Avengers (vol. 3) #39
Condition: Green
Diablo has transformed the entire town of Kalkhimitha, Greece, into a village full of Hulks.[1] The rampaging creatures now threaten to spill out of the city and ravage the country side. Even the military are ineffective at keeping the monsters at bay. Luckily, the Avengers have been called in to contain the situation.
Arriving on the scene are Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Goliath, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Vision, and Warbird, adding much needed relief. Faced with superior numbers, Captain America orders the Avengers to herd the Hulks back into town and keep them contained until they can figure out a way to cure everyone. To accomplish this, Thor, Iron Man, and Vision are told to drive the monsters back while the others flank from all sides and push back any stragglers.
Goliath seems very excited over the battle, which is a sudden change from his previously repressed behavior. This concerns the Wasp, even though she hoped he’d snap out of his apparent funk, but now she can’t help but worry that there is something wrong with him,[2] Not far away, the Vision allows himself to be swarmed by a group of Hulks then uses his phasing powers to partially solidify inside his attackers and knock them out so they can be easily relocated. The Scarlet Witch attempts to use her hex powers to lock onto whatever has transformed the townspeople, but something about the process prevents her from doing so. Her brother Quicksilver then speeds in and steals the Hulks attention so they won’t attack his sister. While the Avengers are making some progress, Captain America realizes that they have a difficult job ahead of them and wishes there were more Avengers to back them up.
Almost in answer to his prayers, a Quinjet flies east carrying Wonder Man and Triathlon. Since they have a long flight ahead of them, Delroy decides to ask Simon about his sudden need to practice his acting abilities. Williams explains that his agent is pressuring him to return to Hollywood and resume his film career.[3] He is not entirely against this idea, particularly since it would greatly help the charitable foundation he set up that is funded by royalties from his film roles, more roles would mean more money to the foundation. However, he is reluctant to leave because he feels he owes the Scarlet Witch for resurrecting him.[4]
Elsewhere, one of the Avengers long time foes observes their battle against the village of Hulks while he also undergoes a training session. His son suggests that now is the time ot strike as the Avengers are in disarray. Finishing off his robotic opponents, the father tells his son that impatience is a mortal sin and assures him that the time to strike will soon present itself.[5]
Back at the scene of the battle Goliath has finished examining some skin samples scrapped from the Hulks. He found traces of a strange dust that contain traces of gamma radiation and an unidentifiably energy source and transmits the data back to the nearest SHIELD base for further analysis. While this will take some time, Hank wants to try something else out. He then charges at one of the Hulks and kicks it with enough force to send it crashing into one of the other creatures. As Pym suspected, when the two Hulks collide they are suddenly merged together. The other Avengers follow suit, combining all the Hulks even though they have no idea how they’ll deal with a giant Hulk.
While in the United States, Maria de Guadalupe Santiago — aka Silverclaw — spends time visiting her former sponsor, the Avengers’ butler Jarvis. She wishes she could go out and help the team on the field, but Jarvis reminds her that she hasn’t been trained to fly a Quinjet yet. That’s when there is a loud crash and a flash of light from outside, prompting both to run out and see what’s going on. Also watching the footage is Bruce Banner, who is staying at the home of his former lover Angela Lipscombe. Angela tries to convince Bruce that the situation in Greece is not his fault. However, to Bruce, this is like the commercial airliner disaster all over again and can’t shake the feeling that he is somehow responsible anyway.[6]
By this time, Goliath gets word back from the SHIELD scientists as to the origin of the mysterious compound in his scans. As it turns out, they are particles of sand that were collected from Middleton, Arizona, a town decimated by a Gamma bomb by the Leader a few years earlier.[7] In fact, the soil was taken from samples originally collected by SHIELD. Whoever was responsible was somehow able to steal the samples without breaking any of the safety seals, which is how the theft went unnoticed until now.
Back in New York, Silverclaw races outside where she is ambushed by Diablo. He is surprised to have run into her, as he had figured that the Avengers would all be away dealing with the problem in Greece.[8] However, he has come prepared and takes down Silverclaw by breaking one of his achemical vials and spraying her with its contents.
In Greece, Goliath comes up with a way to round up the last of the Hulks. Enlarging a miniaturized lab he keeps in one of his pouches, he quickly quips up a special foam that is triggered by Pym Particles. Handing it off to Warbird, the foam is sprayed on the last remaining Hulk and when it contracts it pushes them all together so they merge all at once. As anticipated, this turns them all into one massive Hulk creature. Unfortunately, before Hank to whip up a formula to deal with this giant Hulk, the monster crushes the portable lab under its foot. It then bellows “Hoolk Dialysei!” at the Avengers, leaving the team to wonder what to do next.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Goliath, Wasp, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Warbird, Triathlon, Silverclaw), Diablo, Kang (unidentfied), Scarlet Centurion (unidentified), SHIELD, Bruce Banner, Angela Lipscombe, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
The Greek village was transformed into Hulks last issue.
The situation with Hank Pym in this story is somewhat complex. Unknown to everyone, he was split into two separate entities by a magic spell in Avengers (vol. 3) #28. One is the repressed Goliath while the other is the emotional Yellowjacket. Yellowjacket then took Goliath’s place in issue #37. The pair will remain apart until their failing health forces them to be merged back together in Avengers Annual 2001.
Wonder Man has pursued acting since Avengers #181. He started establishing his career in Hollywood following the events of Avengers #211.
Wonder Man was killed in Force Works #1 when he was caught in a starship explosion. However, the Scarlet Witch became able to summon his spirit from the barrier between life and death starting in Avengers (vol. 3) #2 until she was able to bring him fully back to life in issues #10-11.
The mystery foe and his son are revealed to be Kang and the Scarlet Centurion at the end of next issue.
At the time of this story, Diane has been assisting Bruce who is suffering from a neurological disorder that is slowly eroding his mind, making the Hulk more dangerous and unpredictable than ever before, see Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #12-32. The airliner incident was caused when Tyrannus used a machine to steal the Hulk’s power and transfer it to his Tryrannoids. He used the Tyrano-Hulks to take down an airliner knowing that the real Hulk would be blamed and making even more hunted than ever before. See Hulk #1-5 and 10-11.
The Leader set off a bomb in Middleton, Arizona back in Incredible Hulk #345. The intended purpose was to create a number of gamma mutates that he could rule over.
As revealed in next issue, this isn’t the real Diablo, but a simulacrum created via alchemy to free the genuine article. At the time of this story, the real Diablo had been banished to another dimension in Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #35-36.
Topical References
The TVs in this story are depicted as CRT models. This depiction should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.
Translations
This story includes dialogue in Greek that have not been translated into English.
Pyr! Pyr! Prepei na kalipsoume tin apohoris! Ton profsfigon! = Fire! Fire! We have to cover the refugees departure!
Lohia, koita! Erxetai kata — ! = Sargeant, look! It’s coming — !
Sikotheíte, Kyria! Sikotheíte! Prepei na fygete apo do, parin — = Flee, Lady! Flee! You have to get out of here, everyone — !
To moro mou, min ton afisete na pare! To moro mout! = My baby! Don’t let him take my baby! My Baby!
Min anisheite, kyria… = Don’t be afraid, lady…
I metadosi oloklirothike. = Transmission complete.
Arihzoume analisi dedomenon fasmatos = Performing a spectrum analysis.
Hoolk Diaysei! = Do I really need to translate this one for you?
