Incredible Hulk fans are in love with his grossest transformation yet

Christopher Baggett
Incredible Hulk #5 cover art

The Incredible Hulk has always had a body horror slant to his stories, but the latest issue takes it to a new level, and fans are loving it. 

The Hulk has been embracing his body horror roots a lot more often lately. It’s a far cry from what the Hulk was in the ‘90s and beyond, but fans love 

The Hulk, who long was a technicolor green superhero palling around with The Avengers, originated in a different era. He’s something of a holdover from the monster-driven horror comics of old, where kids ate up horror comics but the industry had to pivot following the creation of the Comics Code Authority. 

While the theme of body horror was always present to some degree, the past few years of Hulk have embraced it more than usual. Usually, this was with his gruesome transformation from Bruce Banner into The Hulk, but the latest issue took a different approach. 

Hulk fans love the unique body horror of his latest transformation

The Incredible Hulk #5 features something we don’t see that often: the Hulk transforming into Bruce Banner. It is, needless to say, an absolutely horrifying arrangement of panels. 

The panels see Hulk shift back into Bruce Banner, a transformation that is not depicted often. The transformation is depicted as incredibly painful, with Hulk’s body contorting, twisting, and even coughing up blood at one point. 

Incredible Hulk changes back into Bruce Banner
Fans had a strong reaction to Hulk’s latest transformation back into Bruce Banner.

Naturally, fans loved the panels. It sounds unsettling, but it is worth remembering that Hulk fans traditionally love the body horror aspects of Hulk. 

“This might be my favorite Hulk transformation of all time now.” user Comic Book Panels I Fell In Love With said. Another, Ashley Talks Comics!, described the panels as what the LEGO Hulk’s transformation looks like to other LEGO characters. 

Some were a little more straightforward with their feelings, though, with one user simply commenting, “That’s actually horrifying.”

For many, the appeal is in the creativity of the images. So many Hulk transformations are done off-panel or in quick cutaways, and many transformations back to Banner are usually depicted as simplistic as Hulk just shrinking back down. Such a graphic take on such a rarely depicted moment is a breath of fresh air.

The Incredible Hulk #5 is available now from Marvel Comics. For more Hulk & comic book news, be sure to follow all our coverage

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About The Author

Christopher Baggett started writing about comics on the Internet when he was 14 years old. Since then, he's written professionally for a host of sites, including ComicsBeat, Comic Book Resources, and The HomeWorld. He's most knowledgable about the legacy heroes of the '80s and '90s that he grew up with and believes Wally West is the best Flash - and he'll fight anyone over it. For tips, news, press and more, contact Christopher at christopher.baggett@dexerto.com