Planet Hulk Gladiator

Of all the strange places the Hulk has been, one of the strangest, and one of the most important, is a planet very far from Earth.

A planet called Sakaar.

Sakaar was a hot, dusty, golden world with two suns. Its skies were full of swirling clouds. Its deserts were full of strange winged creatures. And in the middle of its great city stood an enormous Arena, where the strongest beings in the galaxy fought one another for the entertainment of the crowds.

The Hulk did not choose to go to Sakaar. He was sent there.

A small group of Earth's most powerful heroes — they called themselves the Illuminati — had decided, after much painful arguing, that the Hulk was too dangerous to stay on Earth. They worried that one of his rages would hurt millions of people. So they sent him away in a special shuttle, meant for a peaceful empty planet where he could finally rest.

But something went wrong with the shuttle's course. It crashed through a wormhole and tumbled down through Sakaar's golden sky, and the Hulk landed in the wrong place. A place where strangers were grabbed and sold and made to fight.

When he climbed out of the wreckage, soldiers were already waiting.

They put a small disc on his neck that dimmed his strength. They marched him into the slave pens. And they sent him into the Arena to fight.

The Hulk was furious. The Hulk was alone. The Hulk fought.

He won, and he won, and he won.

The crowds, who had never seen anything like him, began to roar his name. The other gladiators — the warriors who fought beside him in the sand — began to call him by a new title.

The Green Scar.

But the most wonderful thing that happened on Sakaar was not the fame. It was the family.

In the gladiator pits, the Hulk met three companions, and for the first time in a very long time, he was not alone.

There was Korg, a kind giant made of rock, with a soft Australian-sounding voice and a gentle nature that did not match his enormous stone fists at all.

There was Miek, a small insect-like warrior with too many arms and a fierce loyalty.

There was Hiroim, a wise and quiet former priest who fought with the calm of a man who had read many books.

Together, the four of them made an oath. They called themselves the Warbound. They promised to stand by one another until the end. And they did. Through every battle, through every long night in the slave pens, they held each other up.

The Hulk had never had brothers before. Now he did.

The tyrant who ruled Sakaar was called the Red King, and he was cruel. He thought the gladiators were toys. He thought the slaves were nothing. He did not expect the Green Scar to lead a rebellion against him.

But that is exactly what happened.

The Hulk and the Warbound rose up. The slaves followed them. The gladiators followed them. Even the ordinary people of Sakaar followed them, sick of the Red King's cruelty. They marched on his palace, and they toppled his throne, and they freed their world.

The people of Sakaar asked the Hulk to be their king.

He said yes.

And there is one more wonderful thing that happened on Sakaar. The Hulk fell in love. Her name was Caiera, and she was a brave warrior from the deserts, with strong arms and a quiet smile. She understood the Hulk in a way no one ever had. She did not flinch at his green skin. She did not fear his strength. She simply saw him.

They were married. They built a peace.

For a brief, shining little while, the Hulk was not a wandering monster. He was a king. He was a husband. He was building a paradise for his people.

It might have lasted. It should have lasted.

But the shuttle that had brought the Hulk to Sakaar had a flaw deep in its engine. After all this time, the engine finally cracked. A great quiet explosion ripped through the capital city. The damage was terrible. Caiera was lost. Thousands were lost. And the Hulk's brief paradise was gone in a single sad moment.

The Hulk knelt in the ruins. He held his grief like a great heavy stone in his chest. The Green Scar was gone. Something new and angrier had taken his place.

He blamed the heroes of Earth. He believed, in his grief, that they had planted the bomb on purpose. He gathered the surviving Warbound — Korg, Miek, Hiroim, the brothers who had sworn to stand beside him until the end — and he turned his eyes toward home.

The story of Planet Hulk was a saga of finding. Finding a family. Finding a love. Finding a purpose.

It showed that the Hulk had never been just a beast. He could lead. He could love. He could build.

And as his great fist closed on the controls of the ship that would carry him back to Earth, every piece of the paradise he had lost burned bright and angry in his heart.

The strongest one there is was coming home.

And he had things to say.