The Monster and the Machine!

Betty Ross is milling about the Desert Base. She reflects upon recent events, particularly the lives of Bruce Banner, Rick Jones, and the incredible Hulk. She finds her father General Ross who is testing the effectiveness of his prototype "Iceberg Rocket" against a facsimile of the Hulk. A jet-powered faux Hulk is launched into the air, and the rocket targets the projectile, encasing it in a block of ice. Ross is satisfied with the test, confident that this rocket will succeed in capturing the real Hulk. He then sends his soldiers out to track down the Hulk.

Meanwhile, Rick Jones is inside his cottage with the true Hulk, who is still under his mental control due to an accidental overdose of cosmic radiation. When Rick sees soldiers coming to capture him, he orders the Hulk to flee. Without a word, the Hulk leaps away and lands in a nearby town.

General Ross is convinced that Rick Jones knows more about the Hulk then he lets on. He interrogates Rick at length, but when the boy refuses to cooperate, Ross has him arrested. Rick sends out a telepathic S.O.S. to the Hulk. The Hulk turns back and super-jumps his way to Rick's location. He scoops him out of the army jeep and leaps away. Rick directs him to Doctor Banner's secret cave. Once inside, he places the Hulk in front of a gamma ray projector. After reading some of Banner's notes, he activates the device, and the Hulk transforms back into Bruce Banner.

After careful study, Banner concludes that regulated doses of gamma radiation might give him the power to control his transformations. After making some adjustments to the projector, he has Rick use it on him, this time instigating the change into the Hulk. The Hulk now has the intelligence of Bruce Banner, but he still maintains the machismo brutishness of the Hulk. Rick is happy for the Hulk and more than a little scared.

The Hulk decides that he wants to commit good deeds. He goes outside of town where he finds a farmhouse on fire. The Hulk tears away the burning wall of the house and pitches them into the distance. Though the family inside is now safe, they are terrified of the monster's presence. The Hulk then takes Rick back to the secret cave where another dose of gamma rays turns him back into Bruce Banner.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Betty Ross, General Ross, Rick Jones

Continuity Notes

• This starts a period of time where Banner requires his Gamma Ray Projector to change back and forth. This continues until Avengers #3.

The Gladiator from Outer Space!

An alien spacecraft lands in the middle of a heavily populated area. Out steps Mongu, a barbaric savage wielding a war-axe. Mongu issues an open challenge to anyone who dares to face him one-on-one in mortal combat. Should Mongu be defeated, then he will leave the planet Earth forever. But should he prove victorious, then he will summon a mighty space fleet that will conquer the Earth. He announces that anyone who is brave enough to accept his challenge should meet him in the Grand Canyon at dusk.

Bruce Banner learns of the threat of Mongu and realizes that only the power of the Hulk has any chance of stopping him. Stepping onto a platform in front of the Gamma Ray Projector, he activates the machine, transforming into the incredible Hulk. The Hulk scoops up Rick Jones and bounds away to accept Mongu's challenge.

When the Hulk arrives in the Grand Canyon, he finds Mongu standing near his space ship atop a butte. The Hulk quickly discovers that he has been lured into a trap. Mongu is not actually a space invader, but is, in fact, a Communist agent inside of a battle-suit. The pilot of the suit, Boris Monguski, summons his men to overtake the Hulk. The soldiers surround the Hulk and train their guns on him, but the Hulk leaps into the air. When he lands, he causes a ground-quake that forces all of the soldiers to scatter. One of the frightened men lobs a grenade at the Hulk, but the Hulk easily catches it, allowing it to explode harmlessly in his hand. Another soldier inside the "space craft" (which is actually a disguised MIG) uses a sonic weapon to weaken the Hulk. The Hulk burrows underground and comes up beneath the ship, tearing it in half. Boris Monguski summons a Soviet helicopter to open fire on the Hulk, but this tactic yields little success. The Hulk gathers all of the soldiers together, then binds them using their own belts as rope. He then attaches them to a tow cable and returns them to their helicopter. Having lost all patience with the Russians, the Hulk grabs Rick and leaps away. Military officers converge on the scene and confiscate the abandoned Mongu battle-suit. They mistakenly believe that the Hulk was responsible for staging this elaborate hoax.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Rick Jones, Boris Monguski

Continuity Notes

• All references to the Cold War and the USSR should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.

• Incidentally, there is actually a creature called Mongu first seen in Fear #14, the Hulk later battled Mongu in Incredible Hulk #210-211. The connection between Mongu and Monguski, if any, has yet to be identified.