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[Assistant]
Chapter 5: The real Iron Man
Unconscious Iron Man is falling out of the sky over Sudan and his AI KATIE is trying to wake him up before he hits the ground, especially because his consciousness backup system is offline so if he dies he dies. We see that other bits of Golden Avenger-like armour are falling with him. KATIE manages to shock him awake with a defibrillator just in time to halt his fall with his boot jets. (I would have thought the AI could have done that itself.) But then some sort of large headless alien lands on him and starts hitting him. Until IM repulsor blasts his arm off.3 months ago in the Cube superhuman prison Iron Man goes to see a particular prisoner. The head guard George, who is a humanoid polar bear in uniform, reminds him that the prisoner can do things to metal but Tony Stark still wants to see her. They travel in a transparent lift through various levels (we see a liquid environment, a snowbound space and a red room) and everywhere various humanoid guards salute IM. His guide says that it's because he changed the rules to stop the sedating of inmates or forcing them to wear power-dampening collars. (I would have thought the guards would be against that.) Tony says he had that idea for months but doesn't remember initiating it.They are in a white level and the guard is removing all his metal objects, including his weapons and the belt of his trousers (temporarily revealing his Spider-Ham underpants). He swaps them all for a very large wooden mallet which he slings over his shoulder. The prisoner tried to kill Spider-Man and hospitalised 2 of his men so he's not taking chances.The prisoner is a female named Deola who wants to know why she shouldn't just crush him in his iron suit. He says he wants her to work for him. They agree that they are the top 2 mechanics in the world but disagree about the relative ranking. And she guesses that he wants to build a really big weapon. She obviously accepts the offer and she gets given her civilian clothes back. On the way out she tries to crush his armour but fails. She suspects that she's been drugged but he assures her that he's got built-in countermeasures to lots of powers including hers. When she presses for a more detailed answer he just replies "Transistors". (An in-joke reference to the early days when that was what Marvel claimed was the secret of all his suit's powers.)But as they exit the building Shellhead is hit by a blast from a big gun wielded by SHIELD Director Maria Hill with an alien head floating in purple liquid in a tank on her back. Many SHIELD craft are in the sky, and from 1 of them leaps She-Hulk to attack him. But he puts up a force field to keep her away. Deola and George don't know what's going on but the polar bear hits Shulk with his mallet which shatters on her body. She warns him off because this is a SHIELD operation before Iron Man sends her flying into the sky. There are now lots of SHIELD troops on the ground attacking, at least some with tanks on their back. Hill orders 1 who's carrying a sack of liquid the same colour as that in her tank to "Reload the cannon". (I presume that means that he pours the liquid into the tank with the head in it because his sack doesn't appear to contain a head.) Then she fires her gun again. IM's forcefield stops that blast and he tells George to leave the situation to him and Deola. She's only too happy use her power against SHIELD, but Tony warns her not to hurt anyone. He also claims that this fight has nothing to do with the weapon he wants to build, as she starts to dismantle the SHIELD craft.Stark says he's awaiting SHIELD's secret weapon which he now detects incoming. Deola has SHIELD Agents and She-Hulk manacled by metal as the sw crashes at his feet. It's another Iron Man. Stark says he expected this since he learned about the rule change that he didn't remember actually ordering. So he generated a surrounding field of data packets which infiltrated the other IM's armour and shut it down. He comments that all Tony Starks much prefer to inhabit their armour rather than operate it remotely, and so the invading Stark dies.Deola is confused because she thinks he's just killed Tony Stark but Tony explains that *he* is the real TS and IM, and an Avenger, an Agent Of SHIELD and a Guardian Of The Galaxy. He explains that he often dies but a backup system uploads his consciousness into a clone. But also often the backup system triggers but he actually survives and then there are 2 of him, which is a security hazard to say the least, and he has to terminate the clone. While he's saying this we see that his armour is synchronising the clone's memories with his own so that he knows all that *he* has done. Deola reasonably asks how she can be sure that it's not the real Tony who's now dead? Tony replies he's sure he's the real 1 because he won. (Strictly speaking does it matter? If such a system were really possible then if the real Tony had died when the clone was activated then that clone would be considered the *real* 1 anyway.)3 months later (ie in the time frame of the opening part of this story) Tony Stark and Deola are in orbit working in bulky Iron Man spacesuits loading larger tanks of alien heads into a humongous space gun. Deola is concerned about the source of these heads. Tony explains that the heads are of a species in the Draco galaxy (presumably the so-named dwarf galaxy that orbits our own Milky Way). They live for an extremely long time but don't socialise much, so when they lose 1 of their few loved ones they emit a howl that can level a city. SHIELD used to hunt them to weaponise their bellow. (We see the original Nick Fury involved). But now SHIELD uses Stark's cloning tech to create a large supply of such heads. The liquid they are contained in floods them with loving memories. But when the weapon's trigger is pulled it switches to a bereavement memory. They do use the cloning technique to also produce some organs for transplant but planetary defence is more important.Director Hill contacts them to say that an unidentified lifeform has been seen zooming towards Earth. Iron Man jets off in pursuit. This obviously leads to the opening section of this comic. He sets off in his bulky spacesuit and arrives unconscious in his regular armour. The bits falling to Earth with him are presumably parts of his spacesuit and he had the IM armour underneath. It is unclear whether the breakup of his spacesuit and his unconsciousness are due to his rapid descent or due to a fight with the alien en route.Now we continue from the opening section with the headless alien missing an arm but still continuing to pound our hero into the Sudanese desert. Meanwhile back in space Deola contacts Director Hill to tell her she can sense but not see a large cloaked and shielded flying saucer which is transmitting encrypted data to the Sudan. But having dutifully reported this she flies her IM-type spacesuit down to help Tony. We see the aliens inside the saucer who for some reason think she's wearing 1 of Spider-Man's battle armours (?!). The captain worries about Spidey's possible involvement because they only have the 1 Righa. His lieutenant assures him that Iron Man is the protector of Earth that they have to defeat. A graphic display in the background tells us that the Righa is an enhancement of the Gargantus robot that they previously sent to Earth (in Iron Man's 2nd outing in Tales Of Suspense #40 and also in 1998's Captain America: Sentinels Of Liberty #5-6).On the ground the Righa rips Iron Man's Arc Reactor power source off the chest of his armour. But then Deola arrives in a still-intact spacesuit with 2 of the big 'boxes' in magnetic tow that contained the tanks of alien heads. The boxes knock the Righa out of the way and she gives Iron Man the Arc Reactor from her spacesuit. Tony notes that their foe is regrowing his severed arm and remarks that so far he's not been able to dent the torso, which they figure must be protecting its 'brain'. Deola turns the metal of the 'boxes' and her own spacesuit into raw material to be turned into massive armour for IM. She is left with a Rescue-like suit.Tony tells KATIE to divert all power from electromagnetic and technopathic countermeasures and concentrate on incorporating the new armour. He attacks the Righa with massive metal fists and knocks a hole into the torso. Deola reaches in and squishes something and the robot goes into self-destruct mode. IM pushes her out of dangers but the explosion catches him as he tells her that he still doesn't remember 'fixing the Cube' which means it's alright because, even though his consciousness backup system isn't working, there's another active clone of him still out there.Tony is destroyed by the explosion and Deola seeks revenge against Hill's orders because SHIELD and the Avengers are on their way to deal with the aliens. She uses her metal-controlling power remotely to aim and trigger the big space gun. And it obliterates the flying saucer. Hill, She-Hulk and SHIELD arrive to find her weeping over Tony's shattered helmet which is still replaying their last exchange of words.


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[Assistant]
Chapter 1: Hero
This issue opens by telling us that the tale is set in 3 eras of Iron Man - the beginning with the original lumbering grey armour, present-day New York and a ruined future NY where Tony Stark will face his greatest tragedy.In the past grey-armoured Iron Man breaks up through a pavement and tells pedestrians to run as he's followed by pale humanoids who are very large (1 of them picks him up in 1 fist to look at him). Our hero flicks an energy ball at his captor's stomach which makes it drop him. He breaks off another 1's leg, seems to down another with sonics, and another breaks its own leg by trying to kick him.Then a costumed young female appears and takes control of the 3 remaining humanoids. She transforms her stick into a bass guitar and as she plays it the 3 attack Iron Man with giant axes (which they seem to have manifested from their bodies). They punch him through an office and into a multistorey car park and then into an empty cinema.The female chats to him as he lies gasping for breath. She guesses this must be part of the era when he relied on his armour to keep him alive. It's no fun fighting him in this state so says she'll come back when he's solved his heart problem, suggesting I think that it'll be on an anniversary of the date.In the present we see a Silver Centurion IM armour advising everyone to leave a restaurant because it isn't safe. An Extremis armour has similarly emptied a club and is watching a pole dancer, commenting that she's got hidden bruises and cracked bones but she still makes it seem effortless. Another armour (which I can't pinpoint) is busy saving an elderly lady from something. Tony Stark is remotely controlling these ...... while he's hovering in his current armour trying to determine where the attack will come from. He hears his foe playing her guitar and asks his AI KATIE to pinpoint the location but is told it's continually moving. At the last second he realises it's coming from above. But then 1 of the giant humanoids lands and punches him to the ground. His other 3 armours collapse. The girl stands on her minion and announces to the world that she's beaten IM again. Someone watching the news in a bar comments that it was Iron Man's birthday (ie an Anniversary of Tales Of Suspense #39).Now it's the turn of the future in the ruins of Manhattan. This time the guitarist's playing sends 2 sword-wielding giants against what seems to be plain Tony Stark. But he runs up into the air on energy 'stepping stones' and is then clothed in a giant transparent virtual armour with which he destroys his 2 opponents. But the girl plays again and a giant sword pierces the heart of the 'armour' and Tony within.However the 'real' Tony Stark now materialises in a virtual armchair and reveals that everything in the scenario bar the 2 people is a virtual construct. And he recreates the giant virtual armour near her and it bends down to pick *her* up in a giant fist.He informs her (and really us) that New York City was going to be hit by a cosmic flare so he moved it all to a pocket dimension for temporary safety. But the pocket dimension collapsed before he could bring them back. And he's been waiting for her to return again so he could take her guitar, which he figures is what she uses for time travel. She tells him it's only got 1 charge left which she was going to use to return to her even-more-future future.She tells him she knows what he will use the charge for, to bring the NY forward in time from just before he sent them to the pocket dimension, thus saving everyone including her great-grandparents. Unfortunately for him that doesn't include his own family who he sent to the pocket dimension before everyone else. Stark says maybe he'll choose to save his own family this time, but she says she knows he won't because *she*'s here as evidence. And we see him play the instrument and unruined New York materialise.


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[Assistant]
The Sinners
One month ago, Carl “Absorbing Man”
Creel was captured by Iron Man and sent to The Vault; there he was
brutally interrogated  by the Guardsmen, sold out by his ex-lover
Titania. He refused a job with Roxxon out of pride and declines a
chance to escape. Instead he accepts an offer from Shadow Base to
fight the Hulk, his pride demanding a rematch against a foe he has
never beaten. General Fortean and Dr Clive give him a drug known as
the “Hulk plug-in;” it (allegedly) temporarily turns him red but
allows him to absorb the gamma energy of a test mouse. When the Hulk
is located after killing Dr Clive (last issue), Creel is dropped into
the area to do battle....
At a trailer park, Bruce Banner is shot
by a resident for trying to steal clothing from a clothesline but the
sun goes down and the Hulk is reborn, destroying everything the man
owns. Shortly thereafter the trailer park resident is interviewed by
Bushwacker working for Shadow Base. After learning all he can, he
turns his hand into a gun and kills the man then reports to Base that
Hulk is heading back to New Mexico. Hulk is there to find out what
possessed him during his battle with Sasquatch (issue #5), a monster
wearing his father's face, and how he can defeat it. Instead, the
Absorbing Man drops on him from the sky....
The two battle with Hulk thinking it's
an easy fight but he quickly discovers it isn't: his blows hurt
himself, not his enemy. As they fight, Creel slowly draws off Hulk's
gamma energy, turning him into an emaciated husk—but whatever Hulk
acquired when he drained Sasquatch is now possessing Creel. It is a
demonic entity, the One Below All, mocking Creel for his sin of
pride—and tearing his body apart....


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[Assistant]
In Every Mirror
Prologue: Captain Marvel (Carol
Danvers) meets with Sasquatch of Alpha Flight to ask why he has been
so aggressive in the field lately, concerned that he is spending too
much time as his bestial alter ego. Privately Sasquatch turns back to
Walter Langkowski with great difficulty but still sees  Sasquatch
looking back at him in a mirror....
At a Minnesota hospital, Sasquatch is
on a murderous rampage; Bruce Banner tells Jackie McGee to evacuate
the building while he goes to talk to the mad monster. Sasquatch
slashes Bruce's throat forcing a transformation into the Hulk. In the
ensuing battle that spills into the rest of the occupied hospital,
Hulk deduces that Walter's long stretch in his Sasquatch form opened
the way for him to be possessed by an evil spirit. The monster tells
Hulk to look at their reflection in a window; in place of Sasquatch,
Hulk sees his father, Brian Banner. Sasquatch/Banner adds
psychological punishment to physical blows as the fight continues.
The Hulk cowers beneath him until he begins to fight back, telling
his father he only scares Bruce and demanding to know what power sent
him there. The monster mutters about a host personality until a
security guard arrives with Jackie. An attempt to tase Sasquatch
leads only to the guard's death; Hulk seizes his foe and absorbs all
of the gamma power from him, leaving Walter Langkowki forever cured
of being Sasquatch. Hulk demands Jackie reveal why she has a personal
vendetta against the Hulk; she tells him that he destroyed her home
many years ago and she has questions. Hulk allows her only one and
she wants to know “How do I get to be what you are?”  Hulk stares
at her a moment then tells her to go home. As Hulk walks through the
parking lot, he looks at a car window and sees only Brian Banner
reflected....


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[Assistant]
Metatron
Bruce Banner in a hellish wasteland
broken by green lightning faces the demon who resembles his father
Brian Banner. Banner tells him that Bruce is home there, the source
of gamma, an emanation of the divine. And he adds that he isn't alone
there and then Bruce spies his late mother walking away; Bruce calls
to her but she does not turn. His cries awaken...
...the Immortal Hulk, finally healing
from the damage caused by the new Abomination and the Red Harpy (last
issue), and he beats the Abomination to keep him from harming Betty,
the Red Harpy. Betty tears out Rick's stomach to prevent him from
using its acid as a weapon. Hulk asks reporter Jackie McGee why she
is there. She explains that she came to interview Betty and
everything went crazy but that's just the Hulk's world. Two war
wagons dispatched by General Fortean arrive and open fire on Hulk who
protects McGee while Abomination tries to tear Red Harpy's head off.
She flies into the sky and tears him open, dropping onto a war wagon
just as it is about to deploy bright lights to trigger Hulk's
transformation. Hulk then punches that war wagon into the other one,
causing them both to explode. McGee mentions Amadeus Cho's theory
that Bruce Banner was always subconsciously preventing Hulk from
killing anyone; Hulk responds that it makes sense...for the other
Hulks. He rips open Abomination to discover a skeletal Rick Jones in
a fetal position. Then Alpha Flight arrives, leading Fortean to order
his men out of there. The Canadian team (Sasquatch, Puck, Titania,
Absorbing Man) joined by Doc Samson surveys the wreckage and tries to
determine what happened. Doc Samson spots the Red Harpy on a distant
rooftop....
An emaciated Bruce Banner stands on a
tiny asteroid  where the angel Metatron asks who he is and what he
will become....
Coda: General Fortean is summoned by
his monitors who show him that Thunderbolt Ross' grave has been torn
apart—from the inside....


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[Assistant]
A Secret Order
General Fortean dons the Redeemer armor
intending to perform a hazardous translocation as part of his plan to
defeat the Hulk; Dr. McGowan objects, citing the dangers, but he
ignores her, claiming that humans can rule over chaos, bringing their
own order. He then teleports....
Eleven-year-old Reginald Fortean heard
the story of Creation in a Sunday School class; the Book of Genesis
told how God imposed structure on chaos and Fortean learned
Direction....
Fortean appears on Alpha Flight space
station, firing darts that inject Absorbing Man and Titania with
Fentanyl and moves on....
Major Fortean faced the Hulk and was
overwhelmed with the impossibility of the situation; Thunderbolt Ross
told him to concentrate on those who needed to be protected and so
Fortean learned Focus....
Doc Samson and Walter Langkowski
examine the shell left by the most recent Abomination. Fortean
enters, shoots Puck with Fentanyl, blows Samson's head off with small
missiles and...
Major General Fortean, after the death
of General Ross while wearing the Redeemer armor, gathered a number
of like-minded army officers to carry on a war against mutants and
monsters by forming a Shadow Base. Thus Fortean learned Patience....
...accusing Walter of failing to
control the chaos, Fortean kills him as well. Taking the
Abomination's shell, Fortean is teleported back to his base....
General Fortean visited his mentor
General Ross in prison where he was held for crimes committed as Red
Hulk. Ross told him that Bruce Banner was still a threat, a threat
Ross could not contain because he was too close, Banner being his
son-in-law. And Fortean learned Purpose....
Back at his base, Fortean removes his
armor and touches the Abomination shell—and is absorbed and
transformed, learning Chaos....


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[Assistant]
The Steel Throne
The issue begins with flashbacks to the origins of Galactus,
Fantastic Four, and Hulk, and then moves on to Hulk, badly burned by the
Abomination’s caustic vomit, facing General Fortean and his troops; Fortean
assumes the Hulk is stupid but the big green guy uses chunks of his poisonous skin
as weapons against the troops and clobbers Fortean….
Watching from a lab nearby, Dr. McGowan explains to Rick Jones,
Jackie McGee, and Red Harpy that Fortean formed his staff out of people
who were disgraced in the public eye and gave them back their lives and she can’t
betray him…
…and then the Fortean Abomination spews acid at Hulk again
and accidentally sprays two of his own men. They die horribly and Fortean
tosses it off as a necessary thing. This leads McGowan to declare over the
loudspeaker that she is relieving the monstrous Fortean of his command and taking
over. She orders all personnel to stand down. The rapidly decaying Hulk crushes
his foe’s head…
Fortean finds himself in Hell with Brian Banner, a depowered
Doc Samson, and Bruce Banner. He is shocked, moreso when Bruce reveals himself
to be Joe Fixit who snaps Fortean’s neck….
Back at the base, the healing Hulk cleans up the last soldier
and announces his intention to take over Shadow Base, if he can get McGowan on
his side., and use it a the base for his mission. A revenant Doc Samson insists
on staying with them to keep an eye on Hulk, who tells him, “Relax…Everything’s
gonna turn out fine”….  Epilogue: Eons from now, at the end of all things, the
Sentience of the Cosmos finds Bruce Banner, the last survivor; Sentience
explains to Bruce that they will become a new life form and pass into the Ninth
Cosmos. Banner, looking like the undead, stands on an asteroid with the corpse of
Mr. Immortal, whom he has killed just like Franklin Richards who was intended
to be the last survivor. Bruce then morphs into a twisted combination of Hulk
and Banner and seizes the Sentience and bites him in two….


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[Assistant]
It's Joe
Rick Jones is recalling the first time
he saw the Hulk, Bruce Banner's original transformation scaring him
out of his wits [And now we see his body at Shadow Base B being
covered with a glowing green substance] and slapping him across the
room....
Reporter Jackie McGee is reading Rick's
memoir and her editor interrupts, asking for a news story to keep the
paper in the forefront of the Hulk saga. Jackie is hesitant because
of the trauma of her visit to Hell (issues #10-13) but he presents
her with a lead to follow up: the destruction of the home of
Betty Ross-Banner (issues #14-15). While she stands there silently, he
informs her that the newspaper is going national, all on the strength
of her Hulk reporting....
Bruce Banner and Doc Samson arrive in
New Mexico, at the site where Hulk escaped from Shadow Base (issue
#8). Bruce feels guilty for Rick's murder by the Secret Empire and
wants to atone by finding his body, stolen by “men in black.” The
sun sets and Bruce becomes Hulk once again; he and Samson enter the
tunnel Hulk dug and they find gamma-irradiated monsters in the base:
a bear, a dog, and a bat.…
Elsewhere, as General Fortean
supervises the procedure being done on Rick Jones' corpse he gets
word that Hulk and Samson are at Base A; he gives orders to spring
the trap....
At Betty's house, Jackie interviews the
police detective at the scene; he tells her that the evidence shows
that someone was shot in the house (unlikely to have been by the
Hulk) and that whatever broke down the wall left behind a huge red
feather. Meanwhile, Betty, now in the form of a red Harpy, watches
them from the treetops....
Hulk and Samson fight the monsters and
when they are defeated, suddenly lights come on: UV radiation, mixed
with visible light, forcing Hulk to transform back into Banner.
Fortean's hit man Bushwacker shows himself and shoots Doc Samson in
the head. He follows that up by shooting Bruce through the gut. Bruce
hides as the villain stalks him through the base but suddenly, Banner
changes, getting a sinister grin and saying his name isn't Bruce
Banner—it's Joe....


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[Assistant]
His Hideous Heart
At Shadow Base, the captive Hulk has
been dissected to the glee of head scientist Dr Clive. The monster's
heart has been bisected with an adamantium scalpel wielded by a
hydraulic arm yet when the halves are brought into proximity with the
rest of Hulk, both start beating again. Clive mocks Hulk who responds
with the middle finger from a disembodied hand. Clive is really
enjoying all of this, finding out how Hulk works....
Aboard the Alpha Flight space station,
Captain Marvel is giving an interview to reporter Jackie McGee,
providing an anonymous quote questioning the government's secretive
handling of the Hulk problem and designed to make Banner's captors
uneasy. Carol names Walter Langkowski (formerly Sasquatch as of issue
#5) head of the new Gamma Flight, tasked with locating Hulk....
Learning of this new task force,
General Fortean calls Dr Clive and puts the pressure on, demanding
the secret base be moved. Clive goes back to Hulk who, oddly, is
smiling at him; Clive loses his cool until he realizes Hulk has been
playing him: everything they learn about Hulk, Hulk learns too. The
Green Giant smashes out of all of his glass jars at once, and the
pieces begin to draw together and reassemble themselves—trapping
Clive on the inside. Hulk notes that when Bruce Banner is harmed, he
takes it personally. Clive's aide returns to find Hulk and the doctor
missing, with a giant hole torn in the floor....
Unable to track the Hulk (because he's
underground), Langkowski asks for Jackie's help in finding the
fugitive monster...
...who surfaces in New Mexico at dawn,
transforming back into Bruce Banner, who knows Hulk has taken a
life...and he hears his father laughing....


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[Assistant]
Action/Reaction
Bruce Banner sits in a motel room,
watching Hulk banging on the other side of a mirror begging to be let
out; Bruce knows that when Hulk absorbed Walter Langkowski's gamma
energy, something else came with it. Bruce clears his mind and lets
the Hulk in his subconscious write a message...it reads “Home”....
In California, Betty Ross watches the
reports of the Hulk on the TV news and tries to tell herself Bruce
hasn't come back from the dead. She is unaware she is being watched
by the Monitors, who are observing all of Hulk/Banner's friends and
associates for General Fortean, who is now in command of
Shadow Base, leaving General Ross free to deal with Captain America.
The labs are working with Del Frye and other subjects but they need a
real Hulk...and Fortean wonders where Walter Langkowski is....
...Walter is on the Alpha Flight space
station, with Jackie McGee, trying to understand his wild actions as
Sasquatch in the two previous issues. Puck questions Jackie while
Shaman looks inside and determines that Walter had been possessed by
“the One Below All.” Captain Marvel enters and tells Walter of
the deal Fortean offered. If Alpha Flight can deliver Bruce Banner
to him, fine; if not, he'll take Walter who would be facing the death
penalty for the murders he committed in his monstrous form....
Iowa: Bruce Banner is hitchhiking along
the road back to Hulk's “home” in New Mexico when he is
approached by Captain Marvel, followed by the Avengers—Captain America,
Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, She-Hulk, Ghost Rider
(Robbie Reyes). Jen starts to fly into a rage, because of how Bruce hurt her
by planning his death (during Civil War II) and it takes Thor to calm
her down. Carol asks nicely for Bruce to come along with them. She
knows night is Hulk's time but Banner would have to die to unleash
him. Bad news: Banner reveals he already dead as he begins to change
into Hulk....


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[Assistant]
All on That Day
As with Hell in the last issue, the plot
of this issue pauses periodically for a definition of the Devil: in
Zoroastrian lore, he is called Angra Mainyu, the opposite to good,
who has the ability to do good but chooses to do evil. In the Old
Testament Book of Job, Satan is the accuser, testing Job. In the
philosophy of Anna Kingsford, Satan is the keeper of the door to
Hell.
Young Bruce is berated by his drunken
father, as his mother tries ineffectually to intervene. Brian Banner
hurls a glass of liquor at the boy while mocking the science toys he
plays with. When Brian leaves, Bruce uses the glass to smash his toys
to pieces, cutting himself in the process.

The emaciated Hulk is in Hell with
Jackie McGee and smashing the remains of the Red Hulk into pieces.
Jackie calms him down and asks to speak to the devil Hulk who she
realizes is in charge of Banner's multiple personalities....
The shade of Brian Banner explains how
he grew up in a home without love and how he found love with Rebecca
while becoming an authority on gamma radiation. He posited a third
form between particle and wave and dreamed that it was seeking him.
He went home in fear to his wife, who revealed she was pregnant. When
Bruce was born, Brian felt that he had been replaced in Rebecca's
love and now he was trapped down there by the monster that possesses
his son. The thing from his dream had been using him as a host
personality but now it has Hulk for that....
Climbing the mountain, Puck and
Absorbing Man see the One Below All, a giant monster with a large
mouth, as Jackie and the Hulk see it too. Jackie calls it the end;
Hulk replies “He's not the end of the world...because that's who I
am.”


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[Assistant]
We Only Meet at Funerals
Betty Ross Banner attends her father's
third funeral (see Comments), pondering his complicated legacy.
Tony Stark speaks at the memorial service and seems at a loss for words;
he invites anyone in attendance to speak and General Reginald Fortean
stands. He pays tribute to Ross, his mentor, and utters veiled
threats against Betty, knowing she is harboring Bruce Banner....
At Shadow Base, the lab staff are
working on a secret project to rebuild some mystery figure from only
about 100 pounds of remains, a project that weighs on their
consciences....
At the graveside, an unidentified
figure mutters about the funeral being held in the rain. Tony Stark
tries to apologize to Betty for the Avengers' action against the Hulk
(issues #6-7) and offering her a ride on his jet; she refuses, citing
the death ray he unleashed on a town (also #7).  She flies home
pondering her mixed feelings about her father and finds Bruce waiting
on her doorstep. Despite all of the negative emotions in her head she
runs to him and kisses him, then brings him inside where they can be
safe, with a tiny statue that blocks psychic and remote viewers.
Meanwhile, General Fortean has Bushwacker (Carl Burbank) waiting
outside, preparing to kill Banner when he gets the shot. Burbank says
he can shoot Banner though Betty, killing both of them but Fortean
does not want that. Bruce pours out his suppressed grief to Betty,
especially over Rick Jones while she suppresses her questions about
his and Hulk's behavior over the last several months (including his
involvement in the Secret Empire). As the sun goes down, Burbank,
bitter over his adventure in Hell with Hulk (issues #9-13),
fires—hitting Betty in the head. Bruce becomes Hulk in an instant,
crashing through the wall and Burbank shoots him in the head—which
puts a huge hole in the green man's head but doesn't slow him down.
Hulk can't die at night (and neither can Betty, Fortean informs us).
Burbank insists he can fight Hulk but a mystery figure grabs him and
hurls him away as the newcomer—Doc Samson, summoned earlier by
Betty—confronts Hulk....


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[Assistant]
Abomination
At Shadow Base B, General Fortean
explains to his science adviser Dr. McGowan how they led Hulk into a
trap: they lured him to Base A and turned on the radiation emitters
to mimic daylight, forcing Hulk to change back into Bruce Banner, and
now Fortean's hit man Bushwacker just has to kill the wounded
scientist. But it won't be that easy: Bushwacker thinks he has Bruce
helpless but Bruce fights back—and fights dirty, escaping while the
baddie is recovering from a shot to the groin. McGowan realizes that
Bruce isn't “Bruce,” Banner's body contains the personality of
Gray Hulk Joe Fixit, a nasty customer. Joe/Bruce breaks through an
aquarium to reach the lab beyond and he hacks a computer to his
advantage. Bushwacker shoots him down but he isn't dead, instead he
explains how, since he couldn't turn to UV emitters off, he could
turn them up—to emit gamma radiation. Joe/Bruce transforms into the
Hulk and suddenly Fortean discovers the entire mountain is gone. So
Fortean orders Subject B into play: Rick Jones' body was used as
scaffolding for a gamma shell recovered from the corpse of Emil
Blonsky to create a new, non-human Abomination....


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[Assistant]
Butterfly
Years ago, Betty Ross was concerned
about a butterfly caught in a spider's web; her father's aide,
then-Captain Fortean, explained how spiders do a valuable job of
keeping the insect population under control. Betty still wishes the
butterfly would destroy the web and escape....
Now, Dr. McGowan is shocked to discover
her new, non-human Abomination has killed two civilians (a cabbie and
a hotel desk clerk, last issue) and shouts at General Fortean that
she warned him to keep it out of populated areas. But Fortean doesn't
care, as the Abomination with a double face of Rick Jones is fighting
Hulk on the streets of Reno. The monster's digestive juices cause
Hulk's fist to melt—and not heal. And he can spit the acid out of
his twin mouths....
Marge, the hotel clerk who witnessed
the grisly death of her friend at the hands of the Abomination, runs
into some of Fortean's agents. They kill her and move on, running
into Jackie McGee who is accompanied by the Red Harpy; Harpy kills
them all gruesomely to Jackie's shock as she was hoping to question
them and uncover the sinister plot. They move on and encounter Hulk
and Abomination. By this time, all four of Hulk's limbs have been
burned away by his foe's acid and his eyes are gone. He hears Betty's
voice and calls for Hulk; instead she rips out his heart and eats
it....


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[Assistant]
Time of Death
Reporter Jackie McGee sits at the
airport, arguing with her editor on the phone, trying to convince him
that since the national media are now interested in the Hulk, for the
Arizona Herald to stay in the game, they have to find Bruce Banner.
For now, there's his college roommate Walter Langkowski arriving by
air. Jackie's editor wants her to investigate a nearby Hulk sighting
so she and Walter head out by car while Walt fills Jackie in on
Bruce's college days. Bruce and Walt were roommates at Penn State
University where Bruce was a science major, already interested in
gamma rays and Walt was there on a football scholarship but also had
an interest in science. Bruce tended to look down on Walt as a dumb
jock who was only dabbling in science—while also buying several
suits with purple pants. Some time later when he learned that Bruce
had become the Hulk, Walt left football to attempt to recreate the
accident that mutated Bruce, with the aid of Canada's Department H;
this led to Walt's becoming Sasquatch—which he describes as “a
real trip.” This causes Jackie to have a flashback to her childhood
when she saw the Hulk. Walt then goes on to explain how he was
possessed by a spirit called Tanaraq (no longer there). They arrive
at a scene of utter chaos with a number of vans piled up in an
intersection; Jackie heads to a bar where she learns that Bruce
Banner was there, asking about drug dealer Noah Swanson, owner of the
cars smashed up outside. Two of the customers get into an angry
fight, which the bartender says is unusual for them. Walter tries to
break up the fight and one of the guys stabs him in the back....
Walt is rushed into surgery and, as she
waits for word, Jackie gives a statement to the police. After the
detective is gone, Bruce Banner sits down next to her and explains
how he and Walt have the identical gamma signature—and that they
had better evacuate the hospital.... In the operating room, the
surgeon pronounces Walter dead, but it is now nighttime...and Walter
arises from the table as the Sasquatch—a very vicious Sasquatch...


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[Assistant]
The Face of the Enemy
When she was a child, Jackie McGee and her father were in their
home when the Hulk crashed in and her father was never the same after that day.
And Jackie dreamed of confronting the Hulk someday...
…and she’s had her chance; now she is crashing into Shadow
Base B with Hulk, Rick Jones, and Red Harpy to battle the Abomination/General Fortean
and his troops while Gamma Flight (Doc Samson, Puck, Titania, and
Absorbing Man), prisoners only moments before, join in. With Hulk’s
distraction, Red Harpy takes Rick and Jackie through the facility on a search….
Back at the battle, troops have fired titanium needles with a
tranquilizing drug at Absorbing Man but this time he’s ready and he transforms
into titanium to take on Fortean. Hulk is attacked by an S-E unit: a cyborg
metal suit that emits solar radiation, designed to force Hulk to transform back
into Bruce Banner. Fortean orders his men to open fire and Doc Samson, leaping
to protect his comrades, is cut to pieces by gunfire. Puck responds by ripping
the brain out of the S-E unit and stomping on it. Hulk pulls himself together (literally)
to continue fighting….
Rick burns his way through the door where the scientists are
watching the battle on viewscreens. Rick confronts Dr. McGowan who claims all
guilt and asks that her team go free. They see Rick’s real body in a tank of
chemicals, alive since he was pulled from his grave but sedated to erase his
pain; Rick accepts that and settles down….
Back at the fight, Creel is melted by a weapon and not given
any time to transform again. Titania and Puck are shot down with electrical
weapons. Hulk faces Fortean at last and the General, to prove he’s the superior
weapon, vomits acid all over Hulk…who tears his melting skin off and is ready
for more….


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[Assistant]
The Avengers
The small town of Georgeville, Iowa is
evacuated. The reason? The Avengers are fighting the Hulk nearby and
it isn't going well. Ghost Rider and his car have been knocked  to
the center of town. A single punch scrambles Thor's brains, leaving
him dazed.  While Captain America tends to Thor, Black Panther jumps
on Hulk's back and pumps electricity through his head and Iron Man in
Hulkbuster armor ponders the use of their big weapon Code: Helios.
Delirious Thor wonders if they have created a god or devil in Hulk.
Hulk likes the idea of devil Hulk and rips the arms off of Iron Man
and uses them to smash Panther in the face, overloading the Vibranium
in his suit. Tony Stark ejects from his ruined armor and begins
prepping Helios. Captain Marvel is still evacuating the town while
Cap calls on She-Hulk to take over. As the cousins fight, Hulk taunts
Jen with the idea that there is now no difference between them,
upsetting her enough that he can punch her into the next county.
Against the advice of the others, Tony fires the Helios Laser, laced
with UV radiation from space, obliterating the town—and the Hulk.
Cap and T'Challa look on Bruce Banner's skeleton, Cap bemoaning how
they have killed their friend. T'Challa reminds him it is only a
temporary measure. Now what...?
Hulk awakens in the secret lab of
Shadow Base—dissected and stored in separate jars....


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[Assistant]
Or is He Both
At a gas station convenience store in
the Southwest, a nervous robber panics and shoots a young girl, a
quiet man, and the counterman, fleeing with his gain. Later,
Detective Gloria Mayes tells reporter Jackie McGee about it, and the
unlikeliness of catching the killer....
That night in the morgue, when the moon
comes out, one of the shooting victims stirs, and a large green hand
moves under the sheet....
At a local bikers' hangout, the hold-up
man, Tommy Hill, dissolving into tears over the killings, hands the
money over to the gang, repaying part of the debt he owes them. They
do not sympathize with his position, instead demanding the rest of
the money. A loud noise warns the gang that someone is after them—as
a huge green hand takes them all down. Tommy himself comes face to
face with the Hulk, massive and more fearsome than ever; Hulk tells
him the name of the little girl he killed and taunts him with how
powerful a gun makes him feel. Tommy begs for mercy, “I'm not a bad
guy, am I?” Hulk replies, “What do you think?”

Later, Detective Mayes tells Jackie
McGee about the missing body from the morgue (and the hole in the
wall), the beaten and bruised bikers, and the critically injured
Tommy Hill confessing to the murders. Mayes tells Jackie that the
mysterious assailant is the Hulk, speculating that even though
Bruce Banner was killed, the Hulk cannot die....
Elsewhere, Bruce Banner looks into a
mirror and asks, “I'm not a bad guy, am I?” and asks the Hulk,
“What do you think?”


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[Assistant]
Point of View
Reporter Jackie McGee interviews the
witnesses to an incident on Mercer Avenue in a small South Dakota
town. The Cop relates how he and a partner were called to a hostage
situation at the church on Mercer Avenue and ended up facing Hotshot,
a villain who could shoot deadly energy bolts from his hands. The
Bartender describes turning the mystery man (we know he's
Bruce Banner) away from the bar when the news about the hostage situation
came on television; Banner picked up a knife and rushed out. The Old
Lady, hostage in the church, thought Hotshot looked like James Dean,
a tragic romantic pleading for the Priest to give his girlfriend the
last rites. The Priest makes clear that Hotshot was begging for him
to exorcise his girlfriend, possessed by the One Below. The Priest
prayed for deliverance from this increasingly distraught young
man—and his prayer was answered. Hulk came crashing through a
stained glass window and confronted Hotshot, breaking his hands.
Hotshot, even with his hands mangled, could blow a hole through
Hulk—a hole which healed itself within seconds, leading Hotshot
(and the Priest) to call Hulk the One Below, the Devil himself. Hulk
agreed—and clobbered the punk. Later, the Priest joined the cops as
they went to Hotshot's motel room, where they found his girlfriend
Jailbait, dead, tied to a chair and smiling with her head twisted
around. The Priest hasn't been able to pray since. The Old Lady
visited Hotshot in the containment center, where he insisted his girl
was alive when he left. Later he hanged himself in his cell. The
bartender mentions how he left work later to find the Hulk had
smashed his car, leaving him angry....
Jackie tries to put together the
details, wanting to understand why this has been classed as an
“unconfirmed” Hulk sighting—and who is that mystery man who is
near every Hulk sighting? Jackie receives a call from Walter
Langkowski of Alpha Flight who wants to find Bruce Banner, needing
his help with something, as the shadow of Sasquatch looms above....


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[Assistant]
This World Our Hell
The plot of the issue pauses
periodically for a definition of Hell: it is the place of God's
absence; humanity has ruined the world God made and God manifests his
anger by turning his face away, “leaving us alone with what we've
done.” The Tree of Life has a dark side: Qlippoth, meaning shells,
which is also what “hulk” means; there may be a Hell below all
others under a single ruler....
The emaciated Hulk is in Hell with
Jackie McGee; he asks her why she wants to be like Hulk. She responds
that she wants to know what it feels like to be allowed to feel such
rage; when Banner becomes Hulk the world takes notice and superheroes
respect and try to treat his rage while Jackie's anger is dismissed
or ignored. How can she be where Hulk is? Hulk likes that she isn't
ashamed of her anger. They are met by the empty shell of Rick
Jones....
Puck finds the repentant Absorbing Man
and informs him that he was used by the One Below All to open the
Green Door and Puck is going to make him help close it. How does Puck
know all this? A vow when he was a child to live and interesting
life....
Hulk tries to talk to Rick Jones but he
is only an empty shell. Jackie's father appears, also a shell;
Jackie explains he died of the stress of their encounter with Hulk
years ago. Then General Thunderbolt Ross appears, odd since he isn't
dead, and turns into a twisted version of the Red Hulk and the two
Hulks battle until Hulk tears his crimson counterpart in half. Hulk
is now mad with blood lust and Brian Banner appears, smirking at the
predicament....


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[Assistant]
Thaumiel
Gamma Flight is able to locate Hulk
from his Gamma signature, the strange thing is...there are two
identical signatures. Walter Langkowski invites Jackie McGee to join
him and Puck as they head to New Mexico to find the Hulk....
Absorbing Man's soul is trapped in
Hell, leaving him able to say only “I'm  sorry.” over and
over....
On Earth, the emaciated Hulk, drained
of much of his energy, is facing Crusher Creel's mutilated body, the
flesh of his upper torso ripped to either side with the fanged skull
and spinal column standing up in the center, also mumbling it's
sorry.  Meanwhile, Bushwacker is a short distance away, aiming a
sniper rifle (made from his own hand) at the Hulk, reporting this
latest development to General Fortean at Shadow Base who advises him
to wait for the shot. As Creel continues to absorb energy from Hulk
with each blow, Hulk responds by ripping off the spinal column and
swinging the skull like a weapon against its (former) owner. The
Gamma Flight ship arrives with Langkowski calling to the Hulk to
listen. Bushwacker takes the shot, a cyanide hollow-point bullet
hitting Hulk in the eye. Hulk, assuming Langkowski shot him, smashes
the craft to bits. Hulk pursues the diminished Creel to the site of
the original bomb test, pausing briefly to be shot by Puck. Creel
absorbs radiation from the soil and is able to open the “Green
Door.” It glows brightly then subsides leaving them all in a grim
wasteland with an evil red sky. Asked where they are, Hulk replies,
“Welcome to Hell.”


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[Assistant]
A Booth in the Midwest
As with Hell and the Devil in the last
two issues, the plot of this issue pauses periodically for a
definition of the Hulk: which emanation of the divine is he, Geburah,
strength in righteousness, or Golachab, strength in destruction?

The One Below All floats over Hell,
vomiting out hordes of gruesome monsters and the emaciated Hulk
battles them. The ghost of Brian Banner watches with approval  and
the dead Rick Jones converts into the dead A-Bomb to aid the Hulk.
Puck lectures the Absorbing Man on the nature of Gamma as both
science and magic and the One Below All has maneuvered Creel into
absorbing the Gamma from Hulk. Creel then confronts Brian Banner—and
returns all of his absorbed Gamma to Hulk, who is instantly his old
familiar muscle-bound self again. Hulk faces Brian Banner who denies
that Hulk is his son: he calls Hulk the son of the One Below All.
Hulk responds with “Hulk is Hulk!” and a thunderclap that sends
Brian and the One flying into the distance....
Hulk approaches a terrified Bruce Banner
and tells him that they must go back to their world together
if they want to survive. Bruce wants to die but Hulk reminds him he
was always there to protect him—because Hulk loves Bruce....
Back on Earth, Jackie McGee, Puck, and
Crusher Creel find  a confused Walter Langkowski. Puck invites Creel
to join Gamma Flight. Jackie is disturbed about meeting her dead
father, wondering where Hulk is. Meanwhile, Carl Burbank Bushwacker
is still watching them....
At midnight, Betty Ross receives
a strange phone call that turns out to be from Bruce, asking if he
can come home....


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[Assistant]
Who’s There
On Alpha Flight’s space station, all of the members of Gamma
Flight who were killed last issue by General Fortean have returned to life
except Walter Langkowski. Puck is confused as is Doc Samson who doesn’t know
how he is alive. Titania and Absorbing Man accuse Samson of trying to protect
Hulk. Puck assumes command of the team, puts Walter’s body in suspended
animation, and decides to take action against Fortean….
At Shadow Base Site B, Dr. McGowan berates Fortean for his
insane act of merging himself with the shell of the Abomination; he threatens
her, presenting himself as a weapon against chaos….
In a motel room in California, Betty Ross watches over a sick
and emaciated (and formerly dead) Rick Jones who is curled up in the bathtub.
Bruce Banner knocks at the door and she quickly transforms into Red Harpy and
answers. He wants to talk but is frightened; he asks if she has the power to
change back and she says yes, but the Harpy won’t as she considers this to be
“me.” Bruce, unable to face her allows Joe Fixit to come to the surface. Making
sure Betty is OK, “Joe” then heads over to look in on Jackie McGee,
interrupting her as she is making notes on her adventures. He tells her they
are moving soon and she asks why they don’t just leave her behind; it’s because
the Big Guy likes her—and Joe adds his unwanted admiration. They are suddenly
called by Betty and find Rick Jones emitting a greenish light; his memory has
returned and he knows the location of Shadow Base B: under Groom Lake….
Meanwhile, Gamma Flight has also traced Fortean back to Groom
Lake, Nevada, also known as Area 51. Puck leads Titania, Creel, and Doc Samson
to teleport down to the secret base…
…and find themselves surrounded by Fortean and his men,
thanks to the psychics on the team. The monstrous general announces his
intention to have Doc Samson dissected to learn about the Hulk when they are
interrupted by a steadily increasing booming sound—and then Hulk breaks through
from above, followed by his companions. “Knock knock.”


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[Assistant]
The Holy or the Broken
Doc Samson relates to Hulk the story of
his death and return: he was killed battling MODOK and the Leader
(INCREDIBLE HULK #610), sacrificing himself to save the world; he
then battled the Chaos King (INCREDIBLE HULK #619) and then...he was
crawling out of this grave and didn't know why. Only SHIELD, Captain
Marvel (Carol Danvers) and a few others knew he was back. He
deliberately stayed away from Bruce Banner, especially while Amadeus
Cho was Hulk.). He met Betty Ross Banner at Rick Jones' grave (Rick
was executed during the SECRET EMPIRE event) and they renewed their
friendship. But now Hulk is back and Betty called Doc Samson in and
now Samson is trying to reason with Hulk, who has a huge hole shot in
his head by Bushwacker and is a bit irrational. Doc mixes it up with
Hulk while the head wound slowly heals and Hulk slowly becomes more
rational.  Hulk tells Samson that Bushwacker killed Betty but when
they go into the house, her body is gone. Hulk fills in Banner's
story: he arranged his own murder (via Hawkeye—in the CIVIL WAR II
event) and that made him worse, joining Hydra during the Secret
Empire days. Now Hulk has it all under control, only coming out at
night. As they move along, Samson deduces that he is talking to the
Devil Hulk, which the big green guy acknowledges—adding that he
wants to end the human world. As everything is getting worse, Hulk's
desire to end the world may leave someone alive. Now they've arrived
at a cemetery, Hulk assuring Samson that Betty is okay. Instead
Samson should be asking why all of the dead Gamma people are suddenly
alive—as they come to Rick Jones' grave to find it empty too....


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[Assistant]
The Walking Ghost
Bruce Banner has a recurring nightmare
of the day the gamma bomb exploded and thinks of the “walking
ghost” phase, when he feels healthy though he is already as good as
dead. He awakens on a bus and feels the Hulk inside telling him to
get off at a certain small town. Bruce has a meal at an all-night
diner and spots a newspaper headline describing a series of
mysterious deaths. He asks about this at a bar and an old guy gives
his theory that it is a chain of grief: as people die and are buried,
their mourners come down with the same mysterious malady, creating an
endless chain of grief. The first victim was popular high school
football star Del Frye whose father is a scientist, working with
radiation....
Bruce visits Del Frye's grave and
senses a lethal amount of gamma radiation emanating from the site. He
calls the EPA for an emergency response team but they don't believe
him—until he gives his name. On their way into town Hulk had
spotted a green glow from a mountain cave. As the sun goes down,
Bruce climbs to that cave and discovers a number of dead bodies—and
he is confronted by Dr Frye, emaciated and glowing green. Frye tries
to kill Bruce to keep his whereabouts secret but Bruce becomes the
Hulk and forces Frye to reveal what happened. After the death of his
wife, Frye had a crisis of faith, seeing nothing beyond the grave. So
he started work on a means of prolonging life, based on Bruce
Banner's work with gamma radiation. He injected himself with the
formula and felt much better almost immediately. He then injected his
son, who collapsed to the floor and died within seconds. Frye burned
the formula and soon was exhibiting the same symptoms in a walking
ghost phase but more slowly, likely because he had built up a small
immunity during his researches. Hulk points out the irony: Frye
wanted to conquer death and now he is death: everyone who visited
Del's grave walked away with a fatal dose of radiation; when those
people died, the mourners at their gravesides were infected, in an
endless chain of grief. Hulk doles out his punishment, tearing off
Frye's arms and legs and dropping him in a deep pit for eternity....
When the EPA emergency team opens a
grave, they find the corpse still alive and glowing a deadly
green....


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[Assistant]
Necessary
Doc Samson crawls out of the wreckage
of Shadow Base A to be discovered by Gamma Flight (Walter Langkowski,
Puck, Titania, Absorbing Man) who are hunting for Hulk....
Bruce Banner, inhabited by the
Joe Fixit personality of the Hulk, is on his way to Reno, wearing an
expensive suit and a mustache for disguise, unaware he is being
followed by a monster....
In California, Jackie McGee is combing
through the ruins of Betty Banner's house when she finds Betty
herself, now a huge Red Harpy. She tries to get an interview....
Bruce arrives at his motel and after he
goes in, the new Abomination (who has an extra pair of clawed hands
concealing his face) destroys the taxi Bruce arrived in, killing the
driver. Anna, one of the motel staff, goes out to see what the
commotion is. Meanwhile, Bruce is talking to Hulk in a mirror, trying
to plan how they are going to work together to end the world....
Meanwhile, Doc Samson is telling Gamma
Flight that Hulk is planning to end the world. Samson can't see how
this might take place: subconsciously Bruce Banner is working within
Hulk to save lives, which is why no one has been killed in any of
Hulk's rampages. Titania suggests that maybe Hulk is a bad guy
now....
As Bruce Banner is pondering what to
call the Hulk he is seeing in his head, he hears a scream from the
lobby. Abomination has entered with Anna's head clutched in his
face-hands. Hulk rushes in and the two fight...and then the center
hands open to reveal the faces of Rick Jones and Hulk is
horrified....
And elsewhere, General Fortean
laughs....


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[Assistant]
At Ground Zero
Brian Banner wanders into a cemetery and spies the grave of
his wife Rebecca; he refuses to believe she’s dead and demands that she get up.
He finds a glowing star on the grave which takes him back to the birth of his
son, Bruce….
“Monster”Writer: Bill Mantlo. Pencils: Mike Mignola. Inks: Gary
Talaoc. Colors: Bob Sharen.Reprinted from INCREDIBLE HULK #312.
Brian Banner remembers that it’s all the fault of his son the
monster and he smashes the star. He is interrupted by the groundskeeper who
relates a story told him by his predecessor….
“Grave Matters”Writer: Peter David. Pencils: Adam Kubert. Inks: Mark Farmer.
Colors: Dan Brown.Reprinted from INCREDIBLE HULK #-1.
The groundskeeper shows Brian Banner his own corpse lying on
his wife’s grave and reveals himself to be the Leader. The villain absorbs
Banner into his (Leader’s) body saying “Welcome home”//
// cut to Brian Banner telling Bruce, “Welcome home.”


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[Assistant]
Flatline
Bruce Banner again wakes up in a place where he didn’t go to
sleep last night. He’s in Albuquerque, not far from the diner where he has been
working as a dish washer. He goes to work and changes into the fresh clothes he
keeps there. He is approached by an elderly woman he recognizes as Dr. Noreen
Noolan, a scientist associated with the Gamma project who left before Bruce’s “accident.”
Bruce can also tell that she is riddled with Gamma radiation; she explains that
after the detonation, she was in charge of the clean-up team and was exposed.
She wants to know how Bruce deals with his situation i.e. the Hulk problem.
Bruce then notices the time: it’s getting dark, the time when Hulk comes to
life. He dashes out and sees in the parking lot a man harassing a woman. Unable
to pass this by, he asks the man to leave her alone and gets punched for his
trouble. He turns into the Hulk and puts the man on the bed of a pickup truck
and folds the truck over to trap him and then kicks the ball of metal into the
distance. The woman is angry because it’s her truck Hulk destroyed. Noreen
scolds Hulk and tells him both Bruce and Hulk need a smack upside the head;
Hulk challengers her to do it. So she does…and Hulk goes flying into the city,
crashing inside a warehouse. Noreen has followed, floating in the air and
continues to hurl rubble at him mentally as the Big Guy tries to fight back.
Noreen throws an entire train at Hulk who catches onto the front, while Noreen
says she just wants to help Bruce. Hulk insists he protects Bruce—but not from
himself. She sends the train up into the sky and brings it down on Hulk. SMASH!
She informs him that the line between man and monster is a flatline. After more
attempts to destroy her, she takes the Hulk apart (literally)….
Bruce awakens on the roof of a hospital; he goes inside and
finds Dr. Noreen Noolan, dying of cancer, caused by her exposure to Gamma radiation.
As she dies, Bruce and Hulk realize this was her final lesson: what keeps the
two of them apart is the same thing that brings them together. Each other. The
Gamma. And Noreen flatlines….


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[Assistant]
Great Power
Bruce Banner wakes up in a crater in the middle of a Tribeca
street, sensing that Hulk is no longer a part of him. But Spider-Man is nearby
and as night falls, he transforms into the Hulk. Spider-Hulk swings off in
pursuit of “Osborn.” Banner calls for help and the Fantastic Four arrives as
Hulk is inadvertently smashing the walls he’s sticking to. Spidey Hulk attacks Thing and
clobbers him, it’s when Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Human Torch band
together that they are able to subdue him. Banner has them take Spidey Hulk to remote
Astra Island, an abandoned military research facility. The FF go back to New
York to investigate the strange occurrence while Bruce stays on the island with
Spidey, insisting on not letting Spidey be alone when the next transformation
occurs at nightfall….
The next morning, Bruce assures Peter he was in no danger.
The FF arrive with the answer to the mystery: it was Loki. Spidey had confronted
Hulk in Manhattan the previous night and Loki, now a good guy, used a spell
which cast Hulk’s power out. They track Loki to the Upper West Side where they
confront him and he explains that magic sometimes has a “crappy reaction” and
he can’t reverse it….
The FF take Spidey and Bruce home where they are met by
Franklin Richardsand Valeria Richards. The grownups puzzle out that it has to do with Immortal
Hulk’s control over his gamma energy. They take Bruce back to Astra Island
where he sits in a containment chamber with Spidey outside, ready to set off a
controlled gamma explosion just as the sun sets. He does and Spidey Hulk
battles Bruce Hulk and as they fight, Bruce is absorbing gamma radiation from Spidey
so that he gets bigger as Spidey gets smaller until they are back to normal. Then
Spidey and Bruce wait for Immortal Hulk to return; when he does he is touched that
Spidey stood by Banner in his dangerous time….


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[Assistant]
The Face Underneath
Bruce Banner walks through a remote area of New Mexico, drawn
by the Hulk's voice in his head. He enters a dilapidated barn to find a
skeleton lying on the floor—one that he recognizes as Doctor Strange. The body
has been burned and his talisman, the Eye of Agamotto, is missing. Bruce is
angry but the night is the Hulk's time and so Bruce is able to keep him inside.
Bruce goes to the nearest town to report Strange's murder and finds the place
deserted. He spies someone peeking at him from behind a curtain and heads to
that house to demand answers. Bruce walks in and finds himself facing a
handgun....
Interlude: An alien scientist working on some high tech
machinery is stabbed to death by a killer wearing a ghost costume made from a sheet....
Emulating the Hulk, the angry Bruce Banner fights the man and
takes a brutal beating before he rallies, beats the other man and, picking up
the revolver demands the old lady in the room explain why the town seems
deserted. He is directed to the local saloon; breaking in, he finds the town's
three marshals standing still at the behest of a white-bearded old man bearing
the Eye of Agamotto. The old man explains that he was a vagrant who was beaten
by the marshals and dumped at the edge of town. Badly injured, he made his way
to the barn and found Strange's body burning; he took the Eye and intuited how
to use it. Returning to the town he used the Eye to terrorize the marshals by
showing them their inner selves. Bruce demands the Eye; the vagrant threatens
to show him his inner truth. With a wicked smile, Bruce tells him to go ahead,
scaring the old man so that Bruce has to fight for the Eye. The old man orders
a marshal to save him; the man knocks Bruce down but he rises, clouts the cop
over the head with a bottle and slashes the old man's hand with the broken
glass to take the Eye. And the Eye transforms him into the Immortal Hulk. The
marshals flee in terror and Hulk confronts the old man, threatening to punish
him for hurting Banner, terrifying him by his mere presence. The old man curls
up within himself and Hulk confronts the true killer of Stephen Strange: the
elderly Doctor Strange's astral form....
Story continued in NAMOR: THE BEST DEFENSE.


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[Assistant]
The Threshing Place
Bruce Banner arrives in a small Midwestern town where a
little girl, nine-year-old Rebecca Green, has gone missing—which as followed by
a grisly murder and a monster sighting. Avoiding the news media types flocking
to the city, Bruce follows a gamma trail to a government-run experimental farm
with a ruined fence. He is caught by Rebecca’s suspicious father who calls the
sheriff. Despite his claims that he wants to help, he is beaten up and thrown
in jail. As the sun sets, Bruce tries to warn the deputy to let him out, that
there is a real monster out there. He turns into Hulk and breaks out, coming
across the gravely wounded sheriff. He questions the Sheriff about the farm and
then steps on him. As he walks through the fields, Hulk is attacked by a huge
pinkish monster with claws and a spiked face. Hulk subdues the creature and
absorbs the gamma radiation from it, revealing Rebecca Green. He gives the girl
back to her father and tells him to take her far away. Hulk invades the lab and
discovers that they have been experimenting with using gamma radiation to
increase crop yields. The staffers plead for mercy but when Hulk discovers they
had kidnapped Rebecca to use as a Guinea pig, he tears the place—and its
occupants—apart. The next day Bruce tells Mr. Green to take her away as once
they find out what she is they will never leave her alone. The most one can hope
for is that we not face the evil alone. And Bruce walks off as one who no
longer has hope….


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[Assistant]
Time of Monsters
Jordan 9,500 BCE: Tribal elder Adad takes Tammuz, his son’s
friend, out to the site of a green meteor’s crater. Tammuz and Shalim were planning
to run away to find better pastures elsewhere but Adad hurls Tammuz into the crater
as a sacrifice. Tammuz is horribly changed by exposure to the radiation in the
pit….
At the village, Shalim wonders where Tammuz is and suspects
his father has harmed him. Instead, Adad claims that Tammuz chose to be
sacrificed for the good of the tribe. Word comes of a gigantic beast sighting
and Adad leads the hunters out to kill it. The massive green monster is
fearsome to behold but the hunters manage to entangle it in a net and Shalim
fires an arrow into the monster’s eye, apparently killing it. After this, he
spots a birthmark on the beast which tells him he has killed Tammuz….
Tammuz is drawn through the Green Door by the One Below All….
The tribe feasts on the monster while Adad pays tribute to
Tammuz, who “willingly” sacrificed himself so that the Goddess would provide.
The monster’s head, mounted on a stake, draws all of its flesh back to itself,
tearing through the bellies and mouths of the tribespeople and reconstituting the
Hulk’s body. He faces Shalim, the only one left unharmed because he couldn’t
bring himself to eat the meat of his friend and thinks, “Never stop making them
pay.” He kills his friend and walks on alone….
“A Little Fire”Writer: David Vaughan. Art: Kevin Nowlan.Synopsis: Bruce Banner arrives in the deserted town of
Verdigris, Kansas, where he visits a movie theater run by the Scarecrow. The
villain has the town’s citizens hypnotized by film of their greatest fears on
the big screen while he feasts on them. Scarecrow sits Bruce down and feasts on
his fears until he drops dead from fright. But Banner arises as Hulk and he scares every one of the victims into fleeing the theater, leaving only
Scarecrow’s fears to manifest on the screen. The villain is being chased by a
mob but he tries to stop the film before the end and fails—and Hulk forces him
to see his greatest fear: burning to death….


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[Assistant]
Getting the Ax
Having just read
Roxxon’s Thor comic book (see our review here), Thor is attacked by the Roxxon
Thor and finds he can think only in cliched comebacks. He realizes that the impostor
is the Keep, the Enchantress’ familiar, formerly filled with the Executioner’s
personality but now an all-new semi-person. Keep hits Thor with his Hammer, knocking
Thor out of the building to a downtown area. They continue to battle while Thor
tries to clear his head. Thor calls down lightning on the Keep who cries for
help and so is empowered by Amora sending the comic issue, which is the focal
point of the spell giving him life. Then Skurge kills Dario Agger with Thor’s
ax….
Turning the
cliches running through his head to his advantage (“Batter up!”), Thor hits his
foe’s hammer back at him, knocking him out of the sky. A crowd gathers, with
some recording the confrontation on their phones….
Back in the Roxxon
office, Amora transforms into Astrid Mora, company vice-president, calling
security….
The Keep again
hurls his hammer at Thor, who stops it with one hand, then recalls Mjolnir to
hit his hand, crushing the enemy’s weapon to bits. (“That’s not a hammer. This
is a hammer.”). He calls down lightning and fries the Keep to a crisp, while
telling the surrounding crowd that the Keep was a magical being who cannot
truly die. He then summons his ax Tormod to him and it flies away from the
police investigating Agger’s murder to land, covered in blood, in Thor’s hand….


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[Assistant]
The End of All Songs
Tyr is
possessed by Oblivion. The rest of Odin’s children have been sent into opposite
directions to find him….
The team
consisting of Thor, Angela, Loki, and Balder emerge from a Skinner Box onto an
unknown landscape. They encounter the giant Elder God Tiwaz who holds the rune
that bears his name and is also the rune for Tyr….
Back in the
In-Between, Hermod has found Tyr inside a similar box, he offers to help but
Tyr, channeling nothingness, causes Hermod to vanish from all reality. Outside
the box, the others, Vidar with Laussa, Honir, Bragi, and Ullr the Wanderer, are aware of
what has happened to their brother. Tyr emerges from the box and threatens them
all with a like fate….
Thor’s group
becomes aware of Hermod’s death though Bragi’s link to Loki. Tiwaz gives
himself a lengthy introduction and reveals he is the great-grandfather to Thor,
thus to them all. Tiwaz also reveals that the rune he holds will cure Tyr, if Thor
win it in a contest of riddles….
At the other
end, the possessed Tyr demands to be given Laussa; Vidar holds her forth…and
she spits Surtur’s flames all over Tyr. Honir begins spraying Tyr with arrows….
Thor tries to
fight Tiwaz by hurling Mjolnir at him. Tiwaz stops it in midair, not touching
it. He admires the craftsmanship that went into it and returns it to its
wielder. So Thor offers a riddle: “What is big, red, and eats rocks?” Tiwaz
ponders the query and confesses he does not know. Thor’s answer: “A big red
rock-eater.” Tiwaz is pleased and gives Thor the rune, asking him where he
learned the riddle. At his father’s knee, he says and they are returned to the
others, with Tiwaz giving Loki the warning, “You, I’ll meet again.”
Back with the
others, Thor hurls the rune at Tyr and Oblivion is driven out of him. As they prepare
to say their goodbyes, Thor asks Ullr if he wants his hall back. Ullr responds
with a dark prophecy of Thor’s impending death…..


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[Assistant]
The Vengeance of the Gods
Thor arrives in
the Greek Islands to be greeted by his old friend Hercules at the ruined
Sanctuary of Hercules. Thor explains that his enemies have placed an
enchantment on him that slows his wits, making him stupid at times, asking for
Herc’s help in managing it. Herc then suggests breaking the spell instead. Herc
saw in the news that Toranos said “The wheel has turned,” and recalls Zeus
saying something like that; Thor notes that he has heard the same for his
mother Gaia and they conclude a new dark age is upon them. And wondering who is
responsible, they decide on Nyx, Goddess of Night. And then Loki steps out from
behind Thor, surprising them, and offers to help. He deduces Nyx would be in
the darkest place on Earth at that season: Antarctica….
So they take
Thor’s chariot to Antarctica where they are greeted by Nyx in full power, who
reveals she has recovered all her power and intends to take revenge for what
the Avengers did to her and her family. Loki is prisoner of her children Apate
and Dolos who hold a dagger to his throat. Thor is attacked by her child, Oizys
the Worm-Daughter, who wraps Thor in her serpentine coils, whispering in his
ear all of his failures. Hercules is captured by Nyx’s firstborn, Hypnos, God
of Sleep, who seeks to put Herc to sleep. Thor calls down lightning to defeat Oizos
so Apate cuts Loki’s throat but, through an illusion of Loki’s, she finds she
has killed her brother. Herc punches out Hypnos. But Loki has appeared in the
form of Thor’s enemy, the God and Goddess of Stories, and, as a test, sends him
and Herc to an even darker and colder place…
...where Thor
mentions seeing the rune uruz, Rune of Endurance and Survival. And then the
place is lighted…by the glowing form of an angry Zeus….
“Deadpool and
Wolverine: Weapon X-Traction Part Two”Writer: Ryan
North. Art: Javier Garron. Colors: Edgar Delgado. Letters: Joe Sabino.
Synopsis: Story
continued from SPIDER-GWEN: THE GHOST-SPIDER #3.Sent to rescue
the Multiverse but without knowing why, Deadpool and Wolverine arrive in the
Romantic Comedy universe where they avoid cute meetings and resist falling in
love with strangers until they reach the library. Inside, they face the Evil
Battle Librarians and defeat them in a massive fight. Researching why they, of
all people, have been selected to save the Universe, they end up drawing a blank.
Then they figure out what it is they are good at and what they have in common
and realize they are needed to kill someone. And so they jump through the
portal to the next destination….Story continues
in AVENGERS #17.


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[Assistant]
Caveat Emptor
Prologue:
Millennia ago, the Demiurge created gods who fought among themselves for power.
But Gaia had a vision of a different cycle and so…
… Toranos has returned to Earth to face the new
Thor Corps, assembled by Thor Odinson. They are Jane Foster, Beta Ray Bill,
Loki, and Storm, each empowered by Mjolnir for 60 seconds until they touch the
magic hammer again. And so as they face their ancient enemy, they toss Mjolnir
back and forth among themselves to maintain the highest levels of power amongst
them. As the hammer flips back and forth, Toranos tries to grab it but fails
every time. Then Loki hurls the hammer straight at Toranos’ head…and the
creature catches it—and is transformed into a Thor because he is clearly
worthy. And the power of Thor is the power to hold back the storm, the power to
be worthy. And so Toranos develops a conscience, the ability to wield the power
with compassion and humility—and he suffers from the knowledge of what he has
done in his life. As he fades from view, he calls out to Thor that he did only
what he was set upon the Earth to do by his brother Utgard-Loki and Thor’s mother
Gaia….
Thor wants to know what he meant by this last
statement but he is gone. Thor thanks Storm for her help and offers to aid her
in her latest adventure, which she declines. Thor thanks Beta Ray Bill while
apologizing for not having acted as a friend to him in the past. Loki offers a
magic portal to send Jane home as Mister Horse is exhausted. Jane tells Thor
something is amiss in Valhalla and there is an omen that a warrior holding
Mjolnir will soon die. Thor seems okay for now and Jane then reveals that Odin,
who is behind this, has loosed a soul from Valhalla as his agent…
…Skurge the Executioner who is meeting with
Dario Agger about whether they can work together against Thor in an upcoming
mission and Skurge introduces his friend, Amora the Enchantress….


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[Assistant]
The Land of Lost Content
Thor, having
learned that his mother Gaia has unleashed the Elder Gods to judge humanity,
has taken it upon himself to be a kinder, gentler change agent. To that end, he
crashes into the office of Dario “the Minotaur” Agger, CEO of Roxxon, to challenge
him. Thor makes some threats, invoking the end of the world. Agger brushes him
off, saying the end of the world is of little importance, showing him a future
wherein a desolate Earth features a Roxxon-branded dome. Agger takes Thor
inside to show him an idyllic suburban American landscape where his wealthy supporters
live in paradise. Thor is attacked by Skurge the Executioner who was disguised
as a gardener. In the fight, Skurge hits Thor so hard he flies out of the simulation
and out Agger’s office window. He calls Mjolnir to himself and flies back to
the office. Skurge challenges Thor, reminding him that he took Thor’s place in
Hel that day. Thor claims that he will not allow any Asgardian to meet death
without a fight—and then Amora the Enchantress suddenly appears and blasts
Thor. She reminds him that many Asgardians have faced death without the aid of
Thor, noting Skurge, Heimdall, and her son Iric. They return to the simulation
where Agger makes puns on “content” (being at peace) and “content” (what makes
up intellectual property). Thor defeats Skurge and Agger shows him a Thor comic
book. He has purchased the rights to Thor’s story and is profiting from it—and it
can even take Thor’s power away. Thor starts to read the comic and another,
Roxxon-branded Thor appears….
The comic Thor
is reading is ROXXON PRESENTS: THOR #1, whcih is Marvel has generously reproduced for out reading enjoyment.


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[Assistant]
The Wisdom of the Fool
Flashback: Odin
stands before the world-tree Yggdrasil. He sacrifices an eye to gain the tree’s
wisdom. The tree responds with a parable: “The story always changes. The
meaning always remains. There is always a sacrifice. Always a cost. For the
winter to end. For spring to come again.” And it informs him that someday his
children will make their sacrifices….
Before the
shattered Statue of Liberty, Thor faces the God of the Superstorm, Toranos, and
brings down the All-Power upon him—and he shrugs it off. Toranos unleashes his
attack and Thor must leap out of the way. But with the All-Power comes the need
for the All-Sleep (formerly the Odin-Sleep) to recharge his strength and Thor
grows weary. Thor marshals the All-Power and opens a gateway to the farthest
shore of Eternity and calls up a mighty wind to push Toranos through and then
he closes the portal. Thor then employs the Power to reverse all damage done by
Toranos’ attacks, though he cannot bring the dead back to life.
Knowing that Toranos
will eventually return for him, he realizes he can’t stay on Earth or return to
Asgard and go into the All-Sleep, he departs and heads to the moon. There, in
the Gray Area, founded and abandoned by the Inhumans, he collapses. Loki, now
both male and female, appears before him and Thor asks for help. Loki responds
with the question, “Will you trust me?” Thor resists answering but eventually agrees.
Then Loki asks, “Will you trust me even as your enemy?” Thor tries to fathom
the meaning of this question but eventually he again agrees. Loki is
transformed into his appearance as the God and Goddess of Stories. Thor asks, “Do
you trust yourself?” And Loki waves a wand…and suddenly there is another crater
on the moon’s surface as Loki floats peacefully above….


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[Assistant]
The Last Judgment
Thor enters a
cave on the perilous coast of Norway and demands to see his mother Gaia. A
tunnel opens and he descends into Earth until he finds her, a giant hag-like
creature who sits in a pool and whose face is covered with tendrils of
vegetation. He relates how he fought Toranos a/k/a Utgard-Thor and once faced
Utgard-Loki and the former revealed that it was Gaia who had released him to
wreak havoc and Thor demands to know why. She wants to know who he thinks he is
to make such a demand, noting that she has many children. She calls on the vegetation
to entangle and immobilize Thor. Gaia then tells the story of creation….
The Demiurge brought
forth the Earth and the ancient gods went to war; Gaia was there and pleaded
with the Demiurge to allow her to bring forth new life so he implanted a seed
within her and gave birth to Atum, God of the Sun, who destroyed many of the
ancient gods but also brought forth the Demogorge, God of the Darkness. Thor
claims to have fought Atum; Gaia informs him that he has only fought Demogorge
and has never faced Atum—and should not. Surviving Elder Gods found realms for
themselves and their allies. Utgard-Loki asked Gaia for a realm of his own and
she granted it but he gave her the key to unlock it should she ever decide to.
And now she has, making war upon the Human Race for arrogantly destroying
creation. Thor does not accept her reasons and burst out of the vones confining
him. Thor insists that mankind must be allowed a chance to repent and he hits
her with Mjolnir. She reveals that she did grant them mercy—in the form of
Thor. And now it is up to him to attempt a more precise judgment for Mankind’s
time grows short….
So Thor heads
to the headquarters of Roxxon, demanding an audience with CEO Dario “Minotaur”
Agger and heading for his private elevator, filling the lobby with lightning….


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[Assistant]
God of Doom
From Asgard,
Thor speaks to Captain America (Sam Wilson) in the Impossible City. Sam Cap tells
Thor not to worry about the accusations of murder against him (last issue) but
to stick with the team when he’s on Midgard. Thor, meanwhile, has other
pressing business…
…as he calls a
meeting of all Odin’s children: Angela, Laussa, Hermod, Loki, Balder the Brave,
Honir the Hunter, and Vidar Giant’s-Child. Balder asks the reason for the
meeting; Thor tells him not all of the Odinspawn are there. Then Bragi the poet
arrives and takes over the narration of the story from Loki, dismissing the God
of Stories as a liar. It is Bragi who calls up the god who owns the Hall they
are meeting in: Ullr the Wanderer. And Bragi raises the question Thor called
the meeting to address: Where is Tyr? Not even Sif can find him. But Ullr can
and he challenges the others to walk through the fire with him. They step
through…
…to the world
of the In-Betweener, a realm of Skinner Boxes. Bragi describes the nature of their
quest, which ends by pointing at Loki…who confesses he put Tyr into a box here.
He defends his action by informing them that Tyr was up to some sort of villainy
so he needed to protect Asgard. Angela cannot sniff Tyr out and Honir detects
two tracks. Thor chooses Loki, Angela, and Balder to follow up the one trail while
the others pursue Honir’s other track, knowing that Loki and Bragi can
communicate across the distance. Thor’s team takes off. Hermod asks Vidar to
hold Laussa while he enters a box. It’s bigger on the inside yet Hermod
immediately spies Tyr, sitting in a meditative position with a glowing, clawed
left hand….


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[Assistant]
All Trials are One
Loki continues his
tale with Thor…
Thor and Loki come
upon the giant Skrymir’s home: Utgardhall which they must enter by crawling
under the door. Inside they meet a flaming giant who calls himself Utgard-Loki.
He tells them that they must pass his trials—and all trials are one, to prove
their worthiness, along with that of Asgard, Jotunheim, and Midgard. Loki
proposes an eating and drinking contest. Loki is placed at one end of a table
full of food while a small man named Logi is seated at the other. In a second,
Logi has eaten not just his half of the food but half the table itself. Thor is
given a horn to empty in one draft but he finds the mead unpalatable—and unable
to finish….
Again, we step
back to see that this is a comic book being read by Dario “the Minotaur” Agger.
He has acquired the property for profit but is impressed by the magic added by
the Enchantress as the Executioner stands by….
Loki must race
against a boy named Lukki, not Hugi as he remembers. While Loki laces up his magic
Seven-League Boots, his opponent has already crossed the finish line. [Narrator
Loki is confused by the change of name for his opponent.] Thor is set to
wrestle the giant’s elderly nurse Elli and she puts him in a hold he cannot
break. As a final test, Utgard-Loki orders Thor to pick up an ordinary-looking
cat. He tries but the animal stretches so that it is only but extreme effort
that Thor is able to lift one paw off the ground. Then the illusion falls away:
Skrymir was Utgard-Loki all the time. The bag was tied with the cord of
Eternity’s own fate. Thor’s blows actually turned a mountain into a valley.
Logi was Fire. Lukki was Loki’s own Thought. The horn led to the sea. The
elderly nurse was Death. And the cat is the Midgard Serpent. Utgard-Loki delivers
a warning. The gods are fit to rule—for now. But if Utgard Hall reappears,
expect a catastrophe. The hall then vanishes….
Loki finishes
his tale. Thor has learned that as Toranos (Utgard-Thor) is to him so
Utgard-Loki is to Loki. He wonders why Gaea chose to unleash such creatures.
With a deeper question; Is there an Utgard-Odin…?


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[Assistant]
The Riddle of Raidho
Thor awakens
from the All-Sleep refreshed, with a beard, and placed in an exotic alien
landscape. He calls for Loki and spins Mjolnir so he can be transported back to
Asgard or Midgard. But Loki, now God and Goddess of Stories, appears before him
showing their Runestaff bearing the rune raidho, rune of journeys, but reversed,
indicating an unwanted journey. Thor looks around for a while and realizes he is
in a part of the galaxy unknown to him. He again asks help of Loki, who advises
him to use what’s in his helmet. Loki then conjures up a banquet but Thor loses
his temper and calls down lightning to destroy the banquet table. With a flip
remark, Loki vanishes. Thor flies into an even greater rage and the lightning strikes
turn the pretty landscape into a barren plain of rock. Then he calms down and
ponders what it is he keeps in his helmet. So he breaks it down and recasts his
helmet to create an axe head which he names Tormod. Loki returns to taunt him
again, hinting that he should kill himself and so return to Midgard via
Valhalla. Thor breaks their Runestaff but Loki restores it, telling Thor he has
the tools in his hands, before vanishing again. Thor sees that Mjolnir and
Tormod are in his hands and he adds a handle to the axe head but also creates a
Runestaff of his own. Loki then appears to him as an angry giant demanding that
Thor give them the throne of Asgard and fiendish Loki, God of Evil, will let
him live. But Thor knows by now that Loki no longer wants a throne and so, the
riddle solved, Thor strikes his Runestaff on the ground and returns to the
moon. Loki is there with his normal look, telling him what he needed was a weapon
and he passed the test. Loki was the enemy Thor needed. So the All-Father is
ready to face the villain Toranos but he needs allies, starting with the Goddess
of Thunder—Storm….


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[Assistant]
The Teller of the Tale
Thor and Loki
sit together as the latter conjures up a yew-fire to see a tale from Thor’s
past. He must confront his mother Gaia about her deal with the Elder Gods and
he needs to know the truth before he sees her….
Thor and Loki
are cast back to their youth on a day when they discovered a bridge over the
river Vimur which had never been there before. Thor is eager to cross the
bridge to see what they find; the cowardly Loki is reluctant but Thor smacking
him on the head is enough to motivate him. They cross the bridge and enter a
dark scary forest and come to an ornate iron gate. Thor again “persuades” the
fearful Loki to enter. Seeking shelter, they come upon a cave which is quite unusual
inside. There are five chambers branching off the main room and the walls seem
to be made of leather. And then they discover they are in a giant’s glove. The
nameless giant names himself for them, “Skrymir,” He offers them food while he
takes a nap. Though the giant said the bag was loosely tied, Thor and Loki
cannot open it no matter how they try. Angered, Thor takes his mighty ax
Jarnbjorn and strikes Skrymir in the head. The giants awakens, thinking a leaf
or acorn had dropped on his head. And they come upon the giant’s home: Utgardhall….
And then we see
that this adventure is in a comic book, THOR #272, and the readers are Dario
“the Minotaur” Agger, the Enchantress, and the Executioner….


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[Assistant]
Return of the King
A scientist
enters a lab and goes to work, which will be explained at the end….
Thor has
drained Zeus’ power, increasing his own. A concerned Hercules pleads with Nyx
to take some of the power to save Thor’s life; she insists it’s not her problem
and vanishes back to her realm. Herc then turns to Loki and demands he save
Thor but it’s part of Loki’s test of Thor and he will do nothing. The rune Uruz
stands for the aurochs, a huge animal hunted to extinction by humans…
…which occurs to Thor standing inside a magic typhoon. He
spins his hammer to simulate the Wheel of Fate and summons the magic belt
Yolgjord which contains Zeus’ power, freeing Thor. He confronts Loki over his
last two tests which nearly made him a monster but now these tests are
involving others so for that Thor banishes Loki from the Golden Realm. And Thor
returns to Asgard with his friends, Hercules, Nyx’s son Hypnos, and Athena,
carrying the shriveled body of her father Zeus. They are greeted by Sif and Thor
makes arrangements for lodging and calls for medical attention for Zeus, while
explaining the new belt to Sif. He is told he has a visitor requesting an audience
and it turns out to be Amora the Enchantress.…
Amora says she wants a better look at Thor’s axe, the one
left buried in the back of Dario Agger. Thor is mad at Sif for letting her in
but no Asgardian can be excluded from the Realm, no matter what the All-Father wants.
Sif lets Amora know she is watching and departs. Amora wants to rekindle their
romance; she sees Thor is willing to forgive and forget her scheme framing him
for murder in Midgard and wants to know what Thor wants her to forgive. He mentions
her son Iric who died and Thor was not there to protect him, but he is
unwilling to restore Iric to life, allowing him the reward of Valhalla. He
notes that Amora has control of Roxxon….
Meanwhile, in the science lab from the opening, an occult
human sacrifice has been made and the scientist unveils Dario Agger, restored
to life in a replacement body, aspiring to kill the gods….