The Immortal Hulk Has a DISGUSTING New Way to Transform

In Immortal Hulk #40, the Green Goliath introduces an all-new way to transform that is both gory and disgusting, even for a monster.

WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Immortal Hulk #40 by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, Matt Milla, and VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.

Ever since the revelation of the One-Below-All’s connection to gamma radiation and the mutates that it has created, the shared lives of Bruce Banner and the Hulk have become increasingly complicated. None of this has helped by the fact that his experiences in the Below-Place have left his various personas in a bit of a power struggle between themselves and Samuel Sterns, the Leader. Sterns has decimated Banner’s mindscape, and in leaving the few remaining personas more desperate than ever, has pushed one of them to take on a new, gruesome kind of transformation in Immortal Hulk #40.

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The Hulk has been held on the Alpha Flight Space Station since the team took him down. Upon waking up, he was moved from his cryogenic chamber to a holding facility. With energy-based manacles holding him in place, the Hulk is taunted by Henry Gyrich, who has become a ranking commander in the Alpha Flight organization after his release from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. The Hulk doesn’t quite understand what Gyrich is telling him, but inside Banner’s mindscape, Joe Fixit is losing his mind over their situation.

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Joe Fixit is one of Bruce Banner’s classic personas. Typically taking on the form of a gray-skinned Hulk with far greater intelligence than his emerald counterpart, Joe Fixit operated as a Las Vegas enforcer for months without reverting to Bruce Banner during a time when his human alter ego was suffering from serious issues. As one of the most intelligent of Banner’s Hulk personas, Joe Fixit is also one of the most dangerous, able to calculate well beyond merely where to smash and with a knack for being deceptive in the worst kinds of ways. Most recently, Joe Fixit was able to surface while Banner was being hunted by Shadow Base and Bushwacker. This version of the persona is definitely the same Joe Fixit as always, but somehow without undergoing the usual physical transformation into a grey Hulk, instead now resembling Banner himself, albeit with a much larger personality.

Outside of Banner’s mind, the Hulk sheds tears from the verbal abuse he is internally suffering as Joe Fixit screams at the Hulk for the situation they’re in. Joe yells about Sterns having murdered one of their personas before dragging Banner himself away to the Below-Place. Gyrich mocks the Hulk’s tears, telling him that they won’t do him any good, since the shackles he is in can’t be broken by any shift in the Hulk’s size. When Joe Fixit hears this, he realizes that Gyrich isn’t totally informed about all the Hulk’s recent changes and decides that he’s going to show him exactly how useless his confinement is. The Hulk’s body begins glowing as his stomach grows. His face distorts, and his flesh begins to tear before a slender hand reaches out from the inside while the Hulk chokes out painful moans. Glowing green blood and viscera spill out onto the floor, and Joe Fixit, in his human form, rises from the pile of guts that were well within the Hulk’s torso only moments before.

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Joe Fixit easily overpowers the guard pointing a rifle at his head, and knocks both him and Gyrich out cold before taking off down the hall to find a way out. This is most certainly not the typical transformation that Banner or the Hulk would undergo, but it’s effective in its brutality. It’s also a surefire way to catch the enemy off guard.

Even if he isn’t lifting upwards of 75 tons, all of Banner’s personas have the most capable and calculating version of themselves leading the way in Joe Fixit. Surely he’ll have at least one good idea on how to handle their current problems. After all, his name isn’t Fixit for nothing.

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About The Author John Dodge (151 Articles Published)

John Dodge has been an avid consumer of comic books and nerd culture for just about his entire life. He has written for almost that long.

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