Hulk's Son, Banner's New Gadgets and (finally) New Use of His Intelligence...

[Purple Dragon Knight]

Just picked up the last few Incredible Hulk comics, and the red Hulk book where he assembles a team to go hunt Domino.

Red Hulk: what the heck? I thought he was dead months ago. When are they going to put that farce to rest?

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore. He actually carries gadgets and personal force fields that protects him against Hulk's son (or any other Gamma-powered creature). Wow. I like this new take on Banner. Someone finally got it right! However, where is the regular green Hulk? I missed a few months' worth of comics and as far as I understand, Banner/Hulk have separated?!? (and the tests made by Reed Richards indicate no trace of gamma radiation within Banner... I just hope it's the real Banner and not some skrull lookalike... :P)

[fray]

Red Hulk 'absorbed' the green hulk's power and all that was left was Banner.
I missed the Red She Hulk... The hulk(s) are so disappointing right now...

[LazarX]

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore.

Instead he's become an incredibly manipulative bastard instead in a way that is consistent with his ongoing psychosis.

[Stewart Perkins]

LazarX wrote:

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore.

Instead he's become an incredibly manipulative bastard instead in a way that is consistent with his ongoing psychosis.

So let me get this straight... Banner aka the real Hulk isn't the hulk anymore, but everyone of his principle characters (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross) are Hulks now? WTF?

[kessukoofah]

Stewart Perkins wrote:

LazarX wrote:

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore.

Instead he's become an incredibly manipulative bastard instead in a way that is consistent with his ongoing psychosis.

So let me get this straight... Banner aka the real Hulk isn't the hulk anymore, but everyone of his principle characters (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross) are Hulks now? WTF?

It's like a subversion of the superhero genre. "The tale of an ordinary man, living in a not so ordinary world".

...Actually, I'd read that. It also sounds familiar somehow.

[Matthew Morris]

kessukoofah wrote:

Stewart Perkins wrote:

LazarX wrote:

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore.

Instead he's become an incredibly manipulative bastard instead in a way that is consistent with his ongoing psychosis.

So let me get this straight... Banner aka the real Hulk isn't the hulk anymore, but everyone of his principle characters (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross) are Hulks now? WTF?

It's like a subversion of the superhero genre. "The tale of an ordinary man, living in a not so ordinary world".

...Actually, I'd read that. It also sounds familiar somehow.

It was an episode of Darkwing Duck. DD gets sent to 'rescue' a world where everyone has super powers. his 'rescuing' was to be 'Ordinary Guy' the one person who was always in peril so the superpowered people of the planet could save him.

[Stewart Perkins]

Matthew Morris wrote:

kessukoofah wrote:

Stewart Perkins wrote:

LazarX wrote:

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

Incredible Hulk: cool. Banner is not a moron/sociopath/passive-aggressive imbecile anymore.

Instead he's become an incredibly manipulative bastard instead in a way that is consistent with his ongoing psychosis.

So let me get this straight... Banner aka the real Hulk isn't the hulk anymore, but everyone of his principle characters (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross) are Hulks now? WTF?

It's like a subversion of the superhero genre. "The tale of an ordinary man, living in a not so ordinary world".

...Actually, I'd read that. It also sounds familiar somehow.

It was an episode of Darkwing Duck. DD gets sent to 'rescue' a world where everyone has super powers. his 'rescuing' was to be 'Ordinary Guy' the one person who was always in peril so the superpowered people of the planet could save him.

That was a great episode... I miss Darkwing duck...

[kessukoofah]

Stewart Perkins wrote:

That was a great episode... I miss Darkwing duck...

Me too...I want to buy the box sets but I can't justify the money...maybe next month.

[LazarX]

Stewart Perkins wrote:

So let me get this straight... Banner aka the real Hulk isn't the hulk anymore, but everyone of his principle characters (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, and General Ross) are Hulks now? WTF?

No... it's a lot more twisted. Essentially for a while everyone else that Banner contacted in the superhero community was a chess piece being moved on Banner's own private agenda, and if possible he's become even less trusted than the Hulk ever was. His son is waiting for him to turn back into the Hulk..... so he can kill him.

[Charlie Brooks]

Here's the low-down on what's going on with the Hulks as of this months issues:

Red Hulk:

Spoiler:

Thunderbolt Ross, who was exposed to both gamma and cosmic rays by the Leader and MODOK. Has since turned against them and teamed up with Banner. Making this more confusing is the fact that he killed a Thunderbolt Ross robot in order to fake his own death.

Red She-Hulk:

Spoiler:

Betty Ross, returned to life and also exposed to gamma and cosmic rays by the Leader and MODOK. She's been used as a pawn, and has had her head seriously messed with by Doc Samson, who has gone crazy and evil. As of Incredible Hulk #609, she got a sword stabbed through her gut by Banner's kid.

Banner: Has been drained of his gamma radiation by the Red Hulk. However, because he became a meddlesome and remarkably capable hero, Norman Osborn decided that the best way to deal with him is to turn him back into the Hulk again. Norman exposed Bruce to nanites that will eventually turn him back into the Hulk, but he hasn't transformed yet.

Spoiler:

However, he is due to become the Hulk again in Incredible Hulk #610, probably triggered by his son stabbing Betty.

Skaar: The son of Hulk, conceived at the end of Planet Hulk. The Hulk believed he was dead, and left to smash the heroes on Earth who he thought was responsible. He actually survived, grew into maturity very rapidly, and then came to Earth to kill the Hulk, who he blames for abandoning him. He actually fought the Hulk once, but left the fight because Bruce was repressing the smart Hulk that he sees as his father, instead only letting the caveman-speaking savage Hulk out. Skaar wants to fight the "Green Scar," the personality from Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. Bruce has been training him to take on the Hulk when he transforms again, although he probably has an ulterior motive.

Spoiler:

Making things tragic with Skaar is the fact that just before he stabbed Betty, he finally acknowledged Banner as his father. The father-son bonding moment will probably be ruined by Banner's resulting Hulk-out.

Rick Jones: Turned into "A-Bomb" by the Leader and MODOK. He was supposed to be a brainwashed to kill Banner, but Banner broke his programming.

Overall, the Hulk books are split into three parts right now: Jeph Loeb's Hulk, which focuses on the Red Hulk and is terrible, Greg Pak's Incredible Hulk, which focuses on Banner and Skaar and is much better, and Jeff Parker's various Fall of the Hulks miniseries, which are decently written but not required reading as they are intended mostly to help readers get up to speed on the rather convoluted plot up to this point.