Agent of T.I.M.E. Part Four

The Hulk has been on a mission across time to stop the Chronarchists from altering history to their own ends causing further damage to an already fractured timestream. However, the Hulk and his ROB unit (with the mind of Bruce Banner) find themselves being blocked from this final destination. First, they appear on the moon in the year 1969 where the Hulk is forced to battle the Abomination as astronaut Niel Armstrong watches from nearby. Next, they are transported to ancient Egypt were the Hulk must battle the Sandman. In the middle of this fight, the Hulk suddenly changes into his Mister Fixit persona. ROB realizes that the Chronoarchist is attempting to alter the Hulk's personal history. Before ROB can activate another time jump, the Hulk shoots the nose of the Gaza Sphinx with his tommy guns. Next, they find themselves aboard the Santa Maria under the command of Christopher Columbus. Suddenly, the Hulk changes again, this time into the Worldbreaker of Sakaar. Suddenly, Fin Fang Foom comes rising out of the ocean. While the Hulk leaps up to attack the creature, ROB struggles to maintain his memories of his past which was being altered at a tremendous speed.

Over 500 years in the future, at the Los Diablo Missile Testing Site, General Thaddeus Ross demands to know when Bruce Banner intends to start the test of his newly built Gamma Bomb. History plays itself out as it should, with Betty telling Banner not to mind her father and Igor Drenkov attempting to learn the secrets of Bruce's invention. Banner, of course, is protective of his secrets, unaware that he is doing so wisely as Drenkov is secretly a Russian spy. As they begin final preparations before the test, time suddenly slips backward about a second. This makes Banner feel strange, but nobody else but him notices this brief moment of disorientation.

Meanwhile, out on the site of the Gamma Bomb, the Chronarchist Khotto continues working on altering the bomb using the temporal elements mined by Tok. His master, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, is pressing him to hurry, but Khotto warns him that Tok was not able to mine as much of the element as they wanted. Zarrko is unconcerned as the combination of the gamma bomb and the components in the Hulk's time armor will compensate for the missing elements. While back in the 15th Century, the Hulk prevents Fin Fang Foom from interfering with the Columbus Expedition by snapping the alien dragon's neck. With no time to lose, ROB initiates yet another time jump. With his memories being erased, ROB attempts to stay on course in the hopes of finally reaching their destination. Forward in time, Khotto completes his alterations of the Gamma Bomb just as Rick Jones sneaks onto the test site. Following the course of his destiny, Bruce Banner stops Jones and rushes him to the safety trench before the gamma bomb goes off. However, this time, instead of Bruce Banner taking the full brunt of the bomb blast, the future Hulk arrives from the time stream. The Hulk pushes Banner into the trench as well so he takes the full brunt of the blast.

With its memories quickly failing, the ROB unit attaches probes to Bruce Banner's temple, transferring all of its knowledge of the future and its mission into Banner's mind. Bruce tells Rick that the danger is over. This turns out to be wrong as when Banner starts climbing out of the trench he comes face-to-face with his future self, who has been transformed into an even more powerful version of the Hulk thanks to a second bombardment from the original gamma bomb.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, ROB, Chronarchists (Tomorrow Man, Khotto), Abomination, Sandman, Fin Fang Foom, Neil Armstrong, Cristobal Colon

Continuity Notes

• From the perspective of this story, the time between Incredible Hulk #1 and the present is a little over 12 years. The statement that the origin of the Hulk happens 500+ years after the Columbus Expedition is intentionally vague as the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 continues to push the Modern Age forward in time.