Immortal Hulk Reveals How Joe Fixit and Bruce Banner Are REALLY Different - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: Spoilers follow for The Immortal Hulk #43 by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

Bruce Banner is gone, as is the powerful Hulk. Replacing them is Joe Fixit and a weaker, childlike Hulk. While Hulk himself is less dominant and powerful than he was before, Joe Fixit is a lot more self-reliant than Bruce Banner ever was.

The new issue opened with Joe Fixit in a diner having a coffee. This isn't the first time we have seen Joe at a diner, as he also recently had dinner with the Thing as he explained the problems Hulk had with the guy downstairs. However, while Thing let Joe leave to try to fix things, the man who was once the Grey Hulk proved that he is no hero.

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However, at the same time, Joe Fixit is not someone who will hurt innocent people. This issue saw Joe talking about how he is different in every way from Bruce Banner. Joe mentions how the Leader took most of the gamma out of Hulk, making him weak. This was the opposite of before when Hulk was the strongest one there is, and Banner was "puny." Now, Hulk is weak, and it is Joe Fixit who is strong and can protect the big green guy. He proved that when the Thing was beating up Hulk until Joe took over and stopped the fight.

Joe mentions that he is good at staying alive, despite being a "puny human." He mentioned that Banner's ineptitude at survival is why Hulk put Joe in charge to survive day-to-day. Joe explained how he makes sure he and Hulk can survive in the dog eat dog world. He looked around and found a wealthy jerk. In this case, it was someone who was on his phone saying he didn't care about a tenant's health and wanted the rent. Joe bumped into the guy and ended up picking his pocket. He stole the money and used the credit card to buy expensive jewelry to pawn. It is that and a dozen scams like it that helps him afford to live.

Joe admits that Bruce Banner always wanted to be a hero. However, he knows one thing for certain. Just as soon as the world accepts someone as a hero, they will just as quickly turn their back and take it away from him. Bruce wanted to be a good guy, but Joe Fixit is not a good guy. When Hulk changed to Joe Fixit in Hulk #347 by Peter David, Jeff Purves, Mike Gustovich, Petra Scotese & Joe Rosen, he was very different. He wasn't the green superhero who helped people or the green goliath who wanted to be left alone. He was a grey monster who worked in a Las Vegas casino.

The difference between Joe Fixit and Hulk was that Joe was an amoral character. He was not as strong physically as Hulk, but he was smarter; he used cunning to get out of problems. He was an enforcer and tough guy for a casino who would do things Bruce Banner would never dream of doing, and it was here that he proved to be sneaky and manipulative, exactly what Joe explained he was in this new issue. However, as he showed at the end of this issue, he is still willing to let the "kid" get out if it means helping someone getting pushed around and bullied by others. Joe Fixit is not the hero that Bruce Banner wishes he was, but he will still do the right thing when pushed into a corner.

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Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who received his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Film Studies. He has worked as a journalist for 25 years, starting in newspapers and magazines before moving to online media as the world changed. Shawn is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a current voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has work published on websites like The Huffington Post, Time Warner Cable, Yahoo Movies, The Movie Network, Chud, Renegade Cinema, 411mania, and Monsters & Critics. Shawn is also a published author, with a non-fiction book about the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers and has begun work on a new fiction series as well. Visit Shawn Lealos' website to learn more about his novel writing and follow him on Twitter @sslealos.