Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1 (1996)

This one-shot jumps between a re-telling of the Hercules story from Marvel Super Heroes #1, which was based on a Jason and the Argonauts myth, and a present-day battle between Hulk and U.S. soldiers. It takes place after Onslaught, so only a few Avengers are “alive.” Black Widow an Hercules go after Hulk.

Back in Ancient Greece, during a stint with the Argonauts, Hercules hears a prophecy that he will be killed by a green monster. It took a while, but in the present day, Herc is finally facing off against Hulk. The triggering event for the fight appears to me to simply be that Hulk is in a bad mood (this is the post-onslaught, Bannerless Hulk after all).

Right before Hulk can kill him, Zeus transports the combatants to Olympus and lets Hulk eat. And apparently that’s what the real issue was, the munchies, because then they stop fighting and Hercules returns to Earth for the first time since the Onslaught event.

I liked the back-and-forth between the initial greek prophecy and the current day, and Deodato drawing a fight like this is never something to complain about.

Deodato instagrammed a black and white print from the cover:

God that’s awesome.

This is a solid comic. No Peter David Hulk stories are ever bad.

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