MCU Comic Reviews (Part 2): “The Incredible Hulk”

Hello, my friends.  While it can feel like the world itself is out to get us in a variety of ways, we must continue to push past its looming grasp while keeping ourselves as cool as possible.  On that note, I welcome you back to a string of reviews known as…

Last time, we began this series by recapping the franchise’s initial events that were translated onto the written and drawn page.  Specifically, it chronicled a wealthy tech genius who initially made armaments for the U.S. military through his own company.  However, he discovered that those same weapons would sometimes end up in the wrong hands after he was captured by a terrorist group.  With some newfound inspiration, he ultimately escapes back to America and becomes a particular hero in high-tech armor in order to properly deal with this problem along with someone close to him who’s been instigating it in the first place.  From here, we begin to bring in other familiar characters from Marvel’s vast catalogue.  In particular, we have a certain Gamma-Powered giant looking to reestablish his cinematic presence following a somewhat-underwhelming previous attempt.

Originally debuting on June 8, 2008, via a special screening at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California before getting its general U.S. release five days later, this Louis Leterrier-directed and Zak Penn-written sophomore entry was made for about $150 million before it went on to rake in around $265 million during its theatrical run.  It would end up making slightly more money for Universal Pictures when compared to its prior non-MCU movie called “Hulk”, despite only being marginally more well-received from critics.  As for the tie-in comics that the movie would ultimately receive, that would be a somewhat-complicated history.

There was a two-issue digital-only series called “The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files” that were both published in October 2008 and served as a prequel to the events of the film.  Not only that, but both this story along with “Iron Man: Fast Friends” would be collected into a compilation book called “Iron Man/Hulk/Fury”, which even included a Nick-centered tale called “Nick Fury: Spies Like Us”, ultimately getting published in December 2008.  As the franchise continued to expand however, eventual longtime MCU comic writer Will Corona Pilgrim said on Twitter in 2012 that these kinds of comics would become “inspired by” the MCU Canon but wouldn’t be official.  While I do plan on covering these kinds of tie-in comics in some capacity, I will briefly mention one other book.  In particular, it’s the second issue of “Guidebook To The Marvel Cinematic Universe” (released in November 2015) which not only contained information about the core characters from the featured film (as well as brief descriptions of their original comic book counterparts), but the MCU’s third movie as well since this was actually a flipbook.  We’ll save that entry for another time, but needless to say, that book was still an informative piece that recaps the basic events that those principal players went through during the movie.  As for how it played out on the printed page, that’s what we’re about to discover.

Now we finally get to the featured subject of this review.  In particular, we have the first half of a four-issue mini-series that served as dual comic book adaptations, since Hulk would become the secondary protagonist within Thor’s third solo movie.  The initial half of “Thor: Ragnarok Prelude” was published in July 2017 and saw its first issue sell 9,751 copies, while the second comic had 8,037 books sold.  In addition to Pilgrim handling the writing process, he was joined by J.L. Giles who took care of the artwork while Jay David Ramos was in charge of coloring duties.  So how does this particular pair of comics handle its translation of an MCU movie nine years after its original theatrical release?  Let’s keep out critical emotions in check and find out.

We begin with the film’s opening title sequence as Bruce Banner narrates about how he tries to remain calm, yet even with meditation, he can never clear a certain thought from his mind about how it’s all his arrogant fault.  In particular, he made himself the test subject for what he thought was an experiment that would lead to humanity’s own breakthrough in gamma resistance via a cure.  Unfortunately, the excessive radiation exposure ended up transforming him into the rampaging monster and it not only got an onlooking Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Ross hurt, but her own father as well.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, it also made him into a wanted man as Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross launched into a massive manhunt.  Despite the general being equipped with some Stark Industries-made tech, Bruce was ultimately able to evade him as Banner narrates about how Thaddeus was behind the experiment and unintentionally caused this other being within him to become internally manifested and that he now has to live with this other side of himself.  As such, he has to maintain control or else it’ll “break free at any moment” before it’s finally revealed that it’s been five months since said fateful experiment (158 days to be exact) and he’s been laying low within Rocinha Favela, Brazil (a.k.a. the working-class neighborhood of Rocinha, Brazil, which is part of the greater Rio de Janiero area).  The comic then skips over a brief moment where Banner is eating while watching some Brazilian TV programs (ultimately landing on Sesame Street) while continuing to perfect his usage of the country’s Portuguese language with a Portuguese to English dictionary for help.  It then skips past a scene of his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training where he also learns of a breathing technique (specifically with his diaphragm) that helps him keep his anger and pulse in check.  We then catch up with him at his job within the Pingo Doce Bottling Plant where he fixes an electrical short within a mobile control box, to which his boss says that he’s been helping him out like this for the past five months and that “he’s too smart for day labor”, even offering to put him on a payroll.  Suddenly, Bruce’s hand gets cut by the electric box as some of his blood spills out and falls towards an assembly line of bottles down below.  As such, Banner tells his boss to shut the conveyer belt down.  He then reaches it and discovers that his blood safely landed on the base of the main beltline as he wipes it off, even while the comic omits him using some super glue to seal up his hand wound.  Bruce then narrates about how his blood is too dangerous for him to be careless and that if Ross ever found out where he was hiding, it would give him all that he would need to create his own monsters.  As Bruce heads out however, he doesn’t realize that some of his blood actually managed to get inside one of the soon-to-be-filled soda bottles that would ultimately make its way towards the United States.  During the whole scene, the comic even omits a pair of moments where he’s met upon by some rude coworkers with the latter scene dealing with those same sleazy employees giving a female worker named Martina a hard time, since Bruce somewhat manages to defuse the situation by confronting them and saying “You wouldn’t like me when I’m…hungry” in Portuguese.  Later, he receives a special flower as he sets up a private computer communication link and gets in contact with “Mr. Blue”.  With him communicating as “Mr. Green”, he tells his distant comrade that he acquired said flower before Mr. Blue tells him to use a high dose.  From there, he uses the entire flower and grinds it up before combining it with a few compounds in order to create a potential serum.  From there, he pricks his finger and puts a drop of his own blood on a glass slide and puts the solution onto it.  He then places the slide underneath the microscope and observes it, only for him to discover that it couldn’t suppress the gamma radiation.  He then tells Mr. Blue that it ultimately failed, to which he gets told that they’ll have to finally meet each other.  Banner says that it’s too dangerous, but Mr. Blue thankfully offers an alternative solution as Bruce ends up mailing some of his irradiated blood to his digital pen pal.  The comic then skips over a scene at the Pentagon where Thaddeus learns of a Milwaukee-based man suffering from some “possible gamma sickness” that came from a guarana soda that he drank (which is where the Stan Lee cameo occurs) and that it helps him lock down his search for Banner within Porto Verde, Brazil.  We then shift over to the Florida Everglades-based military compound of Fort Johnson where a transport plane is being prepped.  An official named General Joe Greller then tells Ross that he managed to assemble a team of tactical soldiers for him within such short notice, including one particular “ace”.  Just as the guy arrives via helicopter, Thaddeus learns that he’s Emil Blonsky, a Russian-born, British-grown man who worked with the Royal Marines and has now been loaned out to the U.S. Special Operations Command team for the upcoming mission.  After the entire squad takes off within their plane, the soldiers get informed by Ross’ personal aide named Major Kathleen Sparr that they’ll be on a “snatch and grab, live capture” assignment and that they’ll be armed with “dart clips and suppression ordnance”, as well as live fire that will only be used for backup.  She then tells them to keep things “tight and quiet” before Emil asks if their target is “a fighter”.  Thaddeus tells him that Banner is an American fugitive with stolen military secrets and has been implicated in the deaths of several different people.  As such, he wants their target tranquilized and brought back.

Later within Rocinha Favela, Bruce is resting within his residence when he suddenly gets a communication from Mr. Blue.  It turns out to be some progressively good news as some preliminary tests were done upon Banner’s retrieved blood and as a result, there was some “significant gamma reduction”.  When Bruce then asks if it’ll cure him, Mr. Blue says that it can, but it’ll require some more data concerning “exposure levels, gamma concentration and cell saturation”.  Banner says that he doesn’t have the data, to which Mr. Blue asks him where it’s located as Bruce tells him that it’s back at “home” before concluding their conversation.  Just then, Ross’ tactical team arrives as they proceed to sneak their way towards him, yet Banner is able to hear some subtle outside noise of their incoming presence.  Suddenly, Blonsky and company force their way inside only to discover that their target isn’t there.  It’s soon revealed that Bruce was able to pack up and leave in time before he briefly hides out within a woman’s nearby residence.  Banner then finds himself on the run as he’s eventually pursued by the agents within a fierce chase that takes him up towards the rooftops before heading back down to the streets.  He’s then approached by Thaddeus himself before he dashes off again, all-the-while dealing with a dangerously high pulse rate.  To his unfortunate luck, he runs into the same rude coworkers (which the comic finally bothers to include), though the movie has Bruce bumping into them on the street before they pursue him towards the soda factory.  As for the adaptation, he actually reaches the plant before coming across said goon employees.  Either way, the hooligans ultimately surround him inside the building before they strip him of his backpack and beat him up.

Banner tries to warn them that it gets “very bad” when he becomes angry, but they don’t listen to him as Bruce’s pulse rate ends up reaching 200, triggering his transformation into the towering behemoth as he first roughs up the idiot coworkers before it then focuses its attention upon Emil and his team.  Thaddeus tells his agents that the giant is their target before ordering them to unload their supply of tranquilizer darts upon it, but their shots are unable to connect.  Blonsky tries to shoot at the target from up on the walkways, yet the being is able to withstand everything from them, even a powerful flash grenade, as it tells them to “Leave Me Alone”.  With no other choice, the gamma giant ends up throwing some massive pipes and metal constructs at the agents as it manages to subdue the majority of the opposing team.  Emil then tries to fire at the massive being, but it’s still able to resist his shots before grabbing a nearby forklift and throwing it at him.  Blonsky manages to dodge in time before the green giant then smashes through a wall and escapes.  Later at Banner’s former apartment, Emil returns with Bruce’s backpack.  However, the comic cuts out the moment where they discover Banner’s laptop within it along with a picture of Betty as Blonsky asks the General about her being a possibly helpful girlfriend, to which Ross simply says that she’s “no longer a factor”.  Getting back on track with the adaptation, Thaddeus wants to find out if Banner’s been having some conversations with somebody.  Emil then wants to mention the incident within the soda factory as he says that Bruce wasn’t alone since they had him cornered, yet they were hit by “something big” and it’s the most powerful thing that he ever saw.  Ross tells him that the massive being was actually Banner and that he doesn’t have to explain himself.  From there, he orders Blonsky to pack up and round up their agents for the flight back home.

We then shift ahead by one day as Bruce soon finds himself within Guatemala.  The comic then skips over a scene where Thaddeus and Emil have arrived back at Fort Johnson before Blonsky says that he’s previously come across bad situations within botched missions, especially with comrades losing their lives all because they weren’t properly debriefed.  Even though he’s learned to move onto the next mission, this situation is “a whole new level of weird” for him to simply leave behind.  As such, he wants to become involved with Ross’ pursuit, along with having a properly prepared team.  Back in the comic adaptation, Banner eventually makes his way to Chiapas, Mexico as he narrates about how he hates being forced into this predicament.  However, it’s absolutely necessary for him to have enough money just to keep moving.  As a little boy gracefully gives him some money, Bruce narrates on how his life has ultimately turned him into a lonely man with no place to call his own.  With as much money as he could get, Banner manages to buy some new clothes, including some large and stretchy pants.  When night comes and he tries to sleep on the streets, the traumatic incident from the soda factory snaps him out of his attempted slumber as he ultimately continues with his northward journey.  Over at Fort Johnson, the adaptation has Emil making his aforementioned claim as Ross decides to take him on and share some highly sensitive information.  He says that even though they have their own Infantry Weapons Development Program, there was also a subprogram that dates back to World War II which focused on Bio-Tech Force Enhancement.  Blonsky recognizes this as the Super-Soldier Program, to which Thaddeus says that he’s brought it back into operation in order to make the soldier itself better.  He goes on to explain that Bruce’s own work was in its earliest development and that he thought that he was working on radiation resistance.  However, Ross didn’t disclose what the project actually was while Banner confidently tested it on himself.  Because of what was created from said experiment, Thaddeus considers Bruce’s body as property of the U.S. Army.  Emil says that Banner’s intellect with that raw power would’ve made him the perfect soldier.  While the comic omits the fact that he’s 39 years old and could become a colonel yet refuses to do so since he wants to be fighter for as long as he can, Blonsky admits that he would love to take what he knows now and put it into himself from a decade prior in order to become a top-notch fighter.  From there, Ross says that he can arrange something like that for him.  Eventually, Bruce makes his way to Culver University in Willowdale, Virginia.  With it being 17 days since the incident at the Brazilian soda plant, he’s returned to the site of his former occupation.  The adaptation skips over the scene where he discovers that the building that he wants to get into has a security system and guard on duty.  Either way, he narrates about how everything here looks the same, yet is different.  From there, he spots Betty from afar and discovers that she has a new boyfriend named Leonard Samson.  The comic then skips over a few sequences of events where he meets up with a pizza parlor owner and past friend named Stanley Lieber who’s aware of Banner’s innocence as well as his prior relationship with Betty.  Bruce then mentions that he hasn’t talked to her and that it’s for the best that she’s unaware of his presence.  After learning a bit about her new boyfriend (described as a good head shrink), Banner is then able to use Stanley’s spare bedroom before he then asks Lieber for some help with “one other thing”.   This turns out to be Bruce’s plan of disguising himself as a pizza delivery boy in order to sway the security guard (played by Lou Ferrigno in a cameo who actually portrayed the Hulk in the 1977 TV series and voices the gamma green giant in this film) with an extra pizza in order to get inside the building.  Returning to the adaptation, he heads towards the computer lab in order to retrieve the Gamma Pulse Data that’s hopefully still in the university’s computer system.  Following a brief flashback to the gamma radiation incident that started this whole ordeal for him, he finally reaches the computer lab.  In a quick side note, the movie actually had him using the other pizza in order to bribe a “Computer Nerd” into letting him use one of the computers, to which the guy would retroactively become the Midtown Science & Tech teacher named Roger Harrington.  Getting back on track, Banner would search the school’s research database only to find nothing left within it.  He then accesses CryptNet in order to contact Mr. Blue and inform him that the data is gone.  He’s then told that without the information, he’ll be unable to receive any help.  As such, Bruce tells Mr. Blue that he’ll keep moving.  Later that night, Betty and Leonard arrive at Stanley’s in order to have a late dinner.  Unbeknownst to them, Banner had packed up and is about to head out.  He starts to emerge from the kitchen before he spots her within a conversation with her boyfriend.  She then manages to briefly spot him before he hides behind a dumpster outside as she tries to follow after him while in stunned surprise.  Unlike the film where she heads back inside and asks Stanley if it truly was Bruce that she just saw before she manages to catch up to him upon a bridge, the adaptation moves up their rain-soaked encounter to behind the pizza parlor as they share an embrace before she tells him not to leave and that she wants him to come with her.  After he agrees, they arrive back at her house as she reveals that their data hasn’t become lost.  It turns out that she was able to store their research upon a USB Drive before it got erased from the school’s database.  When he asks her if “the General” is aware that she has this data, the comic omits the details of her saying that he doesn’t and that she hasn’t talked with him for several years.  Either way, Betty wonders why they can’t just talk to him together as Bruce tells her that he’s aware of the General’s intention to capture the monster that’s inside him and that he wants it dissected & replicated into a weapon.  Back at Fort Johnson, Thaddeus accesses a military cooling unit (which is revealed in the movie to be a Stark Industries-made Cryosync) and retrieves a formula from it.  After the adaptation skips over a scene where Bruce tells Betty that he has to leave early in the morning due to it not being safe for him to stay put before they ultimately sleep in separate bedrooms for the night, we shift back over to Fort Johnson as Emil is about to go through the procedure.  Ross tells him that he’ll be given a low dose and that he has to remain sharp & disciplined.  Not only that, but any sign of a side effect will put him out of action until he recovers.  From there, he gets the serum injected within the deep muscles of his neck before receiving another injection within the bone marrow centers of his spine.

We then cut to the next day as Bruce and Betty make their way across the university campus towards the bus station.  Just then, he spots some armed agents in the distance before he tells her to get as far away from him as she can.  From there, he runs off as he gets pursued by a small group of military jeeps along with Blonsky and a squad of fellow soldiers on foot.  With the serum coursing through his body, Emil is able to outrun the troops as Thaddeus orders him to hold up.  Back with Banner, he runs into the school library and reaches an upper level.  With armed soldiers closing in on him, he takes a desperate course of action and forces the USB Drive down his throat.  Back with Betty, she runs in front of the main armored car and yells at the General that she knows that he’s in there as she makes the screaming reveal that he’s her “Dad!”.  Thaddeus then emerges from the vehicle as she tells her father to refrain from this ordeal, but he says that she’s not seeing this clearly.  Just then, Bruce gets spotted running through a glass-encased overpass.  Gen. Ross then tells his troops to not engage as they manage to lock Banner within it.  Thaddeus then orders for two canisters to be placed inside as a pair of tear gas shells are shot in and begin to fill up within the overpass.  Bruce places an overshirt over his mouth for some protection before Betty tries to run over and help him out.  Unfortunately, one of the soldiers is able to catch up and tackle her.  With Banner seeing this, he then disappears within the tear gas before he ends up transforming into his gamma giant form.  With Emil looking forward to finally tussling with him, Issue 1 ends with our central being smashing through the overpass windows.

Issue 2 begins with Ross’ forces taking on their giant green foe, yet the towering being is able to easily tear through their assault.  Thaddeus then finally tells Blonsky to engage the being as he’s able to give his adversary a fairly tough fight.  Eventually, Ross orders his super-enhanced soldier to lure their target towards their sonic cannons, to which Blonsky is able to do so before the troops proceed to unleash a barrage of ear-piecing noise that’s actually bringing the gamma giant to his knees.  Betty then begs her father to stop the assault since it’s killing him, to which the massive being is able to hear her pleas through the high-pitched bombardment as he manages to grab some metal statue pieces that he acquired during the fracas and uses them to destroy the sonic cannons.  Emil then decides to go against Ross’ orders and confront his towering foe, even getting right next to him.  However, the massive being kicks him with enough force to mangle his body before he slams into a nearby tree.  Thaddeus then tells his troops to fall back due to the approaching aerial gunship, while the adaptation omits Leonard finally arriving onto the scene.  Betty then calmly approaches the gamma giant before the helicopter arrives and opens fire upon him.  Thankfully, he uses his body to shield her from the bullet barrage as Thaddeus orders the gunship to stop firing.  The big being then throws his metal shard at the helicopter, striking it with enough force to take it out of the sky.  However, it ends up falling towards him and Betty as he uses his body to protect her from the impending explosion.  Thankfully, he emerges within the flames carrying her unconscious body before taking his leave.  The adaptation then omits a later scene over at Betty’s house as Ross’ men confiscate some related documents before it’s revealed that Samson was the one who contacted Thaddeus before the general asks him where they could be going.  Even when he mentions how Betty will remain in danger, Leonard argues with him about how the massive being protected her while he nearly got her killed.  Even when Thaddeus promises to safely bring his daughter back, Samson then says that he’s a psychiatrist and can tell that he’s being lied to.  He then says that he doesn’t know where the gamma giant could possibly have gone to but is sure that Betty will help him before Ross says that she’ll be aiding a fugitive and that he’ll be unable to help either of them.  As the General takes his leave, Leonard then tells him that he’s finally realized why she’s never talked about her father before.

As we return to the comic, we have the towering figure carrying Betty towards a cavern-esque opening at night in order to shield her from the pouring rain.  Just then, she starts to wake up and is initially spooked by his appearance.  Despite the adaptation omitting a brief moment where he’s startled by some lightning and ends up angrily yelling at the night sky, she’s able to calm him down and tell him that it’s okay.  Over at the army hospital, Thaddeus comes across Blonsky’s battered body as a medic informs him that despite the massive damage inflicted upon his bones, his body has “a heart like a machine” and that he’s essentially still alive.  Unbeknownst to all of them, the serum is helping him recover at an abnormal rate.  Later, the gamma giant has reverted back into Bruce before he and Betty manage to hide out at a motel.  The comic then skips over him recovering within a shower before the faulty faucet triggers a traumatic moment of the gunship’s firing bullets.  It also excludes the moment of Betty returning to hear him vomiting before it’s revealed that he was retrieving the USB Drive from inside of him.  While the adaptation also leaves out the part about her purchasing some new clothes for him, including some stretchy purple pants, it does mention that she was able to get him a new heart monitor (as well as him showing the recovered USB Drive to her).  From there, his narration mentions how nice it is to be in her company again.  The comic then skips over a WHIH newscast that’s covering the remaining carnage from the incident at Culver University.  With Ross looking over the telecast, it’s during an interview with a pair of students named Jack McGhee and Jim Wilson who managed to observe the incident from afar that that latter is the one who ends up describing the gamma giant as a huge “Hulk”.  Back at the motel, the adaptation does omit the moment of Betty giving Banner a haircut.  Thankfully, it leaves in her wondering about how he’s been able to be on his own for so long.  From there, they give into their feelings for each other and proceed into a romantic make out session.  However, the whole experience gets cut short when Bruce discovers that it’s making his pulse rate get dangerously high as he manages to tell her that he can’t get too excited.  From there, the adaptation moves up a conversation that they have later on as she asks him if he remembers anything once he’s transformed, to which he says that he only recalls “fragments”.  She then tells him that while they were in the cave, she felt like his other side knew her and believes that his mind is in there, yet it’s overcharged and not able to fully process what’s going on around him.  Just as she asks him if there’s a way that he can control it, he tells her that he doesn’t want to and that he actually plans on having it removed.  Back in the comic, we transition over to the U.S. Army Sitrep Room where Kathleen shows Thaddeus a fully recovered Emil.  When the General asks him how he feels, Blonsky simply says that he’s “ready for Round 3”.  The adaptation then skips over the motel scene where Bruce and Betty have to discard her cell phone, along with her credit and identification cards in order for them to avoid getting tracked.  When she then asks him how they’ll be able to reach their destination with only $40, she then gets the idea of selling her mother’s necklace.  While he’s initially hesitant of said notion, she assures him that they’ll eventually get it back.  Moments later, Ross (and by extension, Sparr) have a team trying to track down where their suspects are located.  Thaddeus then mentions that it won’t be easy since Banner was able to stay hidden for five years and even got across several borders without being detected.  While Betty purchases a used truck for them to use and Bruce contacts Mr. Blue in order to send the data on the USB Drive via encrypted e-mail, Thaddeus tells his fellow officials that they know what they’re after and that he’s been talking to somebody.  Thanks to them having acquired Banner’s laptop back in Brazil, they’re aware of the aliases of Mr. Green & Mr. Blue.  As such, they’ve been added to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Operations Database and it will let them know if any one of those discreet names pops up.  While Bruce and Betty eventually complete their northward journey to New York City (omitting a brief moment where she takes a picture of him on a digital camera and her finally having the conversation about his mind operating while his other side is active), Banner’s e-mail gets picked up as the database recognizes Mr. Blue as Dr. Samuel Sterns, who works in the Department of Cellular Biology over in Grayburn College.  During all of this, the adaptation also skips over a brief scene where Emil gets another injection of their super-soldier serum.

Back with Bruce and Betty, they eventually make their way uptown (omitting a comical taxi ride from a reckless driver with her flipping out at him before Banner unsuccessfully tries to mention his relaxation technique to her) before they finally meet up with Dr. Sterns as he discovers that Bruce is the mysterious Mr. Green that he’s been discreetly talking to.  Samuel tells him that he wondered if he was even real and what it would be like for a person to have that much power within him.  He then says that even if they perfectly execute an antidote for Banner, it’s uncertain if it’ll be a permanent cure.  He then specifies by saying that if they overshoot this by even the smallest inch, then Bruce will be induced with “extraordinary levels of toxicity” as Betty exclaims that it’ll kill him.  Banner then tells him that there’s also a flipside in that if the antidote falls short, then Dr. Sterns will find himself in physically grave danger.  Despite the risk, Samuel says that he’s done pretty well for himself by being “more curious than cautious”.  After the comic skips over a brief moment of Blonsky undergoing a subtly physical enhancement as a result of the recent injection before he suits up and embarks on the mission, we then have Bruce strapped down while Dr. Sterns prepares to inject him with the potential antidote.  Banner narrates about how Betty is naively holding on to some kind of hope and that while he appreciates her for that, she’s unaware of the true monster that’s within him and that he’s even unsure if this is one fight he can win.  As the process gets going, Samuel explains that his dialysis machine will mix the antidote with Bruce’s blood.  However, the cure will only be able to take hold once there’s a full reaction.  As such, he proceeds to apply an electric shock upon Banner’s head as it causes him to transform into the Hulk.  With the gamma giant threatening to break free, Betty hops onto him in order to keep him under control before she tells Dr. Sterns to administer the antidote.  He manages to do so as it takes hold and causes the Hulk to transform back into Bruce.  Following a brief omission of Ross’ team arriving in New York City to signal their impending approach, Samuel says that what has just happened was “the most extraordinary thing” he’s ever seen.  He explains that because the gamma pulse came from Banner’s Amygdala (a structure that lies within the brain’s temporal lobe, also leaving out a detail of Betty’s primer allowing it to temporarily absorb the energy before abating it), it served as the main reason why he didn’t lose his life to radiation sickness all those years ago.  Dr. Sterns then says that he’s unsure if the antidote managed to permanently neutralize those cells or if it’s just a temporary suppression since he then mentions how none of his test subjects have survived.  A stunned Bruce then asks him about the test subjects before the adaptation skips over Thaddeus arriving at Grayburn College with his troops and some NYPD officers.  With their snipers in position, they manage to hear Samuel via a radio bug about how he started his tests with vermin, but they didn’t survive.  As such, he had to “go bigger” and that he’s unsure whether it’s the gamma or Banner’s blood that’s more toxic.  As they arrive within Dr. Sterns’ storage room, Bruce is shocked to discover that Samuel took what little blood he was given and managed to concentrate it several times over.  Dr. Sterns then says that with enough experimentations, this gamma technology will allow them to reach Olympian levels of grand feats, which includes making mankind impervious to various diseases.  Following another omission of several soldiers heading into the building while Emil uses his super-soldier agility to swiftly make his way up to the central lab, Banner then tells Samuel that they have to destroy all of his work since it’s too dangerous for anyone to control and that it can potentially be weaponized.  Suddenly, Bruce gets hit by a sniper’s tranquilizer shot.  We then have a minor difference between the movie and the comic as the film then has Blonsky coming in and tossing Betty out of the way before he tries to agitate Banner into transforming.  When a woozy Bruce is unable to do so, Emil simply rams his rifle onto Banner’s head and knocks him out.  As for the adaptation, it simply has Kathleen arriving with a squad of soldiers to take Bruce away.  With Banner now in custody, Ross tells him that if he was able to take the Hulk from him, he’ll place him within “a hole” for the remainder of his life.  Afterwards, he meets up with his daughter as Betty says that she’ll never forgive him for this and that he made Bruce into a fugitive in order to cover up his own failures along with protecting his career.  As such, she never wants him to speak to her like she’s still his daughter ever again.

Back within the lab, Sparr asks Dr. Sterns if he’s capable of making more beings like Banner’s gamma-powered alter ego, to which Samuel tells her that he can’t since he’s only been able to figure a few things out.  He then says that because Bruce was “a freak accident”, he’s intent on making a potential figure that’s better.  Just as Kathleen mentions that Banner is the only one of his kind, she gets knocked out by Blonsky before he aims his gun at Dr. Sterns and says that he wants whatever was taken out of Bruce injected into himself.  Samuel then admits that he can tell that Emil already has something inside of him and that the mixture could wind up turning him into an “Abomination”.  Later, Samuel proceeds to inject Blonsky with Banner’s irradiated blood as it proceeds to transform him into an otherworldly looking being.  Dr. Sterns then tells him that this kind of result is what he was talking about.  With a fully mutated Emil now standing tall over him, Samuel tries to calmly tell him to get back on the table so that he can fix this.  However, Blonsky delivers a vicious hit onto him.  Unbeknownst to him, a drop of Bruce’s blood manages to drip onto Dr. Sterns’ head wound as he’s left in a gleeful state while he slowly mutates.  Back with Abomination, he’s able to bust out as he proceeds to cause large amounts of destruction upon Harlem.  Over on the helicopter, Thaddeus hears about this from his soldiers who’re communicating with him while they’re within the area as he has his pilots turn their aircraft around.  As Bruce and Betty also check out the visuals that Ross’ soldiers are getting of the Abomination’s rampage while he demands for “a real fight”, Thaddeus wants his soldiers to send every piece of firepower they have into Harlem.  Banner then says that he has to be the one who goes up against this being.  Betty then asks him if he can control his gamma-powered alter ego, to which he says maybe he can’t, but at least he’ll be able to “aim it”.  Ultimately, he’s able to convince Ross into hovering over the area and open a door for him to drop from.  Betty then tells Bruce that because of the antidote, they won’t know if he’s able to change.  Banner tells her that he has to try before he plummets out of the helicopter.  Fortunately, he’s able to overcome the injected antidote just in time as he manages to transform enough before he slams right through the street.  From there, he emerges as a fully transformed Hulk before he roars and gets the Abomination’s attention.  They then proceed to charge towards each other as they begin their climactic fight by getting into a vicious tussle that makes its way throughout the area.

As their clash makes its way towards the rooftops, the military helicopter enters the fray as Thaddeus tells a gunman to help the Hulk out.  From there, he fires his machine gun before Abomination gets chased.  Hulk then recovers and catches up to his foe just in time as Emil lunges for the helicopter.  With Blonsky managing to grab onto the aircraft despite Bruce also grabbing onto his leg, their struggle ultimately forces the helicopter into a crash landing.  Even though they managed to survive, Betty and her father aren’t safe yet as their damaged aircraft is in danger of blowing up (which the movie highlights by its leaking fuel tank causing the gasoline to risk getting ignited by the vehicle’s constantly shooting sparks).  However, Abomination is able to get a stranglehold upon Hulk in order to stop him from rescuing them.  Fortunately, he’s able to break free and perform a Thunderclap in order to prevent the ensuing explosion from consuming the damaged helicopter.  After another fierce struggle, the fight concludes with Hulk wrapping some chains around Abomination’s neck as he begins to strangle his foe.  Fortunately, Betty is able to prevent him from killing his adversary as they share one last tender moment together.  In particular, he uses a single finger to wipe a running tear from her face and even says her name.  Afterwards, he proceeds to hop away.  Following an omitted NYC scene where Betty checks out her picture of Banner on her digital camera shortly before its battery runs out of power, we shift ahead one month later where Bruce is now hiding out within the wilderness of Bella Coola, British Columbia.  After another omitted moment where he was able to buy back Betty’s mother’s necklace and have it mailed to him under the false name of “David B.” before he mails it to her, the comic ends with him in meditation while he narrates about how it’s easier for him to remain calm within his current residence.  Even though he’s aware that the monster inside of him could break free at any moment, he’s not worried about it anymore since he’s in control, especially since he’s both Dr. Bruce Banner and the Hulk.  The adaptation then skips over one final scene where Ross is at a bar and drowning his misery within several alcoholic drinks.  Just then, he’s met upon by Tony Stark who tells him that the Super Soldier program was “put on ice” for a reason.  He then gets the general’s attention when he mentions about a certain team that’s being put together.

Overall, this is a decently good adaptation of a decently good MCU movie.  It follows the film’s story as best as it can within the constraints of its two issues and manages to cover the major plot points within the narrative with ease.  Because of the limited space that these two chapters have to tell this tale, certain scenes end up being left out of this in order to make their exclusions a bit questionable.  There were a few other times where certain bits of dialogue were reworked into other areas due to the scenes that they were originally spoken in getting cut from the translation.  This was also something that occurred within the Iron Man adaptation, but I seemed to have noticed this a bit more here.  It’s admittedly a minor complaint that both translations have this kind of limitation placed among them, but it’s something that you mainly notice if you follow the comics while watching the movie itself.  The story itself retains the cinematic theme of how our central men deal with this unexpected level of strength and power.  For Bruce, he accidentally obtained this while experimenting with what he thought was helping humankind become resistant to gamma radiation.  Because he accidentally harmed Betty and her General father as a result, it’s marked him as a wanted man whose own body has become targeted for capture and experimentation.  While he initially spends most of the movie trying to get this other side of himself removed, the climactic turn of events ultimately has him coming to some initial sense of harmonious understanding that allows him to have a better semblance of control.  Sure, this is something that he’ll end up struggling with over the course of several future films, but at least he now has some sense of internal normality despite the fact that he’s resided himself within some form of external exile.  With Thaddeus, he’s concerned with making the U.S. military as close to unstoppable as possible.  He has Banner working on an experiment that unbeknownst to the test subject himself, he’s actually looking to help restore the Super Soldier project that was made lost due to the events of “Captain America: The First Avenger”.  Yes, we can’t expound on said experiment since that movie wasn’t made yet, but it does hint at something that happened within this universe for it to get fleshed out in a later chapter.  Getting back on track with Gen. Ross, he becomes furious towards Bruce due to him becoming an unexpected monster that got both Ross figures hurt.  Not too long afterwards, Thaddeus wants Banner captured in order for him to be the one who not only revived the Super Soldier program, but also helped it make a huge jump forward.  However, this obsessive manhunt has created a major rift between himself and his daughter.  Once Bruce unexpectedly gives his location away, Gen. Ross ultimately decides to impart the rudimentary gatherings of the Super Soldier program onto an elite soldier in order to hopefully have some kind of human-enhanced firepower help him properly capture his longtime suspect.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t fully grasp his enhanced subject’s obsession with maintaining some kind of physical might in order to take some kind of action towards making sure that he doesn’t step out of line.  As such, he realizes too late that he’s created a villain out of someone whom he trusted with capturing Banner in the first place.  By the end, he and his remaining soldiers have to team up with the Hulk in order to subdue his transformed comrade.  As for what he’s gone through during his transition from General to U.S. Secretary of State, it seems like he ultimately sides with having some kind of authoritative control over super-powered individuals, especially since the Sokovia Accords are brought into the forefront for “Captain America: Civil War”.  However, that doesn’t happen for several years, so I won’t delve too deep into that.  Either way, Thaddeus is forced to realize that his multiple years of preoccupied pursuit in order to provide the U.S. military with more power was nearly as damaging as a person who gets consumed by power.  Speaking of which, we then get to Emil.  Just like the movie, we don’t get too deep into his past in order to get a far-more refined understanding as to why he wants to become a physically enhanced figure in order to become the best soldier.  He does mention that he’s been in the field for pretty much his entire career and that he has no intention of stepping away from it anytime soon.  Where I feel like he could’ve gotten some more crucial development is in the part where he mentions how he could’ve had the experience he has now put within his younger self, along with the fact that he’s gone on missions where he’s lost too many comrades due to not being properly informed about what he should expect to come across on said mission.  His obsessive escalation towards wanting to obtain as much physical power as possible does coincide with him discovering how much raw might Bruce has as the Hulk and it might stem from his past moments of feeling powerless to do anything against his adversaries.  Maybe a particular failed mission from his past could’ve been tied into his current situation and even relate to how Blonsky felt within said moment so that it fuels his means to never feel as hopeless as he was back then.  Despite those shortcomings, he still became a decent villain for our main gamma giant to duel against for the climax.  Finally, we have Betty who serves as Banner’s emotional ties to what they could’ve had together.  As hinted from the opening flashbacks to the fateful gamma experiment, they’ve had a past relationship with each other.  When they ultimately cross paths after five years, she ultimately becomes an intimately caring comrade who helps Bruce on his journey to get rid of his Hulk side.  The whole ordeal has absolutely strained the father-daughter relationship that she has with Thaddeus, since it’s not revealed until the chase scene at Culver University that the General is her dad.  While she does remain disgusted towards her father after Banner finally gets caught and then they discover that someone under her dad’s employ had broken off to become a far-worse monster than what her father had figuratively become to them, the General decides to be a slightly better person in her eyes by freeing her imprisoned lover in order to have him become the Hulk and subdue the true monster that he unintentionally created.  While it’s not truly known if her relationship with her dad has seen some kind of healing especially due to this mainline version of her not being seen in any kind of capacity since this movie (at least not until she’ll show up again in “Captain America: New World Order”), she still gets a good foundation as a caring young woman who looks to help Bruce through his predicament while they share an understated kind of relationship.  In terms of the adaptation itself, it definitely has a somewhat breezy pace due to it already omitting several scenes that were in the movie.  It can either serve as a complimentary read for those who’re already familiar with the film or it can be an easy introductory piece to those who aren’t entirely familiar with it at all.  Despite certain cinematic moments being left out of this for the sake of a proper translation, it doesn’t hamper this material in an overly egregious way.  Finally, the movie’s events that are present are shown within some good artwork.  The character models lean more towards the comics as opposed to the actors’ likenesses (which is somewhat odd given that this came out nine years after the film’s release), yet are nicely recognizable and stand out in an effective way.  The calm moments and the big action scenes carry the right amount of energy to help make their situations get shown within a proper way, while the backgrounds are mainly present throughout and only dip into gradient territory every once in a while.  Finally, the colors do a nice job in making the central figures along with the main events of the story stand out.  While there are some neat shadow displays on the Hulk during the confrontation within the Brazilian-based soda factory along with some fiery nighttime energy during the climactic fight in Harlem, the rest of the coloring details deliver with the right tones of brightness, mood and eye-catching pleasantness to make the whole experience a treat to read.  In the end, it’s similar to its cinematic counterpart in that it’s not the deepest, intellectual or mind-blowing of superhero narratives ever made, but what it has to offer will present its readers with some good characters, a well-handled tale, fierce action and a struggle of power that will make for some entertaining thrills throughout its numerous panels.  While you’ll need to go watch the movie in order to get all of the details surrounding this story, this two-issue adaptation is still worth checking out since it’s a breezy read worth smashing through.

Next Time: Our favorite armored hero has returned for another solo venture and is riding a personal high where he feels like he can single-handedly keep the entire free world safe from any potential peril.  However, a figure with a prior connection to his family’s past along with a rival weapons manufacturer will be showing up in order to show that he doesn’t have the firm control over any-and-all things that he thinks he has.  As such, he’ll need some help from his close comrades as well as an up-and-coming female spy in order to properly deal with this newfound threat.  With this universe continuing to grow, we’ll be delving into multiple tales that’re connected to the series’ third cinematic outing known as “Iron Man 2”.

Hulk (created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby) is owned by Marvel Comics.