Indestructible Hulk #7
Gods and Monsters, Part 2
Bruce Banner and his assistants have opened a portal to the land of Joutenheim to obtain a sample of Eiderdürm. Not only do they discover that they have also gone back into the past, but they get engaged in a battle with Frost Giants alongside the Asgardian thunder god Thor. Turning into the Hulk, Banner is seemingly able to pick up Mjolnir. Suddenly he flies across the battlefield, shattering a number of Frost Giants in his path. However, it turns out that the Hulk is not as worthy as he thought, as the mystical hammer is answering the mental summons of its master, who has called on Mjolnir to return to him. Once Thor has hold of his weapon, the Hulk refuses to let go. Realizing that the gamma-spawned brute must think he is worthy to wield Mjolnir, Thor proves this by letting go of the hammer causing the Hulk to fall down the side of the cliff. Thor then leaps down after his would-be ally. Meanwhile, Randall Jessup, Daman Veteri, and Patricia Wolman flee toward the portal back to Earth. Along the way, they are grabbed by the Frost Giants, but they are rescued by Thor and the Hulk. Unfortunately, this allows two of the Frost Giants to get close enough to the portal.
On the other side, Melinda Leucenstern waits for word on her companions, although she is upset that she wasn't allowed to accompany them. Suddenly her attention is turned toward the portal when an alarm begins going off. She sees the hand of a Frost Giant reaching through the portal. When it tries to grab for her, she flees. Meanwhile, on the Asgardian side, the other Frost Giants have surrounded Thor and Hulk, but the two flash into them without any fear. While back on Earth, Melinda continues to flee from the Frost Giant, bumping into Maria Hill and Phil Coulson on the way out. She quickly explains what has happened. Unimpressed, Maria decides to blow the generator on the portal device, telling Melinda to get the auxiliary up and running on her own time. With the power source destroyed, the portal closes cutting the Frost Giants off from Earth. With their path to Earth cut off, the Frost Giants take Randall Jessup prisoner, then one of the Frost Giants uses its ability to cast an illusion to assume Jessup's form in order to try and gain access to the portal again.
Not far away, Thor struggles with a Frost Giant in order to save Patricia Wolman. However, she has ideas of her own and lets go of the Frost Giant's hand, intending to fall to her death. Instead, she is caught by the Hulk who tells her that she is going to live. Suddenly, the gamma-spawned brute reverts back into Bruce Banner and comforts the troubled woman. Back on Earth, Melinda works to get the portal back open so they can recover Bruce and his team. When the device is reactivated they are shocked by what they see on the other side. While back in Joutenheim, Banner and his team discover that the portal has been closed. When Thor offers to bring them back to Earth, Bruce Banner points out that it is not that simple as they are also in the past as well, finally informing his team of this fact. Stuck here, for the time being, Thor helps them set up camp by using Mjolnir to start some fires. The Frost Giant posing as Jessup begins to act strangely, but when Patricia notices it, he tells her that nothing is the matter. That evening as they eat some very unsatisfying wild game, Banner tells his team that they will continue their mission to mine some Eiderdürm. Thor finds this idea insane, but it is one of the reasons why he loves mortals: their ability to persevere in the face of impossible odds. Bruce makes a point to point out to Patricia that this is something being told to them by a god.
However, Banner and his team are unaware that there is a spy in their midst and that everything they say is being mystically broadcast back to the Frost Giants in their lair. Their leader decides to let the intruders succeed in their mission in order to get access to the portal to Earth, pointing out they can take back the Eiderdürm they steal. Back on Earth, Patricia shows Maria and Phil the challenge of bringing Bruce and his team back: without the proper coordinates, the portal opens up in random dimensions at random times. When Hill suggests that Leucenstern intentionally sabotaged the portal due to her criminal past, she counters this by pointing out that what they are trying to find is alike trying to find a needle in an infinite haystack. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Bruce takes a chance to get Patricia to confide in him. Pressed for the truth about her attitude, she confirms that the main reason she joined Banner's team was in the hopes that she could commit suicide by Hulk.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, SHIELD (Maria Hill, Randall Jessup, Daman Veteri, Patricia Wolman, Melinda Leucenstern, Phil Coulson), ROB, Frost Giants, Mephisto
Continuity Notes
An explanation as to how Thor could have met Bruce Banner/the Hulk centuries before they "first" met (in Avengers #1) is given in Thor: God of Thunder #3. In that story it is stated that even though the Asgardians are practically immortal, their brain capacity is limited, causing some memories to fade with time.
The reason for Patricia's suicidal behavior is explored in Hulk Annual #1.
Continuity Errors
When Thor offers to transport Banner and his allies back to Asgard, Baner declines because they are also in the past. However, this shouldn't matter because at the time of this story Mjolnir would have the ability to travel through time as well as space. Mjolnir had this power for centuries until he sacrificed this power when he was manipulated by Immortus in Thor #281. While Bruce Banner might not have been aware of this, Thor should have. One could assume that Banner was unaware of this.
