Marvel has revealed a new layer to its version of Hell, called the Below Place, and it is a horrifying place, full of grotesque monsters.
Spoilers ahead for Gamma Flight #3!
The Hulk has revealed a whole new realm in Marvel’s version of Hell, called the Below Place. The Below Place, and the Green Door that allows gamma mutates to return to life, has been a huge part of Immortal Hulk and in Gamma Flight #3, on sale now in print and digital, the team is transported to a mysterious realm, and they theorize it has some sort of connection to the Below Place.
For the past three years, writer Al Ewing and a variety of artists have redefined the Hulk’s mythology, imbuing it with a body horror tone—fitting for a character rooted in transformation like the Hulk. One of the book’s key developments is the concept of the Green Door, a special portal that allows Gamma Mutates to return to the land of the living. The book also revealed the existence of the One Below All, the ultimate evil in the Marvel multiverse; the One Below All resides in the lowest circle of Hell, called the Below Place. Gamma mutates come to this place when they die, and when they return to life, they travel through the Green Door, their memory of their time in the Below Place erased from their memory. And now Gamma Flight, a team of gamma mutates, has found another layer of this realm. Gamma Flight #3 is written by Al Ewing and Crystal Frasier, with art by Lan Medina, colors by Antonio Fabela and letters by Joe Sabino.
In the previous issue, the Absorbing Man used his abilities to absorb a teleportation device, which he used to whisk the team away from a fight with a Hulkbuster army. The team finds themselves in a mysterious realm fighting grotesque monsters; as they fight their way through the hordes, they speculate on where they are, never arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. Finally, after the dust settles, Puck theorizes they are in a “gamma version of the astral plane.” Puck goes on to clarify it is not the Below Place, but maybe connected to it; he calls it a “gamma purgatory.” His teammate Doc Sasquatch speculates it is where gamma radiation goes when it is not deployed.
While the exact nature of this mysterious realm never quite gets a satisfactory explanation, Puck’s speculation makes sense. Every member of Gamma Flight felt a connection to the place, and while it was not the nightmarish realm the Below Place is, it was still horrifying, full of giant monsters. The existence of a “gamma purgatory” adds a unique twist to the idea of the Below Place and the Hulk mythos as a whole.
The Hulk learned of the existence of the Below Place a few years ago, and now his allies in Gamma Flight have found another layer.
