Marvel Studios set a historic mark after unleashing a classic Hulk villain for the hero's Phase 6 return. Mark Ruffalo's not-so-jolly green giant has been a staple of the MCU since its very beginning (even if Ruffalo himself did not always play the character). Yet the classic Marvel hero has not gotten the kind of spotlight some of his other Avenger cohorts have, like Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America.
However, that has not stopped the gamma-infused hero from making history in his own way under the Marvel Studios banner. In fact, the character's Phase 6 return in Marvel Zombies marks a significant moment for the franchise. The R-rated Disney+ series included, for the first time, a hero/villain pair squaring off against one another for a record third time.
Hulk returns in the show's finale, coming onto the scene as the ultra-powerful Infinity Hulk. This is where he goes up against a horde of undead superheroes and villains, including a decaying, flesh-craving version of Emil Blonsky (aka Abomination).
The hero/villain duo battle for the third time in a Marvel Studios project, with Infinity Hulk ultimately prevailing, decimating the undead big bad with a single Infinity Stone-fueled punch.
Hulk and Abomination now stand as the lone hero/villain pairing to have fought the most on-screen one-on-one.
The first, of course, came in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. This early MCU movie saw Tim Roth's Emil Blonsky injected with Bruce Banner's blood, transforming him into the terrifying Abomination. The pair then duke it out in the streets of Harlem, before Blonsky is nearly strangled to death by Banner with a massive chain.
The pair then threw fists once more in 2022's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, in which Hulk sees Abomination quote/unquote saving his cousin Jennifer Walters from the now Hulked-out Todd Phelps.
Bruce and Emil get a couple of punches in before Jen breaks the fourth wall, calling out the absurdity of the show's finale and literally breaking out of her series into the Marvel Studios headquarters to contend with the mysterious KEVIN.
What Other Hero/Villain Pairings Could Come for Hulk and Abomination's MCU Record?
At this point, there have been several heroes and villains to have gone at it more than once, but none have reached that vaunted mark of three. The closest argument one could make to Hulk and Abomination's record-breaking mark is the MCU battles of Thor and Loki over the years.
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston's Marvel characters have been intertwined in battle several times over the years. They first fought in the first Thor movie, then again in 2012's The Avengers. Thor also technically stabbed his Asgardian brother in Thor: Love and Thunder, but that proved to ultimately be an illusion, meaning it does not fully count.
Another popular hero-villain pair to have clashed in a couple of different projects is Iron Man and Thanos, who came to blows in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (even though it was not even technically the same version of the character in both movies).
Captain America also has his own repeat offender when it comes to villains, fighting Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier in both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and in a particularly tense moment toward the end of Captain America: Civil War.
There is even hope for more of these sorts of pairings as the franchise goes on. Next year's VisionQuest will see another returning hero vs villain rematch with Paul Bettany's Vision taking on James Spader's Ultron for the first time since Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Maybe 2026 and 2027's Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars could feature even more of these repeat matches between hero and villain, as there have been rumors that those Avengers films could feature all sorts of exciting returning characters.
