The Search for She-Hulk, Part 3: Sticks and Stones

The Avengers have tracked down the She-Hulk to the town of Bone, Idaho. There, they have discovered that Jennifer Walter’s transformations into her alter-ego are now triggered by fear, and the town is now under siege by a savage She-Hulk.[1] With the Avengers seemingly buried alive, Hawkeye arrives on the scene to lend a hand.[2]

Hawkeye has come to help after hearing She-Hulk abandoned the team.[3] In order to get her away from innocent civilians, Clint uses a number of trick arrows to annoy her enough to chase her. In order to get some distance, Hawkeye hops on a motorcycle and races out of town. However, the She-Hulk catches up to him in a single leap, causing him to crash. She then tosses him into a nearby forest, knocking Clint out.

As She-Hulk tears through the trees looking for her foe, Bruce Banner arrives on the scene. After checking to make sure Hawkeye is still alive, Banner then confronts his cousin. Barton tries to tell Bruce not to get involved in Avengers business, prompting Banner to remind him that he helped found the team.[4] He convinces Clint to let him do his thing. He then tries to get She-Hulk to see the damage she has caused during her rampage and to convince her to calm down. Bruce takes responsibility for turning her into She-Hulk to begin with.[5] However, in her savage state, She-Hulk says that she doesn’t blame him and in fact enjoys being the She-Hulk. She then tells her cousin that she loves him and picks him up off the ground in order to give him a hug.

When she briefly becomes enraged again, Hawkeye draws an arrow. However, Banner warns him not to shoot or else he’ll get angry. Banner gets control of the conversation again and gets Jen to calm down by talking about old times. He also tells her how he copes, often remembering a quote from The Scarlet Letters:

“My fortune somewhat resembled that of a person who should entertain an idea of committing suicide, and, altogether beyond his hopes, meet with the good hap to be murdered.”

He then asks She-Hulk what she is so afraid of and she admits that she is afraid of failure. Bruce fully understands and begins comforting his cousin.

Back in town, Iron Man manages to finally blast free of the rubble that had buried him, Captain America, and the Scarlet Witch alive. They then check with the sheriff and learn that there haven’t been any major injuries or deaths. That’s when they notice the owner of the local diner looking through the ruins of her home calling out for her son Jonah. Captain America approaches the woman and promises her that the Avengers will do everything they can to find him. Given the situation, Iron Man figures that it is time to call in reinforcements, including Jack of Hearts even though it’s early. Looking up in the sky, Cap figures someone had called the calvary already. This is because the United States military has deployed a Hulkbuster team led by Doc Samson.

This is also seen by Hawkeye, Banner, and She-Hulk in the woods. When Bruce tries to assure his cousin that the military are there for him, she becomes angry all over again and vows that they won’t take Bruce away from her. He then shoves Bruce aside, convincing Hawkeye that there is only one way to stop She-Hulk from hurting a bunch of soldiers. He shoots an arrow through Banner’s shoulder, causing him to get angry enough to trigger a transformation into the Hulk. The Hulk then lunges at his female counterpart, telling her that if She-Hulk won’t listen, Hulk will make her listen.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch), Hulk, She-Hulk, Doc Samson, Lance Howards, Sheryl Howards

Continuity Notes

1. She-Hulk’s sudden change in powers is linked to similar instabilities in her teammate, Jack of Hearts. 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. Due to the affect Jack was having on her powers, Jennifer fled while in the middle of a mission in Avengers (vol. 3) #68.

2. In his internal monologue, Hawkeye talks about his personal redemption. He is referring to early on in his career when he was roped into helping the Black Widow back when she was a Russian spy, as seen in Tales of Suspense #57. Clint was later selected by Iron Man to join the Avengers in Avengers #16 to redeem himself of his criminal past. Hawkeye has been a hero ever since.

3. Hawkeye’s internal monologue also mentions the time he abandoned the Avengers. While Clint has been a consistent member of the team he has quit on a number of occasions in anger over a given situation.

   • The first time in Avengers #109 when he discovered that the Scarlet Witch loved the Vision, however he returned in Giant-Size Avengers #2.

   • The second time Hawkeye pulled the “you can’t fire me, I quit” routine when the Avengers government liaison Henry Gyrich in Avengers #181, he later returned in issue #221.

   • After founding the west coast roster in West Coast Avengers #1, he quit the team over being taken off leadership over US Agent in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #45, although he came back in Avengers West Coast #60.

   • He abandoned the west coast roster following the apparent death of his wife, Mockingbird, in Avengers West Coast #100. This was really a Skrull spy, but Hawk won’t know that until Secret Invasion #8/New Avengers: The Reunion #2. He’d return to the eastern team in Avengers #397.

   • However, most recently, Hawkeye chose to leave the Avengers in Avengers (vol. 3) #9, so he could start mentoring the reformed criminals known as the Thunderbolts. He took on that role in Thunderbolts #21 until he recently left the group in issue #75.

4. While the Hulk did indeed found the Avengers in their first adventure, he quit in Avengers #2 when it became clear that nobody trusted him. While Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 shows that the Hulk had charter member status, Avengers (vol. 3) #4 reveals that this position was revoked years ago and retroactively given to Captain America. So Banner doesn’t have any authority over the Avengers here.

5. Bruce Banner was responsible for turning his cousin Jennifer Walters into the She-Hulk. After she was shot by mobsters he had no choice but to perform an emergency blood transfusion in order to save her life, as seen in Savage She-Hulk #1.

Topical References

• Bruce Banner quotes a line from The Scarlet Letter a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in published in 1850. Its reference here would not be considered topical as it is considered classic literature.