Avengers Reveal Horror Icon Man-Thing Is A Darker Version of the Hulk

Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1!

Although often dismissed thanks to his similarities to DC’s Swamp Thing, Marvel’s Man-Thing has been revealed to actually have more in common with the Hulk. When strange plant-like growths appear all over the world following Man-Thing’s defeat by new villain the Harrower, the Avengers set out to find a solution. When Captain America manages to make contact, he comes into contact with Man-Thing’s other half, Dr. Ted Sallis, who reveals the truth behind his relationship with the famous swamp monster.

Created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow for Savage Tales #1 (1971), Dr. Ted Sallis began his comic existence hard at work recreating a new version of the super soldier serum. He quickly relocated to the Everglades, where he was so consumed with his work that he didn’t learn that his wife had sold him out to terrorist organization AIM. With AIM closing in, Sallis not only destroyed his notes for the formula but injected the only sample into his body, fleeing the scene only to die in a car crash. But the serum, along with the supernatural elements within the swamp water, saw him return as gigantic, slow-moving plant mutate. As the guardian of the Nexus of all Realities, Man-Thing has come into contact with many of Marvel’s heroes and villains, usually during cases of supernatural or magical occurrences.

In Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 by Steve Orlando and Francesco Mobili, the vegetal growths that have emerged in cities worldwide overnight are quickly deemed as dangerous, with spores that incinerate anyone who feels fear. With an idea that Man-Thing is responsible, Captain America is engulfed by vegetation and awakes in a dark, swamp-like landscape. As he confronts some of his darkest fears, he gains an assist from a stranger who later introduces himself as Dr. Ted Sallis. He reveals that they are in the remainder of Man-Thing’s consciousness which has been his prison for all these years. “It’s… been just me here, screaming in silence for decades.”

Dr. Sallis’ revelation makes him a version of the Hulk but without the ability to transform back into his human form. For years, Dr. Bruce Banner has struggled with his angry, gamma-green alter-ego with their relationship going through a history of extremes and mutual recrimination. The difference between Man-Thing and the Hulk is that Hulk is not only aware of Banner but they’ve been able communicate and often work together, while Sallis is Man-Thing’s prisoner, trapped for decades to witness life through his reborn, mutated eyes but unable to participate or contribute. Not only has this torture made him bitter, but his only companions are his own worst fears, the constant battle leaving him paranoid and unsure of what is real and what is not.

Although Bruce Banner has his own issues, as well as other versions of the Hulk to deal with in his own psyche, he has a life outside of the Hulk and has been able to contribute to society and even save the day on multiple occasions. Bruce’s life changed when he was caught in the blast of his own gamma bomb, but Ted Sallis’ ended with his fatal car crash, replaced by a nightmare. He is a ghost of himself, doomed to witness the gross, graphic and strange adventures of Man-Thing as his humanity becomes as distant as the memory of his other life. Both Hulk and Man-Thing contain a man damned by his desire to create, but only one of those men ever sees the light of day.

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