There is a new supervillain team introduced into Marvel Comics this month that is absolutely ridiculous for many reasons. The new comic book series is titled Spider-Man/Hulk: Fire and Brimstone by Kevin Smith, Andy McElfresh, and R.B. Silva, and it seems to be set completely outside of all continuity right now. While Hulk is involved in some horrific horror-based tales in his own comic, this is more along the lines of the regular old-school Hulk, as he fights alongside Spider-Man against villains, finds peace with small woodland animals and flowers, and eventually turns back into Bruce Banner. However, there is a lot under the hood here, even though it all starts with a battle against a ridiculous new supervillain team.
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The book opens with a scene during Easter Mass in Central Park when a new supervillain team attacks the public and refers to itself as The Manosphere.
The Manosphere Might Be Marvel’s Most Ridiculous Supervillain Team
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
The attack opens with a ridiculous moment where Mole Man bursts out of the ground in one of his machines and explains that this is the birth of a “corrupt congregation” before referring to itself as The Manosphere. From the start, this name has so many problems and bad connotations since the term “manosphere” could be taken in many different ways. However, this isn’t a group of incels who want to prove that men have been held down and deserve more recognition. This is a group of villains who all have the word “man” in their names. In fact, Man-Bull is “udderly off-brand,” and Everyman is a woman.
Yes, for some reason, Mole Man decided to put together a group of villains just on the basis of the fact that their names include the word “man.” The villains include Mole Man, Stilt-Man, Absorbing Man, Everyman, Man-Bull, Titanium Man, Sandman, Molten Man, and Plantman. Honestly, outside of the legit Absorbing Man, this team couldn’t have chosen any better members, and that is likely the point. It is easy to see writer Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats) laughing as he chose the members of this team as the most ridiculous group of “men” villains he could gather together for what was likely a huge joke on his part.
When Smith began to throw in every pun he could, it just slammed the message home. This entire team is meant to be a joke. Mole Man asked Plantman to demonstrate his “Green New Deal,” and Plantman responded by saying, “I beg your garden.” Stilt-Man pulled a line out of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s playbook when he said, “Hold stilt.” Man-Bull said he wasn’t in the “mooooooo’d.” When Molten Man told Sandman to do something, the villain responded, “I’m Dune it.” When Spider-Man attacked, the puns got out of control, and Smith was likely laughing the entire time he wrote this fight.
However, there is a twist here because Smith’s absurdist humor and love for puns were just a way to start things off lightly before the story took a darker turn in the final pages. After Hulk helped Spider-Man stop The Manosphere, he reverted back to Banner, and Spider-Man took him to Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson for some legal help. The story opened with the most ridiculous team in Marvel Comics history, but it ended by going back to the religious undertones that Smith has specialized in over his career.
Spider-Man/Hulk: Fire and Brimstone Seems More Heavy-Handed Than That Team
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
This isn’t the first time that Smith has written a comic book with Daredevil in it, and in the end, that is who Spider-Man brings Banner to, as he is there to talk to Matt Murdock about some advice. Smith’s work on Daredevil came in the “Guardian Devil” storyline from 1998-1999, where Daredevil had to protect an infant who might be the Messiah or the Antichrist, and it was his Catholic faith that had to keep him steady as he made some of the most important decisions in his life. Here, he is there to add some more of his religious beliefs.
Banner reveals to Murdock that he came back to New York City after a spiritual breakthrough. Banner says he has been looking for a scientific cure ever since the first gamma bomb created the Hulk. Now, he is seeking answers from faith and God to see if that can help him find a cure and peace. He mentions Cardinal Thornhill, whom he had been following and listening to while building his faith. Now, Thornhill has mentioned that it is possible to cast the demon known as the Hulk out of Banner’s body.
When asked by Spider-Man how an exorcism could cast out a monster created by gamma rays, Banner asked who created the gamma rays. The last line in the comic had Banner saying, “If I want to save my soul, I have to send the Hulk to Hell.” This is pure Kevin Smith storytelling, opening with a ludicrous supervillain team that has the worst possible name and ending with a religious conundrum that involves exorcisms and Catholic guilt. That is why Spider-Man/Hulk: Fire and Brimstone remains for acquired tastes. However, anyone who loves Smith’s storytelling should find a lot to love about this story.
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