As the next major event for Marvel is fast approaching, it is a good time to look at some of the major players of the event. Since there is no character so majorly set up than Hulkling, he is a good choice to focus on.
As a member of the Young Avengers, New Avengers, and sometimes Secret Avengers, Hulkling has had a storied past leading up to his major role in Empyre. This list focuses on that history, looking at his relationships, team affiliations, and just about everything that has made him move from a C-List teen to, seemingly, an A-List threat.
10 Young Avengers Founder
Hulkling is one of the founding members of the superhero team known as the Young Avengers. Along with Iron Lad, who was a child version of Kang the Conqueror, Patriot, and Wiccan, the group started fighting crime in an unprotected New York since the true Avengers were disbanded following the explosion of Avengers Manor.
In the first issue of Young Avengers, Hulkling is deemed a kind teen as he was helping children from a burning fire, but doing it gently, unlike the Hulk. While they were suspected to be the proteges of the real Avengers, readers know that isn’t the case.
9 Originally Based On Hulk
Like Patriot, Iron Lad, and Wiccan, who at the time went by Asgardian, Hulkling is based on a member of the original core four Avengers, the Hulk. While his origins make him green already, his look is expressly ripped from the Hulk, due to his shape-changing powers.
During his interrogation by Jessica Jones and Steve Rogers in Young Avengers #2, Captain America asks if his powers were caused by radiation like the Hulk's, then further implies that he might have the aggressive tendencies of the Hulk. Hulkling notes that he isn’t angrier than an average teenage boy.
8 Used For His Powers
Explored in the Young Avengers Special, the lives of the Young Avengers are explored by Jessica Jones doing an interview with each member. Teddy tells her the story of how he eventually came to meet Iron Lad and the rest of the Young Avengers.
The only person he informed of his powers, before the Young Avengers, was the most popular guy in school, Greg. Greg forced Teddy to use his powers to get them into clubs, parties, and get them free stuff, while still considering Teddy a freak. After the events of Avengers: Disassembled, the two break into Avengers Mansion, but Teddy threatens Greg, who was trying to steal from the wreckage.
7 Power Set
On the note of his powers, Teddy has his fair share. His main two powers are his shapeshifting and his super strength. Using his shapeshifting abilities, he has transformed into terrifying beasts and Tony Stark, using these forms as a defense of sorts. His super strength is what most directly ties him to the Hulk, as he is seemingly as strong as a non-raging Hulk.
Teddy has additional powers in the forms of quick regeneration, durability, and eventually flight. Most importantly, his body doesn’t need to be conscious to use these abilities, as shown when he was being dissected in the Cube. While knocked out, his body started moving organs and parts around to protect him.
6 Shapeshifting Can Be Overpowered
Since Hulkling uses his powers so often, his are some of the more defined of the Young Avengers. His shapeshifting ability has come in clutch in a variety of ways, including posing as other heroes for various reasons. As stated earlier, he used the personas of the Human Torch and Tony Stark to trick people into giving him whatever he wanted.
Additionally, he has used this to fight crime as well, including turning into the Hulk to scare some robbers. One of the most influential moments was when he acted like he was Spider-Man to stop a mugging before being shot.
5 Lineage
With a princess as a mother and a superhero as a father, Hulkling’s life should have been all set. During the Kree-Skrull War, while interfering with the battle, Captain Marvel, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch were captured and held hostage by the Skrull. Captain Marvel, a Kree warrior, was particularly useful as a prisoner, though love got in the way.
The princess of the Kree, Anelle, and Captain Marvel had an affair that eventually leads to the birth of Hulkling. Princess Anelle sent Hulkling away to be raised by his father, though by the time the nursemaid and Hulkling reached Earth, Captain Marvel had died of cancer. The two eventually met thanks to time travel.
4 Excelsior
During the events of the New Avengers, a new team, known as Avengers Idea Mechanics, had Hulkling as a member of its ranks along with Wiccan. This led to a storyline where, Hulkling was taken to the Kree homeworld to learn of his ancestors and receive his name, Dorrek VIII.
One part of his history was that his ancestor, Dorrek Supreme, was also a Kree-Skrull hybrid who wielded a powerful sword known as Excelsior, or the Star Sword. Hulkling was tested and passed easily by pulling the sword out of a stone and becoming the Emperor of the Kree and the Skrull.
3 Mother, Mother
While Hulkling’s true parents are Princess Anelle and Captain Marvel, he also had a mother in the form of the nursemaid who ended up raising him as her own. The nursemaid, Ms. Altman, turned into a kind woman who just sought to raise Hulkling as her own until she was unfortunately killed by a Super-Skrull.
Seeing how much her loss affected Hulkling, Wiccan decided to pull her out of another universe just before she died. This ended up being a bad idea, as Wiccan pulled out a parasite that wanted to absorb him. While she is seen as Wiccan’s enemy, Hulkling had to see his mother brought back to life, only to have to kill her.
2 Dating Wiccan
Clearly, Wiccan and Hulkling seem to go hand-in-hand, which makes sense since they are together. Starting with minor flirting in the first few issues of the series, Hulkling and Wiccan quickly became one of the most prominent LGBTQ+ couples in comics.
Their relationship has lasted countless dimensions, missions, and heartaches, yet they stick together because they are forever linked. They also share one of the sweetest coming out moments when they try to confess to their superhero lives but end up being accepted for dating each other. As of Incoming, Wiccan doesn’t know what Hulkling is doing, so there is likely going to be a strain on their relationship when he invades Earth.
1 Ending Kree-Skrull Rivalry
In the lead up to Empyre, there have been many changes made to the world, including Hulkling taking control of both the Kree and the Skrull as Emperor Dorrek VIII. As emperor, he has made two major decisions for his people. The first is that there is a ceasefire between the races.
The second decision is the entire set up for Empyre as Hulkling plans to relocate all of his peoples to Earth, though it is unclear whether this is a full-scale invasion, or similar to what happened to the Asgardians after the events of Siege. While the hope is for the latter, the history of the Kree and Skrull’s involvement on Earth is spotty. Perhaps Hulkling will change that with his ruling.