She-Hulk: 10 Things Only Comic Fans Know About Abomination

With powers similar to the Hulk, but an appearance and personality even more monstrous, the Abomination has earned his place at the top of the jade giant’s rogues gallery. After making his live-action debut in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, he helped to usher in the burgeoning MCU.

Following a long hiatus, he finally reappeared in 2021’s Shang-Chi, and though his appearance in the film was brief, it laid the foundation for future appearances. Abomination has since been confirmed to be present in the upcoming Disney+ She-Hulk series, but his MCU and Marvel Comics versions already have significant differences, and it remains to be seen exactly how he will be portrayed.

10 He Was Named Before He Was Conceived

In a 2008 interview during the promotion of The Incredible Hulk film, the late Stan Lee revealed that he initially thought of the name Abomination before ever fully conceptualizing the character. As Lee recalled while speaking to KCRA-TV in Sacramento, he had realized that there were no other comic book characters at the time wielding the name, and instructed artist Gil Kane simply to design a villain “bigger and stronger than the Hulk”. Emil Blonsky, the Abomination, would subsequently make his first appearance in 1967’s Tales to Astonish #90, written and penciled by Lee and Kane respectively.

9 He’s Stronger Than The Hulk

As Stan Lee himself suggested, the Abomination’s first appearance established the character as significantly stronger than the Hulk, and he even defeated the gamma-powered hero in their first encounter. While this debut story culminated in a significant reduction in the Abomination’s strength via ’60s super-science employed by Bruce Banner, one of Marvel’s smartest characters, he remains a credible threat. Even after having his power diminished, Abomination’s strength is greater than that of the Hulk’s in his standard form, and he has only ever been felled by the hero when the Hulk’s base-level strength has been increased in correlation to his rage.

8 He Was A Soviet Spy

The MCU’s Emil Blonsky is a Russian-born British citizen and a Captain in the Royal Marines. After joining General Thunderbolt Ross’ “Hulkbuster” unit, he was transformed into the Abomination when he ingested an untested experimental re-creation of the Super-Soldier Serum that empowered Captain America.

In contrast, the Marvel Comics version of Emil Blonsky was a Croatian-born Soviet Spy who had infiltrated the New Mexico Air Force Base in which Bruce Banner conducted the majority of his experiments. While attempting to sabotage one of Banner’s experiments, Blonsky was accidentally bombarded with a larger and more concentrated dose of gamma radiation than that which created the Hulk, and the Abomination was born.

7 He Was Lost In Space

Following his first battle with the Hulk, Abomination was whisked away into space by the enigmatic alien, The Stranger for future study. Despite his origins being grounded in earthly sciences, Blonsky subsequently spent a significant portion of his early comics tenure enveloped in off-world endeavors. During this time, he encountered the cosmic adventurer and former herald of Galactus the Silver Surfer, as well as the mighty Asgardian Avenger Thor. His extraterrestrial exploits would eventually earn Abomination the epithet “Ravager of Worlds”, prompting one particular alien race to recruit his former foe the Hulk, who defeated Blonsky and returned him to Earth.

6 His Long-Lost Love

When Emil Blonsky was transformed into the Abomination, his wife, Nadia, was left with a mixture of emotions; though she loved him, their relationship had been tumultuous. Assuming he had perished, she reverted to her maiden name and continued about her life.

After discovering the truth of Blonsky’s survival and transformation, Nadia began vacillating between conflicting emotions, at times determined to destroy her former abuser and at others seeking to save him from his predicament. Blonsky, on the other hand, never stopped pining for his long-lost love, even going so far as to kidnap her on several occasions. The Abomination’s longing for his estranged wife and hatred for the Hulk collided when, after initially trying to seduce Banner for nefarious means, Nadia instead fell in love with him, dealing a double blow to Blonsky and increasing his hatred towards his nemesis.

5 The “Abominations”

Years into his storied rivalry with the Hulk, the Abomination would find a temporary solace when he took up residence in the vast network of tunnels beneath New York City. Gradually, he attracted a menagerie of misfits and outcasts who followed him, whose ranks included both unpowered humans and x-gene carrying mutants who may have otherwise joined up with the similarly sewer-dwelling Morlocks.

Initially called “The Forgotten”, this group would eventually begin calling themselves “The Abominations” in tribute to their reluctant leader. While his time with them was short, 1996’s Abominations mini-series displayed Blonsky’s often overlooked humanity as he protected the collection of cast-offs while they sought asylum from the surface world which overlooked them.

4 He Killed Betty Ross

Years of exposure to the Hulk’s radioactive aura eventually left Betty Ross, the longtime lover of Bruce Banner, with radiation poisoning. When the Abomination learned of this, he identified an opportunity to finally gain a long-awaited victory over his rival. When Betty perished, Bruce blamed himself, causing him to spiral emotionally. In secret, Blonsky had actually infused Ross with his own irradiated blood, exacerbating her condition and fatally poisoning her. Banner eventually discovered the truth, but he refused to fight Blonsky, and instead expressed his pity at how far his enemy had fallen. With his moment of triumph instead transformed into yet another defeat, the Abomination realized just how much of a monster he had truly become.

3 He Was Killed By Red Hulk

Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness’ critically acclaimed series, simply titled Hulk (2008), introduced the mysterious Red Hulk, and ushered in an exciting new era of exciting Hulk stories. In a symbolic shedding of the legacy of the previous Hulk, Red Hulk would easily dispatch the Abomination in the very first issue of this new series, besting the villain in combat before shooting him in the head with a gigantic gun.

While his motivations were initially unclear, Red Hulk’s eventual reveal as perennial Hulk antagonist General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross would add the clarity of hindsight to his early actions. The father of the late Betty, this clear act of vengeance would be the first breadcrumb along the way to this reveal, but many fans were thrown off the scent early on due to Ross’ transformation into a Hulk burning off his iconic mustache.

2 The Other Abominations

Just as the ever-expanding Marvel Universe has become inhabited by multiple versions of the Hulk besides Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky is not Marvel’s only Abomination. The most notable alternate Abomination is Rick Jones, Marvel’s original teenage sidekick and, notably, a former Hulk himself. While trapped in the form of a blue-skinned, brute similar to Blonsky, Jones operated under the alias “A-Bomb” as an obvious nod to his predecessor.

Besides Jones, other Abominations include US Air Force General Reginald Fortean, Jamie Carlson, a thirteen-year-old boy who introduced himself in battle with Iron Man as “Teen Abomination”, and Florence Sharples, a female counterpart to the original who called herself “Abominatrix” and was, appropriately, an enemy of the Hulk’s own original female counterpart She-Hulk.

1 His Resurrection

Following the transformation of General Thunderbolt Ross into the Red Hulk, his once trusted ally General Reginald Fortean would ironically become one of his most frequent antagonists. Unaware of Red Hulk’s true identity, Fortean led the charge against the monster whom he blamed for his friend’s apparent death.

After multiple failed attempts to apprehend or eliminate his quarry, Fortean became increasingly desperate, and eventually used the corpse of the recently deceased A-Bomb to transform himself into a new Abomination. Eventually killed in battle with the original Hulk, Fortean found himself in the “Below Place”, one of Marvel’s many hell dimensions. While trying to resurrect himself, Fortean’s body was instead usurped by the spirit of Emil Blonsky, who escaped the Below Place himself and, inhabiting Fortean’s body, became the Abomination once again.

About The Author

Drew Beaty
(53 Articles Published)

Drew Beaty is a third-generation superhero fan who was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He began his collection with hand-me-down comic books from a used book store owned by his father and grandfather in the late 1980s. Today, Drew owns and has read over 50,000 individual comics. He was once ranked “Best In The World” in the Marvel Comics category of the mobile trivia game Quiz-Up and still has the screenshots to prove it. When he’s not reading or writing about masks and capes, Drew spends his time with his wife and cats, or rubbing elbows with Portland’s music scene, where he has performed in the hip hop group Bad Habitat since 2008.

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