WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for “Invaders From the Negative Zone” by Jason Aaron, Dale Keown, Carlos Magno, Scott Hanna, Edgar Delgado, and VC’s Cory Petit from Heroes Reborn #2, on sale now.
Heroes Reborn has reimagined the Marvel Universe in some truly incredible ways, much to the detriment of the select few who remember the world as it should be. While Blade ventures across the globe in search of answers about how this all came to be, the heroes of this new world are busy keeping it safe from those who would do it harm. Unfortunately for Bruce Banner, the transformation that the world has undergone has also left him playing the role of Marvel’s tragic version of the Superman villain Bizarro.
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Mark Milton, aka Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme, has been as busy as ever between his day job as a teacher and his more heroic duties as leader of the world’s foremost super team. Primarily, Hyperion has been racing across the country to subdue the myriad of villains who have recently escaped their Negative Zone prison. One of the escaped prisoners, the Hulk, has found his way to a local high school and desperately tries to communicate that something in wrong with the world. Just as Hulk realizes that his words are coming out backwards, he is attacked by Hyperion. The Squadron Supreme hero crashes through the wall and sends Hulk flying through the building and outside for their fight. All that Hulk can do is plead while he defends himself, but in this particular battle against Marvel’s Superman, the once Immortal Hulk has been reduced to a sad version of himself.
Much like the classic, incomplete clone of Superman, the Hulk is incapable of clearly expressing himself, and is immediately perceived by Hyperion to be a threat that needs to be dealt with. The subsequent battle between Hulk and Hyperion mirrors many of the encounters between Bizarro and Superman, with the frustrated monster resorting to violence when his attempts to communicate are ignored.
Hyperion has often proven himself to be more of a hothead than the voice of reason, and reacts in character, with no moral code stopping him from unleashing his full force against a creature who primarily wants to understand what is happening. Knowing that this is one of the few enemies capable of actually ending his life, Hyperion hits the Hulk with everything he has, tearing through his body with a barrage of blasts from his eye beams that ultimately prove to be fatal to the emerald goliath.
It is by far one of the most heartbreaking ends that the Hulk has ever met. His remains are then sent back to the Negative Zone, adding insult to the injury of his brutal ending.
It’s hard to imagine such a brutal defeat being dished out by Superman, but Marvel’s own Man of Tomorrow has just proven that there is no room left for nuance in this brave new world.
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