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in: Comics, 2001, 2001, December,
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100 Greatest Marvels of All Time Vol 1 4

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100 Greatest Marvels of All Time Vol 1 4.jpg


Quote1.png I don't want you with me! I don't need you! I don't need anybody! With my strength -- my power -- the world is mine! Quote2.png
--Hulk


Appearing in "The Hulk"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Incredible Hulk #1.

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  • Soviet version of X-15

Synopsis for "The Hulk"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Incredible Hulk #1.

Part 1: The Coming of the Hulk

At an Army base in the desert, Dr. Bruce Banner is readying the first test of his invention, the G-Bomb. General "Thunderbolt" Ross wants to know why Banner keeps delaying the test. His daughter Betty tries to calm him down, with little success. Banner tells Ross that the final countdown has begun. His assistant, Igor, demands that Banner share his work so that someone may check his calculations. "I don't make errors, Igor," says Bruce, and, when Igor threatens him, "You know how I detest men who think with their fists."

Banner takes a last look at the bomb with binoculars. He notices a teenage boy in a car, tells Igor to halt the countdown, and hurries after the boy in a jeep. Igor, who supposedly defected to the U.S. from the Soviet Union, is a spy and decides not to stop the countdown so that America will lose its greatest nuclear physicist. Banner gets the boy into a trench, but, before he can jump in himself, the G-Bomb explodes! Gamma rays saturate Banner's body.

Birth of the Hulk

Hours later, Banner regains his senses. The boy, Rick Jones, who drove onto the base on a dare, brought him back to base. Banner waits for some kind of symptoms to appear. When night falls, Jones turns on a "radio," actually a Geiger counter. Its clicking increases, and Banner changes into a huge grey figure. "Get out of my way, insect," says the figure, shoving Jones aside. He pushes through the wall, wrecks a jeep full of soldiers when it hits him, and wanders off to hide. Jones follows.

Part 2: The Hulk Strikes!

Bruce Banner (Earth-616) from Incredible Hulk Vol 1 1 003.jpg

The thing that was once Banner, with Jones trailing him, sneaks past the soldiers trying to find him and finds Banner's cabin. Inside, Igor is trying to find Banner's notes. He shoots at the Hulk, without effect. The Hulk takes away his gun and crumples it with one hand. He picks up Igor and slams him down on a lab bench. Jones notices a folder taped to the bottom of a large beaker, labeled "Top Secret: Report on Gamma Ray Bomb," and takes it. The Hulk picks up a photo of Banner and says, "I - I know that face!! But it is weak - soft!! I hate it! Take it away!" Jones reminds him that he is Banner. The Hulk briefly remembers what happened, then says, "I don't need you! I don't need anybody! With my strength - my power - the world is mine! As for you - you are the only one who knows who I really am!" He advances on Jones. The sun comes up at that moment, and the Hulk changes back into Banner.

Part 3: The Search for the Hulk

The MPs storm in, arrest Igor, ask Banner about the Hulk, take the folder, and leave. Betty comes to apologize for her father's outburst and tells him he should get medical attention. Banner says he'll call her and shows her out. He tells Jones that he's afraid he will change again at sunset.

Part 4: Enter... the Gargoyle!

In his cell, Igor uses a transmitter overlaid on his thumbnail. The message finds its way to the Gargoyle, a deformed Soviet scientist and secret agent, who travels by submarine and short-range missile to the desert. Banner and Jones take a jeep out into the desert before night falls, in case he changes again. He does change, and the Hulk wrecks the jeep. He recognizes the area near Ross's house and decides to visit Betty. At the same time, Betty decides to take a walk. She encounters the Hulk and faints in his arms. The Gargoyle appears.

Part 5: The Hulk Triumphant!

The Gargoyle shoots the Hulk and Jones with drug-filled bullets, making them like robots. They follow him to a truck, whose driver also gets shot. Ross finds Betty, who was frightened by her encounter but says, "In spite of everything, there was something... something sad about him!! Almost as though he was seeking... help!" Ross says, "If it takes an eternity, I'll find that monster!"

The Gargoyle and his captives reach a sub on the coast and get into a jet. As they streak towards the USSR, the sun rises on the Hulk, who changes back into Banner. Upon landing, the Gargoyle is astounded to find a man instead of a monster. He begins to cry, because he wants to be normal too. Banner treats him with radiation, which makes him look normal but takes away his super intelligence. The man who was once the Gargoyle realizes how the state has used him, so he puts Banner and Jones on a jet for home and blows up his base along with himself.

Appearing in "The Tomorrow People: Part 1 of 6:"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Ultimate X-Men #1.

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Synopsis for "The Tomorrow People: Part 1 of 6:"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Ultimate X-Men #1.

The government uses Bolivar Trask to create mutant hunting robots called Sentinels. Also Magneto and his Brotherhood make demands over the news. Meanwhile Beast, Storm, and Colossus are recruited by a teenage girl named Jean Grey, a member of the mutant team X-Men. After meeting Professor Charles Xavier, the team goes to recruit Bobby Drake but is interrupted by a Sentinel attack. The Sentinels have been deployed in order to eliminate the mutant 'threat' but they are swiftly defeated. At the same time, within the Savage Land, Magneto finds and enlists the help of Wolverine asking him to kill Xavier and the X-Men.

Appearing in "Apocalypse"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Daredevil #227.

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Synopsis for "Apocalypse"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Daredevil #227.

Karen Page, the former secretary of the Nelson & Murdock law offices and the ex-girlfriend of Matt Murdock from long ago, had left years earlier to pursue an acting career. After a brief period of success, however, her life takes a turn for the worse, as she becomes a heroin addict and gets reduced to starring in pornographic films in Mexico. Strapped for cash, she sells the information that Matt Murdock is Daredevil for just a single shot of heroin. After a long process, this information is eventually sold upward to New York, all the way to the Kingpin. Kingpin tells his assistant, Wesley, to follow up on this.

Meanwhile, Matt Murdock wakes up one morning to find that things just can't seem to go right for him. Over the course of the next six months, the Kingpin uses his influence to have the IRS freeze Murdock's accounts, the bank foreclose on his apartment, and police lieutenant Nicholas Manolis testify that he saw Murdock pay a witness to perjure himself. That night, Matt goes out as Daredevil and shows up at Manolis' house. Daredevil tries to talk with him, but Nicholas tries to throw him out and attacks him. Daredevil knocks him down and leaves. Once Daredevil is gone, Manolis calls the Kingpin to let him know that he'll continue playing along, but that his son needs treatment for his condition soon, Manolis apparently being bribed by Kingpin.

By coincidence, Murdock's girlfriend, Glorianna, breaks up with him and turns to dating his law partner and best friend, Foggy Nelson, on the rebound. This makes Matt even more depressed. Coming home, Matt watches from the sidewalk as his apartment blows up in front of him. Finding his destroyed costume in the wreckage, Matt deduces that the Kingpin must be behind all of this.

Appearing in "Nightmares Persist"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75.

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Synopsis for "Nightmares Persist"

This story is a reprint of the comic
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75.

Story continued from X-Men Vol 2 25...

The X-Men are returning to Earth following their battle against Magneto aboard his space station Avalon with a critical passenger: Wolverine, who has just suffered having the adamantium ripped from his body by Magneto's powers. With Wolverine's condition critical, Professor X and Jean Grey use their telepathy to enter Logan's mind to try and help him push through. In his mind they find themselves in a running course of Logan's memories, witnessing as a mental image of Logan is being attacked by Sabretooth, while he is crucified on a giant letter X. They witness as Logan relives the pain of having the adamantium pulled out of his body by Magneto and suddenly find themselves in a flashback of Wolverine's time during the Weapon X program where his bones had adamantium grafted to them. Realizing that they are seeing Wolverine's private memories that he wouldn't even share with his fellow X-Men, Jean finds their intrusion wrong and convinces the Professor to leave Logan's mind.

They do just as the Blackbird, hastily modified for space travel, begins having mechanical troubles due to it being unaccustomed for reentry into Earth's atmosphere. With failure to the main heat-shields, Bishop, Quicksilver and Gambit work hard to try and maintain the Blackbird's vital systems and prevent them from breaking up in mid air. The rough flying causes the medi-table that Logan is strapped onto to come loose and crash Logan into one of the planes walls. He awakens from unconsciousness howling with pain. Wolverine refuses to give up, but the other X-Men fear for the worst as they watch as Logan's healing factor begins to fail on him due to the extent of the damage done to his body.

As the Blackbird streaks through the atmosphere, Professor X, Jean Grey and Rogue try to keep Logan stable, and patch in to the X-Mansion where Moira MacTaggert is standing ready. She begins walking them through how to keep Logan stabilized as a grief stricken Jubilee watches from behind. With Rogue needed to assist Bishop and Quicksilver, Gambit goes to aid Wolverine. When the reentry causes the Blackbird's wing skin to begin cracking under the pressure, Jean is forced to use her telekinesis to keep it together. As the remaining X-Men on Earth watch things unfold, Professor X orders Gambit to monitor Logan's now fading vital signs as he enters his mind once more to try and keep Logan alive. He warns Gambit to snap him out of the psi-link if things get too grave, as if Logan dies with the Professor still in his mind, Xavier would die as well.

Inside Logan's mind, Xavier sees yet another revision of Logan's battle against Magneto, which ends much in the same way it did in real life. As a boneless Logan now begins to give up on living, he begins to head toward a bright light that has appeared in his mind. In the real world, the Blackbird has reentered Earth's atmosphere but it's not out of danger yet as it flies into a storm front between New Jersey and New York causing more damage to the craft, prompting Bishop to get Gambit to help them. Inside Logan's mind, Logan goes toward the light, ready to end his life when he is visited by the spirit of Illyana[2]. The spirit pushes Logan back, rejecting him from death, despite Logan's protests.

In the real world, Xavier is forced to leave Logan's mind as the storm begins to break loose the main hatch destabilizing the cabin pressure and threatening to suck them all out. Jean uses her mental powers to force the door shut, however when lightning strikes the plane it causes her concentration to momentarily slip and the hatch to break off. Jean is instantly sucked out the door but she grabs on for dear life. With the others lives in jeopardy, Jean uses her mental powers to keep them from being sucked out as well. In Logan's mind, he is surrounded by light and sees a hand reach out for him. Thinking that it's a hand to guide him back to the after life he reaches for it when he realizes it's Jean and she's in trouble. Regaining consciousness, Logan has gained enough strength to get out of his med-bay and grab Jean and pull her to safety as the Blackbird begins to land back at the X-Mansion.

Some time later, after given some time to heal, Logan finds that his healing factor has been significantly weakened. Despite this, he insists on participating in a Danger Room sequence to see if he's still got what it takes to be a member of the X-Men, even without his adamantium bones and claws. The X-Men watch as Wolverine operates in the Danger Room with a look of uncertainty and fear on his face. Despite this, Logan presses on and refusing to give up he surprises himself and everyone else when bone claws suddenly rip out of his hands. With his healing factor not working at full strength, he is at risk of bleeding to death, prompting Moira MacTaggert to stop the Danger Room sequence and the X-Men to rush him to the medical lab.

Sometime later, Logan is out with Jubilee on the mansion property talking about the new revelation that his claws were bone and not implants, raising more questions about how Logan didn't know this for all these years, even during the his time before the Weapon X project. Logan talks about how his life had changed for the better since he got with the X-Men, but wonders where his place is with them now especially with his healing factor no longer running at peak capacity. When he lights up a cigar, he experiences for the first time a smokers cough and decides that perhaps he should give up smoking.

That night, Logan wakes up in the middle of the night and begins packing his things, he leaves a letter for Jubilee telling her that he needs to leave to figure out what to do with his life now and for her to stick with Charles Xavier and the X-Men. He leaves notes for all his teammates and goes to his motorcycle. Before he leaves, he looks up and sees that Jubilee is awake and tearfully watching him leave the premises. Waving goodbye, Wolverine rides off into the night, beginning the next chapter in his life, a chapter without his friends the X-Men.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks
  2. ↑ Illyana died of the Legacy Virus in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 304


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