Appearing in "The Sinners"
Featured Characters:
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Main story and recap) (Freed from the One Below All's indirect possession in main story)
Antagonists:
- U.S. Hulk Operations (Main story and flashback)
- Absorbing Man / Red Dog (Carl "Crusher" Creel) (Main story and flashback) (Joins) (First appearance as Red Dog) (Possessed by the One Below All-possessed Brian Banner) (Apparent death)
- Bushwhacker (Carl Burbank)
- Gen. Reginald Fortean (Behind the scenes in main story and appears in flashback)
- Dr. Jeff Clive (Full name first revealed) (Only in flashback)
- Dr. Charlene McGowan (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Only in flashback)
- Unnamed New Mexican (First appearance; dies)
- New Mexico State Police (Mentioned)
- Kenny Krask (Only in flashback)
- Roxxon (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- Titania (Mary MacPherran) (Photo) (Only in flashback)
- U.S. Army (Only in recap)
- U.S. Government (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- Walter Langowski (Referenced)
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- A.I.M. (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- Red Hulk (Gen. Robert L. Maverick) (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- Derek (First appearance; dies) (Only in flashback)
- Red Hulk (Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross) (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked) (Only in flashback)
- Apollo Creed (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- United States of America (Main story and flashback)
- New York (Only in flashback)
- New York City (Only in flashback)
- New Mexico (Main story and recap)
- Los Diablos Missile Base (Main story and recap)
- Shadow Base (Behind the scenes in main story and appears in flashback)
- California (Only in recap)
- Minnesota (Referenced)
- Richard Baker Hospital (Referenced)
- New York (Only in flashback)
- United States of America (Main story and flashback)
- Below-Place
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 56 (Only in flashback)
- Absorbing Man's Ball and Chain (Main story and flashback)
- Inhibitor Collar (Only in flashback)
- Guardsman Armor (Only in flashback)
- Gamma Bomb (Referenced)
- Hulk Plug-In (Bannerman Gene-Enchancement Package) (Name revealed) (Behind the scenes in main story and appears in flashback)
- Rocky IV (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Events:
- Avengers: No Surrender (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "The Sinners"
One Month Ago
Iron Man, standing in his suit of armor while watching an unconscious Absorbing Man lying on the ground, mocks the infamous criminal. Captured together with his longtime lover, Titania, Creel is questioned by two men: they try to push information out of him, also by beating him up, but he remains silent.
Two Weeks Ago
Creel sits in prison, talking with his lawyer. He tells him to keep Titania away from his trial, as she should not be involved and she should keep doing her job in Roxxon. After detailing a bit how he was captured, Creel receives a proposal from his lawyer: he represents a fellow criminal, Carl Burbank, better known as Bushwhacker. He just made him leave this very facility Carl sits in, and he can do the exact same thing for him...
Eleven Days Ago
Creel is welcomed to Shadow Base by General Fortrean and Dr. Clive. They want to offer them an opportunity to hunt down the Hulk for them: after all, the Absorbing Man is one of the Hulk's greatest enemies. Creel laughs at them: Hulk pulverized him every single time they fought, so why would it be different this time? But the general assures him it will, thanks to the resources of the government. One day later, Dr. Clive reveals that the key to make Absorbing Man powerful enough to stand against the Hulk is the Bannerman Gene-Enhancement Package, a serum developed and perfected by several agencies.
Creel knows that it could kill him, or put him in a coma: he's not going to take the risk. General Fortrean understands him: they won't make him do nothing against his will. But he must inform him: without cooperating with Shadow Base, he'll have to get back to his cell and rot there. His choice.
Five Days Ago
Creel has accepted the treatment, and completed the trial. Appearing with his skin now red, a result that Clive comments as encouraging, the Absorbing Man has gained new powers: like the Red Hulk, and Banner himself, he can take the Gamma energy of a Gamma-infused being inside himself, to use it as his own.
Twenty Minutes Ago
In his rooms, Creel watches the photo of Titania, thinking about his decision: he made a mistake. It was better to rot in a cell, but because of his foolish pride he took the power, again. Pride is a killer. In that moment, Fortrean enters, telling him he's right: pride is a killer, and the Hulk is one as well. He killed Clive by literally absorbing him: so ironic, isn't it? Creel is surprised that no one informed him the Hulk was there with them, but Fortrean explains that initially he was not perceived as a threat. But now they have his location, thanks to Agent Burbank: for codename "Red Dog" it's finally time to show off his new powers.
Now
Bruce Banner is wandering through the deserts of New Mexico, after escaping from Shadow Base, one of the sites controlled by U.S Hulk Operations. Trying to dress himself up, Banner attempts to steal a pair of trunks from the washing line's of an old man living nearby: the man shoots at him with a rifle, defending his property. Inside of Banner, Hulk speaks to him: he was foolish, he took a risk and got punished because of that. But it is night time. His time.
Banner transforms, and the Hulk takes his place, to the horror of the old man. As an act of vengeance, Hulk destroys everything the man owns, but does not attempt to kill him. Later, an agent that received the emergency call from the old man assures him he was lucky to survive, only to kill the man himself. He is revealed to be Agent Burbank, part of U.S. Hulk Operations, tracking down Banner, who escaped leaving out a Gamma trail. After communicating that intercepting 911 calls was a great idea, he confirms that he's going to proceed with the hunt.
He asks to base to inform Red Dog that Hulk's destination is now known to them: he's going "home". Meanwhile, Hulk finally gets to his place of power: Los Diablos, site of the incident that made Banner transform into the Hulk for the first time. The Hulk, in fact, was not born here: he was already with Banner when he killed his father. Maybe he's always been with him. But here is where he feels the strongest.
He needed to be here for one thing: when he stopped Sasquatch, he found out Walter was possessed by something. Something wearing Brian Banner's face, a face both Hulk and Bruce hate. This thing, he knows that. He did it on purpose. And now, this thing is inside the Hulk. He must cast it out, he must smash him. But suddenly, he realizes this was not the Hulk's plan. It was something the thing possessing him put in their heads.
It is the thing's place of power as well as the Hulk's. He wants to end it here, to see who survives, and so the Hulk calls at him: "Come out, Father", he shouts. He's ready for the final confrontation. But suddenly, he understands: the thing is trying to lure out his rage, to make him fight. Not this time. It was going to function on another kind of Hulk, but not him. He is in control.
The Hulk stops: he will wait, and his rage won't come out. But then, a sensation tickles him: what is that sound? Hulk soon finds out it is the Absorbing Man coming from above. He's different, he probably had an upgrade in power of some sorts. Is it a machination of his father? No, something different. Creel is here to fight him, a thing of pride. Hulk does not need this fight: he must remain in control. But as he punches the Absorbing Man, his energy is drained, and his opponent is not hurt.
Soon Hulk finds out that Creel is able to absorb his Gamma radiations: Creel is full of adrenaline, he believes he can finally slay his monster. He's wrong, because the Hulk is different, but in the end, it seems, Brian Banner won: Hulk is going to get mad. After a while though, Creel starts behaving in a strange way: Hulk realizes that Absorbing Man, just like Hulk did against Sasquatch, drained from the Green Goliath the thing that was possessing him. Brian Banner, or whatever he is, is inside Carl Creel now, and things are literally getting uglier...
Somewhere Else
Creel finds himself in a strange dimension, and afraid asks an explanation to a gigantic creature towering above him: this creature tells him he's not able to see his true form, but a mask. The creature tells him that his body, his malleable body, is above them, being used by the creature herself. But Carl is not above. He is below all, the place he's always been lured to. A place for him, as he is bearer of the oldest sin, the sin of Pride. And pride is a killer...
Solicit Synopsis
• Carl Creel was just trying to live. But sometimes trying isn’t enough.
• Now, to save the life he built for himself — and maybe everything else — Carl Creel has to do the impossible.
• The Absorbing Man has to kill the IMMORTAL HULK.Notes
Legacy Numbering[]
- Based on the Marvel Legacy renumbering infographic, this issue is Incredible Hulk #726.
