Warning: contains spoilers for Defenders #2 and Immortal Hulk #49!
The Galactus' past suggests this battle may actually be impossible to win. In Defenders #2 (from Al Ewing and Javier Rodriguez), Doctor Strange's new team are tumbling back through past versions of Marvel's multiverse, landing in the Sixth Cosmos, where the man who would become Galactus was born. There, they meet his mother, Taaia, who shares an old legend that suggests Hulk's ultimate enemy may be beyond any traditional notion of defeat.
Hulk's foe is the Sunshine Joe persona, and Jackie McGee plunging into the Below-Place to rescue Bruce Banner and defeat the composite evil holding him prisoner. The problem is, it seems this has all happened before.
Arriving in the Sixth Cosmos, Doctor Strange discovers Taa - Galactus' home planet - under attack by Omnimax the Devourer. This being possesses the power that will one day transform Galactus into a similar form and role, and which the One-Below-All intends to hijack to turn Hulk into the apocalyptic Breaker of Worlds (as seen in Al Ewing, German Garcia, and Chris O'Halloran's Immortal Hulk #25.) As Taaia attempts to evacuate her people, she reveals a personal vehicle she calls "the Lifebringer," named for a mythic being who fought "the great dragon 'Anti-All,' from the 'Under-Lands' beneath infinity!!" - a creature which sounds like it may be the One-Below-All.
This reveal is fascinating for multiple reasons, and Silver Surfer is taken aback as he re that "Lifebringer" is a term bound up in Galactus' own transformation. In the case of the Hulk, however, it's the mention of the "Anti-All" and the "Breaker of Worlds" that seem to spell trouble. The latter is the title Hulk will eventually take on if the One-Below-All gets its way, suggesting that this mythic struggle is an of a prior attempt by the horrifying villain to possess an avatar and end all life. That it has tried to end the multiverse before is no surprise, but the fact that it was stopped only to try again may hint that the One-Below-All's plans can be delayed, but never truly brought to an end.
It makes sense that the series would head in this direction. The benevolent One-Above-All is generally treated as above loss or death, and so its devilish counterpart could work the same way. Immortal Hulk is a dark, philosophical series unlikely to depict the embodiment of hate being defeated for all time by a gang of plucky heroes. While Hulk might rescue Banner and break the One-Below-All's connection to the Leader, it seems likely the dark being will persevere, ready to start again when Marvel's next cosmos rolls along... or even sooner.
The big question is what this means for the Hulk. If the Green Goliath can't end the threat of the One-Below-All, will he always be at risk of becoming its Breaker of Worlds? As the writer of both series, Ewing has taken the opportunity to tease fans with some unseen background in Defenders, and to expand the scope of the dark lore he's woven into the Marvel Universe. Answers will come with Immortal Hulk #50 on October 13, but even after that, Ewing's work is likely to keep exploring the dark cosmic history of Galactus and the Marvel Universe.
