World War Hulk- A Failure as Big as the Character

In the past you’ve seen me make some (derogatory) references to the World War Hulk event Marvel had back in 2007. I’ve reviewed Civil War so you could get an impression of my thoughts on that, but I’ve never said my due on World War Hulk. So here is what I think of World War Hulk.

The concept wasn't that bad in general. Hulk has always been one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, there’s no doubt about that, so it’s not a surprise there would be an event where the heroes would have to stop a rampaging Hulk from destroying everything. Unfortunately, this wasn't really the basis for the event. In fact the reasons behind World War Hulk were outright pathetic. I’m not talking about the story behind it, as in the reason that was given for the Hulk to go want to lay a beating on everyone. I mean what drove the people at Marvel to make the event (the normal making money thing aside of course), and that is this: a bunch of Hulk fanboys needed to get their jollies off on their favorite character beating up on everyone. Yes, I do believe that was the whole point of this event, and let me explain why.


“He’s never been this mad”
This is how the Hulk managed to beat everyone, even the Sentry whose power is pretty much limitless. We all know Hulk gets stronger the madder he gets, it’s been said a million times. But now he’s really, really, really, really mad and so his power is far greater than ever before! Excuse my sarcasm for making a joke out of it but that’s what it is; a joke. Will Tony Stark be able to beat up everyone with his Iron Man armor under the phrase “he’s never been this inventive before” ??? How about Professor Xavier controlling everyone justified by the phrase “he’s never been this focused before” ??? Or how about Speedball beating everyone up because “he’s never gone this fast before” ??? Sounds stupid? Of course it does, because it is. It is really one of the sorriest excuses ever on how somehow has pretty much become invincible and is capable of now beating everyone, even using powers that can destroy a planet.


Hulk was not the good guy
The writers desperately tried to make Hulk look like the good guy. He was the one wronged, he was the one shot into space, he has a right to be mad etc. To a degree he is entitled to these things, but here is the catch: the second you threaten to destroy and entire race in order to seek revenge on five people, you are in no way, shape or form the good guy. You are not entitled to justice or revenge when you announce you are a homicidal maniac. What Hulk did was not a whole lot better than Hitler. Actually, you can say the Hulk is worse than Hitler was.

Did the Illuminati, in particular Stark shoot Hulk into space? Yes, but Stark’s intention was he go to a world where no one else lived and finally be at peace and be left alone, something Hulk has wanted since pretty much his existence. But things went wrong and instead of getting what he always wanted he went to a world where hew as forced to fight, something he had always chosen to do and had no qualms with but now absolutely hated doing so. Again, not that he shouldn’t be pissed he was essentially made a slave, but the fact is someone tried to give him the only thing he ever wanted and instead of trying to look at that, he merely became enraged again. Which brings me to my next point…




Hulk was as mindless and savage as ever
The current Hulk was supposed to be more intelligent than the last. He could actually think and reason, and even had Banner’s personality at his disposal so he retained a level of logic and reason. Of course, this wasn't the case at all.

Instead of thinking that “hey, if they wanted to really kill me wouldn’t they have just flown me into the sun?” Nope. Hulk once again showed his penchant for not thinking at all and only looking to excise his rage onto someone. Is having your wife, your unborn child and friends killed a reason to be enraged? Damn right. But is it right to threaten an entire race in order to get your revenge, essentially becoming far worse than those you seek revenge on and being a far greater evil than what you proclaim they did to you? Not at all. But yet that last part was ignored. It didn’t matter Hulk was ready to kill billions, it only mattered he was wronged and he was right to seek revenge by any means necessary.

And what did he want to do when he got a hold of them? Well fight of course, you know, the thing he didn’t want to do anymore. For someone just looking for peace he always manages to somehow keep fighting.



The Illuminati: big on brains, but apparently not on strategy
The Illuminati are the smartest people on Earth (and the moon in case of Black Bolt) and twist events so that the world is a better and safer place. When something is bigger than just one of them, they ban together to try and find a solution to the problem. That is until the Hulk comes back of course. For some reason the smartest people on Earth didn’t think to ban together to use their separate abilities to stop a rampaging beat they knew was coming. Instead they all tried to take him on one on one. This was nothing more than a pathetic plot device by the writers to have Hulk beat each one up individually. And while that makes for more entertaining, the fact is it’s not how it would have happened. For people that seem hell bent on realism, they sure like to ignore it when it suits their purposes.


Heroes would have never sided with him
Funny how heroes have sworn themselves to protect the lives and welfare of the innocent, yet some of them joined the Hulk in his quest for revenge, something considered to be a petty motive by heroes with strong morals. Yet there were the likes of Hercules and Angel siding with the Hulk and helping him in his quest for a bloodbath. Does anyone see a major flaw in that? That heroes abandoned everything they believed in and sided with a possible mass murderer for the sake of a motive they have always looked down upon? Again, its just horrible writing in a lame attempt to make their character look right.



Final Thoughts
World War Hulk was everything a Hulk fanboy could want: mindless violence with the Hulk and his allies easily beating up on their enemies. It lacked real plot, story and common sense, and I guess in a way that is great for Hulk fanboys as some seem to display the intelligence level of the Hulk himself.

Notice how that word “fanboy” keeps popping up? That’s why instead of referring to it as the official title “World War Hulk” I refer to it as “Marvel’s Hulk Hard-on” because when it boils down to it, that’s all it was. The event was every bit as mindless and poorly thought out as the character it was based on. As much as I dislike Civil War, Millar at least tried to write a real story. This was nothing but sheer bias and a love fest for the Hulk lovers at Marvel.