Incredible Hulk (2023 series) #3

As Bruce Banner is sacrificed at the Red Creek church, he transforms into the Hulk and tears the place apart, smashing the undead congregants. As the place collapses, Hulk grabs Charlie and carries her to safety, dropping her outside. She asks to accompany Hulk and tells him of her desire to be strong. Hulk tells her she is weak, afraid, and puny, like Banner. She screams at his departing figure then the entire mine beneath the church caves in, dropping Charlie into the pit. Hulk leaps in, grabs her, and cushions her fall with his body. The church leader, Sister Sarah, points out the drawings on the wall, telling the story of Brother Deep, whose voice is heard at the church as he lies imprisoned beneath. Brother Deep rises, a multi-eyed, clawed, and tentacled monster. It attacks Hulk and the hero kills it, stabbing at it repeatedly with a spear torn off of a wooden structure. The creature dead, Hulk tears his way back to the surface and walks away. Charlie pursues him but is grabbed by the zombie sheriff; she kicks him in the head until he’s destroyed. So Hulk permits Charlie to join him, warning her not to trust or help Banner because in that case, he’d dump her. She says, “It’s really true, huh? There really are two of you in there.” Hulk responds, “Not much longer….”

Issue concludes with a text article, “The Remembrances of Eldest Udru, ‘Brother Deep,’” a summary of the origin of the mother of Monsters, her rebellion against the One Above All, and the creation and imprisonment of Brother Deep, setting up this story arc. This is presumable the long version of the story told by the drawings on the mine wall.