Right from the outset, Immortal Hulk #1 let readers know that Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s reinvention of the Jade Giant is, at its core, a story about the duality of persons. “There are two people in every mirror,” read the first words in the debut issue, followed by: “There’s the one you can see. And there’s the other one. The one you don’t want to.” They’re words befitting the start of a horror story, which is apt, considering that Immortal Hulk has more in common with Victorian tales of terror than anything else. It’s for this reason that the solicitation for Immortal Hulk #4 is, if nothing else, suspect. The solicit’s synopsis teases the death of Alpha Flight member Sasquatch in no uncertain terms… or does it?
Word of Sasquatch’s untimely demise first hit back in May. For reference, here’s what the solicit had to say about the doomed Alpha Flight member:
“Walter Langkowski is an ex-football star, a space diplomat and a beloved super hero. Walter Langkowski is charming, healthy and outgoing. Walter Langkowski is the opposite of Bruce Banner. And Walter Langkowski is going to die today, because he went looking for Banner…”
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Back in May, that synopsis left little room for argument. Immortal Hulk #1 hadn’t even been published yet, so what case was there to be made? Walter Langkowski, otherwise known as the hero Sasquatch, was, obviously, going to die. He would go looking for a Hulk that didn’t want to be found, probably thinking he was doing the Avengers a solid, and Hulk wouldn’t take a liking to his efforts. Walter Langkowski was going to die, and, as a result, Sasquatch would die, too. Heroes die all the time in comics. That’s just how things work.
But we’ve had a solid three issues to observe how the Immortal Hulk gets things done, and while his methods draw from classic horror tropes, we’re not talking Hostel here. The likelihood of Hulk beating Sasquatch to death is incredibly slim because that’s just not his style anymore.
We first get a look at how this new Hulk takes out the garbage in the debut issue, when the giant merely pummels a child murderer. The criminal likely won’t walk right for the rest of his life, but he gets off light -- he gets out alive. The same can be said for Issue #2, when Hulk intentionally traps a murderous gamma radiation scientist in a cave-in, forcing him to live out his seemingly endless life considering the weight of the damage he imposed on others, including his own son.
In both of these cases, Hulk isn’t a killer. He’s got his own green-tinted version of Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare going on, but he’s more interested in teasing out the lie inside each villain, holding up a mirror and showing them their true selves. So, what happens when the Hulk must look into that mirror, when he has to look upon Walter Langkowski? Well, he sees everything he isn’t.
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Walter Langkowski is, after all, the good Hulk. The one you can you can feel okay about. Diplomat, athlete, respected hero -- just like the solicit says. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner is the Avengers’ dirty little secret, the nuclear bomb they drop when things get really bad. There’s no prestige. There’s no political positions (none that last long, at least). Bruce Banner is Walter Langkowski’s doppelganger, an uncanny copy.
It’s hard to see because we’re used to viewing events from the perspective of Hulk, but it’s there. Langkowski is the clean-cut, upstanding superhero and Banner is the monster shaped like him. At least, that’s how Banner is apt to see it. And what’s the greatest danger one faces from their doppelganger? Typically, that the creature will subsume them, become them. Since most things don’t like being subsumed, the natural reaction is to fight.
So, it’s entirely possible that the Immortal Hulk and Sasquatch will do battle, but it’s really a fight between Bruce Banner and Walter Langkowski, the frail, ego-filled humans in this scuffle. In such a Victorian horror-inspired square-off, it’s likely that Walter Langkowski will die, but it’s also completely possible that the Sasquatch, Tanaraq, will live on. That, the complete destruction of Walter Langkowski’s image as the Great Beast within emerges, untethered and wild, could be the ultimate, petty revenge Bruce Banner seeks and is completely in keeping with Immortal Hulk’s horror themes.
Written by Al Ewing with art by Joe Bennett, Immortal Hulk #4 goes on sale on Aug. 1. Alex Ross provides the issue's cover.