EXTERMINATOR

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human technology user (see comments)

Occupation: Assassin

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Durrant

Enemies: Eddie, Lieutenant Greene, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Leroy

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

First Appearance: Hulk Annual 1981 (Marvel UK, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: The Exterminator had a keen deductive mind, and was able to predict where he would find his prey based on their past movements. He wore several weapons positioned strategically around his bodysuit, including knives, pistols, grenades and crossbows, but his main weapon were twin hip-mounted automatic pistols. 

Height: 5'10" (by estimation)
Weight: 110 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Bald (black eyebrows - see comments)

History:
(Hulk Annual 1981 (fb) - BTS) - The Exterminator was an assassin who had never failed to kill his targets across a 63 year long career. At least as he got older he used deception and stealth to get close to his victims, hiding his arsenal of weapons under a long cloak so that he could approach looking like he was merely a harmless elderly man. He had a reputation for being weird, but also for getting the job done.

(Hulk Annual 1981) - After the Hulk twice disrupted robberies he had planned, a mid-level mobster named Durrant hired the Exterminator to slay the green goliath.

(Hulk Annual 1981 - BTS) - When the mobster made contact to arrange to meet, the Exterminator did some research, correctly deducing who Durrant would want slain. Researching the Hulk's appearances, the Exterminator noted that the same man was always nearby, one who used several aliases including Bruce Banner, David Bannon and so on, and then extrapolated from Banner and the Hulk's path across the country that they would likely next show up in the town of Briggsville.

(Hulk Annual 1981) - Turning up for his meeting intending to hire the Exterminator to slay the Hulk, Durrant was surprised to find the assassin already knew who the target was, and where he was anticipated to appear next. Hearing that Banner was somehow connected, Durrant stated he would send some of his men to kill him, but the Exterminator angrily warned his new employer not to interfere now that he had taken on the job.

(Hulk Annual 1981 - BTS) - The Exterminator staked out Briggsville for the next few days, hiding out among the homeless people living at the edge of town.

(Hulk Annual 1981) - As he had anticipated, after three days the Hulk wandered into the homeless encampment looking for food. While the itinerants fled in terror the Exterminator, looking merely like another vagrant with his cloak wrapped around him to hide his weapons, approached the Hulk and offered him some food. When the behemoth asked why he wasn't afraid like the others, the Exterminator stated that the worst the Hulk could do was kill him, and he was not long for the world anyway. Taking the offering, the Hulk stalked off to find somewhere quiet to eat and then sleep.

   The next morning the Exterminator spotted a shirtless Bruce Banner hunting through the belongings left behind by the tramps when they fled. He approached Banner and confirmed his name, but before he could do anything more he spotted a limousine approaching. Directing Banner to where he had left some coffee brewing in order to get the man out of sight, the Exterminator met the vehicle as it stopped, confirming his suspicions that it was men, Eddie and Leroy, sent by an impatient Durrant to check on his progress. Annoyed, the Exterminator gunned them both down.

   As he made his way to where he had sent Banner the Exterminator's plans were again interrupted, this time by the arrival of a patrol car carrying a cop and the homeless people who had fled the night before, coming to check their story that a monster had destroyed their shacks. Deciding he couldn't make his hit with police as witnesses, and spotting that Banner was about to slip away, the Exterminator instead reverted to his facade of being homeless and directed the cop's attention to Banner. Just as he'd intended, the police officer ordered Banner to return and then made all the men - Banner, the Exterminator and the vagrants - wait while he sent for reinforcements. More cops arrived, and one, Lieutenant Greene, got into an argument with Banner and decided to arrest him. Seeing his target about to be taken to the police station, the Exterminator reasoned he could turn this to his advantage, hoping the Hulk might show if Banner was in danger. To this end he riled up the homeless men so that a fight broke out between them and the cops. Spotting this as he looked out the back of the departing police cruiser, Banner's worry that some of the vagrants might get hurt was enough to trigger his transformation into the Hulk. The Exterminator watched with interest as the Hulk scared off some of the cops by ripping a building apart, and threw a gigantic bulldozer through the air when another policeman attempted to ram the green Goliath with it. Greene decided it was time to retreat, but tried to arrest the Exterminator for provoking the fight. Before the assassin could slay the unsuspecting detective the Hulk decided to save his new friend, grabbed up the Exterminator, and bounded away with him. As he was being carried away, the Exterminator gloated, believing he would soon be taken somewhere without witnesses, where he could finally slay his target.

   However the Hulk reasoned his new friend would be safer in a crowded city, where the cops would have a harder time finding him. Unable to fire his weapons while being held under the Hulk's right arm, the Exterminator had no choice but to bide his time until they reached their destination, but with the Hulk's mere presence causing panic and drawing the attention of police helicopters, the Hulk darted into a subway, still dragging the Exterminator along. Finally they made it into a subway train, from which the other passengers hastily ran. Finally alone and in a tunnel where no one outside the train could witness things, the Exterminator decided to make his move. Opening his cloak of death he unleashed a hail of automatic fire on the Hulk, who ripped up a seat from the train to use as a shield. Seeing that, the Exterminator pulled a pin from one of his grenades, but the Hulk ripped up the car's flooring causing the Exterminator to fall backwards. Luckily for him the grenade still bounced under the Hulk, and the Exterminator hastily dived for cover, but after the explosion he saw that the Hulk was merely slightly stunned and momentarily blinded by the flash. Now aware that he had vastly underestimated his target's power, and with the train now having pulled into the next station the terrified Exterminator decided to make a run for it, but the Hulk pursued. Tiring, the Exterminator realized he was near Durrant's warehouse headquarters and made for there, hoping to get assistance from some of the mobster's men, but when he got there it turned out only Durrant was present. Forcing Durrant to take up a rifle and assist him, the Exterminator headed back outside to see if the Hulk was approaching, but in a rare moment of cunning the behemoth had anticipated this and was waiting behind the warehouse doors with a bucket in hand. Embarrassingly for the veteran assassin, the Hulk dunked the bucket over his head to block his vision. Firing wildly the Exterminator only managed to wing Durrant before the Hulk ripped apart his weapons harness. Realizing that even a slight slap might kill the elderly villain, the Hulk instead dug a hole in the ground and buried the killer up to his neck to wait for the swiftly approaching police.

Comments: Created by David Lloyd.

   What reality is this story set in? Is it Earth-616, the main Marvel reality, or is it Earth-40005, the reality of the Hulk TV show that was on air around the time the story was published? Certainly the Annuals cover does use a photo from the TV series, but that could just be considered good marketing. The story features Bruce Banner, not David Banner as in the TV show, but he is on the run using aliases ad he did in the show - however, there have also been times when that held true for the 616 version. It's not public knowledge that Banner is the Hulk, which again matches the TV show, but again was also true in the early days of the 616 Hulk. Perhaps crucially, the Hulk in the story is far closer to 616 Hulk than TV Hulk, for example making gigantic leaps through the air, something beyond the capabilities of the TV version, and also speaking albeit in a slightly stilted manner. It's not 100%, but I heavily lean towards this story, and hence the Exterminator, being Earth-616.

   Why didn't the Exterminator just try to kill the Hulk the first night they met, rather than provide him food? It can't be because he felt his weapons would be insufficient against his target, as he was confident they would work when he did make his attempt. It seems unlikely it was in order to make the Hulk drop his guard, because the Hulk did that almost the moment he was given food, plus when the Exterminator finally attacked he declared his true nature before doing so. And it wasn't so he could wait until the Hulk turned back into his vulnerable human form because the Exterminator didn't know he had one, and later had ample opportunity to shoot Banner while he was human but didn't take it. I can only suppose that after six decades killing people the Exterminator was choosy about only taking challenging targets and liked to prolong the hunt.

   For all the Exterminator was built up to seem smart, predicting who he would be hired to eliminate, that they had a connection to Banner, and where Banner and the Hulk would next show up, the assassin wasn't really all that intelligent. He knows the Hulk keeps showing up wherever Banner goes, and then he meets the Hulk and next morning runs into Banner, who is dressed identically (as in shirtless but in ripped purple pants), and instead of putting two and two together and getting Banner=Hulk, he instead continues to wonder how they are connected.

   This profile was completed on 08/13/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Marvel UK Annuals.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Exterminator has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Hulk Annual 1981, p12 of story, pan4 (main image)
Hulk Annual 1981, p18 of story, pan5 (headshot)
Hulk Annual 1981, p24 of story, pan1 (disarmed)
Hulk Annual 1981, p24 of story, pan3-4 (buried)

Appearances:
Hulk Annual 1981 (Marvel UK, 1980) - David Lloyd (art), no other credits

First Posted 09/29/2026
Last updated: 08/13/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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