Hulk and Thor to have "craziest fight that Marvel Comics has ever seen" in 2022

Thor #12 / Hulk #1 mash-up collage (Image credit: Geoff Shaw / Ryan Ottley (Marvel Comics))

Donny Cates is known for layered storytelling and overlapping elements between his Marvel comic book titles - and in 2022 he is intertwining his two current Marvel Comics books, Thor and Hulk.

Before we get into it, we'd like to offer a mild warning about some adult language Cates uses to express his thoughts.

Hulk #1 cover (Image credit: Ryan Ottley/Frank Martin (Marvel Comics))

"You know, next year is the anniversary of Thor and Hulk. It's like the 60th or something anniversary of both characters. And there hasn't been a writer writing both of those books at the same time since Stan [Lee]," Cates said in an interview on the KLC Press Substack.

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Cates is actually the second person to write both titles simultaneously, as Len Wein did both in the late '70s.

Nevertheless, the writer says he would be "remiss" if he didn't "take that opportunity to make the fucking craziest fight that Marvel Comics has ever seen."

Cates also said some elements from his previous Marvel stories would also be returning in his Hulk run - including the time Tony Stark turned a Celestial into Iron Man armor.

"Remember in King in Black, when Tony Stark rode a dragon into a Celestial's body and took it over and fuckin’ became an Iron Celestial? Well, Tony still has it.

"And he's been working on it," Cates adds.

Hulk excerpt (Image credit: Ryan Ottley (Marvel Comics))

While it brings elements from his previous Venom run, Cates says that his approach to Hulk is far different from that book's - in fact, it's more similar to Mark Waid's Daredevil.

Hulk #1 excerpt (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

"Things are gonna seem real fucking weird and really fuckin angry for a while and if you'll just be patient with me, you'll see what it is that we're actually doing," writes Cates. "I'm going full-on fucking Gonzo with it. The closest in tone would be Nextwave. It's fucking ridiculous. It's so fucking stupid and big and mean. It's fucking crazy."

Hulk #1 goes on sale on November 24, with a collection of the first arc - titled Hulk by Donny Cates Volume 1 - planned for May 31, 2022.

2022 isn't just the 60th anniversary of Thor and the Hulk - it's also the 60th for Ant-Man, Doctor Doom, Jane Foster, and more.

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Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)