Avengers (vol. 2) #5
… Let No Man Tear Asunder!
The Hulk has been tricked by Loki into thinking his alter-ego, Bruce Banner has is hiding out on the island. As the monster went on the rampage he incapacitated the entire team.[1] That is until Thor returns home from a night out drinking and lunges into battle against the gamma spawned monster.[2]
What follows is 11 pages of two page spreads that is supposed to be an epic battle but is easily the laziest action sequence Rob Liefeld has ever put to paper. It takes 11 pages to show that nobody but Thor can lift Mjolnir for some reason. Fuck my life, this is easily the worst Avengers story ever written. Anyway, where was I…?
Ultimately, Thor knocks out the Hulk with a massive lightning bolt just as a SHIELD response team is arriving on the scene. With the immediate battle over, Thor begins digging through the rubble to find his comrades. He is in the process of digging out Captain America when the Hulk suddenly recovers and resumes the battle.
Monitoring things from the sky, Nick Fury is informed by his team that the battle threatens to crack the gamma core that powers Avengers Island and if should that happen it will cause a catastrophic explosion that will wipe out much of the eastern United States.[3] Fury laments that there are only four people on the planet with the know how to stop this thing — the king of Latveria, a heartless corporate raider, a living rubber-band, and a guy who is already dead.[4]
Down on the ground, the battle between the Hulk and Thor spills into Hank Pym’s lab, where unknown to everyone, Hank — as Ant-Man — has been trapped inside the Vision’s body.[5] However, even in an all out brawl, the god of thunder begins to tire. The Hulk on the other hand only gets angrier, and the Hulk becomes stronger with his growing fury. He ultimately knocks Thor out and decides that enough is enough. At that same moment, the gamma core is growing increasingly unstable, and is getting close to reaching critical mass.
… This story is continued in Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #6.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Vision), Hulk, SHIELD (“Nick Fury”), Henry Gyrich, Hank Pym (voice only)
Continuity Notes
The Hulk, Captain America, Vision, and Hank Pym are all the originals. Everyone else in this story are constructs created by Franklin Richards when he saved all of those who sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught by transporting them to a pocket dimension. See Onslaught: Marvel Universe and Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.
The Thor seen here is another Counter-Earth construct created by Franklin Richards. The real Thor won’t turn up until Avengers (vol. 2) #9.
This is not the real Nick Fury, but a Life Model Decoy planted within SHIELD by the Sons of the Serpent as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 2) #11.
Fury is referring to Bruce Banner, whom nobody realizes is actually the Hulk. Banner was believed to have died in the gamma explosion that turned him into the Hulk, as seen in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1-2. The other “big brains” Fury is talking about are Doctor Doom, Tony Stark, and Mister Fantastic respectively.
Ant-Man was trapped inside the Vision last issue by Ultron. Hank will remain trapped inside the Vision’s body until Avengers (vol. 2) #9 and the Vision will be offline until Avengers (vol. 2) #12.
