Asunder (Part 2)

Two Weeks Ago

Bruce Banner and Betty Ross are relaxing on a tropical island in an attempt to reconcile their relationship. However, their moment is ruined when a guide shows to up inform Banner that he's ready to test the island for radiation. Betty demands to know what this means, and Bruce tells her that this is an island that was used for nuclear testing in the 1950s. Since Betty knows that something's up, Banner admits that though the Hulk was an accident, it was the greatest of his achievements. As she transforms into Red She-Hulk, Betty wonders whether she fell in love with the man or the monster and leaps away. Undaunted by this setback, Banner asks the guide to give him a tour of the island.

Now

For some time, Banner has become obsessed with replicating the circumstances that made him into the Hulk but every risky method has resulted in nothing but failure, including a tumor the size of a grapefruit and an island full of gamma-irradiated monsters. The desire to become the Hulk again combined with the tumor has driven Bruce Banner utterly mad. He furiously begins to smash his lab equipment and knocks over a blueprint detailing how to create a gamma bomb. Banner decides that since he has not been able to transform himself using science, he decides to try and transform himself the old fashioned way.

Elsewhere, Amanda von Doom brings the Hulk up to the surface and introduces him to her team: the Mad Squad, which includes the hunchbacked Gor and the biologically engineered intelligence known as B.R.A.I.N. She explains that they are part of a crack team of soldiers who are charged with killing mad scientists. She tells the Hulk that Bruce Banner has gone insane and they need to stop him. The Hulk tells them that this is their problem, not his, even though Amanda was sure he'd be interested in what his alter-ego has been up to. She explains that ships have gone missing at sea due to attacks from massive green sea monsters. The Hulk still isn't interested, and Amanda presumes that it is because Banner forcibly separated himself from the Hulk. However, the Hulk explains that he caused the separation, not Banner. Before he can explain who helped him achieve this, the ship is suddenly attacked. The Hulk and the Mad Squad are tipped overboard where they are swarmed by gamma-irradiated sharks. After killing them all and ending up on Banner's island, Amanda insists that the Hulk must help them. However, the Hulk continues to refuse their request for aid and returns to his new home below the surface of the Earth. As the Hulk departs, Amanda is suddenly turned on by his show of strength.

In the Moloid Caves, the Moloids expect that the Hulk has returned. But it's not. Banner's monstrosities, 26 and 27 have arrived to kill all that the Hulk loves.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Mad Squad (Amanda Von Doom, Mister Gor, BRAIN), Bruce Banner (clone), 26, 27, Red She-Hulk

Continuity Notes

• How the Hulk and Bruce Banner were separated is detailed throughout the course of Incredible Hulk Vol 3 #1-7.

• Bruce and Betty are attempting to reconcile their relationship. The pair were married in Incredible Hulk #319. Betty later died of radiation poisoning in Incredible Hulk #466. She was later resurrected by MODOK as seen in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1 and Incredible Hulk #610, transforming her into the Red She-Hulk. Banner and Betty have been trying to reconcile their romance ever since.

• Bruce Banner recounts the accident that turned him into the Hulk, as it happened in Incredible Hulk #1.