Indestructible Hulk #1 smashes into the Marvel Now this week. Mark Waid and Leinil Yu take the Green Goliath in a new direction – as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D?
“The reasons why he is–and exactly the deal he cut to become–an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a mystery that will build out as the story goes,” Waid teased on Marvel.com.
How do you bring a freshness to an iconic character for new readers while paying homage to the rich past?
“On the surface of it, its hard. It’s a less human, street-level book, so all the things that worked in Daredevil were harder to duplicate in Hulk. The commonality in the two books is that Bruce Banner, much like Matt Murdock, reaches a point in his life where he realizes the things he’s been doing have not been working. ”
“What Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did back in the day was they created the world’s first persecuted super hero in the Hulk. Bruce Banner was the seminal morose, tortured super hero. 50 years later, you can go to a comic shop, pick up a random stack of super hero comics, and most of them will probably feature tortured super heroes,” Waid explained.
Bruce Banner will take command in an effort become known as a man of science instead of the “Hulk Smash” guy.
“Banner realized that the Hulk is not something he can stop. It’s something he can control to a degree, but “Hulk happens,” as he puts it. So when he comes out, S.H.I.E.L.D. points him where they want him to go. Think of him as a cannon, not a bomb.”
Maria Hill will be Banner’s handler.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. has what they believe is a fairly tight leash on the Hulk, but they’re mistaken. That’s part of the fun of writing Maria Hill and Bruce Banner, they both have different perspectives on the situation.”
What about those shots of the Hulk in armor? Waid says that’s really intended for Bruce. And as for that floating robot head – who looks like Widget of Excalibur? He’s part of the leash S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they have on the Hulk.
Maid said to expect Hulk to fight Attuma, Frost Giants, a new version of Quintronic Man and a big bad secretly behind the upcoming year’s mystery.
In case you missed an earlier interview – I loved what Waid said about Hulk being his favorite character in The Avengers movie.
“I can watch the Hulk ragdoll Loki all day.”
Indestructible Hulk smashes into stores this week. Here’s the entire liveblog on Marvel.com.
By Editor