel Universe. The original Infernal Hulk debuted in 2011’s Deadpool Annual #1, where the story unfolded in an alternate reality. This Infernal Hulk had increased strength and the ability to exude Hellfire

The Incredible Hulk #30 is coming out on October 15, and The Infernal Hulk #1 will be unleashed on November 26.

^{Pic Credits: Marvel Comics}