At a rally in Billings, Montana, Trump–as always–attempted to shift blame for his problems away from himself and to someone else. In an unusual move, his target was his own supporters. He claimed that if they did not get out and vote for Republicans in November, he would be impeached.
“I’ll be the only President in history they’ll say: ‘What a job he’s done! By the way, we’re impeaching him,'”
Well, not exactly. What will be said is, “What a job he’s done. That’s why we’re impeaching him.”
So I was planning the story for HULK #417 and 418, and I wanted to have the Hulk battle one of the Skrulls who showed up for Rick and Marlo’s wedding. But I wanted it to be a fight atypical of such dust-ups.
Then I hit upon the idea of having it be a Skrull who could not shapeshift because of a genetic disorder. I figured a guy like that would be seen as a weakling, endlessly tormented. And what I reasoned was that it would give him incentive to be the most badass Skrull in the empire, a gladiator of unequaled skill. His name would be Talos and he would pick up the nickname “Talos the Untamed.” But when he was captured by the Kree during the Kree/Skrull war, he would refuse to commit suicide as honor demanded. Consequently he was disgraced and referred to as Talos the Tamed.
In #418 he wound up battling the Hulk, figuring the big guy would kill him so that he could die nobly in combat. But when the Hulk realized what he wanted, he dropped to his knees and begged him to stop the fight. Talos was so disgusted by the Hulk’s pleading that he decided the Hulk wasn’t worth the combat. But when he transported back to his ship, all the other Skrulls were extremely impressed over his handling of the formidable Hulk and so he took a huge step back in regaining his honor.
It was easily the most unpopular issue of Hulk I ever wrote. Fans were revolted by the idea of the Hulk surrendering under any circumstance, even though the Hulk had no stake in the fight and didn’t care who won or lost. As far as the fans were concerned, only the Hulk beating Talos into a pile of mulch was an acceptable ending. I shrugged. Can’t win ’em all.
But apparently Talos remained popular, and now it turns out he’s going to be one of the main villains in the upcoming “Captain Marvel” movie. Which means action figures, and maybe t-shirts. And you know I’ll be watching the end credits to see if my name is in there, ’cause if it’s not I will be VERY disappointed.
Oh God, don’t let the movie tank. Otherwise I’ll feel it’s my fault; the first Marvel movie not to do well. Because it featured a Peter David creation as the villain.
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