Incredible Hulk #458
Crash and Burn
Hulk hides in a plane to New York, but the passengers find out and quietly start to panic. In the middle of this, Dr. Calvin Zabo transforms into Mister Hyde and explains to the Hulk that he was also hired by the New World Order (alongside Juggernaut and Absorbing Man) to fight the Hulk. However, Mercy appears, and reveals that she has suppressed the Hulk's conscious mind so that Mister Hyde can more easily kill him, as the Hulk is currently suicidal. In Egypt, doctors tell Marlo that Rick Jones has become paralyzed due to the Hulk. As Janis listens, she realizes that, in her future, her grandfather, Rick's future self, was in a wheelchair, but he ever said why this was.
Back on the plane, Mister Hyde is giving Mercy a lecture about end-of-life decisions, partly motivated by the fact that he defines himself in opposition to the Hulk, and if the Hulk is diminished then he feels it reflects badly on him. Hulk manages to fight through Mercy's telepathy and crudely attempts to fight off Mister Hyde. As he does this, strange energy flares off the Hulk, causing the plane's instrumentation to spark and the engines to explode. As Hyde strangles Hulk, Hulk chokes out a confession - he wants to die, but not at the hands of Mister Hyde, who he does not respect. Mercy, acknowledging this, lifts her telepathy. Hulk, now clear-headed, easily throws Mister Hyde through a nearby wall.
As the plane comes closer to the ground, Mister Hyde shouts that he has seen the other side, and the people who wait there will give the Hulk the righteous punishment he feels he deserves for all of the terrible things he has done. Ripping one of the wings off, Mister Hyde declares that the Hulk is his oldest friend. As the runway comes closer and the plane starts to catch fire, the Hulk crawls along the outside of the plane, arranges himself on the bottom of the aircraft to soften the landing, despite the heckling of his father's ghost. The passengers survive, but the plane still crashes, and now the Hulk is loose in New York...
Recurring Characters
Hulk, Betty Ross, Rick Jones, Janis Jones, Marlo Jones, Henry Gyrich, Mister Hyde, Mercy,
Continuity Notes
The hallucination of Rick Jones recounts how he went on the gamma bomb site on a dare, as seen in Incredible Hulk #1.
The reason why the Hulk is glowing here is because of his connection to Franklin Richards’s pocket dimension as established in Incredible Hulk #453.
Mister Hyde recounts his last battle with the Hulk, which happened in Incredible Hulk #368.
The guns the villains in the Hulk's hallucination are wielding are the "Anti-Hulk Gun" that the Hulk first saw used by the Maestro in the future of Earth-9200 in Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #2. This same weapon was invented by Forge on Earth-616 in Incredible Hulk #455.
Rick Jones was crippled by the Hulk during the events of last issue. Janis Jones believes that this is why the Rick Jones of her own time is crippled, as seen in Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2. However, this is not the case on Earth-616 as Rick eventually has his mobility restored in Avengers Forever #12. It's later confirmed in Exiles #79 that Rick Jones of Earth-9200 was crippled by other means much later.
