Raoul Stoddard was an university classmate of Bruce Banner at Desert State University. He later became a leading authority in Gamma radiation and a researcher at DSU. Banner once recruited his help to cure him from the Hulk, but he only managed to physically separate the Hulk from Banner. Stoddard then tried to kill Banner because he envied Banner's greater prestige as a Gamma expert, but failed and was arrested.
History
Raoul Stoddard was university classmates with Bruce Banner at Desert State University in Navapo, New Mexico.[1][2][3] Both were pupils of Professor Herbert Josiah Weller, physicist and eminence in the study of Gamma radiation. From the first moment, Weller treated Banner as his favorite due to Banner's superior intelligence and potential, although Stoddard worked harder than Banner. Even in his graduate days, Stoddard did important work for Weller.[1] After completing his studies, Stoddard worked on gamma radiation research[1] at DSU, becoming the third leading authority in his field after Weller and Banner, in addition to being, along with Banner, the most famous DSU alumnus.[1]
Stoddard settled on Sunnybrook Lane, in Navapo, and continued working with Weller. Using money from a lenient yet generous government grant, Weller and Stoddard built a secret laboratory on the outskirts of Navapo to conduct gamma radiation research privately, without the knowledge of even the authorities who had funded it. In that laboratory, Stoddard developed and kept a Gammatron, a gamma-gun prototype that fired harnessed gamma rays.[1]
The DSU was damaged by protests by students opposed to scientific research who attacked Weller's laboratory.[4] Weller, having a weak heart, suffered a nervous breakdown.[1] Banner, at the time the gamma-mutated monster called Hulk returned to the University,[4] where he added to the destruction caused by the students[4][1] in a confrontation with Captain Marvel,[4] and attracting the attention of General Ross, who was tracking the Hulk. Stoddard then decided to teach Weller's night classes until Weller could regained his health, which Stoddard hoped would be in the next few days.[1]
The next day, Hulk returned to his Banner form in Navapo, decided to return to DSU to check on Weller, and ended up going to Stoddard's home. Banner found Stoddard there. Stoddard told Banner that Weller would recover, and that he, Stoddard, would not report Banner to the authorities because he knew that Banner did not control the Hulk's actions.[1] Banner asked Stoddard to help him find a cure for his Hulk condition, putting their expert minds together, and Stoddard agreed,[1][2][3] after which he drove Banner to the secret laboratory. By then, Ross had sent planes from the USAF to track Banner, but Stoddard noticed and lost them by going to the laboratory through a tunnel.[1] Once there, Stoddard and Banner worked together to adapt the Gammatron so that it could isolate the part of Banner that became the Hulk, after which they could take out the Banner, shut down the machine and the Hulk part, which they hoped would remain as radiation, would dissolve into the environment.[1] The process however caused the Hulk to physically separate from Banner, a solid person at his side.[1][2][3] As the Hulk hated Banner, he attacked him; and Banner fled the lab in Stoddard's car, to get Hulk away from Stoddard.[1]
Stoddard spent that time reviewing what had gone wrong, and reconfigured the Gammatron. Banner returned shortly after, and Stoddard offered him a new process that he hoped would destroy the Hulk; but Banner told him that it was necessary to recombine his body with that of the Hulk, otherwise Banner would also be destroyed. Stoddard then tied Banner in front of the Gammatron's cannon, so that when Hulk got between Banner and the cannon, Stoddard could fire and Banner and Hulk would combine. General Ross and his soldiers, who had tracked down Banner and the Hulk, burst into the laboratory; and Ross demanded that Banner be released. Then Stoddard's resentment got the better of him, and he realized that, if Banner survived, Stoddard would always be in his shadow. He threatened the soldiers with a gun and decided to try to kill Banner, but then the Hulk burst into the laboratory again, and Stoddard was paralyzed with fear while Banner was calm. Hulk read the room and concluded that they were luring him into a trap with that cannon. Stoddard tried to convince Hulk to kill Banner, but Hulk distrusted Stoddard because other humans with weapons in their hands had tricked him. Hulk decided to leave the laboratory to get revenge on Banner in the future. Ross soldiers of the Army Police disarmed and arrested Stoddard, although Banner said that Stoddard was not in his right mind.[1]
Soon afterward, the Gammatron was used to reemerge Hulk and Banner together.[2][3][5]Attributes
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- Stoddard's eyes are alternatively colored brown and blue.[1]
Trivia
- Stoddard and Banner, having been classmates, were on a first-name basis.[1]
See Also
- 1 appearance(s) of Raoul Stoddard (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Raoul Stoddard (Earth-616)
- 1 image(s) of Raoul Stoddard (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 Incredible Hulk #130
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 World War Hulk: Gamma Files #1 ; Hulk's profile
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5 ; Hulk's profile
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Captain Marvel #21
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #131