The Other She-Hulk

Amadeus Cho, Marvel's boy genius, was recently revealed to be Marvel's newest Hulk appearing after their "Secret Wars" event, but The Hulk isn't the only green-giant to get his share of imitators. Move over Skaar, Red Hulk, and A-Bomb, here comes She-Hulk's successor. No, not Red She-Hulk (which is a thing) but it's actually today's Z-Lister, Lyra The She-Hulk.

Created in "Hulk: Raging Thunder #1" in 2008 by Jeff Parker, Lyra is the daughter of The Incredible Hulk and Hulk's time displaced villainess, Thundra.

Quick catch-up on Thundra: She is a time traveling warrior woman from the 23rd Century who's world is dominated by The Femizons, a tribe of female barbarians. The Femizons enslaved the male population in the dystopian future and Thundra-the strongest of them all-was sent back in time to fight the strongest men in history.

In an alternate version of Thundra's future it was established that factions of men were rising up as rebellions, choosing heroes of the past as their gods. Heroes like Wolverine, The Sentry, and even The Hulk were seen as bastions for the male uprising, thus angering Thundra. Femizon scientists used the remains of Hulk's DNA to impregnate Thundra and give birth to Lyra, their secret weapon. Lyra was trained in combat by The Femizons, but a mutation in her genetics led to the discovery that the angrier she got the weaker she got, an inverse of Hulk's abilities.

Lyra was sent back in time to find the greatest hero of all time-which at that time-was Norman Osborn (The Green Goblin). Normy at that point led SHIELD/HAMMER and had a governmental grip over the Marvel Universe. The first She-Hulk Jen Walters tried to contain Lyra, but Norman and his Dark Avengers interrupted. Lyra kisses Norman and reveals that rather than kill Norman, she was sent back to breed with him so that "the world's greatest hero" would be forever intertwined with the Femizons in the far future. Upon kissing Norman, Lyra remembered all the horrible actions Norman has and will commit and cannot stand to breed with him.

After escaping The Dark Avengers, Lyra was taken in by SHIELD's sub-division ARMOR (Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response). She later received blessing from Jen Walters to also use the She-Hulk name, thus creating a duo of She-Hulks. Abandoning her mission, Lyra fought alongside many heroes, including ARMOR, The Defenders, and Avengers Academy-a school for aspiring superheroes. Lyra was trapped in another dimension by Doc Green (one of Bruce Banner/Hulk's multiple personalities who set out to remove all other Hulks), but escaped with two residents of that dimension who become her servants until they can return home.

Lyra definitely has an interesting backstory, confusing time travel aside, but I feel she deserves a bit more to do at this point. She is so different from the other Hulks in that her powers work in an inverse, meaning containing her rage is key to fighting. A neat twist for a Hulk character, but I feel she'd benefit from being on another team. Marvel's upcoming comic book slate doesn't include a Young Avengers book, so why not put Lyra, Spider-Girl, Thunderstrike and a few more spin-off teen characters on a team? Just a thought, probably a better thought would be teaming her up with the new Totally Awesome Hulk Amadeus Cho. Come on, teenage genius and man-detesting warrior girl? That's either a brilliant setup for a comic or Pendleton Ward's next Cartoon Network cash-cow.

Thanks for reading and Happy Celebration September!

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