DC’s new Hulk, named the Degenerate, is a Bruce Banner-type that fans can actually hate. In The Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1, the team investigates a newly minted meta-human wreaking havoc in Gotham City. There they meet the Degenerate, whose powers bear more than a passing resemblance to the Hulk’s but whereas Banner does not deserve to be hated, the Degenerate has no redeeming qualities. The issue is written by Dennis Culver, drawn by Chris Burnham, colored by Brian Reber and lettered by Pat Brosseau; it opens with the Doom Patrol arriving in Gotham City. Mento has detected a new meta-human in Gotham, one created by the recent Lazarus Rains.
This meta-human is being held at a MetaGen facility, where he is being experimented upon. These experiments have turned him into a rampaging monster. The Doom Patrol tries to fight the monster, but he proves more than a match for them. Robotman opts for a different approach–he reasons with the creature, telling it that they are both monsters, but they do not need to fight each other. Instead, Robotman offers the creature a place in the Doom Patrol. As Robotman talks to the creature, it begins to revert to a smaller form. Now back to its normal size, the creature curses at Robotman. The creature, who takes the name “Degenerate,” explains that he will only join the Doom Patrol if the team keeps him out of jail.
Degenerate goes on to say that his powers work only when he’s being mean. When he accesses his powers, his intelligence decreases as well; he maintains, however, that he is smart enough to know he is better off this way. The issue ends with Degenerate leaving Gotham with the Doom Patrol.
The Doom Patrol Has A Hulk
Degenerate’s powers, and the way he taps into them, makes him DC’s equivalent of the Hulk. For most of his career, Bruce Banner has been able to transform into the Hulk only when he gets angry; indeed some have theorized that the Hulk is actually Banner's internalized anger and rage given form. Furthermore, the angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he becomes. Because of the Hulk, Bruce Banner is one of the most hated people in the Marvel Universe; Banner is a tragic character, damned forever by circumstances out of his control.
You Love to Hate the Degenerate
Likewise, Degenerate was cursed by the Lazarus Rains. The issue makes it clear that a lot of the Lazarus Rain victims were turned into monsters that could not function in society–and Degenerate was one of the unfortunate ones. Now no longer a human, the man who would become Degenerate was then subjected further to tests and experiments that completed his transformation into something monstrous and terrible. Where the Hulk and the Degenerate part company is how they access their powers: the Hulk must get angry and Degenerate must get mean; the issue did not make it clear what constitutes “mean,” but given Degenerate’s personality, it must be pretty vile.
And this is where Hulk and Degenerate part company. For all of his flaws, Bruce Banner is at his core a nice guy who tries to do right by those around him; Banner will not deliberately hurt anyone. Part of his anguish over being the Hulk arises from the innocents he's killed and the property he's destroyed. On the other hand, it seems Degenerate has no such hang-ups–as a matter of fact, he revels in his meanness. This bad disposition makes Degenerate, DC’s new Hulk, a Bruce Banner fans can genuinely hate.
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