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The Abomination (Emil Blonsky) is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Tales to Astonish #90 (April 1967), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Gil Kane.

Publication History

1960's

Stan Lee chose the name "the Abomination", which he realized belonged to no other character, before conceiving the character's background and appearance. Lee recalled that he simply told the artist Gil Kane to "make him bigger and stronger than the Hulk and we'll have a lot of fun with him". Emil Blonsky was introduced as aKGB agent and spy in Tales to Astonish #90 (April 1967), and becomes the Abomination after deliberately exposing himself to a greater quantity of the same gamma radiation that transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Blonsky is transformed into a massive green-skinned monster with physical strength exceeding that of the Hulk; in his first appearance, he is more than twice as powerful as the Hulk. Although he retains his mental faculties, Blonsky soon discovers his inability to return to human form.

1970's

The Abomination has repeatedly joined forces with General Thunderbolt Ross to fight the Hulk, but always betrays Ross, first teaming with the Rhino in an attempt to take over Hulkbuster base, and later tricking the Hulk into an alliance and attempting to ransom the captured Kennedy Space Center.

The Abomination is later briefly lost in space, but is rescued by the U.S. military and revived by MODOK and General Ross. In this third association with Ross, the Abomination is forced to battle the Hulk, but turns against MODOK, who atomizes him. His atomized body reconstitutes itself with the disembodied mind of Tyrannus. This amalgamated being forces Banner to try to cure this condition, but the procedure fails, leaving Tyrannus in the Abomination body and returning Blonsky to human form. Tyrannus briefly operates as the Abomination and attacks Wonder Man, until Ghaur and Llyra restore Tyrannus to normal. Blonsky again becomes the Abomination, but as a mindless beast, and battles She-Hulk and Spider-Man in New York. He later recovers his mental faculties and is hired to steal toxic waste from the Yucca Flats research center, but is caught off guard and doused in toxic waste by the Hulk.

Blonsky blames his condition on Banner and returns to attack his archenemy time and again. Although stronger than the Hulk in a calm state, the Abomination has almost always been beaten by the Hulk's sheer ferocity.

In later issues, it is revealed that Blonsky's transformation alienates his ballet-dancer ex-wife, Nadia. Coupled with constant defeats at the hands of the Hulk, Blonsky is driven insane with hatred for Banner. The Abomination also grows incensed upon learning that Banner has married Betty Ross, the daughter of Thunderbolt Ross.

With the loss of his wife, Blonsky decides that Banner should also lose his spouse. The Abomination subsequently poisons Betty with his radioactive blood, causing Banner and his associates to believe that her proximity to the Hulk has given her a fatal case of radiation poisoning. Banner later exposes the Abomination's role in Betty's false death, and the Hulk defeats him in combat. Banner then forgives the Abomination, who cannot accept this act. Blonsky finally realizes that he has been living a lie — it is he who is the monster, not the Hulk.

Months later, the still-grieving General Ross manipulates the Hulk into attacking and almost killing the Abomination. The Abomination is then taken into custody by the military, and as punishment is forced to watch a film loop of him and his wife prior to his transformation, making his incarceration a constant reminder of what he has lost.

Eventually, operatives from the secret organization Home Base release the Abomination in order to fight the Hulk. The Abomination has become even more vicious as a result of his incarceration, and reminds Banner of the loss of Betty to goad him into a violent response. The plan backfires as the Abomination faces an enraged Hulk, who utterly defeats him.

These events are later revealed to have been a hallucination created by the entity Nightmare, which is confirmed when Blonsky shows no knowledge of the relationship, and also declares that he's had two different wives named Nadia, about which Abomination states, "It happens. Hey, Johnny Carson's been married to Joan, Joanna and Joanne," to explain the difference in personality. Blonsky is then employed as a U.S. government hitman against hostile foreign interests.

The Abomination later realizes the Hulk is missing, and rampages through the city of Reno, in Nevada, but is stopped by She-Hulk. An apparently fully human Blonsky is later identified among the subjects of a program code-named "Project Achilles", whose mandate is to create a super-power nullifying system in nanotech form.

The Abomination is later shown to have fought a new enemy named Red Hulk. Upon being defeated, he is shot multiple times and presumably killed.

Powers and abilities

Blonsky's transformation into the Abomination substantially increases his strength and durability, giving him many of the same powers as the Hulk. Like the Hulk, the Abomination is still very resistant to damage, can hold his breath for extended periods of time, and can breathe underwater for extended periods of time. The Abomination is also capable of regenerating from severe damage, but at a slower rate than the Hulk, and can also go into a state of suspended animation if in a climate lacking air or heat. Like the Hulk, he can travel many miles by simply jumping.

The Abomination differs from the Hulk in several ways. Firstly, Blonsky's transformation is permanent, unlike the Hulk's rage-induced transformations. In addition, while the Abomination was originally shown to be stronger than a calm Hulk, his strength does not increase with anger as the Hulk's does. Finally, he retains his intelligence in his new gamma induced form, unlike the Hulk, who becomes a raging monster.

Other versions

Future Imperfect

In this dystopian timeline, the Abomination, called "Emil", and his mutated minions battle the Maestro for control over the planet for decades. After the Maestro is deposed by his own past self, Emil and his minions subsequently invade and conquer his former kingdom.

Marvel Zombies

A zombified Abomination appears in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days.

Ultimate Marvel

In Ultimate Marvel comics, the Abomination is a Chinese scientist named Chang Lam. Unlike the Ultimates version of the Hulk, he retains his mental faculties and is dark grayish-green with large, pointed ears, a lizard-like tail, a long tongue that comes to a point, a bald, smooth head, rather than the bumpy, "egg crate" head of his classic counterpart and an overly large upper body in comparison with his lower body. Abomination is a member of the Liberators, and is decapitated in a final battle with the Hulk.

In other media

Television

• Abomination is a recurring villain in The Incredible Hulk 1996 animated series, voiced by Kevin Schon and later by Richard Moll.

Film

• Tim Roth portrays Emil Blonsky in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk and also supplied motion capture for his alter-ego, as well as his voice, which was digitally enhanced.

Video games

• The Abomination is a boss character in several video games, including The Incredible Hulk for Super NES; The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction; and Sega's video game adaptation of the 2008 Incredible Hulk film.

Toys

• Abomination is featured in the first series of Hulk Classics.

• A second and larger Abomination is featured in Marvel Legends Series 1.

• An action figure of the Abomination based on the character in the 2008 film was released in May, 2008.
• Abomination appears in Heroscape.

References

1. Tim Lammers (2008-06-11). "Stan Lee Pumped Over Return Of 'Incredible Hulk'". KCRA-TV. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
2. Incredible Hulk #159 (Jan. 1973)
3. Hulk #171 (Jan. 1974)
4. Hulk #195-196 (Jan. - Feb. 1976)
5. Incredible Hulk #270 (Apr. 1981)
6. Hulk #287-290 (Sep. - Nov. 1983)
7. Hulk Annual #15 (1986)
8. West Coast Avengers #25 (Oct. 1987)
9. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23 (1989))
10. Hulk #364 (Dec. 1989)
11. Hulk vol. 3, #81
12. Hulk: Destruction #4 (2007)
13. She-Hulk vol. 3, #15
14. She-Hulk vol. 4, #18
15. Hulk #1 (2008)
16. The Abominations #1 - 3 (1996 - 1997)
17. Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (2007)
18. Ultimates vol. 2, #12 (2006)

External links

• Abomination at Marvel.com

• Marvel Comics supervillains
• 1967 comics characters debuts
• Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength