Hiro-Kala

Origin

Found by Hiro-Amin, a priest to Axeman Bone, the young male shadow who would one day become known as Hiro-Kala. He was forced into slavery and worked in one of Bone's encampments. For much of his life he bared witness to Bone's savagery firsthand day in and day out.

Following Bone's fight with Skaar, Hiro-Kala became part of a newly formed coup and planned to slay Bone in the woods. He ultimately stayed his hand. He then had a talk with Bone that led the young Shadow child to believe that he was the only one left who could bring peace to the ruined world of Sakaar.

When two other members of the coup attempted to finish what Hiro-Kala had started, he stood against them and managed to kill one of them while giving a guard still loyal to Bone enough time to finish the other traitor off. Later, after the coup had been dismantled, Hiro-Kala fled into the desert where he was found by three travelers.

The two men attacked Hiro-Kala while their female companion begged for them to stop hurting him. Ignoring her, the two men continued with their beatings until a roaming Devil-Corker emerged from the sand and killed the two men in one fell swoop, apparently draining it of all its energy.

As it collapsed onto the sand, Hiro-Kala and the woman found several spears jammed into one of its eyes. He removed them as a way of saying thanks for saving him. Relieved by the spears' removal, The Devil-Corker repaid Hiro-Kala's kindness by dragging itself over him and the woman to block them from an approaching sandstorm.

After the storm's passing, the woman collected her group's remaining rations and offered some to Hiro-Kala. He denied the offer and walked off into the desert for parts unknown.

Creation

Hiro-Kala was created by Greg Pak and first appeared in Skaar: Son of Hulk #2.

Character Evolution

As he traveled through the desert, Hiro-Kala met up with a group of people making a pilgrimage to Prophet Rock. Upon arriving, he saw Hiro-Amin hit Skaar and send him flying through the rock destroying it instantly. Sometime after Skaar had defeated Hiro-Amin, Hiro-Kala found him hanging and managed to lower him back onto the ground.

Hiro-Amin begged that Hiro-Kala kill him, but Hiro-Kala demanded that he tell him how he could get his hands on The Old Power and stop Skaar's rampage before it was all too late. Hiro-Amin explained the entire process and that his own power came from one of Caiera's cousins. Hiro-Kala quickly learned that he would have to kill Hiro-Amin in order for the transfer to work.

At the exact same moment, Axeman Bone confronted Hiro-Kala and offered up his axe so Hiro-Kala could kill his former priest. But when Hiro-Kala beheaded Hiro-Amin, the Old Power vanished and in the process had revealed that Hiro-Amin had been lying. After allowing Hiro-Kala some time to vent his rage over the priests lies, Axeman Bone told Hiro-Kala that he admired the steps he had taken to destroy his adversaries and gave him both freedom and the name Hiro-Kala.

Hiro-Kala soon became a member of Bone's Honor Guard and traveled with him to the city of The Red King, where Skaar was already in the process of usurping The Old Power from the Wildbots and the city itself. Once they arrived, Hiro-Kala began to hear the stones of his world speaking and began begging for Skaar to stop, telling him that he was essentially killing his Mother all over again.

Skaar ignored Hiro-Kala's cries and consumed it all, only to find himself under attack from The Silver Surfer. As the two titans clashed and tore the foundations of Sakaar apart, Hiro-Kala fled and helped free many slaves, hoping that they would be able to get away before Skaar returned. Hiro-Kala watched as Skaar enslaved The Silver Surfer and reenlisted The Red King's former generals as his own.

While asking to see the trophies of the slaves so that they might prove themselves worthy of joining his new army, Hiro-Kala spat in Skaar's face. He merely turned away and took his armies with him on a quest to conquer Sakaar. A quest that would ultimately be cut short by the destruction of Sakaar at the hands of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds.

During the destruction of Sakaar, Hiro-Kala, Omaka, Old Sam, Axeman Bone, Lihla and many other inhabitants of Sakaar escape on one of the great stone ships that was powered by the Old Power. There was some confusion at first about how they were still flying, and what was maneuvering the ship since it was thought that the destruction of Sakaar had gotten rid of the Old Power. Hiro reveals that the residue of Old Power that Galactus left behind is now in him and vows to make Galactus suffer in the name of his mother and father. When he reveals this, Caiera comes to him and tells him that she didn't know – that she was too distracted by the actions of Skaar to give Hiro-Kala the guidance he needed.

Hiro returned to the ship and revealed to the entire ship that he is the Sakaarson and is also the child of Caiera the Oldstrong and Hulk, the Green Scar. Lt. Kutter doubts this and is promptly beheaded by Hiro’s Old Power. Axeman Bone pleads for forgiveness swearing his allegiance. Hiro-Kala forgives him but says that if any of them question him again, he will kill them where they stand. Axeman Bone’s daughter Lihla approaches Hiro offers herself to him and promises to be his queen one day. Hiro takes them to a planet named Giausar, and Old Sam warns that they should not be there. That if they set one foot there they will all surely die. Hiro lands the ships, and heads outside, telling Old Sam that he is unafraid. Many men atop giant beasts await them outside. They warn them that they are illegal trespassers from another world and will be put to death and insist that the intruders surrender. Hiro refuses to go along with them. Stating his name and heritage he tells them that they will come to call him God.

Hiro defeats the army and the king of the land of Fractas on Giausar and most of the people come to accept him as God. Old Sam and Omaka see that his use of the Old Power on the planet is making the planet itself unstable. They make a treaty with the other two cities inhabiting this world, Terrafort and Durth, to make war against Fractas and Hiro-Kala. From this war the world begins to crumble upon itself.

Hiro-Kala shows his true face when Galactus comes, claiming that he never thought himself as a god. Galactus arrived to Giausar to begin his feast and shrugs off attacks from the remaining armies of the planet. While Galactus begins his destruction of the planet, Hiro creates a new power within himself that is a combination of the Old Power and the Power Cosmic. Driven by hate, he poisons Galactus with it. This poison causes Galactus to feel all the pain and anguish of every soul he had just consumed. Hiro confronts Galactus again, sure that this time he had gained Galactus’ attention. Hiro tells him that next time he consumes the Old Power, he will die… making the thing he desires the most is the one thing he cannot have.

Hiro warns Galactus that the next planet he plans to consume could be a planet Hiro has visited and poisoned. Galactus says nothing, but vomits out a blast of souls and the Old Power poison that he had just consumed which strikes Hiro. Caiera appears again, telling Hiro that she is proud of his wisdom and that she loves him and always will and that even though no one will ever know what he's done, she would. Caiera touches him on the cheek before she departs, leaving Hiro screaming out in pain and anguish. Hiro returns to the ship with right side of his face badly scarred. He then asks his crew to locate his brother, Skaar.

Major Story Arcs

Realm of Kings

During Hiro-Kala's search for his brother Skaar , he travels through the Fault (a rip in space and time, caused by the detonation of the Terrigenesis bomb). Jentorra , niece of the late Queen Jarella and Apprentice of the Sorcerer Triad, made a spell which was supposed to summon the Hulk to them to defeat the new breed of Psyklop , but it summoned Hiro-Kala instead (maybe because Banner currently could not turn into the Hulk, and Hiro was close by). Once Hiro-Kala was in the Microverse he was confronted by the Psyklop. They looked into Hiro's mind and unlocked things that should have stayed hidden, showing him glimpses of his own future. These visions had something to do with his future love for Lihla. Hiro was not going to intervene in the current war, but he sensed that the entire Microverse was completely entangled in the Old Power, so he defeats all the Psyklop in the area with one blast. Axeman Bone drives the stone ship through the spatial anomaly belonging to the Psyklop, knowing it would bring them straight to Hiro-Kala. Hiro then introduces himself as Hiro-Kala, Son of Hulk while he is summoning the souls of the K'Ai people that were absorbed by the Psyklop, bringing them back to life, but changing them. Everyone celebrates him, as the Hulk was once a savior there, and his son has done the same. Hiro-Kala sends Axeman Bone and his men (as well as some of the new "resurrected") to find the remaining Psyklop and kill them, he tells the loyal "resurrected" that their purpose is to help him destroy the Old Power.

After all this, Lihla begins to talk to him about this strange chapter in his life, then she kisses him. After their kiss, they both witness another one of Hiro's vision, which seem to be getting more symbolic but revealing a deeper truth each time. This time Hiro and Lihla are seen together, in love. A larger Hiro comes, holds out his hand, and Galactus is there making a speech. He tells them that he is the future herald of Hiro-Kala, and that Hiro's new power is going to destroy everything. After the vision, Hiro-Kala tells Lihla that he wishes he could spend all his days showering her with tokens of his trust and gives her a necklace, Lihla wants more than this, but Hiro tells her that these visions whisper of their doom. Jentorra doesn't trust Hiro and tries to think of a plan to stop him, while Hiro begins a search for some strange power he can sense that rivals his own. In doing so, he raises ancient vessels from within the very earth, which is powered by the same natural energy that encompasses the Microverse. He gave this ancient technology to the resurrected so that they could pilot these strange vessels to the farthest reaches of space, telling them that he resurrected their souls so that they may one day offer their bodies for him.

There is this power called the Living Enigma Force that is inside Arcturus Rann , who has worked with it to protect the Microverse for centuries. This force plagued him with disease and he sought out what was called the Enigma Force Nullifier, which was supposed to free him of this disease. This force told him of the biggest threat the Microverse ever had to face. Arturus then got a vision of a giant wrecking havoc upon the Microverse, with the right half of the body as Hiro-kala and the left as Arturus Rann. In the meantime, Jentorra jumps at Lihla, ripping off the necklace that Hiro-Kala gave her and reveals that the Sorcerer Triad's best kept secret was the Enigma Force Nullifier, which was cleverly hidden inside a worthless artifact (Lihla's necklace). She tries to use this force to kill Hiro-Kala, but it fails. Lihla then tells Hiro that she shared his visions and knows what choice he has to make, and whatever he does, she loves him.

The Enigma Force Nullifier was the strange power that rivaled his own, and it started searching for someone with the strength and knowledge to stand up against Hiro-Kala. This person was Arcturus Rann. Acrturus complains that the Living Enigma Force has given him a death sentence, but the truth about it is finally revealed when it finds him. The legends were wrong, it was thought that the Enigma Force Nullifier was created to cure the disease caused by the Living Enigma Force, however though it can do this, that was never its purpose. The Enigma Force Nullifier was created to prevent catastrophe by altering history itself. It shows Arcturus a vision of what Hiro-Kala was going to do, he was going to transform Galactus' body into a poisoned depository of concentrated Old Power, and in one moment, Hiro-Kala was going to use Galactus' millennium of absorbed energy to destroy planets with the Old Power.

Thousands of planets will be simultaneously destroyed, including the entire Microverse. Arcturus Rann has a choice to either save himself from this disease, which would make him a god, or set the Nullifier off, to alter history and prevent this catastrophe with Hiro-Kala from occurring. He decides to make the Nullifier do what it was built to do and alter history. This makes Arcturus Rann and old man, he punches Hiro-Kala and breaks his whole body like stone. Hiro reforms and Arcturus Rann lies in the arms of Marionette , former princess of Homeworld and a Freedom Fighter for the Microverse, with Jentorra watching. Jentorra, having had enough, decided to use the same teleportation spell on Hiro-Kala that brought him to the Microverse, to send him away. Arcturus Rann tells her to stop, because he had already set of the Nullifier, which means that in order for it to effect Hiro-Kala, he must stay where he is. Hiro-Kala takes control of Jentorra's teleportation spell, combines it with his own power so that it encompasses all of K'Ai, trying to escape history by using the ships he found before to pull K'Ai from the Nullifier's path, in time to teleport it out of the Microverse. Arcturus Rann, Marionette and Carl (a Death's Head guard Arcturus found) were able to escape by getting the Endeavor (their ship) to catch them in a retractor beam. They try to take Jentorra with them, but the shield doesn't expand and she gets left behind. Lihla then comes running up to Hiro-Kala, but he now understood that unlike his father the Hulk, the emotion that will spark his uncontrollable power is not anger, but love. He picks up Lihla by the neck, and snaps it. In the end we see Arcturus, Marionette and Carl, looking at the Fault, wondering if the Nullifier actually changed anything, and planning to find Hiro-Kala.

Dark Son

Hiro-Kala's New Power is being used by the loyal resurrected to drive K'Ai, along with Jentorra's teleportation spell. So Hiro has no power after escaping the Nullifier, and Lihla's father, Axeman Bone, wants revenge for the murder of his daughter. He chases Hiro into a chasm, which holds some strange, unknown power that Hiro is planning to use against Axeman Bone.

Hiro discovers the Worldmind of K'ai at the bottom of the well, and through some discussion with the dying Worldmind he finds that they have similar intentions: survival. To do this they both need eachother. The Worldmind is dying because Hiro-Kala ripped the planet from the microverse, and Hiro-Kala is surely facing death at the hands of Axeman Bone. The Worldmind and Hiro-Kala can both read fractions of the other's minds, and Hiro soon discovers the Warmind - guardian warriors of the Worldmind. The Worldmind grants Hiro the power to control them and he gives them freedom to wreak havoc upon those that pursue him. In exchange for sharing the Worldmind's power with him, Hiro gives the Worldmind the Old-Power it needs to heal itself and the planet K'ai. He travels back to the surface and heals K'ai.

Axeman Bone crawls from the pit, still intent on destroying Hiro-Kala for the death of Lihla. Hiro-Kala, now empowered with a fraction of the Worldmind is able bring his mere thoughts to life and stops the Axeman in his tracks. He transforms the Axeman's axe into shackles and a collar, making him his slave. As the people of K'ai cheer for Hiro, he tells them that he is nothing like his father. He is no king, but he will instead 'bring [them] hope within the darkness of an unfamiliar universe.' He will be their Dark Son.

Having had enough of Hiro-Kala's insolence and blindness, the K'ai worldmind abducts Hiro-Kala and re-instills in him the Old Power that he so fears. The worldmind tells him to look deeper into the planet's memories and see what it is like to live for something. HIro raises a stone statue of his own visage on the surface of K'ai, and as a tear drops from the statue it brings life to a flower on the barren, frozen lands. The people of K'ai cheer and once again, their faith is reaffirmed in Hiro-Kala, the new savior of K'ai. Hiro then feigns to thank the worldmind, but crushes it instead, zombifying the people. He takes control of the planet and its defenses once again and returns to his hunt for his brother. Later, he is seen on an asteroid on the edge of Kuiper Belt (an enormous asteroid belt surrounding the solar system), and just as he feels the presence of Skaar, Skaar too senses him.

On Earth, Skaar began to sense something amiss (at the exact same time as Amadeus Cho, Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Beast), and informed Korg and A-Bomb that he must find his father. They told him to leave 'mommy and daddy' alone while they fought, but Skaar was insistent, and quite upset. Hulk was convinced that Skaar has changed and doesn't want him to grow to be like he and the other angry Hulks. As Hulk and Red She-Hulk continued to brawl, a wave caught Skaar (who had remained in his puny form since his fight with Hulk), but he was saved by Red She-Hulk. At this moment Steve Rogers and Amadeus Cho appeared behind Hulk, informing him that they needed to talk. Hulk tried to push Rogers away, but Rogers and Cho were only projections. They informed him that the planet K'ai ( Jarella's world) had just appeared on the edge of the solar system and that Rogers had only been given a 48-hour window to intervene before the government's intercept-fleet did. Hulk distrusted the idea of anyone shipping him anywhere in a space ship, for obvious reasons, but it was the pleading of Skaar that convinced Hulk to decline. He promptly smashed the ship that Rogers brought along. Hulk asked Skaar what he had to say, and Skaar whispered into his ear the truth: the 2nd Son of Hulk was on his way to earth.

As Rogers and his Secret Avengers prepared to launch their fleet of interception crafts toward the incoming planet K'ai, the Hulk showed up and began destroying the fleet. The Secret Avengers opened up on Hulk and seemingly disabled him. As War Machine began to place some rather enormous cuffs on him, Hulk revealed that he was only leading them on, and the rest of the Hulks (She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Skaar, and Korg) burst from the ground. Earlier that day, Hulk had Skaar training and focusing his Old-Power in an attempt to get a read on Hiro-Kala's position in the skies. As the other members of the Hulk family distracted the Secret Avengers, Skaar made his way to a 'repair bay'. Seeing him as no threat, Rogers let him go. Hulk powered down, telling Rogers and his team that he had just saved all their lives and the lives of a hundred other astronauts on their way to intercept his son. Bruce told Steve that if he went up there, Hiro-Kala would kill him. Or that Rogers would be forced to kill Hiro-Kala, then the Hulk would have to kill Rogers.

The Hulks deceived the Secret Avengers, by destroying their fleet, but during this time Skaar had been repowering the Sakaarian Stone Flagship that Hulk and his Warbound had brought to Earth to wage war on its heroes. The Flagship rose from the hangar and the Hulks escaped into space, headed toward the incoming planet K'ai. Upon nearing K'ai the group noticed that the planet itself was surrounded by spacecraft that seemed to be towing the planet. After scanning the ships and seeing no brain activity from within, the group was sent out to destroy the ships, with the assumption that it would cease the progress of the planet. As the group began cutting into the ships they began to notice that they were piloted after all. Just as this realization was hit, so was the Sakaarian ship... rammed by one of the K'ai starships. Even with the destruction of those that seemed to be towing the planet, K'ai was still moving. Banner sent the

crew to the planet to find the source of the power that was causing it to move and smash it. Skaar insisted on going with Banner to confront (destroy) Hiro-Kala, but Banner transported Korg, Skaar and A-Bomb to a different part of the planet while he transported directly to Hiro-Kala's position. Bruce was immediately attacked by the mindless, controlled population of K'ai and had no resort but to defend himself, apologizing the entire time. After the initial wave was taken out, possessed children began to attack him. Blinding them with an explosive, Banner retreated, only to be attacked by Hiro-Kala himself. Hiro-Kala slaughtered the children with an energy blast, and the blast depleted Banner's Banner-tech shields as well. After asking Banner who he was, Banner replied that he was his father, and promptly powered up into the Hulk, calling Hiro-Kala a 'little monster'.

Hulk asked Hiro-Kala if he knew that in attacking the Hulk, he would kill the mind-controlled children, and Hiro-Kala responded, "Of course", and proceeded to kill several more with a blast of power. This enraged the Hulk and he attacked his son. The two fought back and forth while Hulk argued with Skaar (via an earpiece). Skaar didn't believe that Hulk would be able to kill Hiro-Kala and that since he was the 'Killer of Killers', he should come take care of the job. During this time, Skaar, Korg, and A-Bomb were supposed to be redirecting the blast of K'ai's volcanoes to redirect their course away from Earth. Skaar absorbed the force of the explosion to avoid killing innocent people and apparently sacrificed himself. During this time, Hulk had gotten the upper-hand on Hiro-Kala and had come to realize that he couldn't kill his own son. He then reverted to Banner, and Banner zapped him with an Old Power taser. In doing this, he caused Hiro-Kala to lose control of his Old Power and at the same time, Skaar reappeared behind them, sword in hand. Immediately before the fight, Banner grabbed the only two surviving K'iatian children and teleported to the location of the She-Hulks, who were trying to stop the mindless masses from dying.

The two fought briefly and Skaar easily overpowered Hiro-Kala. Skaar grabbed him and began to try to talk him down, showing him some of his memories, via the Old Power, of Caiera and how he came to be banished to Earth. He told Hiro-Kala that Banner had helped calm the monster within him and that Bruce could do the same for him. At that moment, Banner returned, and

Hiro-Kala began to show them some of his own memories, hoping that these would show the two why he had to destroy the Old Power. He searched for the memory wherein Caiera told him to destroy the Old Power, but he could not manifest it. The K'ai Worldmind informed him that it was not a real memory and the Old Power could not manifest dreams. At this, Hiro-Kala erupted in anger, blasting Banner away from him. At this moment, Skaar grabbed Hiro-Kala and fused him into the stone surface of K'ai, immobilizing him. Believing that he was now calm enough to transport to Earth, Banner told Skaar to free him, but as Skaar tried to use the Old Power to release him, he could not. The K'ai Worldmind would not allow it. The Worldmind lifted the stone mound from the ground and used Hiro-Kala's power to heal the planet. Hiro-Kala's last words to his father were: "You tried, father. But the Worldmind is right. Your can't ever make this right. You were too late."

The Hulks left the planet, but not before Axeman Bone asked Skaar to remain there and be their hero. Skaar declined, telling him that they were fresh out of heroes. Aboard the ship, Banner had again become the Hulk, and as Betty Ross tried to comfort and congratulate him, Hulk yelled at her in his anger over losing his son.

Powers

Hiro-Kala is not as savage as his father or brother, and it shows from his initially tiny frame. Even as he matures he still remains slim and slender, showing more characteristics of his Shadow heritage than that of the Hulk. Being half-Shadow, Hiro-Kala quickly gains a firm understanding of the Old-Power after the destruction of Sakaar. Because of his Shadow heritage and possibly because of his harsh early years as a slave on Sakaar, Hiro-Kala is quite agile and the Old-Power and eventual New-Power he creates gives him increased durability and strength. The New-Power is a combination of the Old-Power, the Power Cosmic and some of his own hate – a trait he understands from his father’s transformations.

His Old/New-Power affords him the abilities of those powers, such as force fields and the ability to control tectonic movements, as well as turning his own body to a stone form. Hiro-Kala has resurrected the dead and endowed them with the New-Power as well, essentially making them slaves to his will. He spent the remainder of his New-Power transporting an entire planet out of the Microverse.

Hiro-Kala is supposedly able to "Hulk out", much like his father and brother, but this change is triggered by love, rather than emotional anguish. In this form, he is supposedly stronger than both his father and brother.

Characteristics

• Height: 5' 5"
• Weight: 95 Ibs.
• Eyes: Black with white irises/sometimes glowing green
• Hair: Bald
• Strength: Varies
• Tattoos: 2 upside-down, inward facing sickles on each brow, extending to his cheeks.
• The Right side of Hiro-Kala’s face is severely scarred - sometimes with 3 glowing fingerprints on his jaw.