Incredible Hulks #630

Mar 16

Mar 16 Incredible Hulks #630

Heart of the Monster (Part 1)

At the Olympus Group Research Facility located within Gammaworld, Amadeus Cho has called in She-Hulk and A-Bomb to tell them that Betty Ross had run off with the Hulk's longtime foe, Tyrannus. Since they have known Bruce Banner longer than he has, Amadeus asks them for advice on what to do about his state of mind. A-Bomb finds this hard to believe because he was there when Tyrannus first kidnapped Betty years ago, but She-Hulk is convinced that Betty is less inhibited in her Red She-Hulk form. Suddenly, the entire facility begins to shake. Fearing that Bruce might be in danger, they rush to the source of the disturbance and find the Hulk smashing a robot in the training facility. She-Hulk expresses her concern over Bruce's well being. Reverting back to human form and initiates the repair sequence, Bruce tells Jennifer that he is over Betty and he's fine. They all find this hard to believe, but Bruce insists that he has gotten over his ex-wife. He then reactivates the training robot and turns into the Hulk to smash it again.

Meanwhile three miles below Las Vegas in the kingdom of Tyrannus, the Red She-Hulk has accepted becoming Tyrannus' queen. To seal the deal, Tyrannus decides to allow her to drink from his Fountain of Youth, a great honor as he is the only one who has drunk from it over the centuries. However, before the Red She-Hulk can drink the water out of a chalice the underground domain is invaded by Monica Rappaccini and a team of AIM operatives. With Tyrannus, Red She-Hulk, and Tyrannoids incapacitated by tranquilizers, Monica gets a sample of the water from the Fountain of Youth. After the AIM agents set up a device in the waters she kills them. She then reveals to Tyrannus that she has researched the Fountain of Youth for years and mocks the underground ruler for not realizing the full potential of the Fountain. Activating the device causes light to emit from the waters. She explains that the waters are actually a wishing well. By this point, the Red She-Hulk has recovered from the tranquilizers and gets the drop on Monica. She demands to know how the fountain works. Before Monica can get her not to say anything, the Red She-Hulk plunges Monica into the water and wishes she was never born. Moments later, a fountain in Vegas explodes, and Monica flies out with monsters on her heel. She summons a remote hang glider to take her safely away.

Twelve hours later, outside of Gammaworld, the Hulk witnesses as Monica lands her glider in front of the Hulk. The gamma-spawned monster is shocked to see that Monica has aged a great deal as she suddenly collapses to the ground. Changing back into Bruce Banner, he rushes Monica back inside and gets her into the med lab. There she tells Bruce and Amadeus about what she had done, and how the Red She-Hulk is in trouble. They quickly mobilize and fly to Nevada with Monica on board. Amadeus explains to A-Bomb and She-Hulk that the danger of a wishing well is that unless you are incredibly significant the wishes it would grant would be greatly disproportionate, even detrimental to the wisher. Explaining that if you were to wish your son back to life, he would come back as an undead zombie, or if you wished for someone to shut up you would go deaf. With this in mind, Bruce quashes any of Amadeus' ideas to try and use the well for a force for good, as someone could inadvertently destroy the world.

When they fly over the fountain in Vegas that Monica escaped from, a massive creature comes out of the hole and grabs their ship, pulling it down into Subterranea. They break free, landing in the wishing well. When the Red She-Hulk appears, Amadeus asks the Hulk for some help. This activates the wishing well in a way that is unexpected: it summons Fin Fang Foom, Umar, Armageddon, Wendigo, and Bi-Beast.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, A-Bomb, She-Hulk, Amadeus Cho, Red She-Hulk, Tyrannus, AIM (Monica Rappaccini), Bi-Beast, Umar, Fin Fang Foom, Wendigo, Armageddon

Continuity Notes

Some of Bruce and Betty's marital history is covered in this story:
- The pair were married in Incredible Hulk #319.
- Betty died of radiation poisoning in Incredible Hulk #466. His body was kept in cryogenic suspension to keep her body intact.
- She was taken by the Intelligencia and revived circa Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1 and Incredible Hulk #610.