Ever since I was a small child, one of my favorite things to do was read comics. Fell in love with both DC and Marvel characters. I had a particular soft spot for Dr. Robert Bruce Banner a.k.a The Incredible Hulk. As a child I was frequently bullied and had developed bad anxiety and anger issues. As such the Hulk became a personal favorite. But that being said, a hero is only as good as the villains he faces. The Hulk has a few, but even fewer that are note worthy. A lot of people remember the Leader or General Ross, but for a long time I always felt that these two pale in comparison to who I believe is the one true arch nemesis.

Emil Blonsky a.k.a the Abomination

So what about this villain makes him so special? Well for starters he was created by legendary writer Stan Lee and artist Gil Kane. Created with the intention of being bigger, badder, and stronger than the Hulk, his first appearance saw him savagely beat the Hulk within an inch of his life.

This was essentially all the character was though. The guy who could give Hulk a great fight. He was almost always someone's lackey. Being used by General Ross to capture the Hulk or becoming the champion of Galaxy Master. Though he was not without personality. In Vol.2 issue 195, Abomination openly stated that he'd much rather be Hulk's friend than enemy. Despite this, he almost always took the opportunity to fight the Hulk, even going out of his way to save Banners life, just to keep the rivalry going. Such as the time when Bruce was poisoned and started experiencing a heart attack.

But what about all of this separates him from the average villain? What about him, makes him more than just battle fodder? Well, nothing at first. Not until the acclaimed writer Peter David had a go at him. This is how Abomination was turned from a good villain into a great one.

After years of combat, Abomination chose to remain in hiding. He ventured deep underground into a sewer system, Seeking asylum among the homeless of New York City. He remained there at peace, until one day he discovered that someone from his past has arrived in the city. You see, before his transformation into the Abomination, Emil was an agent for the Russian KGB, but more than that, he was a loving husband. His wife Nadia, was a stage actress and he greatly admired her. When she arrived in America, he began stalking her around the area she lived and worked. Believing her husband had died a long time ago, she had no idea that this figure that walked in the shadows was her beloved husband. Emil found it incredibly hard to stay away. Going as far as to watch her in her sleep.

He could hardly bare it. There was a need swelling inside of him. A need to return to the woman he loves. To hold her in his arms. His wish would be half granted as the Infinity War had begun and people started to disappear. A mass panic spreads throughout the city as Nadia is nearly trampled to death. Abomination rises from the sewers to protect the one thing that matters to him most.

Hulk attempts to stop him, but is summoned to do battle with Thanos. Upon his return to earth, He was shrunken to a puny size. This doesn't stop him from trying to find out why Abomination has kidnapped Nadia though, and follows him further into the sewers. Hiding in a safe spot, he watches as Emil lays Nadia down on a mattress and remains by her side. Once she awakens, she is terrified by the Abomination's visage. He tries to calm her down as he explains that people are dying, and disappearing, that it is complete chaos above. He then tries to ease her into the fact the he is her “dead” husband; however, Emil has a hard time finding the right words to say.

He begins to speak of how they're meant to be together. That everything that has happened, from people vanishing all over the city, to Hulk being "yanked away by the heavens themselves", must be a sign. Once he mentions love, Nadia flips out, claiming him to be a horrid monstrosity with sick perverted dreams. Nadia curls up in a corner as Blonsky stands in silence.

Having seen enough, Hulk intervenes. Leaping onto Emil's shoulder unnoticed, Hulk begins to speak into Blonsky's ear, startling him. Hulk claims to be the voice of God, and tells him that if he truly loves her, he will let her go. He tells him that If she stays here, she will wither and die. Emil doesn't want to believe what he is hearing. That there is no possible chance of rekindling his relationship with Nadia. In a brief fit of rage, Blonsky tears apart the piping, blowing steam everywhere. “It's Not Fair!” he cries. But there is a brief pause as he drops his head, knowing truthfully that this new life of his will only bring suffering to the woman he loves. While Emil is distracted, Nadia tries to escape but the steam blocks her vision as she runs into a wall, knocking herself out. Emil catches her while she falls and carries her back to the surface.

Nadia awakens in her apartment a little dazed and very confused. Maybe it was a dream? She certainly hopes so. Abomination watches her from a neighboring rooftop. Hulk, still on his shoulder, tells him he has done the right thing. Emil remarks “You have no idea what it's like. To be turned into a monster and rejected for your appearance by a woman you love”. This comment really hits home for Hulk/Bruce, as he has reached a low point in his relationship with Betty. The woman he loves fears him, and is having second thoughts on their whole relationship.

After all Emil and Bruce have been through, all the chaos, all the blood shed, for truly the first time in their lives, both men have found common ground. Not in a love for combat. Not in a quest to become more powerful. Not in an enemy of my enemy fashion. Both are alone. Heartbroken.

I noticed that many writers in trying to create a rival for a hero, use one of the former. Not often enough does a story actually dig in deep and bring two enemies together through grief. Mind you, this is the Incredible Hulk we are talking about. When someone mentions the Hulk what usually comes to mind. Action. Destruction. Monsters and mayhem. A casual fan or occasional reader may not know that one of the greatest strengths to a Hulk story is the inner turmoil of any/all of the characters. What is the force the drives them or impedes them? The Hulk represents more than just rage. Each incarnation is a particular aspect of Banners psyche. The Savage Hulk represents Bruce as a child, just wanting to be left alone after all the abuse he had endured at his fathers hands. Grey Hulk/Joe Fixit represents the teenager Bruce never wanted to be: violent, callous, and selfish. Merged/Professor Hulk is the man Bruce always wanted to become. Strong, smart, charming, charismatic. And yet, this was not necessarily the man Betty wanted. He is still the Hulk. He is still a monster.

This leads into the perfect ending for such a touching story.

All of this gave some much needed depth to the character/s. Humanizing them. After this, Abomination came to respect the Hulk as a fellow monster. Even going out of his way to protect those in danger. He meets and befriends a deeply depressed woman named Sandy, who he invites to come into the sewers to spend time with him, almost as a form of therapy. All was well for a time, as Emil found a new family among the homeless. They were all happy to see him anytime he was present. He would frequently tell them stories around a fire, where he started to become something of a celebrity to them.

One fateful day, While patrolling the sewers, Emil encounters a heavily armed police force, accompanied by state news. They open fire on him and he is forced to retaliate. Threatening the officers to leave him and his friends alone or he'll kill them, he is surprised by the sudden arrival of Sandy. Carrying her on his shoulder, he retreats deeper into the sewers.

Watching the news, Betty and Hulk see the fight and Abomination carrying off the woman. Worried for the woman's safety, Hulk decides to head to New York and attempt to defuse the situation. This entire ordeal gives him pause, as he too came to respect the Abomination. Once he arrives, he finds many police officers armed to the teeth, preparing to enter the sewers, and offers his assistance. Unbeknownst to him, a vast majority of the police force are crooked, having been bought by a powerful crime lord, who seeks to eliminate all in the sewers to make way for a planned drug operation. Expecting another attack, Abomination stands watch to meet whatever force that would dare to enter; however, he was not expecting the Hulk to be there. Realizing he must defend his home and friends from them, Abomination does battle once again with his kindred spirit.

Hulk tries to get Emil to surrender, but he refuses to back down. Barely any words are exchanged. As they battle, Sandy attempts to lead the homeless out of the sewer and away from the corrupted police force, as Blonsky intended; however, most of them return to aid Emil, not willing to leave him to fight this battle alone. He is family. The homeless use whatever they can as weapons, hurling bricks and garbage at the invading force. The rattling of gun fire echoes through the tunnels into the keen ears of both Hulk and Abomination, stunning them. Emil frantically races to defend his friends. To defend His family. But upon his arrival, He finds nothing but corpses. Blood soaks the body's and covers the ground beneath them. Emil stands before them, a broken man.

Having lost all he had left, Emil snaps. He begins to murder the crooked cops, one by one. He now believes that no matter where he goes or what he does, humanity will always be there to take it away. The Hulk himself is awash with guilt, having realized that if he stayed out of this, none of this would have happened. Now he truly has no choice but to fight the Abomination. Throughout this battle he tries to reason with him, but to no avail. In a way, Abomintion feels betrayed by the Hulk, claiming “After everything they've done to you...You should have been down here with me!”. I always felt like this reflected his thoughts on the Hulk from issue 195. This truly gives weight to the notion that he would rather have been Hulks friend. The fight escalates, both figuratively and literally, as they reach the surface. Abomination mocks the Hulk's efforts to try and reason. “Don't give me your sham pretenses of playing by their rules Hulk! You do it when it suits your fancy, rationalize it when it doesn't!” The Hulk does not dwell on Abomination's words as he knows he must stop his rampage. Even still he knows that it is all true. He has chosen to live among the rest of society and has seemingly forgotten all the grief it has wrought against him.

Abomination see's a news helicopter, and leaps on to it. This then leads to a pretty foreboding moment as Betty watches the TV.

Hulk and Abomination continue to battle it out on top of the Helicopter, ripping it apart as it spirals out of control. Hulk grabs the news crew and leaps to safety, while Abomination stays on the crashing chopper, as it nose dives into the bay. Hulk would leap in after him, searching for quite some time, but never found him.

Once again bitter enemies, the fighting would continue onward. Where once was light, darkness fell, with Emil lost and alone. He would eventually learn of troubling truth. That Banner has married Betty Ross. This only further drives Emil down the rabbit whole. He had still thought of the Hulk as a fellow monster, one the world could not possibly understand. Only he knew his pain, but now the very man who kept him from being with the woman he loves, has run off with a woman of his own.

“So be it.”

Driven mad by grief, Emil does the unthinkable and kills Betty Ross.

As time passed, Abomination would experience an existential crisis as he contemplates what he has done. It seems as though he came to see himself as a monster, but not in the typical sense of a villain who embraces the dark side. He saw himself as a monster in very much the same way the world around him did. Emil grew to hate himself for all he has done, and yet accepted the fact that there was no going back. Still, there was a part of him that desperately wished to return to Nadia. But he knew it could never happen, not after what he had done.

There is an interesting subplot where Emil finds volunteer work as a writing instructor for a class at a public library. Disguising himself and covering his whole body so that no one could recognize him. During one of the lessons, Emil tells them a fantasy story about love, loss, revenge, and consequence. Unbeknownst to the class, the story is loosely based on his life. When asked if the story has a happy ending, he simply replies “No. Happy endings are for lazy writers.” This is in contrast to a much earlier comic in which Emil tells the homeless people a fantasy story loosely based on his life that was, as a whole, bittersweet, but he finished it with "Happily ever after."

All of this culminated in to what would be Hulk and Abomination's greatest battle. This fight is excellent, not for the amount of destruction or fist thrown, but because it resonates on such an emotional level. Abomination killed Bruce's wife Betty, the woman he loved more than anything. Banner not only denied Emil the right to be with the woman he loved, but is also the reason, why his beloved homeless friends were slaughtered.

This is personal.

There will be blood.

Both are practically relentless in their assault, beating the living hell out of each other. Hulk's ceaseless rage eventually overwhelms Blonsky who at this point does not care whether he lives or dies. Resigned to his fate, Abomination tells Hulk to “put us both out of our misery”; however, Ross arrives and detains him.

Placed in high tech shackles, meant to restrain his power. Emil sits in silence as he begins to regenerate. Banner arrives and Emil tells him to gloat all he wants and claims that he has done more damage to him then anyone ever could. Banner then does something particularly devious. He directs Emil to look into the screen in front of him. He then plays a recording of the last time Emil was with his wife before the transformation. Emil is immediately driven into a frenzied panic. He begs and pleads with Banner to turn it off, but instead it is played on a loop, as Banner walks away leaving Blonsky to his torment.

I remember when reading this as a kid, I felt very sorry for Emil. I am not trying to defend his actions against Bruce but, I oddly understood where all his pain was coming from. He was alone for so long and when he finally found peace, it was violently taken away from him. Heartbroken, all he could do was be the monster. Be the bad guy, and yet, as a child, I asked myself “whose the real bad guy?” To show the hero stooping to such a low level, against a villain who had lost so much because of said hero, was a lightning bolt reminder that things aren't always so black and white. That despite all their power, they are just as fragile as the rest of us. They are human.

As Emil put it “Happy endings are for lazy writers.”

Abomination is the perfect rival for the Hulk as he practically represents Hulks/Banners dark reflection, and he does this without being a pallet swap character. Banner does not wish for power and dreads the day in which he will eventually lose control. Blonsky craves power and loves to cut loose. But these characters have evolved beyond the simplicity of just being polar opposites. We see both contemplate their actions and the effects that it has had. These are characters not bound by blood, in the sense that they are siblings, clones, or from alternate timelines. Entirely different men, they couldn't be much further apart and yet they are similar in so many ways. It is their choices in life that have put them on opposing paths.

And that is why I believe that the Abomination is one of the greatest arch-rivals of all time.

My favorite Marvel character along with Malekith. Great read, but wasn't the part with Betty retconned as a nightmare?

@foxerdes: Thanks.

No, Betty died. It was during Bruce Jones run that he tried to revive her; however, his whole run was pretty terrible and was retconned by the Tempest Fugit storyline.

@warlordeternal: So Emil teaching how to write wasn't retconned?

@foxerdes: To my knowledge no.

@warlordeternal: I very much liked that part.

Yeah, he's a pretty neat character by Western comic standards.

@warlordeternal: this was a very interesting take on abomination that I didn't know. I only knew the bare bones of the rogue and I was somewhat disappointed by the cinematic version. The film version of blonsky was reminiscent of Glenn Talbot and making abomination was short lived.

@foxerdes: Me too. I felt the addition of him being a writing teacher fit neatly with the fact that he was a great story teller during his time with the homeless.

@ravenvice01: Indeed. His live action adaptation was very lack luster in comparison to his comic book counterpart. The end fight was too short and turned into a chase scene. There was also a problem with his appearance as he looks nothing like the Abomination. I understand that giving him a scale lizard like appearance, wouldn’t make sense to casual movie goers, but you could at least make him look similar. Heck, his concept art resembled his comic appearance more then what we got. And the fact that he had no pointy or fin-like ears bugged me. Hulk calls him “big ears” for a reason. The Director reasoned that he didn’t give him any ears because, Hulk is stupid and would just bite them off like Mike Tyson.

This shows a severe lack of creativity and knowledge of the characters on his part.

First of all, Abomination has insane regeneration abilities. He came back after being doused with highly acidic materials, that melted him nearly to goop. He also quickly regenerated his eyes after having them impaled by Marrow (x-men character). Secondly, just let Hulk bite them off. It would make the fight all the more satisfying to watch. Imagine A scene in which both are struggling, Hulk bites his ear off, and pushes him away. Abomination grips the wound as Hulk stares at him, spitting out what he bit off. Abomination then lowers his hand to show his ear already growing back.

Nice, never knew he had a rich backstory for why he fought Hulk other than being an enhanced version of Hulk.

Damn, I never knew he was such a good villain. That was a great read, he sounds like a really top tier villain.

Damn, never knew Abomination was such a tragic villain.

@darth_nimrod: @kevd4wg: @fabricolage: Glad you guys like it. Happy to spread some knowledge.

This.