Last week on MARVEL A-I-C: AXEL-IN-CHARGE, CBR's regular interview with Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso the topic was the new “Totally Awesome Hulk” comic and the unmasking of the new Hulk, Amadeus Cho.
On what an Asian-American
Hulk means to him,
Alonso said,
“I'll start at the top: My wife is Korean, and let me tell you, I scored a [lot] of points with this! [Laughs] I can only imagine the reaction of my [eomeoni] [mother] and two [cheo nams] [brothers] who're always asking me when the world is going to get an A-list Korean super hero. I think this fits the bill. Come December, the strongest character in the Marvel Universe is going to be a 19-year-old Korean kid that might have a thing or two in common with Banner.”
Alonso said there are also a lot of differences, “Let's just say Amadeus has got a little too much swagger. “
He also gave some insight on where
Bruce Banner stands in the comics,
“Oh, and to anyone that thinks we're abandoning Banner, you are dead wrong. Banner's story does not end with him no longer being the Hulk. It begins a new chapter for him, and we are very excited about that, too.”
If anybody was wondering where exactly this idea had its inception, it all started with editor Mark Paniccia,
“At some point, I said I was I kind of bored by the prospect of going back to the well with Banner, and asked what if someone else, someone with a different attitude, were to be the Hulk? And Mark immediately suggested Amadeus, and pretty much everyone in the room loved it. It's such a no-brainer: Like Banner, Amadeus Cho is a 98-pound weakling with a giant-sized intellect, but that's where the similarities end. [Laughs] So that's a great place to start a new era of Hulk.”
Alonso went on to talk about how
Cho’s arrogant personality and intelligence will give
Cho a different attitude towards being the
Hulk,
“Amadeus is bit cocky and arrogant, like a lot of young guys are at that age, and he's ranked as the fifth or sixth smartest guy in the world so he's kind of got the right to be. And now he's been given this awesome power. He's going to have a very different attitude towards being the Hulk. He's been given the keys to a brand-new Maserati, he's going to see a wide-open road in front of him, and he's going to drive it fast.”
Greg Pak is the co-creator of
Amadeus Cho who had a celebrated run on
"Incredible Hulk," and used
Cho and the
Hulk in his
"Savage Wolverine" story.
On
Greg Pak’s involvement in the comic,
Alonso said,
“We knew he loved both characters, he's Korean-American, and while he is very selective about his projects, we just figured he'd see the significance of this moment. And he did. He immediately agreed to be a part of the team, and was involved in the planning from the ground floor. He designed the new Hulk, from his the MMA-inspired board shorts to his K-Pop hair and he very much collaborated on creating the villain for the first arc. “
What do you think? Are you ready to see
Amadeus Cho suit up as the “
Totally Awesome Hulk”? Are you happy to hear that this will start a new chapter for
Bruce Banner?
Sound off in the comments!