Line #12 YMMV/WorldWarHulk


1	* AccidentalInnuendo: "Puny humans, I've come to smash."
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Why did Hulk [[spoiler:choose to spare The Illuminati instead of letting them kill each other? Especially after he seemed so hellbent on slaughtering them during most of the story? Did he just decide that they had learned their lesson and [[NotWorthKilling weren't worth killing]]? Or did Rick Jones manage to get through to Hulk with the speech he gave Hulk earlier in the story and convinced Hulk to spare The Illuminati's lives? Perhaps a mix of both? Or maybe it was a CruelMercy, as they would have to live with all of what they'd done - who knows for sure?]]
3	* CatharsisFactor:
4	** Even if he's portrayed as being in the wrong, many fans were quite satisfied to see Hulk completely [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] the self-righteous Illuminati for deceiving him and launching him into space for several years, as well as blowing up his ship, killing his wife. [[spoiler: Although it turns out the last one was actually on Miek.]]
5	** The entire story effectively served as this for the Illuminati in general. As a running arc of several major superheroes that had become [[HeWhoFightsMonsters manipulative assholes that controlled a number of heroes and government circumstances]], and especially after the controversy in ''ComicBook/{{Civil War\|2006}}'' with Reed Richards and Iron Man becoming absolute ''bastards'' to audiences and in-universe, seeing Hulk make them completely [[OhCrap lose their cool]] and admit to their horrific actions and problems they'd caused was a catharsis years in the making. It also helped settle a bit of catharsis for the X-Men by finally ''having someone else'' acknowledge the utter amounts of tragedy and hell they'd been through while resonating that they're still a FamilyOfChoice, compared to the long period of their stories being isolated to evade the SuperRegistrationAct and its fallout.
6	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
7	** Hulk's confronting of Xavier. Even though Xavier had nothing to do with the Illuminati sending Hulk into space, unlike the rest of them, he admits to the group's wrongdoing and surrenders himself to the Hulk. The rest of X-Men, however, aren't prepared to let Xavier die and fight in his defense. None of them can stop the Hulk, but then he sees what Xavier and the X-Men have been through in recent years and decides that Xavier has suffered enough (indeed, that he is living his worst nightmare), and leaves him in peace.
8	** On a more personal level (and combined with Tearjerker over what he'd lost), readers see what his wife did - namely, the Hulk willingly showed her Bruce Banner. Meaning that she accepted him completely, Banner and Hulk, without disdain for either of them.
9	* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: "The Hulk is back. He's madder than he's ever been. And he's going to kill the Illuminati." By the end of the event, not a single one of the Illuminati was dead.
10	* MemeticMutation: "You're all fucked when the Hulk gets back." The ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' storyline happened roughly simultaneously with ''ComicBook/{{Civil War\|2006}}''. This became [[TakeAThirdOption the third option]] when asked "whose side are you on" in the war: it's all moot because the Hulk is going to return and go on a rampage against the guys who shot him into space. ''World War Hulk'' is basically about proving the meme right.
11	* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Miek did not prevent the bomb from exploding and killing Caiera and the others, because he felt it was Hulk's destiny to be the Worldbreaker.]] Needless to say, when Hulk finds out, [[UnstoppableRage he is not amused]].
12	* NightmareFuel: The fact that not only is the Hulk completely and utterly pissed off at the world and smart enough to pick apart his targets easily, but Bruce Banner? He's of the same level of anger as the Hulk, meaning the traditional method of appeasing and stopping his rage is ''completely useless'' because the two are in a rare complete sync.
13	* RootingForTheEmpire: While not being an actual villain, the Hulk is still the event's main antagonist and several readers were actively rooting for him to make the Illuminati pay. This trope also counts as an InUniverse example: as soon as the Hulk reveals their actions, several civilians formed cheering mobs for him, in no small part to being annoyed at the turn of events involving the Civil War.
14	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: With the exception of Xavier (who was not around at the time they send Hulk into space) and Namor (who was completely against their plan and was thus spared of Hulk’s wrath), the Illuminati don't do much to earn readers' sympathy. Throughout the entire story they [[NeverMyFault deny any responsibility for the Hulk's loss because it was an accident]] (a manufactured one by [[spoiler:Miek]], it turns out), ignoring that the entire thing still happened because of them as they shot him into space. Without even trying to get his or Banner's consent, solely because ''he might disagree''.

Context YMMV / WorldWarHulk