Planet Hulk is one of the greatest comic book stories starring the Green Goliath. Here’s a quick overview to the Hulk’s cosmic odyssey.
As the Marvel Universe’s self-proclaimed strongest there is, the Hulk has smashed his way through virtually every opponent that stood in his way on Earth, villain and hero alike. The Green Goliath’s destructive reputation would catch up to him in the comic book storyline “Planet Hulk,” with the superhero exiled to a faraway world where he found himself becoming a gladiator and revolutionary to its population in one of the most acclaimed stories to star the Jade Giant.
Here is a quick overview of the 2006 epic — written by Greg Pak, drawn by Carlo Pagulayan and Aaron Lopresti, inked by Jeffrey Huet, colored by Chris Sotomayor and lettered by Randy Gentile and Joe Caramagna — how it rocked the Hulk to his core and how it would reverberate across the rest of the Marvel Universe in the immediate aftermath.
The Lead-Up
Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven introduced the Illuminati, a secret ensemble of six of the most powerful, influential heroes in the Marvel Universe. With their existence unknown even to their families and closest friends, the group orchestrated major events throughout Marvel history, forming in the aftermath of the Kree-Skrull War that had nearly consumed the Earth. Deciding to be more proactive rather than risk such an occurrence catching them off-guard in the future, the clandestine team eventually turned its attention to the Hulk.
After a particularly destructive rampage through Las Vegas, the Illuminati decided the Green Goliath had finally crossed the line. Holding a vote, despite Professor X being absent at the time, the majority votes to exile Hulk on a faraway peaceful planet, a plan vocally opposed by Namor as the sole dissenting vote. The Hulk is lured to an apparent rogue satellite only to discover it’s all part of an elaborate trap as he is blasted into deep space. Accidentally passing through an uncharted wormhole, the Hulk’s destination is diverted as he lands on the planet Sakaar.
The Green Scar
The main epic story unfolds across Incredible Hulk #92-105 and Giant-Size Hulk #1, picking up from the New Avengers: Illuminati #1 special. Still weakened from his crash-landing, the Hulk is ambushed and fitted with an obedience disk by the militaristic regime presiding over Sakaar, led by a dictator known as the Red King. Forced to fit in the gladiator pits, one of the Hulk’s most surprising opponents is the Silver Surfer, who was revealed to have arrived on the planet sometime in the past and similarly fitted with an obedience disk. Over the course of their fight, the Hulk breaks the Silver Surfer’s disk who uses his restored power to free all the gladiators and slaves on Sakaar. While the Surfer offers to take the Hulk with him off-world, the hero decides to stay and help overthrow the Red King with his fellow gladiators, with whom he had entered a pact to form the Warbound.