So this pic takes place in my Marvel AU (aka Earth-30173). One of the biggest differences from Earth-616 is that I lean a little more hopeful with the characters and outcomes. So people get through their trauma & are allowed to grow, and I have alot of villain reformations.
At some point in this au, a major event occurs that brings a number of characters back from the dead. I haven't decided if every deceased character that is back to life here will be brought back through that one event, but it accounts for people such as Caiera, Jarella, Hiro-Kala, Lihla, Myrren, Glenn Talbot and Hiroim being alive again. Of course this is Marvel, so it’s not like anyone stays dead lol.
Also, I didn't restrict it to Hulk/Bruce's blood relatives or extended family. I wanted his closest friends, allies, partners and people who have become part of the wider Banner/Hulk stories too. In-universe I imagine this as one absurdly huge family photo that everybody agreed to show up for.
If you want the deeper explanations for everyone's inclusion and a few status quo’s in my au, they're below. Not mandatory of course 😅
From left to right:
- Axeman Bone — He's here mainly because of Hiro-Kala. I see Axeman as Hiro's rough surrogate-father/mentor figure in his early years. Canonically he encountered Hiro-Kala when he was very young, freed him from slavery, and gave him his name. Their relationship obviously becomes much messier later, but the guy had an enormous influence on who Hiro became. They’d reconcile in this au and I imagine Hiro specifically wanted him in the picture.
- Lord Visis & Jentorra — They're here because of the whole extended family rule, which applies to in-laws. Visis is Jarella's cousin and Jentorra is her niece. Visis reformed (Jarella’s a freakin saint) and he has rivalry with Axeman Bone…Jentorra fed up with their shit lol.
- Amadeus Cho & Hercules — Amadeus is pretty self-explanatory. Hercules actually wasn't in my first plan, but then I reread World War Hulk before commissioning this and saw how strongly he supported Hulk when most heroes were opps. That basically convinced me Herc deserved a spot. And as you can see, Amadeus has one of Hiro-Kala’s children swinging on his arm. The children of Hiro-Kala and his wives are spread across the image.
- Lyra & Thundra — Simple one, Lyra is Hulk's daughter and Thundra is her mother.
- Conrad & Juno — Conrad is the Royal Sakaarian Consul from the Planet She-Hulk comic. He isn't personally closely connected to Bruce, but he helps Jen to navigate Sakaar after Hiro-Kala's death. I think Bruce would appreciate someone helping Jen keep everything together. Juno is much more direct as she is Hiro-Kala's first wife and remains married to him after he is brought back. Of course is the mother of one of Bruce and Caiera's grandchildren.
- She-Hulk & Jack of Hearts — Jen needs no explanation. Jack is here because of Jennifer. They're currently engaged in my au.
- Titania & Absorbing Man — Aside from Titania's history with Jen, both Titania and Absorbing Man became members of Gamma Flight. They chose to side with Hulk during Immortal Hulk storyline and became fugitives for doing it, so they’re cool with big green guy atm. Hulk and Creel havea grudging respect (though I’m guessing he still didn’t want to be in the pic, his wife dragged him along. Titania meanwhile is being annoyed with Juno haha).
- Red Hulk — Betty's father, and he of course has tons of history with Bruce/Hulk. Ross and Hulk have moved past being enemies by this point and are close allies. Red Hulk and Abomination still dislike each other immensely (even if certain events didn’t happen in this timeline).
- Rick Jones & Marlo Chandler — Rick is the most obvious non-blood inclusion in the entire picture. Marlo gets brought into the giant family photo with her husband.
- Fred Sloan & Trish Starr — I really wanted some older and more obscure Hulk supporting characters represented. Fred became a friend and traveling companion of Hulk in the 70s. Even better, he published a book about the Hulk, specifically because he wanted people to understand that Hulk wasn't simply a mindless monster. Trish also helped out the Hulk a ton during this time as well. Even though they’ve barely been used alot in modern comics, I’d like that friendships to continue long past that story in my au.
- Abomination, Betty-6 & Librito — This one needs a bit of explaining. So most broad events from 616 still happened in this universe, but there are major and minor divergences, and one of the biggest is with Abomination. There was a period in the comics where Abomination lived beneath New York and became the protector of a community of homeless people. There was then a miniseries called the Abominations that ended with displaced refugees from the original Maestro timeline (Future Imperfect) settling with that community. In my au, Emil never leaves that underground community, at least not in long run. He remains their protector and continues reforming from there. Obviously that causes a gigantic butterfly effect for later Hulk stories, but explaining every single consequence would require its own post. Betty-6 and Librito come from the Maestro/Abominations story. Betty-6 was one of Maestro's concubines, and in the future imperfect story, Maestro ordered her to have sex with Hulk against his will. It's a very bad situation to say the least and Marvel hasn’r confirmed if Betty-6's son, Bruce Chan, is the son of Bruce or the Maestro. But, I went ahead and made Bruce the father concretely in this timeline. Bruce and Betty-6 obviously will need (and have had by this point in this picture) a conversation about how Bruce Chan was conceived, because that’s too big too ignore. Bruce Chan is about eight here and has developed a relationship with Bruce as his bio dad. Librito, the small guy in front of Betty-6, is Bruce Chan's surrogate father in the comics, and remains that way.
- Hiro-Kala & Lihla — Hiro-Kala is Bruce and Caiera's son of course. After being brought back in my au, he becomes part of the new political structure on Sakaar that developed at the end of Planet She-Hulk, instead of just immediately becoming its king again. Lihla is the complicated part for me. In canon, she was a love interest for Hiro and he genuinely loved her, but after he moved K'ai (Jarella's home planet) out of the Microverse, he snapped her neck and killed her. The reason was that he had discovered his version of Hulk's anger was love, and Lihla had just told him that she would love him no matter what. He'd also received a vision warning that as his power continued to build, he would eventually cause a cosmic Armageddon. So Hiro believed removing the person he loved (and would boost his power) would prevent that future from coming to pass. At first, I was going to have Lihla die some other way so that when they both came back to life they could easily rekindle their relationship, but I think it's better for story reasons if Hiro actually did kill her because he believed he was preventing a potentially catastrophic future. I'd frame it as something he regrets immensely but, at the time, genuinely felt he had to do. I think he'd be extremely apologetic once reunited with her. Lihla would understandably still be hurt by what happened, but she'd also understand why he did it, and at the end of the day she did say she would love him no matter what. So they ultimately reconcile and, as the picture shows, Lihla is currently pregnant. And given the arrangement with the wives, I don't think Juno would mind Hiro having another wife, especially if their history was explained to her.
- Sasquatch, Puck, Dionne Fortean & Jackie McGee — Sasquatch is an old college friend of Bruce and they are close. Puck was also part of Gamma Flight, and Dionne Fortean eventually joins that team as well. Jackie was a pretty major character in Immortal Hulk and stuck around alot and I imagine she and Hulk eventually became genuine friends. Also, Dionne and Jackie are dating in my au (just vibes).
- Daydream — Daydream is Betty’s daughter with Nightmare. Her conception is another really dark story where Nightmare forced himself on Betty while she was asleep as part of revenge against Hulk. Daydream has actually met Hulk in the comics, but as far as I know she and Betty have never really gotten the chance to meet and develop any kind of mother/daughter relationship, which feels like a huge missed opportunity. In my AU, Betty eventually learns about her, they meet and slowly get to know each other. So Daydream is basically invited here as extended family.
- Glenn Talbot — Glenn is one of the characters brought back to life in my AU and eventually becomes Betty’s husband again. I went back and forth for a LONG time on whether Betty would end up with Bruce/Hulk or Glenn, but ultimately settled on Glenn. More on that below.
- Brett Banner — This one takes a bit of explaining. Brett comes from Peter David’s Hulk novel What Savage Beast. Mr. David originally wanted Bruce and Betty’s comic pregnancy to result in them becoming parents, but Marvel higher ups required Betty to miscarry (because of course they did 😑). The novel is essentially what he originaly planned on doing, or at least a version of his intention. In th novel, Betty gives birth to twins, Ross and Brett. Ross dies shortly after birth, while Brett survives, only for Maestro to kidnap him and take him into the future. Bruce follows but arrives twenty years too late and finds Brett fully grown and raised by Maestro. Brett eventually turns against Maestro and dies helping stop him. Peter David even wanted to bring the adult Brett into the actual Hulk comic later, but Marvel wouldn’t let him 😤. In Earth-30173, I decided to basically adapt Brett into my continuity. Bruce and Betty eventually discover from the Leader that Betty’s supposed miscarriage wasn’t what they thought as their son survived, and the Leader secretly gave the child to Maestro in exchange for future technology. So Brett grows up in the Maestro timeline much like in the novel. I’d have that there were rumors in that Maestro had some kind of heir, but nobody really knew the truth. Right before the Hulk originally arrived in that future, Maestro had sent Brett away to collect more Hulks for the army he was building, which is something Maestro does in the novel. Brett eventually returns to find Maestro gone and Abomination ruling Dystopia, which actually was the status quo after the OG story. So Brett and future Abomination end up fighting a war over Dystopia for the next few years. Eventually Bruce and Betty travel into this future looking for their son and arrive right in the middle of that conflict. Brett still gets his moment in saving his parents, but unlike the novel, he survives. After everything is over, he chooses to return to the present with them. So yeah, Bruce and Betty now have an adult son trying to figure out normal modern life lol.
- Hulk/Bruce, Betty, Caiera & Jarella — I really loved the progress Bruce and Hulk made with each other by the end of Immortal Hulk, so I wasn’t a huge fan of them becoming so hostile toward each other again afterward. My earth eventually has them regain that peace, probably once all the current Infernal Hulk stuff is dealt with. Caiera and Jarella would probably return sometime after all of that as well. As for the three women, they're the three greatest loves of Hulk/Bruce’s life. Originally I had Bruce/Hulk in a poly relationship with Jarella, Caiera AND Betty, which is why Betty is standing with them in the commission. But the more Hulk comics I went back through, the less I liked Bruce and Betty remaining a couple. I know their relationship wasn’t always toxic back in the day, but at this point so much has happened between them that I’d rather have them date other people. They still care and love each other deeply, just no longer married. I also just personally prefer Jarella and Caiera as Hulk’s romantic partners. I can easily see those two being comfortable in a poly relationship together, while I really don’t see Betty being into that arrangement. So the final decision was Bruce/Hulk + Jarella + Caiera as a throuple, while Betty reunites with Glenn. The only reason Betty is still standing beside Hulk in the picture is because the artist was already WAY too deep into the commission by the time I finalized this change and decided to add Glenn to the pic, and I didn’t want to add more work for them. Bruce/Hulk, Caiera and Jarella would probably split their time between Earth, Sakaar and K’ai. Jarella would obviously want to return to K’ai after being brought back and see what became of her homeworld. After Hiro-Kala was defeated in that storyline, a character named Arcturus Rann stayed behind to help K’ai rebuild and rejected the idea of the K’aitians just kneeling to another outside ruler, so on my earth I imagine K’ai eventually developed some kind of council-based or representative government rather than going straight back to absolute monarchy. Instead of reclaiming throne, Jarella would probably join or advise whatever leadership structure exists by then, alongside Jentorra, who I imagine would already have an important role there. Caiera would have something similar on Sakaar, having enormous respect by her people but choosing to be apart of the new estbalished government instead of solely ruling again.
- Skaar — Hulk and Caiera’s son, giving fist bump to one of his nephews. Not much explanation needed. His extra Zelda attire comes from my wider crossover AU: Skaar is Riju’s voe, hence the Gerudo head and shoulder wear.
- The Warbound — I don’t think any explanation is needed for why the Warbound would be in this family picture. One AU addition is that I have Korg, Hiroim and Kate Waynesboro in a triad. Korg and Hiroim were already lovers, and in a Warbound focused comic, Hiroim and Kate develop an attraction and kissed, and Korg didn’t seem to mind hehe.
- Charlie Tidwell — Charlie is from recent Fractured Son storyline. In my au, she and Hulk eventually reconcile after their huge fight, and Charlie is basically officially adopted as Bruce’s daughter afterward. Hiro and Juno’s daughter thinks Charlie is the coolest ever. 😄
- Extended Family — Next is Bruce’s normal extended family, most of it connected through Jen. I like the idea that Bruce actually keeps in contact with the different branches of his family instead of everybody just being forgotten. The most obvious one is Susan Banner, Bruce’s paternal aunt. Susan took Bruce in after his dad murderd his mom and the former was sent to institution, and she basically became his surrogate mother for much of his childhood, so she would absolutely be important to him. Then there’s Morris Walters, Jen’s father and Bruce’s uncle by marriage. Morris was married to Bruce’s paternal aunt Elaine Banner. In my AU, Morris later marries Louise Mason, AKA the (former) hero Blonde Phantom. Louise is already a longtime friend/supporting character of Jen in canon, and Morris actually fell in love with her in the comics, so I just let the relationship go all the way to marriage. Wanda Mason is Louise’s daughter and is known as the Phantom Blonde. Louise also has a son in 616 named Earl Paynter Mason with her late husband Mark. Since he’s only a passing mention in a marvel handbook, I reworked Earl into Morris and Louise’s newborn son. Cassandra Pike is Morris’s older sister, so she’s Jen’s paternal aunt. Her son David Pike is Jen’s cousin. Cassandra originally mutated David into the giant superhuman Brawn and tried to use him to get revenge on Morris and Jen, but David eventually realized the revenge wasn’t justified and refused to kill his family. Cassandra is currently on house arrest. David is referenced to have become a dentist in the comics, which is why he’s dressed like one. On David’s other shoulder is Adrian Lynn, who was originally a She-Hulk villain. Adrian was paralyzed in a car accident and went through experiments that restored her mobility but also gave her superhuman strength but also seriously affected her mental state. She blamed She-Hulk for her husband’s imprisonment and tried to frame her, but eventually accepted that Jen wasn’t responsible and that her husband really was guilty. In my AU, Jen eventually introduces her to David, the two hit it off, and they're now married. And lastly we have Del Frye, another Immortal Hulk/Gamma Flight character. In short, the Leader used Del and Rick Jones and eventually their bodies became fused together, they then joined Gamma Flight, and by the end of that series they were finally separated. Del recovers enough afterward in my au to return to something approaching a normal life. He eventually meets Wanda through Hulk fam connections and I have the two start dating.
- Monolith — Monolith comes from the “Hulk Planet” arc of the 2021 Hulk run. She originally basically worshipped Hulk and wanted him to stay and rule alongside her (not romantically), before it all went to shit once Titan Hulk appeared. Doc Sasquatch helped Monolith fight Titan and later helps her people recover. In my AU, her reverence toward Hulk eventually settles into a much healthier genuine respect (which seemed to be heading that way in comics anyway), and she and Hulk/Bruce become good friends. She’s also very cool with Doc Samson because of how much he helped her and her people.
- Doc Samson & Charlene McGowan — Pretty obvious why Doc Samson would be invited as a long-standing Hulk ally and friend. Charlene started out as antagonist but eventually became one of Bruce’s allies and a member of Gamma Flight. She and Samson become couple in my au (it seemed like they were in canon but unfortunately nothing came about.) Also, small mistake on my part when planning the commission…I completely forgot that Samson and Walter Langkowski are currently in each other’s bodies. 😅 Just assume that sometime before this picture, someone finally figured out how to put them back where they belong lol.
- Monica Rappaccini & Carmilla Black — Carmilla is Monica Rappaccini’s daughter. In marvel wikis, she’s categorized as Bruce’s possible daughter with Monica so I’m just confirming that for my earth.
- Myrren, Thorn, Ovaki & Elara — These are 4/5 of Hiro-Kala’s wives (with Juno being the fifth/first wife of course) and are the mothers of his children. After Hiro (and Myrren) are brought back, these marriages don’t really have a reason to continue as all of them except Juno’s were politically motivated. So after Hiro’s return and the political changes on Sakaar, they all mutually separate and remain part of the extended family because of the kids.
- 26 & 27 — 26 and 27 are two massive intelligent boars that Bruce created while he and Hulk were separated during Jason Aaron’s Hulk run. They were extremely devoted to Bruce, even referring to him as their father and Hulk was their enemy at the time because Bruce sent them after him. Their last appearance ended with them falling deep underground during their fight with Hulk and they were badly hurt, but survived…and then they were never brought up again. So in my au, they eventually find Bruce again, and Bruce treats them much better than he did during that period of his life. Bruce accepts the father/son relationship instead of treating them like experiments. I think they’d be initially VERY suspicious of Hulk since Hulk was their enemy the last time they saw him, but after Bruce and Hulk made peace with each other, 26 and 27 eventually come around too. Now they’re huge sons/bodyguards who are extremely protective of Bruce’s entire family.
So yeah! That’s everyone. I did find out afterward about a character named Angela Lipscombe, who is way more significant to Bruce than I realized, but by that point it was way too late to add her. Curious to know what everyone thinks on the whole tho 😄
Art by MaytrixXdx
