Allegiance, Part 1

After announcing that he was coming for the Red King, the Hulk and his refugees have been trying to stay ahead of the army and the swarm of Spikes that are consuming everything in their path. While setting up a temporary camp, Caiera the Oldstrong suggests that they get moving. Miek protests, as his queen -- the last of his species -- is just beginning to heal after her near assimilation into the Spike collective. However, the choice is taken from them as soon as the king's armies arrive, herding the Spikes toward them. Caiera tries to use her former position as the King's shadow to convince the soldiers to help them against the Spikes, but word of her defection to the Hulk's Warbound has already reached them and they have orders to kill them all. With the Spikes about to reach them, the Hulk orders the refugees to safety while his Warbound deal with their attackers. The Hulk then begins to strike the ground until it cracks open and creates a flow of lava that consumes the Spikes. The Warbound then go about eliminating the soldiers who hover over the battlefield on floating platforms. As the kings forces flee, the Hulk pulls Caiera away from the lava as a pack of Mawkaw Makong that emerges from the lava to defend their territory.

Over an hour later, the Hulk and his charges get to cover, but the King has stepped up his offensive by unleashing more Spikes upon nearby villages and forests. Suddenly, their planning is interrupted by the screams of Miek and his people. Their queen has given into a Spike infection and is in the midst of transforming into one of the creatures. With no other means of curing her, Miek makes the difficult decision of incinerating the queen, dooming his entire race to extinction. In the aftermath of this latest setback, Hiroim suggests that they seek the aid of he and Caiera's Shadow People. Despite the fact that they are seen as outcasts, Hiroim believes that they will join them against the Red King because the Hulk is the legendary Sakaar Son. The hivlings disagree, thinking that Miek is the prophesized hero as he will saved their world and doomed it by killing their queen. However, Miek corrects them, he is not the legendary figure. He tells his people that they will not rest until they have killed every Sakaarian standing. As they press on, Korg points out to the Hulk that things are going poorly, as Miek and his people have nothing left but hate in their hearts and encourages the Hulk to bring them some hope.

As they cross the deserts to the domain of the Shadow People, they have to set up camp to wait out a sandstorm. Under the cover of tents, Hiroim tells the others how he became shamed and exiled from his people. He tells how during his studies to become a priest of the Shadow People, he began to believe he might actually be the Sakaar Son. After all his trials to become a priest, the master saw in his eyes what Hiroim believed and found himself exiled from his home and people for the crime of blasphemy. He now is convinced that the Hulk is really the Sakaar Son and allying himself with him is Hiroim's last attempt at salvation for his past sins. With the storm lifting, the Hulk emerges from their tent to find a trio of Shadow People waiting for him. Suddenly, from out of the sand come three wild Devil Corkers.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Warbound (Caiera Oldstrong, No-Name of Brood, Elloe Kaifi, Korg, Hiroim, Miek, Arch-E)

Planet Cho

SHIELD is still on the hunt for Amadeus Cho, a teenager who is the seventh most intelligent person on Earth, and a one-time ally of the Hulk. As Gabriel Jones briefs his agents on how Cho is operating in violation of the newly passed Super Human Registration Act, he is surprised when Cho calls him in the middle of their meeting. Having discovered they had tracked them, Amadeus warns the SHIELD agents to get their parachutes as he hacks into and disables their helicopter, sending it crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

Two weeks later in New Mexico, Cho uses his enhanced intelligence to track the Hulk's trail to one of Bruce Banner's secret laboratories. At that moment, Reed Richards is examining the body of his Thor clone to find out why it went beyond its parameters and murdered Bill Foster during the Civil War. Suddenly, he gets a phone call from Amadeus Cho. The two match intellectual wits over trying to see who is the greater hacker. However, Cho outsmarts Richards by hacking into the Fantastic Four's database while Reed is trying to track his location. Cho finds what he was looking for: Video evidence of the Illuminati exiling the Hulk into space. Amadeus warns Richards that this is going to be a lot of trouble when the Hulk eventually makes his way back to Earth. From this information, Cho is able to hack into satellites to see if the Hulk ended up on the world that the Illuminati planned. When he discovers that the Hulk isn't there, Amadeus accuses Mister Fantastic of murdering his friend.

However, Mister Fantastic tries to explain their plan to exile the Hulk was in order to save the Earth from future rampages. He cites examples of past rampages including the towns of Hadleyville, Stoneridge, Jericho, and Las Vegas. However, Cho knows better pointing out that there were extenuating circumstances behind those rampages, as the Hulk was being manipulated by other forces. The boy genius reminds Reed that all the Hulk ever wanted was to be left alone and got hounded endlessly instead. He then points out all the times the Hulk did good, like saving the lives of countless heroes during the Secret Wars, how he defended the White House from alien invasion and saved the entire Earth from the Godseye. Lastly, he shows how many species across the universe hail the Hulk as a hero. He compares this to Mister Fantastic and the rest of the superhero community being in the middle of a war with one another, punctuating the damage done with the recent death of the hero known as Goliath.

Later, Mister Fantastic meets with Iron Man to give his report on his encounter with Amadeus Cho. While Reed was able to track the boy's location, Cho was long gone by the time SHIELD agents arrived. He then tells Tony that the Hulk isn't on the world they planned on sending him. He warns Iron Man that the Hulk still has friends and fears what will happen when the find the Hulk before they do.

Recurring Characters

Amadeus Cho, SHIELD (Gabe Jones), Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Thor Clone, Kirby

Continuity Notes

• This story recaps the first encounter between Amadeus Cho and the Hulk from Amazing Fantasy Vol 2 #15.

• The Illuminati's plot to exile the Hulk was hatched during New Avengers: Illuminati #1.

• Reed Richards cites a number of rampages that the Hulk had gone on in the past. These are:

  • Hadleyville - One of the first cities damaged during the Hulk's rampage from New Jersey to New York City between Incredible Hulk #296-300. As Amadeus Cho later points out, the Hulk was being controlled by Nightmare at the time.

  • The towns of Stoneridge and Jericho were destroyed during a Hulk rampage during a period of time Bruce Banner was separated from the Hulk that lasted between Incredible Hulk #315-324.

  • Lastly, the Hulk's rampage through Las Vegas happened in Fantastic Four #533-535 was due to the Hulk being hit by a Hydra built Gamma Bomb.

• Cho's counter-arguments include:

  • When the Hulk saved Earth's heroes from being flattened by a mountain during the Secret Wars. This occurred in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #4.

  • The time the Hulk prevented the White House from an alien invasion, that led to the Hulk being celebrated happened in Incredible Hulk #278-279.

  • Lastly, when the Hulk saved the Earth from the Godseye which happened in Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #88-91.

• This story has multiple references to the then-current Superhero Civil War which occurred in Civil War #1-7. Particularly the death of Goliath at the hands of a clone of Thor created by Mr. Fantastic. That happened in Civil War #4.