This is the third installment of the series Untold Origin Stories. In each installment, a character from the Marvel Universe (MU) will have their comic book origin story explored. Whether known by most or never heard of, each exploration will be of a character whose origin story was not featured on the cinematic screen.
The Abomination is a minor character in the MCU that nearly no one remembers. With his only major appearance being in The Incredible Hulk (2008)–Edward Norton’s only appearance as the Hulk–he has since faded into the background of the MCU’s larger narrative before having a more prominent role in the Disney+ She-Hulk series fourteen years later. Although the plot of Norton’s Hulk film has since largely been ignored from MCU canon, not much was made known about his prior life as Emil Blonsky to begin with.
Before becoming green and abominable
Unfortunately, not much is made known about Abomination’s life prior to Blonsky’s exposure to the gamma rays. He was born in Zagreb (then part of Yugoslavia), which is currently the capital and biggest city of Croatia, and grew up to have a career as a KGB agent. One day on a mission in New Mexico, he infiltrated an Air Force base where he found Bruce Banner. Banner, who was fed up with his duel Hulk persona, was attempting to kill his other half through an overexposure to gamma rays. He was ultimately unsuccessful and Blonksky was hit with the rays instead.
Abomination as he appears in the Marvel Comics
Source: marvel.fandom.com
Abomination…loading…
After his exposure to the gamma rays, Blonsky appeared as an antagonist in various comic book storylines for other characters, but the next time he faced his iconic green foe was in space! Interestingly, Abomination tends to align himself with various other aliens as they work together to defeat the Hulk. After that, nothing else notable happens in his comic book storyline as it boils down to the repetitive pattern of he aligns with a bigger bad guy, does the bad guy’s bidding, fights a version of the Hulk, loses and almost always dies. The Abomination finally dies once he faces the Red Hulk, a gamma-powered General Ross (aka one of his former bosses), who kills him in revenge for the Abomination killing his daughter Betty. After that, Abomination goes down to the Underworld before eventually being resurrected.
After more than a decade of being MIA, Blonksy's Abomination made a small cameo in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with a new appearance more accurate to that of the comics
Source: gamesradar.com
So why not feature the Abomination more prominently?
I think this one is sadly a little obvious…there really is not much substance to his character arc. From the looks of it, Emil Blonksy was always intended to be a secondary foe of the Incredible Hulk as he faced other foes such as General Ross and the Leader. Because he is the only other person who transforms into a monster that is nearly identical in physic and skin tone to that of Banner’s Hulk, he might have been created as an antithesis of the Hulk, someone who looks like him and came about by similar means but is the complete opposite. Because of the funky distribution agreements with the Hulk, it unfortunately does not look like audiences will ever get a true answer about the Hulk and his foes. Ultimately, Blonksy being “resurrected” for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2021) is a first step in the right direction, but time will only tell what tricks the MCU has up their sleeves.
Author Bio
Felicity Girty is a first year MFA Film & Television student at UCLA as well as a recent UCLA alum ('23)! She is the club's Head Blog Writer and is addicted to all things Disney. Felicity has an enormous passion for literature and entertainment and when not immersed in either can be found listening to literally any kind of music. She hopes to work her way into the entertainment industry after graduating and become a producer and wants to start out in development.