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The most shocking, scandalous, outrageous, and creative reveals in comic history!

Superhero comics are a lot like soap operas. Sure, the characters are more colorful and you’ll have the occasional city-wide fight resulting in millions of dollars in property damage, but otherwise both are deeply steeped in the tenants of melodrama. Adultery, murder, thievery, incest – every infamously ridiculous plot in daytime TV also has a home in comic books.

The greatest shared narrative trick, however, is the shock twist reveal. Who is this mysterious stranger? Who shot so-and-so? Comic and soap fans alike can’t get enough of them, even if they do spend years afterwards complaining about what happened. Over-the-top surprise reveals are a staple in almost every medium of entertainment, but in comics they happen as often as first issues. Which is to say a lot.

Still, we managed to narrow it down to the ten most shocking, scandalous, outrageous, and creative reveals in the history of the comic book medium. Did the moment that made you drop your book into a plate of reheated nachos make the list? Let’s find out, true believers!

Every superhero worth their salt has an arch enemy. Batman has the Joker, Wolverine has Sabertooth, and the Hulk has General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Using the powers granted to him by the United States government, Ross spent a better part of a fortune trying to destroy the Hulk, to no avail. Those are taxpayers dollars you’re using, Ross! Think of the children!

Tired of hitting the proverbial wall Ross tried a new method: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. In 2008 Marvel announced the debut of Red Hulk, known to fans as “Rulk”, but held off on revealing his true identity. Matching the power of the Hulk with the strategic capabilities of Captain America, the big green guy couldn’t hope for a more formidable foe.

After two years and several other derivative Hulk debuts – lots of gamma radiation going around, it was a weird time – it was revealed that Rulk was in fact Ross, having conspired with a few other long time Hulk enemies. Considering Rulk had the strategic abilities of a war general and a chip on his shoulder for anything green it really shouldn’t have been that big a surprise, but they sure fooled us. Now if he’d kept the moustache…

This article was first posted on July 24, 2014

Andrew is a self-proclaimed humorist/facepuncher, and is one of the last of his kind. He was dragged from the debris in war-torn Poland and plays a piano most beautifully. In closing, he likes pickles. Follow him on Twitter @TheAEJohnson