The destruction of the fourth wall isn’t the only chaotic aspect of the conclusion of She-Hulk: Defender of Heroes. In addition to putting the character in a position to invade Disney+ and Marvel Studios itself, the series still ends up throwing a fact into the public’s lap—a fact that took many people by surprise: Skaar, the son of the Hulk, appears in the series.
For comic book readers, Skaar’s existence didn’t come as much of a surprise, even if his introduction into the plot was completely unexpected. He exists in the comics and is part of some important arcs involving the Emerald Goliath, and, for that very reason, there was even a certain expectation for his entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU, its acronym in English).
But, at the same time, the way he was presented left fans who didn’t know the comics completely lost. After all, is he just another She-Hulk joke, or should we expect consequences from this reveal?
How did we get here
Before we explain who Skaar Banner is in the HQs, it is necessary to detail how the MCU prepared for his arrival in Defender of the Faith.
Remember the first episode of the series, when the flashback of how Jennifer (Tatiana Maslany) got her powers is shown? She and Bruce (Mark Ruffalo) are involved in a car accident after a spaceship appears in front of them, and there is contact with blood at that moment.
It’s quickly explained that this was a ship from Sakaar, the planet to which the Hulk was sent in Thor: Ragnarok, looking for the hero to deliver a message or something. At the end of that same chapter, we see Banner heading off into space.
What everyone thought would be the hook for an eventual Hulk Against the World saga—explosions, explosions, explosions—turned out to be something much simpler. In fact, they came to Earth to get Banner to inform him that he had a child waiting for him on another planet. Almost an intergalactic DNA test.
Who is Skaar in the comics
This parenthesis is important because, in the comics, Skaar’s origin isn’t all that different. In this case, it is just a little more dramatic and involves a lot more beatings, explosions, and dying heroes—that is, just another Thursday in a comic book.
The Hulk’s son appears for the first time in World War Hulk #5 (2007), published in Brazil in the miniseries Hulk Contra o Mundo #6. In this case, he is also an heir that Banner leaves after being exiled to the planet Sakaar, punctuating the sequence of tragedies that is his emergence.
This is because the hero’s journey to the planet was not as friendly as in the MCU. In the movie, it is Banner himself who decides to exile himself from Earth because he considers himself an imminent danger. In the comics, it’s the Illuminati who see this threat in the Hulk and send him away as a form of containment.
This is how he becomes a gladiator during the Planet Hulk saga, which ends with him embracing his new home and accepting his role as king of this world. As a result, he marries Queen Caiera and the couple has a son. In this case, she lays a cocoon—or an egg, if you prefer—so the Hulk doesn’t actually have a child in his lap.
And everything falls apart when the ship that the Illuminati used to send the green hero to Sakaar is also revealed to be a bomb that explodes, decimating much of the planet, including Caiera and supposedly her unborn child. With that, Banner returns to Earth to exact his vengeance, kicking off the Hulk Versus the World phase.
It is during this period when the verdo is returning to its world of origin that the story of Skaar begins to be told. It is revealed that his pod was not destroyed during the explosion, and he managed to survive, being raised almost wild on the devastated planet.
He quickly matures as a result of his convenient accelerated growth, carrying resentment for his father, who abandoned him. So he comes down to Earth to have this showdown with the Hulk.
The problem is, he finds Banner again out of control and at his wildest, which only serves to make him despise this father figure even more. Thus, the hero comes down to earth after a fight in which they nearly blow up a nuclear power plant.
This tense relationship won’t get better until Bruce loses his ability to turn into the Hulk. So he seeks out his son to train him to deal with threats like the Red Hulk and the Abomination. Even so, their relationship is strained, and it worsens when the gamma ray’s effects return to the hero.
So they fall into the fray once more. The difference is that Skaar sees the Hulk as more under control, and the Emerald Giant begins to protect those nearby. Thus, the angry son gives up the fight and assumes a human form (remember, he is half human too), which causes the Hulk to regain consciousness.
Bruce gets closer to Skaar after a beautiful and emotional conversation about how his bad fatherly relationship made him an emotionally fragile adult, and they begin to act like real father and son.
Fixed Hero at Marvel
But Skaar’s participation in the comics isn’t limited to this family affair with green people crushing everything. As a result of this great conciliation, he becomes increasingly recurrent in both Hulk stories and other adventures in which he acts more independently.
He even takes part in the Dark Avengers, a group Norman Osborn founded when he rose to prominence as the greatest mind in the Marvel universe, as evidence of this.
In addition, he also started to appear with some regularity in the plots of the so-called “Hulk family,” characters that are related to Banner, such as She-Hulk herself, Amadeus Cho, and Red Hulk.
What to expect from Skaar in the MCU
It’s really hard to make any predictions on how it’s going to be used going forward. Taking into account that Banner picked him up on Sakaar quite peacefully, all this troubled reconciliation seems unnecessary, which could prevent the adaptation of the Hulk vs. World arc or even its consequences.
And although She-Hulk says this will all be explained in “a movie,” it’s hard to imagine where in the Multiverse Saga this could be explored. Also, because of legal issues between Marvel and Universal Pictures, which still owns the rights to the Hulk, a long solo movie about the hero can’t be made. This makes it hard to look into this story on its own.
So attempting to predict how the hell Skaar will be used in the MCU is as perplexing as his bald hairstyle. Still, he is an important character in the hero’s mythology, and one that will certainly be explored going forward. We just don’t dare say how.
Does Skaar get stronger the angrier he gets?
No, Skaar doesn’t get stronger as he grows angrier. His father “Hulk” does.
Is Skaar stronger than Hulk
Skaar can be the strongest form of Hulk, it is evident from Skaar being both and ally and enemy of Hulk.