Comic Book / The Incredible Hulk (1968)

Yeah, good luck with that one, Banner. There's another two hundred and fifty issues of this run to go...

The Incredible Hulk is a comic book series from Marvel Comics, launched in 1968. The book became a Long Runner, lasting over 30 years before it was cancelled and relaunched.

After The Incredible Hulk (1962) was cancelled, Hulk became a regular character in The Avengers (first as a protagonist, then an antagonist) before going on to feature in Tales to Astonish, a split-book Anthology Comic series in 1965. In 1968, Tales to Astonish was retitled, dropped the anthology elements, and became a second series of The Incredible Hulk. The series continued until 1999, with twelve of those years being written by Peter David, starting with issue #331.

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The Incredible Hulk (1968) provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Bill Mantlo's run introduces us to Bruce's dad, Brian Banner, who is one of the major reasons Bruce is so screwed up; he was a physically abusive alcoholic who felt Bruce was a freak for being smarter than his age, and resented him merely for existing and therefore "stealing" Rebecca's love from him. He would go on to murder Rebecca when she tried to leave him.
• A Glitch in the Matrix: In a story from the Nineties, Hulk has been brainwashed by the Red Skull to believe that the Juggernaut (who is working for the Skull as hired muscle) is his father Brian Banner, thus turning the Hulk into his servant. The Hulk causes some serious damage in the subsequent battle against the Avengers, until the Juggernaut blows his cover by being too nice. All Juggernaut did was praise the Hulk for his fighting ability, but it was more kindness than Bruce Banner's father had ever shown. Hulk realized that things were false and started a Battle in the Center of the Mind.
• Ancient Astronauts: A 1971 story had The Sphinx being left behind by aliens aliens as a weapon... even though Fantastic Four had established some years before it was actually a crashed time machine of Kang's.
• Ascended Extra: Karla Sofen, previously a one-off henchwoman for Dr. Faustus over in Captain America, steals the moonstone from Moonstone via psychological tricks, becoming the supervillainess Moonstone, and never looks back.
• Asshole Victim: Mantlo's run states that, after attacking his son at his wife's grave, Brian Banner was unceremoniously killed by a bunch of muggers. Peter David's run changed this so that Bruce, finally reaching breaking point after a lifetime of Brian's crap, smashed his head against Rebecca's tombstone, but was so horrified he blocked this out. The rain cleared up a lot of the evidence and the police, knowing what Brian was like, didn't feel the need to investigate terribly hard.
• At the Crossroads: In issue #300, The Hulk was banished to "The Crossroads" by Doctor Strange when he was "mindless" to a) get him away from Earth and b) let him choose where he wanted to live; but he never found a place he liked and eventually he was brought back to Earth.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Punisher is usually smart enough to stick to attacking non-superpowered people, and Crazy-Prepared enough to know what to do if he runs into superpowered people. But in issue #395, he runs into the Hulk in Las Vegas, and has no other idea of what to do besides just throwing everything (down to and including a hand grenade) at him. Naturally, nothing works. In fairness, the Punisher didn't realize it was the Hulk at first, but the fact that he was bullet-proof, eight feet tall and green should've tipped him off.
• BFG: In issue #390, a soldier in a battle mans a high-tech cannon about ten feet long. When a blast knocks the weapon off its legs, pinning the soldier beneath, the Hulk (the really smart version) picks up the cannon, wields it in one hand, and to the enemy says "...let us reason together"
• Back from the Dead:
  • Incredible Hulk annual #15 has Abomination come back after his previous death, and a brief resurrection during Secret Wars II.
  • Parodied in Peter David's run. Rick Jones' fiancee Marlo is dead. He goes to Doctor Strange and the following conversation ensues.
  Rick: Wong, have you returned from the dead?
  Wong: Well, yes.
  Rick: And Doc, have you come back from the dead?
  Doctor Strange: Yes, but I am a professional.

  • Eventually he asks the Leader to bring her back from the dead. And the Leader does.
  • In issue #434, following the death of Nick Fury at the Punisher's hands, several of Fury's old "Howling Commandos" buddies laugh, drink, and jokingly float numerous theories involving android duplicates, alien intervention, and the like until they reach the casket at the graveside. They're still sitting there speechless and shocked even after the rest of the attendees have left. (Of course, Nick Fury gets better anyway.)
  • In issue #460, the Maestro reveals to Bruce he's been absorbing energy from the Hulk every time he's passed by the site of the Maestro's death back in Future Imperfect, so he could revive himself. Bruce and the Hulk's re-merging in that issue provides enough to temporarily bring him back. Just not in great nick, and he's dead again by the end of the next issue.
• Body Horror: At one point, Bruce and the Hulk's struggle gets so bad Bruce starts physically emerging in the Hulk's torso, in order to try and kill himself.
• Book Ends: Casey's run begins and ends with General Ross talking to Betty's cryogenically frozen body.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In issue #393, a common villain named Coyote Cash tried to steal a weapon from the US Army, and the Hulk on one of his typical 1970s/80s rampages runs through the area, destroys everything in his path, and the villain ends up caught and in jail. A few years later he's out and attempting to cheat at roulette in Las Vegas. Again the Hulk, this time as Joe Fixit, rampages through and ruins his day without even looking over his shoulder. More jail time. Finally, the guy sneaks into Rick Jones' house to kill him as revenge on the Hulk. The house is all but blown up, but then the Hulk, this time as Professor Hulk, gets out of the bed and shouts "what the hell, I was only housesitting!" The guy is arrested again with Banner/Hulk being absolutely clueless what the guy's motivation was.
• Butterfly of Doom: Issue #135 has Kang, sore over failing to defeat the Avengers, attempting to Retgone them via convoluted means; he recruits the Hulk to intervene in a battle in World War 1 where the hero the Phantom Eagle destroyed a German cannon, saving Bruce Banner's grandfather's life. No Mr. Banner, no Bruce Banner, no Hulk, no Avengers. The plan fails when German soldiers attack the Hulk and he ends up smashing the cannon himself.
• Canon Discontinuity: During John Byrne's run on the series, an angry response to writer/artist, particularly his "Man of Steeling" of the Hulk in Annual #1, was responded to in the title's letters page by something along the lines of, "When you not like what happen, do what Hulk do: Pretend it never happened." Thus, the six issues and an annual were simply removed out of existence.
• Can't Stay Normal: As always, no matter what Bruce does, he can't ever be rid of the Hulk.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Colonel St. Lawrence, a recurring character in the last part of Peter David's run, disappears the minute he leaves the book without explanation.
• Clumsy Copyright Censorship: The trade paper back collection Regression includes issue #296, which had a guest appearance by Rom, a character based on a Parker Brothers toy. Since Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom, the pages on which he appears aren't reprinted, and instead there's a text summary which refers only to a "heroic alien cyborg".
• Conflict Ball: During Milgrom's run, the Hulkbuster team are trying out their tech on a lifelike Hulk robot. Doc Samson stumbles upon this and assumes it's the real Hulk in trouble. Rather than explain this and ask him to buzz off, the team decides to attack Samson instead, which soon ends with one of their number dead and another swearing vengeance on Samson and the Hulk.
• Crazy-Prepared: In issue #375, Rick Jones is caught on an exploding Skrull spaceship. He manages to escape because he has on a parachute, which — as he explains to a boggled Bruce Banner — he carries around just in case he's ever on an exploding Skrull spaceship. It could have been a Shout-Out to Golden Age Captain America, who happened to have a parachute every time it was convenient, with little or no explanation.
  • Word of God is that Peter David wrote himself into a corner...
  • The best part is that Rick Jones was later further developed to be a Crazy-Prepared Ascended Fanboy, largely due to this mishap.
• Credits Gag: The credits for issue #467 lists Peter David (who was leaving the book after that issue) as "Ex-writer" and artist Adam Kubert (who was moving on to X-Men) as "X-artist".
• Curse Escape Clause: In issue #298-300, the Hulk had reverted to a mindless brute and was sent to "the Crossroads" by Doctor Strange. From this nexus he could go to almost any world (except straight back to Earth), with the caveat that, if he were truly unhappy in a given world, he would be sent back to the Crossroads to choose again.
• Deadly Dodging:
  • In issue #212, when the Hulk ducks out of the way of one of the Constrictor's whips, the metal whip strikes an electric streetlight, causing him to get electrocuted.
  • In issue #348, Joe Fixit goads the Absorbing Man into hitting a large pool of water while he was charged with electricity, shorted him out.
• Deal with the Devil: Issue #418 features Marlo selling her soul to Mephisto (she thought it was just a dream) in order to have a perfect wedding day.
• Death Is Cheap:
  • Depending on how you count it, Bruce / the Hulk die more than once (either dead-dead, Only Mostly Dead or standard cliffhanger dead) during the run.
  • The Leader proves pretty good at this one, too, including managing to come back from falling into an active volcano and being completely atomized.
  • Adam Warlock makes an appearance in issue #177. He dies at the end of it, but revives in the next issue.
  • In issue #345, The Hulk is killed by a bomb from The Leader, in Middletown, and returns in issue #347.
  • The Leader is killed in an explosion in Incredible Hulk #400, but he returns as the leader of the Home Base organization, which never happened due to being part of a plot by Nightmare.
  • Lampshaded endlessly in issues #397-#400. When a distraught Rick Jones goes to Doctor Strange so that he can resurrect his girlfriend Marlo, Strange explains how it's impossible. Rick goes on to point out how many other characters have died and come back, asking if Strange' assistant had (responding "Actually, yes"). It gets to the point where Marlo does get brought back to life by a magical priest and a crystal chamber simply called the "Deux Ex Machina." She comes back... but is left a complete shell from the experience. (She gets better before issue #418 [their wedding], though.)
• Death of the Hypotenuse: Glenn Talbot, a long-time rival for Betty's affections, pursuer of the Hulk and all-round general jerk, dies in issue #260, and so far has stayed dead. Not that it makes things any easier for Bruce and Betty.
• Devil, but No God: Double Subversion: Old Greenskin (who at the time had Bruce Banner's intellect) acted as best man at Rick Jones' wedding, and Mephisto crashed the party, claiming to have a lien on the bride's soul. He offered the Hulk a deal: His soul for hers. Banner thought it over, looked up at the sky, and sucker-punched the demon so completely that he flew right through the fire-circle wards he'd set up to keep the other superbeings in attendance from interfering. Sputtering, Mephisto screamed that what the Hulk had done was impossible (No mortal, however powerful, should be able to land a blow on a conceptual being without permission). Banner replied, (not an exact quote): "Weren't you listening to what the preacher said? We are gathered here in the sight of God! What, did you, of all beings, think that those were just words?" While Mephisto leaves the wedding seemingly defeated, his thoughts reveal that he took the beating on purpose to increase the Hulk's hubris. A few issues later, the Hulk's organisation, the Pantheon, went down in flames and Banner suffered a pretty bad nervous breakdown, ruining all of his work with Doc Samson.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: The end of Peter David's run. Bruce and Betty reunite, things are patched up with Ross, who's given up on Hulk-hunting. A grateful President gives Bruce a pardon and a place to live in private. And then Betty suddenly comes down with sudden radiation poisoning that kills her.
• Driven to Suicide: After Betty's apparent death, Bruce tries several times to kill himself.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In Peter David's "Countdown" story arc, the villainous Leader, who once gamma-bombed a town of 5,000 people just to see how many would survive and gain gamma powers (answer: five), states that he can't bring himself to kill his own brother.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In issue #165, "To Become a God", Mad Scientist Captain Omen is dumbfounded to learn that his son is the leader of a rebellion amongst the mutant children of his mobile deep-sea colony and asks what could have possibly turned his son against his father's mission to map the sea floor and claim it as his own sovereign nation. After all, he muses, his son would have inherited dominion over that nation, and everyone wants power! It never occurs to him that his son might resent having been born into Omen's mad mission and kept sequestered from the surface for his entire life... especially since Omen never mentioned that the deep-born mutants can't survive out of the sea's depths.
• Eye Scream: At the start of issue #335, a woman is attacked by the Stalker, who slashes her in the eyes with his claws. She blindly runs out of the house and into the street, where she stumbles into the Hulk, who protects her from the Stalker.
• Fame Through Infamy: Len Wein used this idea in The Incredible Hulk #205 when Jarella is killed by the robot Crypto-Man; the scientist who sent the robot on its rampage wanted to become infamous, but the robot's battle with the Hulk caused a power feedback that killed him and burned away all his identifying features.
• Fantastic Medicinal Bodily Product: In issue #420, Jim Wilson, a former teen sidekick of the Hulk, asks him for a transfusion because he's dying of AIDS and thinks that the Hulk's blood will cure him, much like it made Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer into the She-Hulk. He refuses because his blood was once obtained by a wealthy cancer patient and things went horribly wrong when it was put into his body.
• Fat Bastard: In The Incredible Hulk Annual #14, the villain of the story is St John Hubert, a rich man so morbidly obese he needs crutches to walk. He's been stalking the Hulk and experimenting with gamma mutation in a vain attempt to improve his health. He succeeds in inducing a gamma mutation but just becomes an even larger blob of man so heavy he dents the hull of the ship he's standing on. He also ends up dying anyway, like the rest of his test subjects.
• Flash Forward: Issue #467 has a future version of Rick Jones talking to an unseen writer called "Peter". Peter David does at least leave easy wiggle room by having that version of Rick acknowledge that he's already dealt with alternate timelines and whatnot, so he figures he might not be the future Rick, just a Rick.
• God Guise: In issue #384, the Hulk has been turned into an inch tall. He secretly perches on the Abomination's shoulder and pretends to be God to stop him from kidnapping his wife.
• Godzilla Threshold: The fight with a mindless Hulk gets so bad the Avengers (except for Captain America) seriously figure the only way to stop him is to kill him.
• Graceful Loser: Subverted when Armageddon tries and fails to resurrect his son. He initially seems to take it with good grace, but Bruce figures a few issues later that he probably smashed all the equipment up afterwards to stop Bruce using it. And he's right.
• Happy Ending Override: John Byrne's run ends with Bruce and Betty tying the knot. Al Milgrom's run immediately following has it start falling apart, culminating in Betty going insane.
• Harping on About Harpies: One of the Leader's schemes has him turn Betty Ross into the Harpy, and send her after the Hulk. Fortunately, it's only a two issue thing and she's cured.
• Heel–Face Turn: Emil Blonksy's resurrection and depowering in annual #15 mellow him out, with him helping save Betty's life in the hopes it'll ease his prison sentence. It lasted three years before he was restored to Abomination and evil.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Issue #330 has General Ross jump in the path of a life-sucking parasite heading for Betty and fry it, apparently at the cost of his own life. He gets better.
• History Repeats: Issue #330, the last issue of Al Milgrom's run, has Ross supposedly get over his hatred for Bruce and Betty's relationship before dying. However, John LaRoquette of the Hulkbusters, who has his own grievances against Gamma Mutants, vows to continue the fight.
• Hoist Hero over Head: In issue #142, Valkyrie holds the Hulk over her head.
  Every Male Chauvinist Pig in the world will Tremble...when he sees the Hulk hurled to his Death — by a Woman!
• Holding Out for a Hero: Justified in a late 1970s issue, with the Hulk rampaging desperately through New York and all the regular authorities like the NYPD can't stop him. As a cameraman is getting this, he is wondering where are The Fantastic Four, The Avengers or Spider-Man to help stop the monster.
• Hope Spot: During one of the Hulk's mindless rampages, She-Hulk intervenes, figuring she can reach out to him. Then the Hulk punches her.
• Immunity Disability: In the Countdown arc, the Hulk gets poisoned and has to give a blood sample; however, the needles can't penetrate his tough skin. He resorts to hitting himself over and over again till he bleeds out enough to fill a test tube.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: It's usually a good indicator of how sympathetic a character is meant to be as to whether they refer to Hulk as "he" or "it". It's never a good sign when Bruce is the one calling Hulk "it".
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: With a little help from Rick making a fake persona for him, Bruce manages to sneak into Hulkbuster Base by pretending to be a janitor (and dying his hair blond). General Ross is almost suspicious of him, and while Dr. Spar does figure that janitor is up to something, she just figured he was a spy trying to steal information.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Issue #377 has Doc Samson try to get the Hulk and Joe Fixit to work together via one of these. Things go very wrong when instead of Brian Banner in the memories, there's a new Hulk, representing Bruce's guilt and self-loathing.
• Kick the Dog: In their first meeting, General Ross thoughtlessly destroys Bruce's cherished childhood doll.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo:
  • In issue #418, one of the surprise guests at Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler's wedding is a chalky-skinned woman with black clothes and a necklace tucked into her shirt. She gives Marlo a hairbrush for a gift then bugs out before "that Thanos creep shows up." Fans of The Sandman (1989) will recognize that the recently-Back from the Dead Marlo had a brush with Death.
  • In issue #426, one of Doc Samson's patients is a crazy man named "Mr. J", who babbles on about how his willpower shapes reality via a power ring.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Future Rick's final monologue in issue #467 is about how he could keep telling stories about the Hulk, but after a while you gotta stop and do something else, y'know? Once again, this was the last issue of a decade and change long run by Peter David.
• Let Them Die Happy: As Jim Wilson's dying from complications from AIDs, he asks Hulk for a blood transfusion. Hulk refuses, but tells Jim he will. Jim figures out he's lying pretty quickly, but realizes Hulk just wants him to feel hope.
• Literal Split Personality:
  • John Byrne's run has Bruce and the Hulk split apart by Doc Samson, which initially seems to solve all of Bruce's problems... then it turns out without Bruce's moderating influence, the Hulk is nothing but Unstoppable Rage, even killing the SHIELD agents who go after him. Then it turns out Hulk's taken all of Bruce's strong emotions, so he's nigh-incapable of making decisions, beyond his hatred for the Hulk. And then it turns out they're dying without the other.
  • In the wake of Onslaught, Bruce and the Hulk are physically separated again. This causes the Hulk to start emitting gamma radiation out of control, and temporarily kills him.
• Magical Negro: An old homeless man Crackajack Jackson made a huge impression on the Hulk in issue #182 by teaching him to read a little bit, and just by being a genuinely loving and nonjudgmental friend. When he was accidentally killed by his own son during a battle with the Hulk, the Hulk mourned his passing for years afterward.
• Mêlée à Trois: Issue #180 has the Hulk attacked by Wendigo, and the both of them attacked by some obnoxious short Canadian with metal claws. In issue #181, Wolverine figures working with the Hulk is easier than trying to kill him. The minute it seems the Wendigo is down, they turn on each other.
• Merry Christmas in Gotham: Issue #378 dealt with Rhino and Hulk teaming up to be Mall Santa and Helper.
• Monster-Shaped Mountain: In issue #261, the Hulk battles the Absorbing Man on Easter Island. The Absorbing Man absorbs the Earth itself, but then Hulk bashes him into the sea, where he becomes a small, man-shaped island.
• Mythology Gag: Issue #474's cover is an homage to Incredible Hulk #1.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • In "Ghosts of the Future", the Hulk is hunted by Matt Talbot (nephew of the late Glen Talbot) who is obsessed with capturing him and attacking Betty (once Glen's wife). At one point, he even shoots Betty in the leg just to rile up the Hulk for a trap. Talbot is unknowingly influenced by the figure Omnibus (himself influenced by the Leader) who has removed Talbot's normal reason to push his obsessions. Just as Talbot is being brought before a military tribunal to defend his actions, Omnibus meets a nasty end. Instantly, in mid-sentence, Talbot is overwhelmed by his old emotions and recites the trope verbatim as he realizes too late he's ruined his career.
  • The Bannerless Hulk that emerged from the aftermath of Onslaught becomes horrified when, during his brief tenure working for Apocalypse, he accidentally sends Rick Jones into a wall in the heat of battle, injuring and crippling him, especially when Janis yells at him about it and hallucinations of Brian Banner appear to gloat about "being right", he flees in horror, tearing off the armor Apocalypse gave him as he does so.
• Never My Fault: There's nothing General Ross can't and won't blame on Bruce and the Hulk.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: A very dark version in issue #-1, where the Hulk meets with a sinister gravedigger (hinted to be the Devil, or at least a Devil) who resembles Stan Lee himself.
• Pass the Popcorn: In #471, word's gotten out that the Hulk is back in Las Vegas. Naturally, the locals are betting on just what he's going to do. As Marlo explains, this is Las Vegas.
• Personal Hate Before Common Goals: In #335, this happens to the Hulk. The dark side of a man who presents himself in a Mr. Hyde manner called the Stalker tries to convince the Hulk that they are the same and that like him, he should try to also experience the joy of tearing apart those weaker than them. When the Stalker tries this first with a teenage girl, Hulk refuses. Later, when he tries the same with a bunch of criminals that had eluded punishment for their crimes, the Stalker seems to have convinced him — only for the grey goliath to turn on him, saying the Stalker is the one he wants to tear apart. Not because he cared about the thugs. Not even because he cared about the girl. He cared little to nothing about them. No. He is going to do it simply because he doesn't like him.
  Hulk: Okay. You talked me into it.
  The Stalker: I never doubted I could. Wh—? Wait! Not me, you fool!
  Hulk: Yeah, you. 'Cause I don't care about that guy. I didn't even care about the girl much. But I don't... like... YOU!!
• Prophecy Twist: Before Hulk goes out on the hunt for Agamemnon, Delphi warns him to "beware the green monster", spooking him into thinking she might mean the Savage Hulk resurfacing. Actually, she's talking about the wall at Fenway Park. Hulk's not amused when he realizes this.
• Put on a Bus: A few issues into Casey's run, Rick Jones suddenly falls ill and nearly dies, getting gathered up by the Avengers so he can go take part in Avengers Forever (and from there becoming entwined with Genis-Vell, taking him away from Hulk comics for most of the next decade).
• Revisiting the Roots:
  • The "Going Grey" arc has the Hulk turn back into a grey form like he had way back in the original issue of Incredible Hulk.
  • Peter David goes one further with Joe Fixit, who not only is grey, he's weaker than the Green Hulk, associated with night, and speaks with a "tough guy" accent, and is suggested to actually be the original Hulk persona.
• Second Super-Identity: Early in Peter David's run, the Hulk is caught in the middle of a gamma bomb explosion and presumed dead, but he ends up hiding out in Las Vegas as a mob enforcer calling himself Joe Fixit. This ends up being the gray Hulk's all-but-official name.
• Shout-Out:
  • Peter David quotes The Second Coming poem by William Butler Yeats in issue #425.
  • Issue #467, Peter David's final issue on the character for a while, was titled "The Lone and Level Sands" and has Bruce Banner recite the poem "Ozymandius" by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• Stalker with a Crush: There is a hilarious moment where Death of the Endless from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman makes a cameo in issue #418 during Rick Jones’s wedding but says she needs to go before “that creep Thanos show ups” looking for her.
• Stealth Pun: At Marlo's wedding, Death (from The Sandman (1989)) shows up and gives her a hairbrush gift. Marlo was recently Back from the Dead, so one might say she had a brush with death.
• Superpower Meltdown: Post-Onslaught, Hulk's radioactivity starts going out of control. Every attempt to contain him fails because he's burning so hot. He even dies, and the government can't do anything because he's giving off so much radiation anything that gets close melts.
• Super-Strength: One memorable occasion was in issue #440, when he pushed a 10x stronger than normal, warrior's madness-enhanced, completely berserk/definitely not holding back Thor, towards the ground by using a single arm.
• There Are No Therapists: Well, there is, Doc Samson. But he's not much help when Betty starts losing her mind.
• The Topic of Cancer: In The Incredible Hulk issues #150-151, Morton Clegstead, a wealthy cancer patient, came up with a convoluted plan to get the Hulk's gamma-irradiated blood in the hopes that this would make his normal cells superpowered and able to overcome the cancer. Instead, the cancer cells were the ones that became super-powered, with nightmarish results, turning him into a massive mass of cancer cells. There was a callback to this years later when Hulk learned that one of his old friends was dying of AIDS and refused to donate his blood for fear something similar would happen.
• Time Skip: After the "Fall of the Pantheon" storyline, the series jumps ahead six months, during which time Hulk and Betty have been moving around America.
• Too Broken to Break: In issue #258, the Hulk is leaping around the world and lands in Afghanistan at a time when, in real life, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan was still going on. He drops right in front of an Afghan who barely even notices the Hulk and walks on with the same shocked expression he had had before the Hulk landed. What was going on in his vicinity is so horrific that the arrival of the Hulk doesn't even register.
• Translation Punctuation: Averted for one word in issue #259, which is focusing on the villains of the story, who are all Soviet agents. The standard < > is in use except for one Establishing Shot of the capital city, which is captioned "Moscova" along with a Note from Ed. saying (paraphrased) "I know we're doing the Translation Convention thing, but it's their capital."
• Translator Microbes: During Hulk's first visit to Jarella's realm, he doesn't speak the local language and they don't understand him. Jarella has a trio of magicians cast a spell on him to they can understand one another. An unforeseen side-effect is it gives the Hulk Bruce's intellect.
• Trespassing to Talk: In Future Rick's flashbacks in issue #467, the last time he ever saw Bruce Banner was when he broke into Rick's bedroom in the middle of the night to talk to him.
• Underside Ride: In an 80s era Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner clings to the axle of a van as it rolls away. His suit and back get torn up as a result.
• Unknown Rival: Issue #393 has the story of Coyote Cash, an arch-criminal who's foiled repeatedly over the years by various versions of Hulk, beginning with the Hulk accidentally crushing his get-away car while escaping from the Army. After a 3rd release from prison, he tracks down Rick Jones and destroys his house with a bazooka. While he makes a triumphant speech about "being ready for the Hulk", Hulk — who had been house sitting for Rick while he was on vacation — emerges from the rubble in trademark anger.
  Hulk: I hope you're ready now, you stupid two-bit hood!
  Cash: I... I give up!
  (Cash is meekly dragged away by police as Hulk watches)
  Hulk: I wonder who that guy was? It's a funny world, when you can be minding your own business and along comes some stranger to complicate your life.
• Unstoppable Rage: Professor Hulk has a Wolverine-style psychotic rage episode in issue #400, wherein he accidentally killed the Leader, supposedly caused by the leftover "truly mindless Hulk".
• Water Source Tampering: The Incredible Hulk Annual #11 focused on the Leader trying to turn all of Earth into gamma beings.
• Wedding Smashers: A very crazed General Ross interrupts Bruce and Betty's wedding and holds everyone at gunpoint, ultimately shooting Rick Jones.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In some issues of Peter David's '90s run, the Red Skull had formed an alliance of criminals called the New World Order in order to prevent infighting, perform negotiations, and foster cooperation. This group appeared in several Hulk issues and even tangled with X-Men villain Apocalypse! Of course, they haven't appeared or been mentioned since. Later Hulk stories made some vague mentions of the New World Order "collapsing," but we never saw how or why....
• Will They or Won't They?: Bruce and Betty go through a long, long tango of this, with brainwashing, dying, third wheels, break-ups, Bruce's ever-shifting personalities and so much else. Eventually, in the 90s, they did... until Peter David and his wife divorced.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Issue #140: The Hulk's found happiness in Jarella's realm. Thanks to a magic spell he's calmer and more intelligent, is married to Jarella and loved by the people... at which point Psyklop, the one responsible for him being there, shows up and plucks him out before Hulk can even put up a fight. And since the magic of K'ai only works in that realm, Hulk goes right back to his usual brutish condition, barely remembering K'ai or how to get there.
  • Bruce manages to stabilize the Hulk so he's in control, with his intellect fully there, rather than in the early days when he did the same and had a much shorter fuse at the Hulk. With that, he and Betty look set to tie the knot... and then the Leader comes along.

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