Bring me the Head of the Hulk!

Liz Ross has come to visit her father, General Thaddeus Ross, in the hospital where she tells him about the gamma bomb incident and the Hulk.[1] Hearing about what his daughter went through,[2] Ross demands that someone bring him the head of the Hulk at once. She tries to get the old man to calm down, but he insists that if he wasn’t retired he’d take down the Hulk himself.[3] As Liz leaves, she thinks about the encounter and her greatest fear — something she has kept secret since the Hulk first appeared — the fear that the Hulk is actually Bruce Banner, transformed by the gamma bomb explosion instead of killed by it.[4]

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, Iron Man is digging through the bed rock on the Stark International property. He is interrupted when Pepper Potts contacts him and says that Jasper Sitwell has shown up demanding to speak with Tony. He is pleased to hear that Sitwell isn’t happy about something and tells Pep that he’ll be right up. When Potts asks why Tony is expending energy to dig a hole in the ground — precious energy needed to keep his heart beating — he tells her that he is creating for the first time in a long time.[5]

Going up to his private pool, Tony changes out of most of his armor, using a bath robe to hide the chest plate that he needs to wear at all times in order to keep himself alive. Jasper is surprised to see that Tony is indeed alive, having figured he would have bled out after the Hulk made their chopper crash. Tony insists that he got lucky and changes the subject. Sitwell gets down to business, the gamma bomb explosion has got the Pentagon worried about what happened. Tony becomes upset when he realizes that Jasper used his company to build the weapon for the government. He wonders what other top secret projects his company got attached to when he wasn’t really paying attention.

Jasper tries to justify his actions by pointing out that Tony checked out ever since Rebel O’Reilly died and that Sitwell did what he had to do to keep the company turning a profit.[6] He hopes that his new bodyguard “Iron Man” hasn’t clouded Tony’s mind with ideas of chivalry. He also hopes that whoever is wearing the suit now doesn’t end up like O’Reilly did. As Sitwell leaves, Tony is left wondering if he is doing the right thing or if being Iron Man is just going to lead to more people getting hurt. When Pepper comes to go over business with him, Tony asks her to keep an eye out for any signs that his armor is a risk to his health or to the safety of others.

Their discussion is interrupted by Arthur Parks, who has come to give Tony a piece of his mind after Stark bought out his fiberoptics company then shut it down. He is furious that Stark did this as it caused a massive economic downturn that has affected his home town. Tony tries to apologize for his past behavior, trying to explain that everything went down because he was in a funk. This is insulting to Parks, who believes that there is no excuse for what happened. Suddenly, Parks begins glowing with energy as his shape begins to change. Explaining how he used his fiberoptic technology to transform himself, Parks — now calling himself the Living Laser — tries to blast Tony with his new laser powers. Diving into his pool, Tony remotely summons the other components of his Iron Man armor so he can change under cover. When the Living Laser uses his powers to boil all the water out of the pool he finds Iron Man waiting for him at the bottom.

Meanwhile, psychologist Leonard Samson is at his office when he receives an unexpected phone call from Bruce Banner, a man he believes is dead. Bruce wishes he was and tells Leonard that he needs his help.[7]

Back at Stark International, Iron Man’s battle with the Living Laser rages on. While the Laser channels a great deal of power, Iron Man’s armor is built to withstand the assault. The power pushes Arthur Parks to the limits of his endurance to the point that his laser form begins losing cohesion. Iron Man questions why the Laser would give up his humanity for something as petty as revenge. Although defeated, Parks says he would sacrifice anything to kill Tony Stark.[8]

Later, Pepper Potts returns to her apartment and is pleased about how Tony is turning over a new leaf. That’s when she hears someone rooting around her kitchen. Inside, she finds the assassin named Whirlwind looking through her fridge. He asks her if she has anything to eat in her apartment since he hates to kill on an empty stomach.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Hydra (Living Laser, Whirlwind), Pepper Potts, Betty Ross, Jasper Sitwell, Leonard Samson, Bruce Banner

Continuity Notes

1. It should be noted that this is a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save the lives of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. As such, only Iron Man and the Bruce Banner are the original characters in this story. Everyone else featured here is actually a construct created by Franklin to populate his imaginary Earth. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for more details on that.

2. Liz is wearing a scarf around her head to hide the fact that she has tumors growing out of her head, something that isn’t revealed until Iron Man (vol. 2) #8. Issue #12 explains that Liz contracted cancer from her exposure to the gamma bomb’s radiation.

3. General Ross insisting that he could hunt down the Hulk is a nod to the fact that this is exactly what the Prime Marvel Universe version of Ross has done for many years, dating all the way back to the very beginning in Incredible Hulk #1.

4. Liz recounts the gamma bomb explosion and Banner’s involvement with it as well as Iron Man and the Hulk’s brawl. This took place over the first two issues of this series. While the Banner/Hulk connection is obvious to long time readers, our heroes don’t confirm this until Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #6.

5. Tony ended up with a piece of shrapnel in his chest after getting into a helicopter crash. Tony has had to wear his Promethean Armor (or at least its chest plate) to keep himself alive as seen in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1.

6. Rebel O’Reilly was Tony’s best friend who died when a prototype of the Promethian armor overloaded and blew up, as seen in issue #1. Rebel won’t stay dead for long, popping up alive again in Iron Man (vol. 2) #7.

7. Banner is human for the first time here since his transformation and subsequent battles with both Iron Man and the Avengers. See Iron Man (vol. 2) #1-2 and Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.

8. It’s not really explained exactly happens to the Living Laser after his defeat here. Does he die? Is he captured? The artwork and lack of a coherent story don’t really clearly explain what’s happening. Some unofficial sources (particularly a certain crowd sourced site that is rife with incorrect and incomplete information) out there assume he died here even though he appears alive and well again in Avengers (vol. 2) #9.

Topical References

• General Ross is depicted smoking a cigar in his hospital room. This is a dated reference even for this story since virtually all American hospitals went smoke free in 1993, four years prior to this story’s publication.