Random Happenstance

Late...tired...so tired...

Usually I'm done with this thing and long since asleep by now, but that postponed cleaning finally came around, then I had to run out for groceries, blah blah blah. This Hulk reprint was next to my bed, though, and something grabbed my eye.

After wrecking a train, the Hulk lies down for a bit and wakes up as Banner. Seeing the wreckage, he worries that eventually the Hulk is going to kill someone. A newspaper blows across his path then, with the headline that Reed Richards may have found a cure for the Hulk. Man, that's lazy. Banner gets to New York, Hulks out, briefly fights the Fantastic Four (five with Crystal, an era I always liked), then gets knocked out by an invention Reed built with Banner's notes. The last panel is what struck me:

Good grief, was Reed thinking about getting rid of the Hulk even then? I don't know if this will or already has turned up in World War Hulk, but I wonder if maybe on some level, Reed resents Banner for giving science a bad name. Or maybe for not accomplishing anything with his genius while wasting the Hulk's power on destruction.

For some reason, I was picturing Reed berating the Hulk, that he gets mad too sometimes but doesn't go out and level New Mexico. That would go over about as well as you'd think, but even without the rest of the FF backing him up, Reed's incredibly dangerous if he gets anywhere near any of his gadgets. If Reed got mad enough to play hardball--say, if Sue or Ben were hurt or killed--and he could get the right equipment, I think Reed could take the Hulk out. The collateral damage would doubtless be catastrophic, though.

Anyway, just a thought, late, tired, done!

From Incredible Hulk #122, "The Hulk's Last Fight!" Written by Roy Thomas, art by Herb Trimpe. Reprinted in Marvel Super-Heroes #74.