The Search for She-Hulk, Part 2: Savage Attack

At Avengers Embassy, Scott Lang — aka Ant-Man — is giving her daughter Cassie an education on ants. Seeing her father change size amazes the young girl who is proud that her father is a superhero. However, their time is up for the day when Blake Burdick — Cassie’s new step-father — comes to pick her up. Both are disappointed to have to leave as neither one likes Blake.[1] Burdick grumbles about the security measures just to get to the front door. As he leaves with Cassie, Scott puts on a happy face and tells her that he’ll see her next week. Once Cassie is gone, Jarvis tells him that Iron Man sent instructions for him to take care of Jack of Hearts, who is current having his excess radiation drained in the basement Zero Room.[2]

Meanwhile, in Bone, Idaho, the Avengers have tracked down Jennifer Walters since she went AWOL on a mission.[3] Confronting Jennifer in a diner, the Scarlet Witch discovers that her transformations into the She-Hulk are now triggered much in the same way as her cousin, Bruce Banner aka the Hulk. However, instead of anger being the emotional trigger, Jennifer transforms when she is in a state of fear. As the savage She-Hulk begins trashing a local diner, Wanda tries to force her to change back into Jennifer Walters using her hex powers, but Jen is too afraid to revert back. The more Jennifer becomes afraid, the angrier and stronger the She-Hulk gets.

That’s when Iron Man comes crashing in to carry She-Hulk away from the Scarlet Witch. Captain America then rolls in so he can shield Wanda from the falling debris. That’s when Iron Man notices a gas line was cut and quickly ferries Cap and Wanda to safety just seconds before it explodes.

Back at Avengers Embassy, Ant-Man heads downstairs to tell Jack it’s getting time to return to the Zero Room. With twelve minutes and change to spare, Jack annoyingly tells him that he is counting down the seconds. As they head into the basement, Scott talks about how hard it is living apart from his daughter. Jack isn’t very sympathetic since he has to spend more than half the day locked up in the Zero Room with no contact with anyone and nothing to do. Scott has had enough and tells Jack off for only thinking about himself. He points out that it is because of Jack that She-Hulk’s powers are out of whack and accuses him of ruining Jennifer’s life. When they get to the Zero Room and open the door, Scott points out that Tony Stark installed a new lock on the door. He suggests that the reason is because neither Stark nor any of the other Avengers trust him to stay in the Zero Room anymore. In fact, Lang and some of the other Avengers think that he did this on purpose. When Jack tries to deny it, Scott slams the door in his face. Breaking down, Jack sits down on the bench and tearfully says he is sorry. Soon, the countdown clock slowly starts counting down the seconds.

The battle in Bone, Idaho, is not going well for the Avengers as the She-Hulk survived the explosion and is more pissed off than ever. Sheriff Sheryl Howards then calls the military for help before the whole town gets destroyed. Meanwhile, the Avengers are trying to get She-Hulk out of town before an innocent civilian gets hurt. When She-Hulk tries to grab a massive electrical tower, Wanda uses her hex to collapse it upon her, shocking the gamma spawned monster with thousands of volts of electricity.

This only makes She-Hulk angrier than before and when she pounds her fist on the ground it causes the street to split open, sending Cap, Iron Man, and Wanda falling into the sewers. This is followed by tons of debris that buries them alive. As the savage She-Hulk vows to make everyone affraid, Hawkeye shows up and tells that he isn’t scared and asks for a kiss.[4]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Jack of Hearts, Ant-Man), She-Hulk, Cassie Lang, Blake Burdick, Lance Howards, Sheryl Howards, Edwin Jarvis,

Continuity Notes

1. Scott just recently lost custody of his daughter to his ex-wife, Peggy Rae. Peggy had recently got remarried and decided she wanted to raise a family. See Avengers (vol. 3) #62.

2. Jack of Heart’s powers have been growing out of control since Avengers (vol. 3) #58 as explained in issue #61. Since then, he has had to spend many hours of the day in the Zero Room to drain his excess powers or else he will reach critical mass and explode. In issue #67 it was revealed that this was due to the fact that Jack had been unknowingly absorbing She-Hulk’s gamma radiation.

3. Due to the affect Jack was having on her powers, Jennifer fled while in the middle of a mission in Avengers (vol. 3) #68.

4. This is a call back to when She-Hulk first joined the Avengers back in Avengers #221. For a time, Hawkeye frequently antagonized her, much to Jennifer’s chagrin. In the following issue, she turned things around on Clint by kissing him on the lips, something he wasn’t expecting.