The Immortal Hulk: Hunted and Hounded

Since nearly the beginning of his existence, the Hulk has been hunted and hounded by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and he’s never liked it one darn little bit. The situation is no different today when once again the jade giant falls under the Avengers scrutiny in IMMORTAL HULK # 6, now on sale.

Though the Hulk would like to forget them, here’s a look at some of his hounded history with the team.

AVENGERS #1

Before they ever even called themselves the Avengers, Earth’s Super Heroes sought the Hulk with the idea of stopping his rampages. In this first go-round, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp gave it the old college try, but when they learned evil Loki stood behind the scenes pulling the green giant’s strings, they banded together as a team. Didn’t last long, of course—one issue later the Hulk quit, and two issues later he fought his former teammates to a standstill.

FANTASTIC FOUR #26

Not long after, Hulk wanted revenge on the Avengers, and specifically young Rick Jones for “betraying” him. The Fantastic Four moved to slow his roll in New York City, but the Hulk proved to be more than they could handle alone. Enter the Avengers for a slobberknocker like the city had never seen before and a few hard lessons for everyone involved to learn about power and its consequences.

INCREDIBLE HULK #278

Though by this time Bruce Banner had gained control over his emerald alter-ego, he still wanted something else: amnesty for his past Hulk-outs. Going green, he stomped his way to Washington D.C. to seek a presidential pardon, but the Avengers greeted him on the White House lawn. What might’ve been a battle for the ages instead turned out to be a team-up between the Hulk and the heroes against an alien invasion—and the behemoth got his pardon from a grateful nation.

INCREDIBLE HULK #316

Recently returned from another dimension, the Hulk became physically separated from “puny Banner” and nearly mindless. Members from both East and West Coast Avengers swooped in to confront him in the New Mexico desert, but found a Hulk without his human psyche could mop up the sand with them.

INCREDIBLE HULK #440

Terrorist group the Alliance waged war on the U.S. and brought it to the brink of nuclear annihilation. What to do? The Hulk, intelligent once again, posed as the Alliance’s leader to help Earth’s heroes focus on the task at hand. The Avengers stood in his path at Mount Rushmore, but it fell to the mighty Thor to play hammer-time with ol’ Jade Jaws in the frozen north—and watch as the Hulk fell victim to a well-placed nuclear warhead.

WORLD WAR HULK #2

Fresh from the loss of his new, idyllic life on another world, the Hulk smashed his way toward revenge on the Earth heroes he blamed for it. The Avengers attempted to squelch his sojourn on the island of Manhattan, only to feel the devastating anger of their target and his conquering crew the Warbound. One hero after another fell that day, and the city’s bedrock still shows the strain from every single blow.

CIVIL WAR II #3

Bruce Banner thought he’d finally found some peace and a permanent cure for his emerald affliction, but when the Avengers showed up on his doorstep to address a vision from the Inhuman Ulysses of a massive Hulk-out in the near future, the diminutive scientists warned them not to make him angry. In a move that shocked everyone, Hawkeye put an arrow through Banner’s head to insure the Hulk would stay dead forever...

IMMORTAL HULK #6, written by Al Ewing with art by Lee Garbett, is on sale now online and at your local comic shop!