Can The Hulk Die? Is It Possible To Kill Him?

Crush Hulk? Nobody crushes Hulk – The Hulk 

Having been a staple of the Marvel Universe since his debut in May nineteen sixty-two, the strongest one there is has proved his mettle, on and off the battlefield a thousand times over.

He was and is the gamma-irradiated behemoth that his creator used to warn the world about the nature and cost of atomic war, and the Mr. Hyde whose inherent humanity has often shamed and humiliated his own, more “civilized” Doctor Jekyll. 

The Hulk has survived impossible odds, returned to Earth after being exiled to deep space by the Illuminati in Planet Hulk, fought side by side with, and against the greatest superheroes in history, and always returned bigger, better, badder, and stronger than he was before. 

Al Ewing recently took the green giant in new, intriguing directions, in The Immortal Hulk and even implied that because of who he is, the Hulk would always be an eternal figure in the Marvel Universe and that he would end up living forever.

Does Ewing and Marvel’s examination and exploration of who the Hulk really is mean that this now immortal monster can’t be killed? 

And, if and when the Hulk, as predicted by Peter David, does end up becoming the Maestro in some far-off, alternate future, does that mean that humanity will be forever doomed to be enslaved by Him? 

Actually, it doesn’t, as the Hulk has been killed more times than he can remember.

The problem is, he suffers from the same allergy to death that Deadpool and Wolverine do, and no matter how many times he’s killed, and how many different, terrible ways he’s murdered, the Hulk always comes back. 

Don’t Make Logan Angry, You Wouldn’t Like Him When He’s Angry 

Actually, that’s not true as there was, and is, one instance in the Marvel Universe when the Hulk is killed and doesn’t come back from the grave and it seems like death might for once, be something that even Banner and his monstrous alter-ego can’t escape.

Mark Millar has a way of altering the status quo in an unusual, and often stark and brutal fashion that has won him a legion of adoring fans, and in his dystopian epic Wolverine: Old Man Logan, set in a blasted and barren future, a semi-psychotic Hulk and his clan of equally troubled pseudo Hulks, murder Logan’s family.

After discovering his slain kin, Logan is understandably upset and becomes the thing that he swore he never would again, a berserker driven by fury and revenge.

He tracks down and kills every member of the Hulk’s clan, before finally coming face to face within the beast himself, who promptly swallows him. 

Being eaten by giant world breaking monsters, back in his X-Men days, used to be something that usually happened to Wolverine before breakfast, and he cuts his way out of his enemy, making every slice and stroke hurt, and makes sure that he does the one thing that no-one else has ever been able to do. He kills the Hulk. 

Whether Wolverine: Old Man Logan can, and should be viewed as official Marvel canon, or should merely be seen as an expansion of What If? universe is a question that only the House of Ideas and Millar can answer.

It does, however, finally answer a question that fans have been asking since Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk # 181 in nineteen seventy-four and encountered Banner in the Canadian wilderness. 

And that is if the Hulk and Logan did engage each other in a no-holds-barred fight to the death, who would win? And according to Mark Millar, it would be Wolverine. 

Death By Hawkeye

Then there was the unexpected death, the one that nobody except for Bruce Banner and Clint Barton saw coming, that ended with the “murder” of a monster and his friend being exiled from the superhero community.

During the fractious events of Civil War II  that tore the Marvel Universe in two, after Captain Marvel and Iron Man turn up to arrest Banner for something that he might do as the Hulk at a possible future point in his timeline, their would-be prisoner is killed by Hawkeye who shoots him in the head with an arrow. 

It is an event that isolates Hawkeye from his former colleagues and cements the resolve of both sides to do what they think they have to in order to protect themselves, their friends, and the rest of humanity. And it was entirely Bruce Banner’s idea. 

Knowing that there was a possibility that, as the Hulk, he might cause untold damage and suffering, Banner gives Hawkeye two special arrows that are specifically designed to kill the Hulk and tells him that if the worst should happen, it’s up to Clint to do what needs to be done, and to put him and the Hulk down.

Why does he ask Hawkeye to kill him? He asks his friend to do it because he knows that Clint is the only superhero who will do it “without hesitation”. 

Unfortunately, Banner underestimated the Hulk’s resolve, and determination to live, and the Hulk’s tragic arc in Civil War II leads directly into Al Ewings The Immortal Hulk which retcons Banner and the Hulk and changes their life, mythology, and canon forever. 

In Al Ewing’s world, the Hulk will probably outlive everything else on Earth.  

How Do You Kill The Hulk? 

How do you kill the Hulk?  You don’t, you kill Bruce Banner quickly before he can turn into the Hulk. Shoot him in the back of the head, slit his throat, there is an endless number of methods that you can use to murder Banner. 

But when you’ve finished killing him, run. Run as fast and as far as you can, because the Hulk won’t be happy about being killed, and when he does catch up with you, which he will, he’ll make sure that you end up wishing that you never killed him in the first place.