Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

MAN-THING versus HULK

... And Man-Thing Makes Three! (Marvel)
Where: Incredible Hulk #197 When: March 1976
Why: Len Wein How: Sal Buscema & Joe Staton

The Story So Far...
Battle with The Abomination onboard an out-of-control rocket leaves Hulk hurtling uncontrollably earthbound through the planet's atmosphere.

Crash-landing in the Florida Everglades -- the Hulk burns with anger & confusion as he resumes his lonely existence beneath the watchful gaze of a silent, shambling beast.

In the bosom of the swamp, Hulk finds hostile reptiles, but reverting to Bruce Banner briefly, he makes the acquaintance of a timid mute troubled by an anachronistic mob of pirates. These wretches are exhibits in The Collector's collection and now Hulk will face his prized champion in mortal combat!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Hulk 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Man-Thing 2 (Average)
Speed: Hulk 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Draw 6 (Generator)
Agility: Hulk 2 (Average)
Fighting: Hulk 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Man-Thing 2 (Projectiles)
Total: Hulk 26 (Meta-Human)

Those who know fear burn at the Man-Thing's touch, but what's a little scolding to a Hulk who just burst into flames passing through Earth's atmosphere?

He launched a tactical pre-emptive strike when facing the fire of the Human Torch back in Fantastic Four #12, but decades later stood face-front relatively unscathed against the nuclear inferno of Red Hulk.

Hulk is far more prone to rage than fear, but he's facing a pretty weird opponent in circumstances well beyond his usual scope of operation, so let's not completely rule it out.

Of course, despite a fairly monstrous visage, the Man-Thing is actually a relatively kind natured creature, instinctively driven by a powerful sense of empathy, as well as sometimes preying upon the fears of those who misunderstand him. In many ways he's actually quite a kindred spirit for the Hulk.

The once brilliant biochemist, Dr. Theodore Sallis, is become a primitive protector of the innocent, and guardian to The Nexus of Realities found in the Florida Everglades that formed his new body.

It's a station that put Man-Thing on the frontlines of repelling the zombie plague of Earth-2149: home of the Marvel Zombies, where Hulk became one of the deadliest plague carriers to visit other worlds, and devour powerful opponents.

It seems even as a decaying zombie: Hulk is strongest one there is, but Man-Thing is only in this fight because of The Collector's influence, and that opens this fight up to a whole range of unexpected twists. Let's see what happened...

The Tape: Hulk Ranking: Hulk (#6)

What Went Down...

From the depths of the Everglades emerges the grim visage of The Collector!

Arriving to claim ownership of a freshly beaten mob of salty pirates, he inspires terror in the face of their mute victim. This is enough for the Hulk to match his newfound friend's fear with rage -- swiftly redirected by The Collector towards another figure suddenly appearing: His champion -- The Man-Thing!

At his master's behest the towering swamp monster marches toward a bewildered Hulk -- smacking him with the back of his mossy hand!

The hit only staggers Hulk for a fleeting moment.

The green goliath charges angrily towards Man-Thing to strike back in kind -- only for his massive fist to punch straight through the slimy vegetation of the creature's unharmed body!

Once again Man-Thing seizes upon Hulk's confusion as The Collector barks orders to strike!

With his marshy hands clasped, the Man-Thing brings them suddenly rising to Hulk's jade jaw with a powerful hammer-like two-fisted uppercut!

The Hulk's rage only grows as his primitive mind grapples with the situation. He had no reason to fight Man-Thing before, but now he will punish the creature for daring to attack!

While the Hulk swings his mighty fist like a wrecking ball through Man-Thing's mushy mid-section -- The Collector aims to stack the deck in favour of his indentured champion...

The elder of the universe casts the light of the fabled Philosopher's Stone on a fearful nearby mute, whose silent witness contorts into an expression of twisted horror as his existence is unmade -- reverting to a creature of oozing clay!

Completely under The Collector's influence, the living Glob is now directed to join the fight -- catching Hulk by surprise with a sneak attack!

The clubbing blow from behind drops the Hulk to his knees, but he soon puts wild eyes on the Man-Thing's unexpected accomplice.

With frustration and anger boiling over, the Hulk aims to smash this newest challenger -- only to find his fist once again glides ineffectually through its target!

With only a clay-soaked hand to show for his aggression, Hulk stares at his fist with existential dread. "Bah! You are made of clay -- like carrot-nose is made of slime! How can Hulk fight clay and slime? HOW??"

The creatures callously ignore Hulk's frustrated quandary, showing him the hard side of their marsh and mud with synchronous punches!

The shambling monsters approach their toppled foe and loom silently for a moment -- before The Collector once again rallies their attentions to an attack!

The Glob locks his arms around Hulk's chest while Man-Thing delivers clubbing overhead blows.

Hulk flails wildly in an attempt to repel his attacker and escape the hold, but the Man-Thing cradles Hulk's head and plunges it into his swampy chest!

Hulk continues to fight, his mighty lungs affording him more time than any mortal man, but even he can only last so long, especially once caught by surprise.

The Man-Thing silently holds Hulk's head within the suffocating bog of his own body.

Slowly but surely Hulk's thrashing begins to subside. As he succumbs to passing out, his arms fall limp and he drops to the ground, unconscious at the feet of the motionless Man-Thing and The Glob.

The Hammer...

The Collector's pirates come to gather the bounty of a defeated Hulk -- five or six of them struggling to lift his mighty figure as they're led to the private quarters of Collector's possessions.

You might not know it at a glance, but this marks something of a reunion for Hulk and one of his old adversaries.

The Glob first appeared in Incredible Hulk #121 when escaped convict Joseph Timms was accidentally doused in radioactive waste dumped into a swamp by the rampaging Hulk. The mugshot [pictured above] shows a portion of that dramatic 1969 cover by artist Herb Trimpe.

The Glob butted heads with the jade giant a couple more times, before passing through geographic convenience to the domain of today's marquee main eventer and inadvertent tag team partner: Man-Thing!

The Glob and Man-Thing became Florida Everglades sparring partners in the ever-famous Giant Size Man-Thing #1! A series of body horrors having taken The Glob from short-lived servitude to The Leader, to becoming a golden brain -- his body reconstituted under the command of Yagzan and his Cult of Entropy.

It all gets a little weird, but weird is what you get when you're dealing with re-animated monster men-things made from swamp muck and mud!

With slamming Sal Buscema on pencils this can't help but be big time super-hero smackdown, but it manages to be subdued enough to bog Hulk down in the mire of a horror genre monster mash. Just what would hit the spot this spooky season!

Hulk was born from a disaster of the super-hero atomic age, but we can't forget he began life as a figure of horror. A Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein's Monster hybrid, a literalized creature by night lurking in the shadow of the human psyche.

Even after he was brightened up and entered into crossovers with Marvel's heroes of science, Hulk remained a monosyllabic beast, trading blows with the likes of The Thing, as if fulfilling the promise of late stage classic Universal horror movies with even bigger monsters, and bolder technicolour brawls.

We never seem to have enough Hulk on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths, and with Halloween drawing near -- and Man-Thing making waves with a successful live-action return in Marvel's Werewolf By Night special -- it seemed like the perfect time to dig up today's classic back issue.

It's a very different dynamic to Hulk's fight with Jack Russell in Incredible Hulk #362, but there's a similar thrill reconnecting with that classic horror vibe. I'm enjoying building our file of the more macabre side of the superhero universes.

If you'd like to find more from your favourite horrors you should follow links throughout this article, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winners: Man-Thing & The Glob
#353 (new) Glob (Joseph Timms)
#415 (+475) Man-Thing
#629 (new) The Collector [+1 assist]
#6 (--) Hulk