Incredible Hulk #139
Many Foes Has the Hulk!
The Leader is once more formulating a plan to destroy the Hulk once and for all, and considers the idea of putting the Hulk through so much strain to cause the brute a heart attack. To serve this end, the Leader approaches Glenn Talbot and offers him an attempt to cure Betty (who has been transformed into glass after a blood transfusion from the Sandman) and to destroy the Hulk once and for all. Talbot, hating the Hulk and Banner as he sees them as an obstacle for winning Betty's love agrees to talk General Ross into letting the Leader aid them.
As the Hulk finds some peace and quiet in the woods, Talbot tells General Ross of the Leaders plan. Ross, finding the idea crazy but decides to try and get permission from the President. Calling President Nixon on a secure line, General Ross gets the Presidential okay from Nixon to carry on with the Leaders plot to use a new experimental brainwave projector device. Setting up extra security around the hospital, and setting the Leader up with the device, the gamma spawned mastermind begins his attack.
Using the Mentallo-Projector to create artificial constructs of the Hulk's foes and sending them to attack the green giant. The Hulk is forced to fight mental projections of the Rhino, Xeron, the Sub-Mariner, Missing Link. As this continues it becomes clear that the Leader is intending to kill the Hulk, and when General Ross tries to stop him the Leader uses his mental powers to freeze both Ross and Talbot, before continuing his assault on the Hulk. The Hulk continues to battle more artificial foes like the Nightcrawler, Mandarin, Sandman, Glob and Iron Man, as the Leader hopes to draw the Hulk closer to the hospital, hoping that not only will he destroy his foe, but also the vibrations from the battle would cause the fragile glass form of Betty Ross to shatter.
As the Hulk tangles with a duplicate of the Absorbing Man, Jim Wilson realizes what the Leader is up too and breaks into the hospital. There, Jim uses the Leader's own device to create an army of Hulk duplicates. Faced with impossible odds and not knowing how it is possible the overtaxed Leader ends up falling into a catatonic state, ending his threat, and he is taken into military custody. The Hulk meanwhile is fighting a recreation of Abomination who suddenly disappears, and the Hulk having nobody left to fight promptly jumps away from the hospital, ending the threat toward Betty's fragile form.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, Leader, Jim Wilson, Betty Ross, General Ross, Major Talbot
Continutiy Notes
Talbot mentions how the Leader attempted to blow up the entire planet the last time he tricked the USAF into working with him. This is a reference to Incredible Hulk #115-117.
Betty Ross was turned into glass last issue, she is eventually cured in Incredible Hulk #141.
The depiction of Richard Nixon as President of the United States of America and his references to Attorney General John N. Mitchell, his wife Martha Mitchell, and Vice President Spiro Agnew should all be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
The Hulk last fought the real versions of the villains who appear here was in:
The Rhino in Incredible Hulk #124.
Xeron in Incredible Hulk #136-137.
The Sub-Mariner in Incredible Hulk #118, and they had recently teamed up in Sub-Mariner #34-35.
The Missing Link battled the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #105-106.
The Night-Crawler in Incredible Hulk #126.
The Mandarin in Incredible Hulk #114.
The Sandman during the events of last issue.The Glob in Incredible Hulk #129.
The Hulk and Iron Man last clashed in Incredible Hulk #131.
Lastly, he fought the Absorbing Man in Incredible Hulk #125.
