The Hulk, a founding member of the Avengers, is one of the strongest and most prominent heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. And while he hasn’t had a solo film since 2008, the Hulk continues to be an essential hero who helps protect the world from dangerous threats. The Hulk has a plethora of interesting and powerful villains who make up his rogues’ gallery. Aside from Abomination, who appeared in several MCU projects, both the Leader and Red Hulk have recently appeared as the primary antagonists of Captain America: Brave New World. However, there are plenty of other Hulk supervillains who in their current incarnations in Marvel Comics may be too extreme for the MCU because of their nightmarish appearances, personalities, and actions in the comics.
While some of the MCU’s latest projects and characters, like Werewolf by Night and the Void from Thunderbolts, have delved into horror themes, neither compares to the sheer psychological, bodily, and even cosmic horror that these Hulk villains embody, making them far too extreme for most mainstream audiences to handle without significant overhauls to their personas and background stories.
The Hulk has many dangerous and malevolent personalities within his psyche, and the Titan is arguably the most dangerous of them all. A personification of the Hulk’s deep-seated rage, the Titan is a manipulative and cruel entity who turned Bruce and the Hulk against one another so that he could take control of their body. Once free, the Titan is a 30-foot-tall monstrosity with rock-like skin and spikes covering it. This monster is overflowing with destructive gamma radiation and can fire intense blasts of heat vision. The Titan is a sadistic creature who mutilates and drains the gamma radiation from his victims, leaving behind shriveled and broken husks. With his gory kills and nightmarish appearance reminiscent of DC’s Doomsday, the MCU probably won’t include this evil Hulk persona.
A giant alien, Xemnu, has sought to conquer the Earth many times using his vast intellect and telepathic powers. Xemnu is one of Marvel’s strongest telepaths and uses his ability to turn hordes of people against the Hulk. Xemnu is a cunning and cruel mastermind who has developed a taste for humans. Xemnu’s most nightmarish ability is his power to convert people into grotesque human-Xem hybrids. Xemnu accomplishes this feat by using biomechanical tentacles to force people into his blender-like mouth on his back. The victim is then consumed before being spit out, becoming a horrific mass of flesh that blend human and Xem DNA. Given the psychological and body horror that Xemnu can dispense, he would likely be far too intense for the MCU.
Whereas the One Above All is the all-powerful and benevolent creator of the Marvel Multiverse, the One Below All is his dark counterpart and the personification of hate and destruction. It resides at the lowest point of reality, the Below-Place. It spreads its influence to the rest of the Multiverse through its connection to gamma radiation. This means that the Hulk’s power comes from this eldritch abomination. The One Below All seeks to destroy all of existence, which it does by possessing and corrupting individuals infused with gamma radiation. It’s unlikely that the MCU will incorporate the One Below All as a villain for the Hulk. Its mere existence would completely flip the entire MCU cosmology on its head and delve into demonic and cosmic horror.
A villain of the Hulk based on Native American folklore, the Wendigo is a creature whose nature is guaranteed to ensure that the MCU won’t touch him. The Wendigo spirit possesses anyone who resorts to consuming human flesh in the Canadian wilderness. The spirit can also be transferred via a bite or scratch. Once possessed, the person will undergo a horrific transformation into a mindless and towering fur-covered beast with razor-sharp claws and teeth. The Wendigo is a bloodthirsty monster that only cares about eating people and is one of the Hulk’s most savage enemies. Given the Wendigo’s character almost exclusively revolves around cannibalism, he’s far too disturbed a creature to include in the MCU.
Bruce Banner’s father, Dr. Brian Banner, was an abusive man who made his son’s life a living nightmare. Brian’s abuse culminated in murdering Bruce’s mother, Rebecca, in front of the young boy. It was Brian’s cruelty that caused Bruce to develop his dissociative identity disorder, which eventually expressed itself as the Hulk. Bruce later killed his father, but Brian’s soul bonded with the One Below All, turning him into a spectral entity. Brian could possess gamma mutants and transform into a horrific monster, with his strength depending on how others perceive him. With his disturbing background and terrifying powers straight from a horror movie, it’s unlikely that Brian Banner will crawl his way out of Hell for future film and TV projects.
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