It certainly isn’t easy to defeat the Hulk, but if you’ve read the comics, you already
know that it’s not impossible.
From adamantium claws, super-strength beatdowns, and even simple bullets, the Hulk’s been
taken down more times than you might think, although he definitely always comes back.
Here’s every time the Hulk has lost his life at the hands of his enemies.
Friendly Fire
The Hulk's first demise came at the hands of an anonymous soldier in a 1965 issue of
Tales to Astonish.
After destroying one of Bruce Banner’s inventions before it can fall into the wrong hands, the
Hulk attempts to escape from The Leader's evil lab, but is fired on by a soldier.
It seems he was in the middle of transforming back into Banner at the time, because when
the smoke cleared, Banner is lying on the ground, apparently dead.
Fortunately for the Hulk, Rick Jones steals the body and brings it back to Banner's secret
desert lab, hoping he can revive him by transforming him into the Hulk.
It works, but it's now Banner in control of the Hulk's body, thanks to the bullet lodged
in his skull that keeps him from turning back into his puny alter-ego.
Rather than deal with a Hulk that's super-strong and super-smart, the Hulk’s arch-nemesis,
the Leader, dissolves the bullet with the most vaguely named comic book science device
ever: the "Gamma-Ray Laser-Type Beam."
The Disease
Bruce Banner has found plenty of cures for his condition over the years, but every time
he does, he immediately finds a really good reason why he shouldn’t have bothered.
Such was the case for the Hulk's second death, in Incredible Hulk #225.
Having been miraculously cured, Banner was helpless to fight off an assault on Gamma
Base by the Leader.
While his allies tried to convince him to re-embrace his Hulkier side, Banner had what
he thought was a better idea.
He strapped himself into a "Gamma Control Harness" that he used to control a Hulk robot.
Unfortunately for him, the Leader defeated the robot, and the energy feedback fatally
electrocuted Banner.
Like Rick Jones before him, Doc Samson reasoned the only thing to do was to blast Banner's
body with gamma rays and hope it turned him back into the Hulk.
It worked, but he probably regretted it when the Hulk punched him through a wall.
Not a great way to say thanks, Hulk.
The rematch
Wolverine made his first appearance all the way back in Hulk #181, with a fight that didn’t
exactly go his way.
14 years later, in Hulk #340, Logan returned with a vengeance and handed the Hulk one of
his most devastating defeats.
The two run into each other in a snowstorm, when the X-Men stop to save the passengers
of an airline the Hulk accidentally took down by hitting it mid-leap.
When Hulk finds Wolverine amidst the plane's wreckage, he picks a fight by attacking his
old rival.
Wolverine initially refuses, but when he finally cuts loose, he spears Hulk through the torso
with his claws.
Wolverine believes the Hulk is a goner, but is shocked a few moments later when the gray
Hulk rises from the ground, clutching his chest, saying, "Let's…try that…again."
Countdown
The Leader seems to be involved with a lot of these deaths.
You'd almost think he has a problem with the Hulk.
In a story called “Countdown,” the Hulk experiences multiple massive heart attacks
for reasons he can't figure out.
After slugging it out with the Abomination, the She-Thing, and the Leader’s various
henchmen, the big-brained villain finally tells the Hulk that he knows what's happening.
The Hulk has been poisoned by a villain called Madman, and Leader wants Madman dead.
After slowly weakening and shrinking over the course of a four-part story, Hulk finally
succumbs to the poison at the start of Incredible Hulk #367.
After he revives, he learns that Madman is Leader's brother, and after defeating the
bad guys, he gets the cure for the poison, narrowly avoiding an oversized coffin once
again.
Future Imperfect
Future Imperfect isn’t just one of the Hulk’s many deaths, it's a two-fer.
In this story, the Hulk travels to the future and learns that one super-powered villain
rules over what's left of humanity, and that villain is a version of himself called the
Maestro.
He’s just as intelligent as the Bruce Banner of the present, more vicious than the Hulk
ever was, and, in spite of his advanced age, even stronger thanks to the increased radiation
in the environment.
Hulk and Maestro throw down twice during Future Imperfect.
Their first battle begins in an underground rebel base and spills out onto the streets
of Dystopia before the Maestro ends it by breaking the Hulk's neck.
That's Future Imperfect's Hulk Death #1.
The second comes when the Hulk uses the same time machine that brought him to the future
to send Maestro to the past, specifically, to the exact moment the gamma bomb blast that
changed Banner into the Hulk the first time.
Boom.
A hero unborn
The Onslaught event was catastrophic for many heroes of the Marvel Universe, but none more
so than the Hulk.
After sacrificing themselves to defeat Onslaught, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers were sent
to an alternate universe called “Heroes Reborn,” where their stories were rebooted
and they all lived new lives with their new, amazing cheekbones.
Meanwhile, everyone back in the regular universe thought they were dead.
For the Hulk, though, it wasn’t that simple.
He was the one who delivered the blow that shattered Onslaught's armor, and it released
so much power that Bruce Banner and the Hulk were physically separated from one another.
Bruce Banner, along with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, was reborn in the new
timeline… but the Hulk stayed where he was.
In the immediate aftermath, the new, savage, Banner-less Hulk went wild, with his insides
appearing to literally rip out of his skin.
Eventually, an "irradiated cocoon" formed around the him, and the following issue, a
new kind of Hulk emerged from the cocoon, one with the power and savagery of the green
Hulk, but the viciousness of the gray Hulk.
Years later, in Avengers #684, we learned that the cocoon didn't just change the Hulk.
It killed him.
Destructible
After a nice, long, well-deserved vacation from his own violent death, Bruce Banner bought
the proverbial farm once again at the end of Indestructible Hulk #20.
The series ended with a mystery: An unknown assailant shoots Banner in the back of the
head on the final page, leading to the story being relaunched with a new Hulk #1.
After surgery, a really long fight with the Abomination, and just a tiny spoonful of Iron
Man’s Extremis formula, the Marvel Universe is introduced to Doc Green: a version of the
Hulk which shares Bruce Banner's intelligence, but has a completely different personality.
After launching a crusade to remove the powers of virtually every gamma-powered monster in
the Marvel Unvierse, we finally learn who was responsible for his attempted murder.
Dr. Melinda Leucenstern shot Banner, but it was Betty Ross, his long-time love, who gave
her the intelligence she needed to pull it off.
After her own adventures as the Red She-Hulk, Ross was convinced her former husband was
going to cause an extinction level event in the near future.
Heads up
Here’s a Hulk death that shouldn’t count... but apparently does.
In Avengers: Ultron Forever #1, the Hulk is part of a team of Avengers pulled from different
moments in time.
As soon as he enters the fray, though, he's apparently decapitated by one of Ultron's
lackeys.
Then, in the issue that follows we learn that the Hulk didn't really lose his head.
He lost a mask.
See, the Hulk of Ultron Forever is a very early version of the Hulk, pulled from 1963's
Incredible Hulk #6.
In that strange issue, Banner transformed into a form that had a big green Hulk body,
and a little Bruce Banner head.
The Hulk was forced to don a Hulk mask to hide his identity.
That’s the Hulk who shows up in Ultron Forever, and while that shouldn’t technically count
as one of his many deaths, a flashback in Avengers #684 puts it in there with the others.
It seems the Hulk actually was decapitated, and just grew a tiny new head the next issue.
The Fallen
Before Civil War 2 #3, most of the heroes of the Marvel Universe thought Bruce Banner
was rid of the Hulk for good.
Amadeus Cho had absorbed the gamma radiation from Banner and became the Totally Awesome
Hulk, leaving Banner completely cured.
But then, thwatche Inhuman called Ulysses, had a precognitive vision of the original
Hulk on a rampage, apparently murdering most of Marvel's heroes.
When those heroes confronted Banner, they found he was researching gamma radiation again,
and they were less than happy.
Before anything could be resolved, two arrows kill Banner instantly.
A flashback within a flashback revealed that months ago, Banner had approached Hawkeye
with two arrows, asking Hawkeye to use them on him if he should ever show signs of turning
into the Hulk.
In the aftermath, Hawkeye claimed he saw Banner's eyes flash with green, but the truth is left
ambiguous.
Whether or not Banner was about to turn into the Hulk, it's clear that Hawkeye could never
have done the deed, at least not with as much finality as Banner wanted.
Bruce Banner and the Immortal Hulk are in the Marvel Universe for good… or for at
least as long as it takes them to pick another adjective.