8 Superheroes Who Saw The End Of The World

5. Hulk - The End

Hulk The End
Marvel Comics

Of all the characters who could wind up in the apocalypse, the Hulk is probably the most well equipped. Old Jade Jaws is one of Marvel's most durable figures and given so much of his torment comes from the fact that humanity just won't leave him alone, it would stand to reason that actually, the apocalypse might just be the what the doctor ordered.

Of the many Marvel comics to take place in the aftermath of the world's end, some of the most notable have focused specifically on the Hulk. The first, Future Imperfect, came as a part of Peter David's barnstorming run on the character in eighties and nineties, while the second, The End, was also written by David and came as a part of Marvel's wider 'The End' initiative, which posed hypothetical conclusions to several iconic characters' journeys.

Of the two Hulk apocalypse stories though, The End takes the idea of the end of the world and applies it more literally. The one-shot comic from David and artist Dale Keown sees the Hulk become the sole survivor of a nuclear war, and this places great strain on his relationship with his other half, Bruce Banner.

Bruce wants nothing more than to actually die, given the innate bleakness of the reality that confronts them, while Hulk wants nothing more than to roam the planet in solitude. Banner attempts numerous suicides but the Hulk prevents each one, until eventually Banner does pass away, while the Hulk remains, left to stew on his loneliness and consider that it maybe wasn't what he wanted after all...

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.