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Quote1 I howl through many mouths. I break with many hands. They are themselves, but they are also me. I have all the power you give me and my weapon is hate. Quote2
One Below All[src]

The One Below All is the dark side and a part of the cosmic being known as the One Above All, who is the supreme ruler of the Multiverse and the supreme embodiment of creation and compassion,[6] which would make the One Below All the ultimate personification of destruction and hate.[7][8] The Mother of Horrors, a being who wasn't created by the One Above All, but by Herself, hid from Him the Earth, that She ruled; angry by Her defiance and the creation of Udru, He manifested as the One Below All, the representation of His fury and dark aspects,[9] that posteriorly acted as a counterweight to the growing life in the Multiverse.[8] It resides in the lowest point of reality, called the Below-Place, from which it rules. Sealed off from the rest of the Multiverse through the metaphysical Green Doors, it manifests in other realities through "extreme gamma" -- the mutagenic third form of Gamma Radiation. When Bruce Banner fell victim to the Gamma Bomb, he opened a Green Door and was infused with the One Below All's power, becoming the Hulk.[10][11] In an alternate future, it would succeed in taking over Bruce Banner's body, eliminating his consciousness and those of his component Hulks, and use his power to devour Eternity, ascending in the Ninth Cosmos and proceeding to achieve its ultimate goal, to eradicate all life in the Multiverse.[4][12] The Leader was granted a vision of this future and decided to help the entity fulfill its purpose, though his attempt to do so ultimately prevented it from happening, as in the process he not only left it without a host personality to think for it but closed the Green Doors as well, severing the One Below All's connection to the rest of the Gamma Mutates and leaving it trapped in the Below-Place.[8]

History

Origins[]

A malevolent entity that resides in the Below-Place - the deepest layer of Hell, the One Below All is an aspect of the One Above All that serves as the One Above All's dark counterpart.[8] When the One Above All became angry as the Mother of Horrors defiled His creation and hid the Earth from Him, the One Below All manifested as the aspect of His anger towards Her and Her son Udru,[9] eventually serving in its role as the counterweight to the ever expanding life in the Multiverse.[8] The One Below All is the source of the mutagenic third form of gamma energy, and is thereby capable of using gamma mutates as avatars to manifest. As the One Below All is the other face or dark side of the One Above All, the One Below All has existed before any version of the multiverse or even existence itself, and is purportedly the source of all other evil entities.[13][1][14][5] As the dark alter-ego of The One Above All, The One Below All is a creature without a mind of its own, possessing only terrible desires, destroying all so that the One Above All can begin the cycle of creation anew.[8] In spite of this purpose, the One Below All still harbors its own goals, comparable to a 'Hulk' itself. The One Below All genuinely does hate and fear the Mystery, and it's ultimate goal is to destroy everything in the Multiverse and to become the one remaining presence in it, leaving no stories and no life left to ever exist.[15]

Immortal Hulk[]

In spite of the One Below All's goals, it remained without a personality, incapable of acting beyond its role as a counterbalance. To do more, it required a host personality. [16] During his research into the properties of gamma radiation, Brian Banner had a dream-vision of the One Below All, and sensed the creature looking for him. This experience prompted him to put all of his research to a halt.[10] When Brian's son Bruce investigated gamma radiation on his own, he developed a powerful Gamma Bomb. The bomb's explosion opened the first Green Door, a metaphysical barrier into the Below-Place, and infused him with gamma radiation, turning him into the Hulk.[10]

Years later, when Bruce killed Brian during the Chaos War,[17] his soul was plunged into the Below-Place.[10] The One Below All then joined with Brian and used his personality as its own, now beginning its plan to destroy Bruce and silence the multiverse forever. Through a Green Door, Brian possessed the gamma mutate Jailbait, causing her powers to go out of control. Her boyfriend, Hotshot, then was forced to tie her to a chair, due to her power growing out of control. He went to a church during Sunday services and held the congregation hostage in order to force the priest to perform last rites on Jailbait. He was ranting that Jailbait was possessed by the devil and that he saw a green door.[2]

When Sasquatch was killed in a bar fight, Brian possessed him next and sent him on a feral rampage.[18] The Hulk intervened and drained Walter's gamma power to stop him, which inadvertently passed Brian's possession on to him.[19] The One Below All had Brian nudge the Hulk into travelling to the Los Diablos Military Base, the place where the gamma bomb had detonated. The Hulk saw through the One Below All's plan, but when Absorbing Man intercepted him, he drained the Hulk's gamma energy, transferring the possession to himself.[20] After a brief battle with a now-emaciated Hulk, Gamma Flight arrived and Absorbing Man's possessed corpse used the distraction to flee towards the area where the original gamma bomb had been detonated, absorbing all the ambient gamma energy in the area. Successful, the One Below All opened a Green Door and plunged everybody on the scene into the Below-Place.[21]

One Below All (Multiverse) from Immortal Hulk Vol 1 12 001

One Below All's true form

When the Hulk arrived at the Below-Place, he was split from Bruce Banner,[22] whom Brian took captive with the intention to make him the new vessel for the One Below All and bring the Earth to the Below-Place.[10] While making his way through the Below-Place, the Hulk was confronted by manifestations of Rick Jones and Thaddeus Ross, enraging him to the point where his Savage Hulk personality briefly emerged.[22] When the sun rose, the One Below All was able to appear in an ominous cloud-like form and was soon ready to take control of Bruce's body.[10]

The One Below All summoned a horde of demons whom the Hulk confronted along with the Rick Jones manifestation. In the meantime, Gamma Flight member Puck had managed to convince the Absorbing Man to set things right, and they approached Brian in the fountain of gamma energy where he was holding Bruce. The Absorbing Man soaked up the gamma energy and transferred it into the Hulk, allowing him to regain his strength just as he was being overwhelmed by the demons. Hulk then unleashed a thunderclap that dispersed the One Below All. With his power regained, the Hulk merged back with Bruce and closed the Green Door, sending everybody on the scene back to Earth.[7]

Ascended[]

In the far future, the One Below All managed to destroy the soul of Bruce Banner and possessed the body of the Hulk. It then went on to kill the likes of Franklin Richards, Galactus, Mister Immortal, and many others, thus becoming the only being left in the universe. When the Sentience of the Eighth Cosmos came to greet what he thought was Bruce Banner, he soon discovered that that it was an elaborate trick and the One Below All-possessed Hulk then quickly devoured the being and absorbed its power.[4][23]

In the newly formed Ninth Cosmos, the One Below All used the power of the recently devoured Eternity to transform the possessed Hulk into a Galactus-like being named the "Breaker of Worlds." Ten billion years later, the Breaker of Worlds destroyed all life, light, and planets in the cosmos, effectively rendering it dead. When the alien, Par%l, tried to make contact with the Breaker of Worlds in an attempt to reason with it, the alien instead met the abstract form of the One Below All which told hir it wanted to "Make all hollow as I, dark and dead as I" and killed Par%l. Destroying all life in the Multiverse, he finally achieved his ultimate goal.

In the present, the gamma-mutated villain Leader became aware of the One Below All's ultimate victory though a warning sent back in time by Par%l.[13] Having been investigating the Below-Place and the Green Door, the Leader set out to help bring this dire future into being.[24] Sterns managed to open a Green Door and assimilate Brian's soul into himself, obtaining his connection with the One Below All. With it and the ability to possess and manipulate gamma mutates, the Leader embarked on a plan to fulfill the One Below All's goal to break Bruce Banner.[11]

One Below All (Multiverse) from Immortal Hulk Vol 1 42 001

One Below All possessing Leader

Leader managed to enter Banner's mindscape and force Banner and the remains of the Devil Hulk persona into the Below-Place. He hooked them up to strange, plant-like structures so they could act as a device to channel gamma energy into the One Below All.[11] However, Leader couldn't get the device to work, even though Brian Banner could. Then Leader learned the truth from Brian Banner's spirit: Brian could do it because he was possessed by the One Below All, something Leader didn't want. After that, the One Below All possessed the Leader, much to his horror.[16]

The Leader proceeded to assimilate Bruce Banner and the Devil Hulk's corpse into himself, enlarging and achieving the One Below All's complete form. After the Hulk and Joe Fixit arrived at the Below Place, the One Below All tried to assimilate them as well. Luckly, in the real world, they were empowered by the Power Cosmic, Joe transforming into a Red Hulk, and escaped.[25] Determined to bring Bruce Banner back to the earthly plane, Joe Fixit, now the dominant personality of the Hulks, contacted the Fantastic Four to enter the Below Place through the Forever Gate along with Jackie McGee. Arriving, Joe and the Savage Hulk split into separate beings.

One Above All (Multiverse) from Immortal Hulk Vol 1 50 001

The One Below All is revealed to be the One Above All

Encountering the Leader protected by a fortress he had built, the Hulks proceeded to rip out a depowered Leader from inside of the One Below All, returning the One Below All to its original state as a near-mindless force of nature. Similar to when Job asked God the reason of his suffering, the Savage Hulk demanded to know why he is the way he is. Realizing that the entity is nothing more then another entity's "Hulk", Joe demanded the One Below All show its true face. Manifesting, the One Above All enigmatically answered that, much like the One Below All itself, the Hulk has served the purpose of the counterweight to their creations, tearing things down so that it can then be rebuilt. Hulk asks why, but the One-Below-All simply asks Hulk the same question, "Why are you as you are?" and asked the Hulk if he would be Geburah or Golachab. Hulk realizes that he has chosen his own role through his actions and, this time, chooses Geburah by rescuing the Leader, rejecting his role as simply a counterweight. Together with Bruce and Joe, they leave the Below-Place with the Leader, leaving the One Below All without a personality and as a mere counterweight once more. With the Green Doors closed, the future where the One Below All succeeded was seemingly averted.[8]

Personality

Quote1 I am the One Below All. With these hands I break. With this mouth I howl. I devoured the selves that were here in a time long past. Now there is I. And only I. I am all-powerful. And my weapon is hate. I have made of this a thing of hate. A hollow shell. A Hulk. The mystery frightens and disgusts me. I will kill it. Make all hollow as I. Dead and dark as I. And I will be alone. Quote2
Breaker-Apart (One Below All)[src]
Being a manifestation of the One Above All, the One Below All doesn't possess a mind of its own, only the desire to become the sole remaining presence in the Multiverse.[8] Serving as the counterweight of the One Above All, who is the supreme manifestation of love and good, it is the ultimate personification of hatred and every form of evil there is, making it the most maleficent entity in existence. Its power depends on hate, and its ultimate goal is to destroy everything in existence; as per its own nature, it cannot truly create anything, only destroy and corrupt.[10][13]

Attributes

Powers

Quote1 You bear my mark. You are one of my children. I turn my face towards you. Quote2
One Below All[src]

The One Below All is the source of the mutagenic form of Gamma energy that creates Gamma Mutates while being the cause of how Gamma energy can seemingly do almost anything and break the rules of science and nature. This also means that either directly or indirectly all Gamma Mutates are The One Below All's creations,[4] and it is able to possess them; though it can only indwell one host at a time to directly influence people and the living world. While needing a host to directly affect the material world, it can subtly influence people and events in physical reality where and when it's strongest. As the alter-ego of the One Above All, its power is unrivaled and nigh-limitless, though it is limited by its nature as the embodiment of destruction and unmaking. It can push people when they're consumed by the more negative aspects of the psyche (like making two angry bar patrons attack each other and then stab Langowski, despite almost no serious buildup, causing Jackie McGee to note it seeming random). Puck mentioned that it had been stroking minds and moving things around to suit its plans. It was also able to reach Brian Banner purportedly before Gamma Mutates even existed, when he was able to see a Green Door and catch a glimpse of the One Below All, suggesting that it might have been manipulating the events of the lives of Brian and Bruce Banner so that it would have a way of freeing itself from the Below Place years later.[10] It has also been shown seemingly being able to increase its power with the anger and sorrow of others as when Hulk was thrown in a savage rage and Jackie McGee seeing her deceased father.[7] This alludes to its phrase "I have all of the power you give me." meaning that the worse state a person is in, the more power and control it has. Additionally, it has stated that "I howl through many mouths, I break with many hands" which means that, like the One Above All, it exists within every being and sees from their perspective, though it cannot control them directly, only influence them. Even when restricted by the Green Door, the One Below All's power greatly eclipses that of other demonic entities such as Mephisto.[26]

The One-Below-All can spawn entities called Qlippoth, which take on the appearance of people's loved ones and enemies in order to torment them, and can also regurgitate hordes of demonic monsters.[7]

The One Below All can also manipulate, to an extent, the body of the vessel and give it supernatural abilities to those it possesses. When Brian Banner took possession of Crusher Creel he was able to tear open his upper body.[21] These abilities were able to be "passed down" to the Leader when he tricked Brian and consumed his essence. With his newfound connection to the One Below All, the being granted the Leader the ability to mimic the appearance of anyone he chooses (like wearing masks, on a stage) including the Green Scar and a hideous insectoid form.[11]

Abilities

Beyond any known system of abilities. He can also warp reality.

Weaknesses

Mindlessness: The One Below All on its own is practically mindless, little more than a beast, serving a similar role to the One Above All as the Hulk does to Bruce Banner. Though it has enough knowledge and intelligence to communicate and perceive the universe and beings within it, according to Brian Banner, it "doesn't have a true mind. Only dark and terrible impulses". To not only interact with but also understand and plan, it needs a host with a mind to help direct itself. As the dark alter-ego of the One Above All, its nature is to be destructive- therefore, it can only alter or destroy things, not create them.

Its primary purpose is to destroy each multiverse, wiping the slate clean so the One Above All may rebuild it; until that time comes, it remains locked away.[8]

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Notes

  • When Doctor Strange requested Mephisto remove the One Below All from the Hulk after a brief Defenders team-up, the Hell-Lord remarked that he was unable to do so because it was "far stronger than" he.[26]
  • Bruce Banner theorized that the symbiote god Knull, similar to Tanaraq,[18] was merely an aspect of the One Below All or a creature it somehow controls.[1] Knull is himself seemingly inspired in a few ways by the Cthulhu Mythos.
    • Doctor Strange's theory in Defenders (Vol. 6) #5 gives support to Bruce's; speculating that the essence of Anti-All, a creature born from the Below-Place and possibly tied with the One Below All, scattered across the Multiverse after being shattered by the Lifebringer One gave rise to other dark entities in the next Multiverses, including Knull.
  • While there have been many beings that embody destruction and entropy, the One Below All is fundamentally different as it embodies un-making things and intentionally destroying them. It is not a natural part of the multiverse but outside of everything and a dark reflection of existence. It is the action of willfully and intentionally bringing destruction. This is referenced in Immortal Hulk #12 with the description of the destroyer deity Angra Mainyu who could perform good works but chooses not to and freely chooses evil and destruction instead.
  • The One Below All cannot create or make anything as creation is against its fundamental nature. It and its power are only capable of altering or destroying. No matter what intentions or desires a being using its power (in the form of Gamma Radiation) it can ultimately never be used for anything good or beneficial. This has been indirectly proven from all the horrors created by Gamma power over history and confirmed in Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1 with Tammuz realizing, after becoming a gamma mutate and resurrecting, that the One Below All's power is not meant for building.
  • Puck has theorized that of all the demons claiming to be Satan he has encountered, the One Below All may be "the definite article".[22]

See Also

Links and References

References

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