Civil War Hulk: The Creator Commentary

By Michael Weyer

Now this may be a bit goofy but I've always loved those "Creator Commentaries" that Wizard Magazine does and thought I'd do one myself to explain what I was thinking making the story and what shifted about. So hope you enjoy this little capper to my tale.

CHAPTER ONE:

I don't know how I got this story. It just popped into my head reading World War Hulk and the destruction and wondering what would have been if the Hulk had arrived sooner during Civil War. Part of that was that, like many fans, I wasn't happy with how CW ended or its aftermath but also the idea of the still splintered heroes against the Hulk struck me as fun.

My first decision was to get rid of the Sentry. I have never liked the character, feeling the Marvel Universe just doesn't need a Superman type. His use has bugged me too as he just comes off so whiny and ineffective yet in "WWH," he's treated as the one everyone counts on. So getting rid of him was key.

Also, I have never liked the character of Amadeus Cho, the one misstep of Pak's otherwise excellent run. The guy just strikes me as the comic equivalent of a Mary Sue, a super genius who can do things Reed and Tony can't, manipulate SHILED and any computer system and keeps escaping certain death. That's just too annoying to play with.

Captain Marvel's resurrection was another misstep I wanted to avoid as it just spits on the classic Jim Starlin death story and the time travel thing gives me a headache.

Also, Namor's arrival with his Atlatean forces never made that much sense, particularly how they just vanished afterward. The real Namor would have kept fighting to keep Cap, one of the few men he truly respects, from offering himself up so easily.

The scene of the Hulk arriving was in my head from the start and I was a bit surprised that the "What If Annihilation" special did almost the exact same thing, substituting Nova and a probe for the Hulk.

I know the dialogue the Hulk says isn't exactly what was in WWH but I was going more for reactions than exact recreations. She-Hulk's reaction I wanted to play with and the line Luke Cage has about "put me in the Negative Zone and good luck with the Hulk" had been in my mind for a long time.

CHAPTER TWO:

Now I admit at the time, I hadn't come up with the "Hill is really Loki" thing when I wrote the start. But I did want to show that the government wouldn't be stupid enough to keep dividing the heroes when they need all the bodies they can get with the Hulk.

I know Marvel wants to make Tony a guy who just had to make right choices but they could have done it without turning him into a fascist. So the scene of Cap and Iron Man arguing was key as it also sets up the segue to Doom.

There's just something about Doom that makes him such a fun character to write and especially when he actually does have the moral high ground for once. I wanted to get the flavor of my "Doctor's Take" tales, of Doom pointing out how in so many ways, Reed is as bad, if not worse, than he is. Namor's reaction just made sense as he was against the Hulk being exiled from the start and figuring the surface world can just fend for themselves.

The Thing/Reed discussion was one I wanted to get, it just seems it would take Ben to get to Reed and point out how, if things had gone differently, Ben could have ended up just as big a monster as the Hulk.

Frankly, I'm shocked that at no time has Marvel done anything of Peter reacting to his oldest enemy a government agent. I thought making Norman leader of the Thunderbolts was really pushing it and Peter's reaction just makes sense here. I mean, really, turning to hardened killers to hunt down heroes? That just had bad idea written all over it and someone had to call Stark on that.

I liked the Hulk/X-Men mini and thought that would be a good work here and naturally, the heroes would be jumping to get at the Hulk. For the record, since this is earlier, Xavier is in space with the Shi'ar, which the Hulk wouldn't know about.

Yeah, I'm a Hawkeye fan, I admit it and so figured this would be enough to get him out and helping and made for a good cliffhanger.

CHAPTER THREE:

As you might have noticed, the fight scenes are a little sparse but frankly, it's much easier to draw this stuff than write it out. G

As far as I'm concerned, bringing back Norman Osborn was one of the single biggest mistakes the Spider-Man books ever made. Asking fans to accept he'd been "recovering in Europe" for 25 years worth of stories was bad enough without completely ruining the "death of Gwen Stacy" story (oh and don't get me started on JMS' entire saga with them…). So when I figured there was a villain who had to die against the Hulk, he was it plus it made sense for Osborn to strike out trying to get into Tony's graces not to mention the fact he's nuts.

For Syrin, it wasn't an easy choice as I do like the character. However, she seemed the best expendable of the X-Men characters and I liked the idea that it's only in death she accepts her father Banshee is truly deceased as well. The idea of Jamie's dupe fainting seeing her just popped in as something Peter David would do himself.

The Juggernaut bit I liked from the comics and I've always loved the "never slept with the Juggernaut" running gag.

Rick Jones' arrival just fit into the story as it's just like him to simply stroll up to an alien starcraft and go "take me to your leader." More importantly, I wanted to show how the one guy who has always defended the Hulk realizes he's truly unstoppable and this time may not be able to go back to the hero side.

That I really wanted to work with, that the Hulk just can't be seen as a hero anymore after all this and simply took it to another level. Killing Syrin is the breaking point for him as he now accepts there's no turning back and thus it's time to bring the pain.

CHAPTER FOUR:

I admit I could have done more with the Leader but did feel good getting in this one scene with She-Hulk confronting him. It's natural she'd think that someone had to be manipulating Reed and Tony (and it turns out she was right, just not the Leader) and he's fun to write. I did love his confidence being assaulted hearing of the Goblin and how is it so easy for people to forget this guy nuked a whole town? Even Doom didn't go quite that far yet he's so overlooked.

I admit, I sort of forgot the Abomination setup at first but did manage to get it together as I planned.

The Hawkeye/Hawkeye scene was a fun one to do and I liked playing with the differences between Rhodey and Falcon.

CHAPTER FIVE:

Ross' appearance made sense as he'd be the guy to send against the Hulk and here he has to let the heroes try first which rankles him immensely.

I know some expected the villains to be sent in as cannon fodder but this makes more sense as they'd put themselves first and know there's no way in hell they're nuts enough to take on a blood thirsty Hulk. Doc Ock just seemed right as their spokesman somehow.

I do like how the Jameson character has been given some depth via Civil War and Peter David's great "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" run which inspired the talk between Jonah and Robbie.

Now at the time, I had thought of Hill merely reporting to the actual mastermind, it wasn't until later the Loki connection came.

CHAPTER SIX:

The battle between Tony and Hulk here is a tad different from WWH as you don't get that rich sense of satisfaction here. But I did want to keep the thing of Tony sent flying into Avengers Tower, a great visual.

Okay, here goes with the big one: I'm not the only one who thought the characterization of Strange in Civil War seemed out of place, staying out of it totally. The idea of an imposter fixed into my head and Mordo was the logical candidate. I took some of the dialogue on Wanda from the "What If Avengers Dissembled" special from 2006 which raised the same points on the flaws in that story. As for the big reveal, I'll get to that in a minute.

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Throwing in the Punisher was a last minute thing but it does make sense that he'd stick in town to fight the aliens on his terms. Pairing him with Winter Soldier clicked in my mind and does make them a good aid for the heroes here.

The thing of Loki being behind Wanda's breakdown and House of M had been in my mind since reading those issues. It made no sense for Wanda to be so powerful or snap like this so it was likely she was manipulated. And who better than the being who had the most to gain seeing the Avengers destroy themselves? I had done it before with a fic "View From the Armchair" and simply altered a few details (such as the Stamford dead being dead, not in suspended animation as in that tale). It hit me that I could make that work here and it fit so much better than I expected. True, it may seem a bit dues ex machina but then Marvel does that quite a lot.

Bringing back Fury was needed without Hill around as he's the only guy who can keep SHIELD running.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Killing off the Abomination may have seemed a bit much but it just hit me that he'd be a likely candidate to be finished off as proof to all the Hulk isn't playing around anymore.

I don't know where the "Mole Man digger" came from, just popped into my head.

Separating the Hulk and Bruce really wasn't the plan at the start but it seemed logical as Loki would find an angry Hulk easier to manipulate. It also frees the heroes up to finally let loose on him without having to worry about Banner anymore.

Originally, I had though of the Silver Surfer coming but remembered Annihilation. With my idea to throw in Loki, bringing in Thor just made sense. I was going for a combination of him facing Neferia at the end of Avengers volume 1 #167 and the classic moment of him facing Ultron during the Busiek run. Believe it or not, the tricky part was finding the right opening line, wanted something that seemed calm but also mixed with "I'm so going to kick your ass." Think I achieved that.

CHAPTER NINE:

Hey, if Loki can survive the end, so can Thor, right? And yeah, do sort of wish I'd waited until the recent reveal of Loki now a woman (would have made the Hill impersonation even more fitting) but still a great confrontation.

Yeah, I do wish I'd had more time for the big Korg-Thor confrontation but then it was a huge battle with the Hulk.

Both SHIELD and Ross' army taking down the ship seemed fitting to me to sell that the normal humans aren't ignored.

When I started, like everyone, I didn't know about Miek's actions and having Bruce figure it out made sense. Plus, just the fun of Bruce letting his anger out for once without the Hulk inside and on Miek.

I've always loved the Warriors Three and wanted to bring them in bad. Ares was a bit of a last thought but it made it work with his decision to fight the Hulk as it just makes sense he'd love a good battle like that. Using Thor to banish the Hulk to distant Asgard worked well in my plans too and having the Warbound agree seemed in character for them and better than marooning them on Earth.

For Loki, I just loved the idea of Spider-Man, this oh so normal joe being the one to stop him.

Speaking of stopping, the Punisher exterminating Miek was just too perfect to pass up.

CHAPTER TEN:

I know I left it a bit open with the Act being repealed totally but then we know how slow governments work and there would still be problems with it despite their aid with the Hulk. Having the decision to not automatically arrest those who didn't sign just makes sense.

I never saw Thor staying on afterward both due to the search for Asgardians and his problems with Tony. Yes, the dialogue is taken from the great "Thor" #3 where he hammers Tony down, an issue I loved.

Figuring the right fate for Loki was rather tricky but having him basically turned into the ruler of the dead, unable to use his powers was the best solution I could come up with.

Yes, the entire Peter/MJ/Aunt May scene is my massive "Screw You" to Joe Queseda after the end of "One More Day." Seeing Peter and MJ broken up just because Joe Q lives in the past and thinks Peter is better off single was bad enough but to do it by having Peter make a deal with the Devil just to give a terminal woman another year or two of life is a slap against the character. And now it's worse as an adult Peter lives with Aunt May still, Harry Osborn isn't alive, the entire run of "New Avengers" is invalid and, to top it all off, MJ (the only one who remembers it all) is now a superpowered stalker for Peter? John Romita Sr is rolling in his grave…and he's not even dead yet.

…..Sorry about that, just had to vent.

The Hood thing just hit me as I was writing the chapter out as it seemed fun to play with Tony having so many baddies in one space which turns out to be the perfect recruiting ground for the Hood.

The Skrull ending was in my head for a long time as not everything would be changed by the Hulk's coming. Now, we have Tony and Cap working together to figure it out but doesn't mean Secret Invasion will be easier.

The ending of Bruce was something I wanted from the start as it just made so much sense. He's tired, he's finally free, he wants to enjoy his life for a change rather than a celebrity or used by the government. And yes, you can feel free to imagine the sound of a melancholy piano tune as he walks away…

So thanks to everyone for all the great comments and glad you enjoyed. Not sure if we'll revisit this reality but one never knows.