#devil hulk

Names Joe…

For our Core Lies meme (Bruce has already had an entry)

Devil Hulk (The Immortal Hulk)

So, there are two eras for Devil Hulk.

The Jenkins era in the early 2000s (and the Ultimate Devastation video game) and Ewing's Immortal Hulk.

For the most part I will talk about the Ewing version.

So, full disclosure to our Tumblr audience, Turq and I discussed this on Discord and the "I take that personal" catchphrase that appears on the above image.

Turq said that the first time it was used was after Shadow Base captured the system and did invasive tests on Devil. As he intentionally takes a life, murders with willful intent (as opposed to a consequence of a Hulk's rampage) is claimed to be because the victim in question hurt Banner and when you hurt Banner, he takes it real personal.

Now... we should probably note that Hulk taking life, accidentally or otherwise, is a contentious thing unto itself. It's brought up within Immortal and Devil casually accepts Amadeus Cho's theory that the system calculate potential damage to steer any active Hulk from killing people. It's convenient for protecting Bruce and so he doesn't dispute it.

Devil's motivation in Jenkin's run is to force Bruce into the mindscape where he could live in a happy fantasy, free from the horrors of reality. In Ewing's run it is to "destroy the status quo" because the world as it is under capitalism is something that hurts Bruce and he wants to lash out at anything that hurts Bruce.

Now... the hard thing to note is that Devil is outwardly dishonest. I think Devil is just doing whatever he can to protect the whole system after their successful assisted suicide in Civil War 2. Devil woke up because Bruce killed himself. He was beyond despair and Devil is doing anything he can to repair them all.

It's clear by the end that his plan was always to pass the reigns of protection on to Joe.

I think that Devil internalizes a lot of the building blocks that make him what he is and he embodies them to push the system forward but never envisioned a future with him in it.

Not to post The Page again but...

I believe Devil's core lie is that he is built off of the building blocks of Brian Banner. Bruce cannot imagine love with pain, he fears the anger that exists within him.

He knows that he can never be the father that Bruce needs. He can't protect him forever. He's just doing what he can because the system needs him.

I believe he's internalized some of that.

That he is the monster Bruce sees him as, so he acts it. That Bruce is afraid of him, so he keeps him at arms reach.

My belief is a sad one. "Bruce will be better off without me."

He's just there until Joe can take his place.

For an alter who was released from imprisonment because the system committed suicide, Devil has no attachment to living for himself.

I think that Devil actually has a lot of personal drive and impulse of his own. But he supresses it or rationalizes it to be about helping Bruce. Because he keeps telling himself that he has to go away when they're safe. That "safe" is a world that doesn't have him in it.

Which is kind of sad.

...speaking of Joe. I have another ask in my box...

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For other core lie asks:

Hii!! Ty for the ask! ^^ I’ve been feeling better this past week and getting back into at least doodling! I’m so happy you also like Devil Hulk (and how I draw him teehee) he’s so cool and amazing I wish he had more than like two appearances ever…

Angel can be a bit too much of a touchy-type and can’t get away with it as much with Devil Hulk (≖⩊≖)

I have had a recent Marvel obsession developing festering over the last few months. It may or may not be healthy, but anyways, I’ve decided the Hulk in particular is like my new favorite thing and I had to draw him. :) Somehow I never knew that there was more than one Hulk, or that his transformations were tied to Dissociative identity disorder and each Hulk is a different one of Banners alters. I thought this was a seriously cool idea and was so sad to find out how little it carries over in most of the Hulk’s depictions. Anyways, I had to draw this guy, because I just love him as a character so much—this sassy, pessimistic, good-humored science man who’s pretty much homeless running around and smashing things when he gets mad is just so, so great. Like I watched this one clip from the Guardians of the Galaxy Animated series where Rocket Raccoon kept smashing his stuff to try and make him mad, and he’s just laughing at him like “dude, smashing is like my #1 hobby.” And then he flips out when Iron Man steals his milk and drinks it wrong. Absolute peak.

Hulk: Season One is so and so, but I like this scene between Bruce and Hulk. A clever way to bring in the disassociation and childhood trauma into a depiction closer to the earlier Hulk appearanaces. The fact that this comic was released in 2012 years before Immortal Hulk is interesting. Was this partly on Ewing's mind when he wrote Devil Hulk? In any case, I like to headcanon that this is Devil here.