One of the biggest Easter eggs in the new trailer for Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings was the reappearance of the Abomination, Tim Roth’s villain from The Incredible Hulk. There’s still no official word on the Abomination’s role beyond the moment in the trailer, but it’s unquestionably the character, and his presence in Shang-Chi suggests an interesting backstory.
It’s been more than a decade since the Abomination appeared in The Incredible Hulk, the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s most neglected film (in no small part because Universal Pictures still holds the distribution rights). The film suffered from notorious creative battles, which resulted in Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner in the MCU.
The Abomination was one of the better elements of the film, as Roth infused him with a constant, barely caged hostility that made for a memorable villain. His return has been treated with excitement by Marvel fans, but there are subtle changes in his look that suggest he’s not the same figure he was in The Incredible Hulk. To get a better sense of what Shang-Chi viewers may be in for, the comics provide some answers.
The Abomination’s Comic Origins Are Similar to the MCU
In the MCU, Abomination is Emil Blonsky, an elite British soldier injected with a variant of the Super Soldier serum mixed with Banner’s blood. He’s keen to possess the strength of the Hulk and the untested serum is his path. His last status in the MCU had him held prisoner in a cryo-stasis prison as revealed in Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant.
In the comics, his origins are a little different, though it retains his desire to become as powerful as Banner. The comics version first appeared in Tales to Astonish #90 in 1967 — interrupting Banner’s attempts at suicide and absorbing the radiation himself. The results turned him into what amounted to a more reptilian version of the Hulk, and made him a staple of Bruce Banner’s rogues gallery.
The Abomination’s Strengths and Weaknesses Closely Match the Hulk’s
The results turned him into a reptilian green creature with size, strength and speed equal to – and many times exceeding – the Hulk’s, as well as spikes he can extend from his arms, back and feet capable of piercing the Hulk’s flesh. He has a regenerative healing factor that allows him to recover almost instantly from injuries. And unlike Banner at the time, he retained his intelligence when he transformed, allowing him to think and strategize.
The Abomination could match the Hulk for sheer ferocity, and often channeled that into brutal assaults that held nothing back. Unlike the Hulk, however, Abomination doesn’t appear to be capable of turning human again — but like the Hulk, he can be slowly worn down. He was defeated in The Incredible Hulk by being strangled with a giant chain.
There Have Been Several Incarnations of The Abomination
The Abomination has undergone his share of transformations in the comics, which the Shang-Chi clip makes a subtle reference to. Blonsky himself died in Hulk Vol. 2 #23, killed by Thunderbolt Ross in the form of the Red Hulk, though he was resurrected a few years later. In addition, a number of characters besides Blonsky have used the handle “Abomination.” They include a female version – the Abominatrix – and a Teen Abomination, both exposed to similar gamma-related mishaps as the original. More recently, Ross’ underling, Reginald Fortean, became a version of the Abomination after grafting himself to dead tissue in an arc beginning in Immortal Hulk #20.
Any — or none — of them may be connected with the MCU version. Roth’s presence isn’t officially confirmed for Shang-Chi, though Deadline has reported that Roth will appear in the She-Hulk series on Disney+. That doesn’t mean the character in the Shang-Chi is his version of the Abomination, however. The questions may have to wait until September for answers, though judging by the character’s resurgence in the MCU, they’re apt to be good ones.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Daniel Callaham, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as Wenwu/The Mandarin, Awkwafina as Katy, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist. The film arrives in theaters Sept. 3.
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