Periodically I Come Across Some Baffling Discourse Centered Around The Earliest Parts Of Immortal Hulk:

periodically i come across some baffling discourse centered around the earliest parts of Immortal Hulk: specifically, characters like the gunman and immortal scientist father from the first couple of issues of Immortal Hulk, during a point where we don't really know WHAT the Devil Hulk is actually up to and we have to piece together the rumblings of the plots, with Jackie McGee as arguably our viewpoint character (since while we see Bruce's perspective, we have no more clue of what's going on with him, and McGee puts the pieces together)

specifically, the discourse i find inexplicable is people arguing that those two antagonists were unfairly victimized by the Devil Hulk or that it would be in character for him to be sympathetic towards them instead of the brutal torments he visits upon them as punishments for their crimes (murdering several people in a gas station robbery including a young girl, and killing a lot of people personally and by extension) and I find this kind of argument to be incredibly baffling!

This is also compared to Charlene MacGowen, whom is recruited by the Hulk after she is previously a member of a group hunting the Hulk and experimenting on gamma mutants; the Hulk hires her after taking over the group, rather than tormenting or killing her has he does previously. I've seen people try to argue that Hulk SHOULD have done the same with those previous characters, or think its unfair of them.

And the rebuttal to this, starting with 'of course he didn't, they deserved what they got' amounts to a few different points. The first is that Immortal Hulk is a horror story. The Devil Hulk is very explicitly a horrifying force of retribution; when he brutalizes the gas station robber by beating him so badly he will be in a coma for the rest of his life, or rips the limbs off an undying man and leaves him to rot underground, deprived of all sensory input forever, its SUPPOSED to be uncomfortable and horrifying, if a twisted form of justice.

The second part of it involves a bit of analysis.

The robber, well, robs a gas station to pay off debts. He's scared, trying to provide for his family and in over his head; he's thus a scared man whose murders are partially a result of panic. However, Hulk's insight all but states that he killed because he wanted to kill people to feel strong. He discusses how the man was at the target range, tempted by the thought of letting that power loose. He killed several people, including a young child not too different from his own child, not because he was scared... but because he WANTED the power of it, to kill just because he could. Tellingly, when the Hulk outright says so, he loses his nerve and instead of trying to argue or justify himself, pleads for mercy. He asks "I'm not a bad man... am I?" And the Hulk simply leers and asks what he thinks, the implication being that he IS, and he knows it, as the Hulk delivers his gruesome fate.

The scientist is initially less malicious; afraid of death, he created a gamma-based treatment to save himself and his son, but when he injected his son with it, killed him on the spot, and over time, his own treatments mutated him into a gamma mutant; an undying man with his skeleton visible through his skin, death incarnate. His crimes are two-fold; beyond accidentally killing his son, his son... didn't stay dead. He's still alive down there, insane from the sensory isolation, while his radioactive body is killing everyone who comes to the graveyard to mourn, suffering lethal radiation poisoning.

To quote Hulk himself, "How many died because you were scared!?"

That's not the end of it though; the scientist is also deliberately and explicitly murdering everyone who comes across him to cover up what's happened to him, and he has killed a lot of people this way.

This is where we come to MacGowen. She's not particularly innocent compared to them, working for the primary antagonist of the comic at that point, but the crucial difference is that while she, just like them, has largely been forced in to her situation, there is one very big difference.

The gas station robber did the robbery to pay of a debt and care for his family, but he also killed multiple people because he wanted the power of it, needlessly doing so just so he could feel big and tough. The scientist accidentally killed his son and a LOT of other people due to radiation poisoning, but he also deliberately killed many other people to cover up what he had become, even though this served no purpose.

In the same situation, MacGowen actively tries to minimize the suffering of gamma mutants she's studying (specifically the scientist's son, driven to insanity by the deprivation and experiments performed on him too), going out of her way to do so. She puts herself at significant risk to do this, fully aware that other people working in the same organization are facing horrible suffering and punishment for going against orders, and she is DELIBERATELY doing so, doing the best she can even as it means her potential death.

She goes the extra mile to try to comfort and minimize suffering, even when its not actually going to do her any good, and might outright get her killed, but she still does it. This is the reason why, I think, the Devil Hulk chooses to recruit her.

The robber and scientist didn't minimize any suffering; they outright killed people because they could, or because they were scared. MacGowan goes out of her way to help others, at very serious personal risk, after being stuck in a bad situation with no real hope of things getting better for herself. The Devil Hulk's sense of justice is uncompromising and cold, demanding accounting for the crimes you've commited, and the first two here answer him by first making excuses and then weakly begging for mercy, pleading that they don't deserve it, and he is unmoved. MacGowan doesn't make any such excuses, but just does the only thing she feels she can, which Devil Hulk actually DOES respect.

In other words, from a moral perspective, they're weak and cowardly, hurting others and then begging for a mercy they never shared with anyone. They're puny. And as Joe Fixit himself later says, the likes of McGee (and later, MacGowan) ain't puny.