The Incredible Hulk Threatens To Destroy Bruce Amidst A 'Mother Of Horrors'

Bruce Banner will be at risk of permanently losing control to his raging alter-ego while also having to contend with a potentially world-ending monstrous threat in "The Incredible Hulk" #1, set to release June 21. The new series, which Marvel describes as "terrifying," comes from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and penciler Nic Klein. The series will see every monster in the Marvel Universe on a quest to eliminate Banner in an attempt to liberate their creator, the Mother of Horrors. Joined by an unnamed "unlikely new friend," Bruce and Hulk will have to try to work together to save the world from unspeakable threats.

Though the exact nature of that threat remains unknown, preview pages provided to AIPTComics.com show they seem to have, at least partially, a Middle Eastern origin as the book opens with a group of explorers discovering inhuman remains in a tomb in Iraq a year ago. In present-day Kentucky, a haggard-looking Bruce is losing his grip on himself. He's having hallucinations of Hulk speaking from strangers' bodies and is visibly terrified, having seemingly lost his ability to reign in the Hulk.

While this is far from the first time Banner's disparate personalities will battle over control of his body, something about his reaction in these panels seems to imply this time is somehow different. As his perception of the world around him changes, Banner looks like he knows his next transformation into the Hulk could well be final.

The series is set to mark the beginning of the "Age of Monsters," and with Marvel promising a horror-driven story, its artistic team seems poised to deliver on that front. "Phillip and I put a big serving of monsters, a bit of eldritch gods, a good dash of suspense, and some cool new characters into the cauldron," Nic Klein told Marvel. "We're trying to serve up a Hulk the readers haven't seen before."

"We're getting back to Stan Lee's Frankenstein/Jekyll & Hyde inspirations for the character, and giving readers a proper monster book in the best, truest Hulk tradition," said Phillip Kennedy Johnson, whose past work has included macabre titles like "Alien" and "Marvel Zombies: Resurrection." Klein, meanwhile, has worked extensively drawing on different "Hulk" titles in the past and is eager to explore some of the character's body horror elements.

Whatever monsters — new or returning — Bruce and the Jade Giant will have to face off with, it seems clear fans can expect a darker, more visceral take on the character than we've seen in recent runs. And considering how terrified Bruce looks in the previews, it looks like things are off to a good start.