The Hulk is one of the strongest, but also one of the most dangerous heroes in the Marvel universe. Instead of properly thanking him or helping him, his friends sent him into space, almost plunging the entire Earth into doom.
The Hulk, due to his immense strength and resilience, is one of the mightiest heroes in the Marvel universe. However, he is also quite dangerous. Every one of his battles causes enormous collateral damage.
Instead of properly taking care of their friend, they decided to simply send him to a distant planet without other living beings he could hurt. However, that did not go as planned and ultimately caused a destructive war.
The Hulk’s rampage can be seen in The Incredible Hulk:
The solution to the Hulk problem: Just move him somewhere else
What exactly happened to the Hulk? After Hulk was hit by a gamma bomb during a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. and caused a lot of destruction in Las Vegas due to a massive outburst of rage, he could only be stopped by the Fantastic Four (seen in Fantastic Four No. 535 (2006)).
At the end of the comic, The Thing talks to Johnny Storm and says he told Mr. Fantastic that there probably isn’t anything that could kill the Hulk. He then explains that he was joking: Just shoot him into space so that he becomes someone else’s problem. Reed didn’t find that funny.
As seen in the comic Hulk No. 92 (2006), that’s exactly what happened. Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, who has done many terrible things, and Black Bolt decided to trick the Hulk and send him to a distant planet. The heroes made this decision in one of their Illuminati meetings, a secret organization dedicated to solving difficult problems. Mr. Fantastic says the following in a video about the Hulk:
Your rage and your power have threatened the entire planet time and again. […] I have always considered us friends, Bruce. So, I am truly sorry. But for your own good and for our own good, we’re sending you away. That’s the only way we can be sure. I know you must hate us, Bruce, but I believe with all my heart that this could be the greatest opportunity of your life.
He was supposed to be sent to a planet without intelligent life so he could finally be left alone. But things went wrong. He lands in a wormhole and suddenly finds himself on the dangerous planet Sakaar.
The Great Betrayal
What happened on Sakaar? On the new planet, there is anything but peace for the green hero. He is enslaved and made a gladiator by a brutal dictator. Yet he fights his way out, finds a woman, becomes king, and unites the entire planet.
While everything seems so beautiful, the ship he arrived on explodes, killing billions of beings, including his pregnant wife. The life Hulk wanted to live in peace was destroyed, apparently once again because of his friends. Although they were not the ones, Hulk doesn’t know this and sets off to Earth to kill his former friends. This leads to the comic event World War Hulk, which almost killed many heroes and caused significant destruction in New York.
Doesn’t this show that they should have sent the Hulk away? The Hulk’s danger is ever-present, which is why one can understand the Illuminati’s decision at first glance. However, as revealed in the comic World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker No. 1 (2007), the heroes often assume that he would just destroy everything because of the Hulk’s nature. They do not listen to him, do not leave him in peace.
This is also shown by the characters She-Hulk and Amadeus Cho in World War Hulk. They attempt to prove that the Hulk is mostly made into a monster, even though he is not responsible for it. This is also seen in the battle in Las Vegas. He was provoked into a rage by a bomb from S.H.I.E.L.D. during a mission.
Fighting against brutal villains is tough, but being betrayed by his own friends is worse. Especially since Hulk has always been good when it came to defeating powerful enemies. Ironically, Planet Hulk happened not long after the Civil War event, in which Reed Richards and Tony Stark had already shown that sometimes their control matters more than helping old friends.
Two Comic Events and a Movie
How can I read/watch Planet Hulk and World War Hulk? The event Planet Hulk and World War Hulk are available as a complete edition in German in the Panini series Marvel Must Have. However, some are already out of print, so you would probably have to rely on used editions. If you are just interested in reading, there is also a pocket version of Planet Hulk in a smaller format.
If you want to collect individual issues for the event, you will have to resort to English versions, which you will likely need to import.
In 2010, an animated movie titled Planet Hulk was released. However, it is not available on Disney+, so you would have to rent or purchase it on Prime Video or in the YouTube store. However, the film is more of an alternative version of the story.
The MCU movie Thor: Ragnarok is loosely based on events from Planet Hulk, but the actual story is not told. If you want to experience the comic story, the movie is not recommended. There are also heroes in the DC universe who are not exactly the best of friends: Batman is more brutal than most villains when it comes to defeating his own friends
