How Blade Defeated The Hulk Without Lifting A Finger

The popular vigilante and vampire hunter Blade has crossed paths with many Marvel characters, both heroes and villains, in his mission to permanently rid the world of the undead. While you may think Blade’s vampire-related skillset wouldn’t stand him in good stead against more traditional super-powered foes, Blade has displayed a number of impressive powers which have kept him alive against any number of challengers, something that came in useful in the Ultimate Marvel Universe when Blade crossed paths with the original Hulk… and took him down without throwing a punch.

In this parallel Marvel universe – meant to enable creators to take characters in new and different directions outside of the mainstream continuity – Bruce Banner may be the most infamous Hulk, but he isn’t the first. Dr. Leonard Williams, a professor at Cambridge University and Banner’s mentor, created the first Hulk serum and tested it on himself. Williams transformed into a super-strong goliath with the same powers as the Hulk but retaining his genius intellect. Abandoning his wife and child, Williams reinvented himself as Tyrone Cash, a South American gangster and crime lord who made his first appearance in Ultimate Comics Avengers 2.

In Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates by Mark Millar with art by Lenil Yu and Stephen Segovia, Nick Fury is recruiting people for his latest black ops mission. This includes coffee with Blade, who remains essentially the same as his mainstream Marvel counterpart, with Fury bribing Blade with an offer to hand over the vampire who turned his mother. Blade joins, and the team chases down a group selling stolen super soldier serum, who are revealed to be led by Tyrone Cash, the original Hulk. After decimating War Machine, Cash turns his attention to Blade, but rather than whip out his sword, Blade begins to talk. Blade actually compliments Cash’s actions and then starts asking random questions. Cash realizes too late that Blade is actually attempting to hypnotize him, and Brooks is able to have him transform back to his elderly, Leonard Williams form so Fury can interrogate him.

Nick Fury subsequently enlists Cash to join his black ops team, the Avengers, by blackmailing him with the threat of informing the family he abandoned that he’s actually alive. This is probably the easiest conclusion to a battle with the Hulk in recent memory, made especially important by the fact that Blade uses an ability that he does not have in the mainstream Marvel universe. In classic vampire literature, vampires had the ability to hypnotize their victims to do their bidding, exercising complete control of their body and mind. While Blade knows his abilities and weapons would barely make a dent in Tyrone Cash’s skin, he surprises the elderly arms dealer with a spooky ability that reminds us that Blade is more than human. He robs Cash of his beloved power and leaves him in the control of the Ultimate Universe’s diabolical Nick Fury.

Although Blade’s tenure on the Avengers would only be in this storyline, the fact that he held his own against a particularly vicious Hulk shows how valuable and dangerous the famous vampire hunter could be to Fury’s team. By taking down one of the Marvel Universe’s biggest physical threats without lifting a finger, Blade proved that he’s more than a one-note character but actually a valuable asset to any team, whether superhero or supernatural.

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