Godspawn

Centuries ago in ancient Egypt, aliens arrives from outer space to plant the "seed of the future" on the planet Earth, leaving it for centuries.

In modern times, the Hulk is bounding his way across the eastern continent trying to find his way home following his battle against Dr. Doom in Latveria. Landing in water, the Hulk is attacked by a Russian destroyer, however, the Hulk smashes it away and continues on his journey. He becomes lost and finds himself in the Sahara Desert where he witnesses a woman in Egyptian garb being chased after by a man in a chariot. The Hulk, thinking the woman is in trouble attacks and smashes the chariot.

As it turns out, the Hulk has landed on the set of a movie, and his intervention has ruined a shot. The producer is furious, however, the lead actress manages to talk the Hulk down and get him to remain calm. The director decides that he is going to attempt to cast the Hulk into the movie in the hopes of making his film a huge hit.

While back in the states, General Ross, learning of the Hulk's survival calls in Betty Ross and Glenn Talbot into his office. He unveils to them the governments new plan to capture and contain, or kill if necessary the Hulk, Project: Greenskin: A state of the art military base with the resources and material to try and cure Bruce Banner of being the Hulk once and for all. The news upsets Betty to the point where she runs out of the room in tears.

Meanwhile, back on the film set, the Hulk is dressed and prepared for his first shot when he suddenly reverts back into Bruce Banner. While the director is upset that his new idea is now ruined, Banner is less than concerned about it and walks off the set. That night Banner stumbles upon the aliens who visited Earth centuries ago. They stun Banner and take him aboard their ship where they probe his mind and learn his origins and how he became the Hulk. Furious that the creatures have probed his mind and brought up horrible memories, Banner demands some answers. The aliens explain that they come from the planet Horus and that centuries ago they decided to abolish all war. They decided that in the future all disputes would be resolved by creating gigantic warriors that would clash on alien worlds. They explain that Earth is just such a world and that they implanted their warriors centuries before hand and that now it is soon the time for them to rise up and clash.

The aliens then dismiss Banner to watch the proceeding battle. Bruce grabs an alien weapon and then uses it to knock out one of the aliens who is viewing the coming battle through a special helmet. Putting it own, he is horrified to watch as the two combatants come to life. The first, a stone creature called the Colossus rises out of the desert sand near the movie set, while the second is the Sphinx. Exerting his will power, Bruce manages to stop the Sphinx's transformation rendering it inert stone once more. However, the concentration causes considerable strain and he transforms into the Hulk.

The aliens, not wanting to have to deal with the green monster have him teleported to the ground to face the Colossus on his own. The Hulk and the Colossus fight, and although the Hulk is vastly smaller to the gigantic Colossus, the Hulk ends up smashing it to bits. Fed up of fighting the creatures different parts, the Hulk then cracks open the ground and swats the last animated piece of the Colossus into the chasm that he has created. Confused by everything that has happened to him that day, the Hulk simply wanders off into the sunset.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, General Ross, Major Talbot, Betty Ross

Continuity Notes

• The Hourusians should not be confused with the Ennead, the pantheon of gods that were worshiped by the Egyptian people thousands of years ago (As first seen in Marvel Tales #96)

• This story retells the origin of the Hulk from Incredible Hulk #1 with some minor differences: In this version, Banner pushes Rick Jones behind a protective wall instead of a trench. Also, when Banner turns into the Hulk for the first time his skin is green instead of gray.