History ComicBook / WorldWarHulk

* InterruptedCooldownHug: [[ShootTheShaggyDog This story elevates this trope to an art form.]] Hulk and Banner actually take advantage of the cooldown hug by letting Doctor Strange think his ploy has worked, all so he lowers his guard--at which point Hulk breaks Strange's hands.

* NotSoDifferent: In ''World War Hulk: Frontline'', Ben Urich attends the gladiator matches set up by The Hulk so he can report on them later. He is shocked by the bloodlust and barbarism... of his fellow humans, who are cheering on the display. He comments that Hulk's Sakaaran forces cannot be considered invaders or occupiers--after all, how can you be invaded when the invaders are just like you?

-->Later:

* WhatTheHellHero: Learning about what the Illuminati did--combined with the [[PlethoraOfMistakes Plethora Of Bad Decisions]] surrounding the [[{{ComicBook/CivilWar}} Civil War]]--led many of Earth's people to root for Hulk and the Warbound.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: A fresh-from-Civil War Tony Stark does a version of this with She-Hulk. Jennifer forced made Tony to use highly illegal and experimental nanites to cut off her powers; she was completely out of order, what with her getting mad at him for sending her cousin into space.
* TheWorfEffect: [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] was considered to be one of the most broken characters in Marvel's cosmic realm. Hulk takes him down first, and almost entirely off panel, to prove how much stronger he had become on Sakaar. [[spoiler:Though that ends up subverted come ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', as Hulk beat down Black Bolt's [[ActuallyADoombot Skrull imposter]].]]
** Another example would be when he defeated Doctor Strange (bar none ''the'' top sorcerer in the universe), while Strange was channeling a demon so powerful that Umar herself feared it. (But WorfHadTheFlu; see below.)
** Hulk also beat Sentry, who was considered the most powerful superhuman on the planet at the time, but was also not entirely mentally stable. This was a rare double Worf-ing, as the point was to show that Sentry and The Hulk were the only superpowered beings who could have a full-out, nothing-held-back fight without one instantly obliterating the other.

* PetTheDog: Hulk decides to spare Xavier and the X-Men after seeing what he had been through. He says that he came to put Xavier through hell, but Xavier is already going through it.

* TheWorfEffect: [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] was considered to be one of the most broken characters in Marvel's cosmic realm. Hulk takes him down first, and almost entirely off panel, to prove how much stronger he had become on Sakaar. [[spoiler:Though that ends up subverted come ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', as Hulk beat down Black Bolt's Skrull imposter.]]

''World War Hulk'' is a 2007 Marvel CrisisCrossover; it occurs after the events of ''World War Hulk'' and takes place between ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Miek]] turned out to have been responsible for the destruction of Sakaar all along.

* AntiVillain: Hulk and The Warbound. Hulk for just trying to get some sort of justice (if in an insane and unhelpful method) and the Warbound...for helping Hulk or something.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: A near-literal version of this trope happens as Hulk is trying to break through [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Sue Storm's]] force field to get at Reed. She pleads with The Hulk to stop, so he asks her, "If I sent a bomb, killed your husband, your children, your whole world...would you '''ever''' stop?!" Sue is so taken aback by the question that she lets down her guard, which allows Hulk to shatter her force field with the next punch, incapacitate her, and beat the living hell out of her husband.

* NotSoDifferent: In ''World War Hulk: Frontline'', Ben Urich attends the gladiator matches set up by The Hulk so he can report on them later. He is shocked by the bloodlust and barbarism...of his fellow humans, who are cheering on the display. He comments that Hulk's Sakaaran forces cannot be considered invaders or occupiers--after all, how can you be invaded when the invaders are just like you?

** In the first version, the nuclear strike that Iron Man launched to subdue Hulk ends up wiping out most of the heroes, one of them being [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion Skrull Queen Veranke]] (under the guise of ComicBook/SpiderWoman). This causes the Skrulls to view Hulk as a kind of prophet of their upcoming invasion. When the ComicBook/SecretInvasion kicks in, even more heroes die, but Hulk wises up and joins the resistance against the Skrulls. Only it turns out that Wasp, not Hank Pym, was being impersonated by the Skrulls. She plants the human bomb serum to Hank, again, wiping out almost all heroes and humanity...except for The Hulk. When Silver Surfer visits, Hulk demands that Galactus wipe out the Skrull planet as his vengeance; after being left all alone again, Galactus promotes him as his Herald.

** There is some back-and-forth regarding the Hulk vs Sentry fight, with later writers implying that due to Sentry's then-fragile mental state, he was not at full power, despite the fact that the dialogue in the book all but says that Sentry was meant to be stronger in this fight than he had ever been befpre.

A 2007 Marvel CrisisCrossover, which occurs between Comicbook/CivilWar and ComicBook/SecretInvasion.

Before the Civil War, the Illuminati (a group consisting of IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], Comicbook/DoctorStrange, Prince Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, [[ComicBook/XMen Professor Xavier]] and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) made the decision that [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was a threat to the world because of his unstable and dangerous mood swings. Instead of killing him, they shot him into space, towards a planet without intelligent life where they hoped he'd find peace.

However, due to a malfunction in the spaceship, the planet he landed on was Sakaar: a very harsh world where Hulk was captured, enslaved, and turned into a gladiator. Thus began ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'', where Hulk fought for a living and eventually found friends and true love, toppling the local tyrannical ruler and effectively becoming the king himself. And they all lived HappilyEverAfter... [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle or did they?]]

Unexpectedly, the ship which brought him to Sakaar exploded, shattering the planet and killing many people, including Hulk's wife and unborn child. Hulk got mad. So he gathered his remaining friends and returned to Earth, hellbent on making the Illuminati pay for what they did to him. At this time Hulk was in a new form, the Green Scar, who retained his mind and whose rage, while at levels it had never touched before, [[TranquilFury was dispassionate and icy cold]]. Already disorganized and estranged by Civil War, the heroes were unable to meet him in force. They were also suffering an enormous loss of popular support, which only increased once Hulk revealed what the Illuminati had done to him. In short, [[MemeticMutation they're all screwed when Hulk gets back.]]

Hulk then turns the Earth heroes, ''especially'' the Illuminati, into gladiators, to make them feel his struggles and suffering before he was King. He spares Namor, who voted against the decision, and Professor X, who wasn't present (and after seeing the result of ComicBook/HouseOfM, Hulk decided that Xavier had suffered enough). He set the Illuminati against a monster; then forced them to take up weapons and try to kill each other. The moment is eventually interrupted by the Sentry, who had overcome his SplitPersonality problem just in time to bring the battle to Hulk. The two beat each other into exhaustion, but it was enough to shake Hulk out of his rage and remember his humanity and their friendship -- just [[InterruptedCooldownHug in time for one of Hulk's allies to kill Rick Jones in front of Hulk]]. Oh, and that same ally had been the one who caused the destruction of Sakaar in the first place. Hulk goes off his rocker and slays him; everyone else would've been dead if not for Iron Man activating a satellite beam that subdued Hulk and turns him back to Bruce Banner. (Jones soon came BackFromTheDead once again.)

Bruce Banner is later imprisoned until he can control his Hulk self, and [[StatusQuoIsGod was later released]] when the mysterious ComicBook/RedHulk appeared. Meanwhile, in the planet of Sakaar, it turns out that Hulk's son Skaar survived. But that is another story...

!!Tropes used in ''World War Hulk'':

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Almost literally; as Hulk is trying to break through [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Sue Storm's]] force field to get at Reed, she pleads with him to stop. Hulk responds, "If I sent a bomb, killed your husband, your children, your whole world... would you '''ever''' stop?!" Sue is so taken aback that she lets down her guard, allowing Hulk to shatter her force field with the next punch, incapacitating her, and beat the living hell out of her husband.
** Hulk delivered another one to [[DeadSidekick Jim Wilson]]'s father. When the latter accuses him in his son's death, Hulk won't have any of it:
-->'''Hulk:''' [[VerySpecialEpisode Jim died of]] ''[[VerySpecialEpisode AIDS]]''. And the avian flu is not my fault either. But what ''I'm'' wondering is why Jim was living on the streets when I met him? Why he said he was an ''orphan''? Why he never once mentioned '''you?'''

-->'''Doctor Strange:''' [''to Hulk during a (failed) attempt to talk him down''] Hear me well, Bruce... Your anger means ''nothing'' to me. I am the '''SORCERER SUPREME'''. I could snuff the feeble flame of your mortal life with the ''merest twitch of a finger''. But I am also your friend.

* BrawlerLock: Hulk and the Juggernaut. Hulk wins it through brains.
* BreakThemByTalking: After Hulk has the X-Men at his mercy, Mercury shows him the Xavier School's cemetery and tells him about all of the innocent children who had been murdered by Stryker and the Purifers in the aftermath of [[ComicBook/HouseOfM the Decimation]], drawing a direct comparison between what the mutants have been through and Hulk's own loss, and helping convince him that Xavier has already suffered enough.
* ContemptibleCover: Issue 13 of ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'', volume 2, which tied into this, features a cover more fitting for a {{hentai}} manga than a manstream superhero comic, depicting Black Cat, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing surrounded by tentacles.

* CurbStompBattle: It's hard to describe what the Hulk did to the X-Men in any other terms. Ghost Rider gets one in on Hulk during his tie-in to the story, more or less having a response to everything Hulk throws his way. Eventually, he just drives off, figuring Hulk is actually in the ''[[JerkassHasAPoint right]]'' here, resulting in an OhCrap moment for the Illuminati when Dr. Strange points this out to them.
** In one of the tie-ins, there's also a (probably non-canon) bit of comic relief showing the Hulk's fights against weaker Marvel characters, which show the Hulk, among other things, incapacitating them by flicking them with one finger.

** ComicBook/{{X 23}} lets Hulk grab her to bring her close enough to [[EyeScream put out his eyes]] with her foot claws, catching him by surprise and making her [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome one of the few people who actually manages to slow him down]], however briefly. Hulk puts her through a wall for her trouble.
** Later, Hulk reverses this by letting Wolverine try the same trick, allowing Logan to blind him so he can bring him close enough to kick his ass and put him out of the fight for good.

* EyeScream: Hulk gets his eyes put out ''twice'', the first time by X-23, and then by Wolverine. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good thing he can heal]]. He actually let Logan cut out his eyes so he'd get close enough to grab.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Miek]], who turned out to have been responsible for the destruction of Sakaar all along.
* FightingFromTheInside: Averted, as Doctor Strange and others discover. Bruce Banner ''agrees'' with the Hulk and is working with him.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Banner tricking Doc Strange into lowering his guard so Hulk could cripple him could be seen as foreshadowing for Bruce's more cold, manipulative behavior after he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] in ''ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks''.
* FreeFallFight: Hulk vs. Iron Man ends up like this, with Hulk trashing Iron Man's Hulkbuster suit while they're in a state of free fall with Stark Tower collapsing around and beneath them.
* GenreBlind: Korg doesn't have any clue on extraterrestrial tropes. When was the last time you saw someone seriously saying "TakeMeToYourLeader"?
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Neither side is entirely free from blame, but neither is entirely in the right either. The Illuminati had done some shady things, and basically ignored any evidence that didn't point to Hulk being an uncontrollable monster, but they weren't guilty of the crimes leveled against them by Hulk, who in turn may have had a good reason to be angry, but went about getting justice in a profoundly counterproductive manner that [[NotSoDifferent basically ignored any evidence that didn't point to the Illuminati being 100% pure evil]].
* InterruptedCooldownHug: [[ShootTheShaggyDog Elevated to an art form.]]
** Hulk and Banner actually take advantage of the cooldown hug by letting Doctor Strange think it's working, tricking him into lowering his guard.
* {{Jerkass}}: There's no question that the Hulk's persona takes this turn.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: Dr. Strange tries this to get Hulk to calm down. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, and Strange gets his hands broken]].
* KickTheSonOfABitch: The Illuminati did deserve a good ass-kicking.
* MeditationPowerup: After Hiroim sees that Hulk almost killed Brood in a fit of rage while fighting a group of SpacePirates, he decides to teach Hulk to focus his anger from his usual indiscriminate UnstoppableRage into the TranquilFury we see him in for the remainder of the story.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: The battle with Sentry is a ''mutual'' example, though Hulk insisted afterwards that even then he was holding back.
* NotSoDifferent: In ''World War Hulk: Frontline'', Ben Urich attends the gladiator matches set up by the Hulk so he can report on them later. He's shocked by the blood lust and barbarism...of his fellow humans who are cheering the display. He comments that the Hulk's Sakaaran forces aren't invading or occupying Earth. You can't be invaded when the invaders are just like you.
* OhCrap: The reaction many of the heroes had when Hulk announced his return, having already beaten Black Bolt, one of the very few beings on Earth who was considered more powerful than him showing he's even ''stronger'' than he was before, and in addition has a posse of super-strong pals, most of whom are all are jonesing for {{Revenge}}.
** One by the Sakaarans when the Sentry shatters their starship and busts out something approaching his full power.
** Hardball, when he realizes the power-negating S.P.I.N.Tech dart Iron Man was about to use on Hulk was an empty he substituted when he stole the real one for Hydra.

** The Ghost Rider originally shows up to stop Hulk, but (being the Spirit of Vengeance as he is) he claims that Hulk's vengeance is justified and rides away rather than defend the Illuminati. (Blaze wanted to talk to Hulk and Zarathos did not care since Lucifer was on Earth. They only fought because Hulk got confused by their argument, thinking Ghost Rider had insulted him)
** ComicBook/SheHulk was given the chance to just walk away by her cousin, but she refused. Things didn't go too well for her after that.
* OutOfTheInferno: After the X-Men crash their jet on top of him. [[ImprovisedWeaponUser He kindly returns it]].
* PetTheDog: Hulk decides to spare Xavier and the X-Men after seeing what he had been through. He comments he came to put Xavier through hell, but he's already going through it.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After having a few people testify as to why the members of the Illuminati suck, Hulk delivers one himself.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The premise of the storyline.

* SmokeShield: At least twice; after Tony blasts him with missiles, and after the Human Torch and Storm combine a lightning bolt and fireball.

-->'''Doctor Strange:''' (to Tony Stark, referring to the Hulk) He withstood Black Bolt's voice. Do you think your machines can stop him?

-->'''Hulk:''' (to Tony Stark, referring to the Sentry) Stupid humans. You think your machines can stop him?
* ThouShaltNotKill: Hulk insists no one will die by his hand or the Warbound's, to show that they're better than the Illuminati.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Barring Hiroim and Korg, everyone from Sakaar wants to nuke Earth and kill everybody. In their defense, until the Big Reveal at the end it did seem like Earthmen (specifically the Illuminati) had done the same thing to their home planet, so this is kinda [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. Later played straight with [[spoiler:Miek]], though.
* TranquilFury: Though Hulk is "madder than he's ever been", he's nowhere near as savage as he usually is due to his time on Sakaar making him smarter.
* UnstoppableRage: The madder Hulk gets, the stronger he gets, naturally. Of course, the birth of the Green Scar persona is implied to have been caused by the Hulk reaching heights of anger he never had before, too.
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Not one nonviolent attempt to stop the Hulk or talk him down from his rage succeeds. The characters who try appealing to Hulk's friendship or better nature get slapped down just as brutally as the ones who are unashamedly out to kill him.
** This does go both ways; Hulk and his Warbound offer everyone except for the Illuminati the chance to simply walk away. Understandably, no one takes him up on that.
* WhamEpisode: Issue #3; it's the one where Hulk crushes Doctor Strange's hands. Up until this point, Bruce Banner hadn't made an appearance in the story, so the possibility of getting through to him and stopping the Hulk that way was still open. This issue revealed that, perhaps for the first time, Hulk and Banner were in complete agreement, and getting through to Bruce simply was not going to happen.

** One version had it that Iron Man's nuclear strike to subdue Hulk ended up wiping out most of the heroes, one of them being [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion Skrull Queen Veranke]] (under the guise of ComicBook/SpiderWoman), causing the Skrulls to view Hulk as some sort of prophet of their upcoming invasion. When ComicBook/SecretInvasion kicks in, even ''more heroes die'', but Hulk wises up and joins the resistance against the Skrulls... and then it turns out Wasp was being impersonated by the Skrulls rather than Hank Pym, and then plants the human bomb serum to Hank, again, wiping out almost all heroes and humanity... except Hulk. When Silver Surfer visits, Hulk demands that Galactus wipe out the Skrull planet as his vengeance, and after being left all alone again, Galactus promotes him as his Herald.
** Another version had [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor and the Asgard warriors]] join in the brawl, but was interrupted when an innocent civilian pleads them to use their strength not to fight each other, but to help them from peril. While doing that, Hulk was reminded of his old friendship with the fellow heroes, and [[spoiler:Miek]]'s treachery was discovered before it could result in a great disaster. Sentry came too late as eventually Thor told the heroes to redouble their efforts to win the people's trust, and Hulk went back to Sakaar to rebuild the planet and punish the traitorous [[spoiler:Miek]]. Yeah, they really ''did'' live HappilyEverAfter.
** A third has both Miek and the ''Hulk'' dying instead of Caiera, who goes on such an utter [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge retaliatory attack]] that she actually ''kills'' the Illuminati (except possibly Namor and Prof. X), and takes over the planet, forcing the humans and the other heroes to build a massive statue for the Hulk that takes twenty-one years to construct before using her powers to turn herself permanently to stone. Because of Miek's death in the blast, his treachery is never discovered, meaning that Caiera's actions make her an utter monster because while she believed herself justified due to the way life on Sakaar works, the human race is now damned to live as slaves to people who pretty much worshiped a monster that was too dangerous to live on their world. She even lampshades it when she is convinced by Hiroim to spare the rest of the world after killing the Illuminati because if she didn't, nobody would be left to honor his memory, to which she claims, "They'll wish they were dead".
* WhatTheHellHero: After learning about what the Illuminati did, and what with the [[PlethoraOfMistakes Plethora Of Bad Decisions]] surrounding the [[{{ComicBook/CivilWar}} Civil War]], many people end up rooting for the Hulk and his Warbound.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: Tony Stark, just coming off Civil War mind you, does a version of this with She-Hulk. It's not Tony's fault that Jennifer made him use highly illegal and experimental nanites to cut off her powers. After all she was completely out of order getting mad at him for sending her cousin into space.
* TheWorfEffect: [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] was considered to be one of the very broken characters in cosmic Marvel, but Hulk takes him down first, and almost entirely off panel. [[spoiler:Though that ends up subverted come ComicBook/SecretInvasion, when it turns out Hulk just beat down his Skrull imposter.]]
** Another example would be when he defeated Doctor Strange (bar none ''the'' top sorcerer in the universe), while Strange was channeling a demon so powerful that Umar herself feared it. (But WorfHadTheFlu; see below)
** Hulk also beat the Sentry, who was considered the most powerful superhuman on the planet at the time, albeit not entirely mentally stable. This was a rare double Worf-ing, since the point was to show that Sentry and the Hulk were the only people who could have a full-out, nothing-held-back fight without one instantly obliterating the other.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Doctor Strange lost to the Hulk, even though Strange would have won easily if he'd been going for the kill. In Strange's defense, 1. the last thing he wanted was to kill his friend Bruce; 2. his attempt at a non-lethal solution had backfired and left him too crippled for his usual sorcery; and 3. he was struggling to hold Zom back from murdering everyone. When he let Zom have control he was winning easily, but as soon as he saw that ordinary people were in danger, he got distracted and subsequently lost the fight.
** There's also been some back and forth regarding the Sentry fight, with later writers implying that due to Sentry's more fragile mental state, he wasn't at full power here, despite the fact that the dialogue in the book makes it clear that, if anything, Sentry was meant to be stronger in this fight than he had been previously.
* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Because Hulk's the only one the Sentry can hit... "[[TalkToTheFist LIKE THIS.]]"

* TheTeam: Hulk and The Warbound:
** TheHero - Hulk
** TheLancer - Hiroim, who doubles up as TheSmartGuy
** TheBigGuy - Korg
** TheChick - Elloe sometimes, Brood
** SixthRanger - Miek
** TagalongKid - Poor Arch-E 5912, who gets killed off-panel in a tie-in issue. He came back to life in ''ComicBook/DamageControl'' though.

* ThisIsNotAGame: Rockslide is pumped at the idea of fighting the Hulk. The Beast makes it clear to him that this isn't going to be "fun", and they're fighting to protect the last mutants on Earth.

* GenreSavvy: Strange starts off like this, realizing that if they sent the Hulk away again with magic, he'd just smash up wherever they sent him to, and come back angrier and stronger. Also, in the Gamma Corps one shot, old joke villain The Clown of the Circus of Crime demonstrates a downright scary (though not [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy dangerous]] ) amount of genre savvy when he correctly deduces [[GeneralRipper General Ryker's]] plan before he even gets a word out.

However, due to a malfunction in the spaceship, the planet he landed on was Sakaar: a very harsh world where Hulk was captured, enslaved, and turned into a gladiator. Thus began ''PlanetHulk'', where Hulk fought for a living and eventually found friends and true love, toppling the local tyrannical ruler and effectively becoming the king himself. And they all lived HappilyEverAfter... [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle or did they?]]

Before the Civil War, the Illuminati (a group consisting of IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], Comicbook/DoctorStrange, Prince Namor the {{Sub-Mariner}}, [[ComicBook/XMen Professor Xavier]] and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) made the decision that [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was a threat to the world because of his unstable and dangerous mood swings. Instead of killing him, they shot him into space, towards a planet without intelligent life where they hoped he'd find peace.

Before the Civil War, the Illuminati (a group consisting of IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], Comicbook/DoctorStrange, Prince Namor the {{Sub-Mariner}}, [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Professor Xavier]] and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) made the decision that [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was a threat to the world because of his unstable and dangerous mood swings. Instead of killing him, they shot him into space, towards a planet without intelligent life where they hoped he'd find peace.

** One version had it that Iron Man's nuclear strike to subdue Hulk ended up wiping out most of the heroes, one of them being [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion Skrull Queen Veranke]] (under the guise of SpiderWoman), causing the Skrulls to view Hulk as some sort of prophet of their upcoming invasion. When ComicBook/SecretInvasion kicks in, even ''more heroes die'', but Hulk wises up and joins the resistance against the Skrulls... and then it turns out Wasp was being impersonated by the Skrulls rather than Hank Pym, and then plants the human bomb serum to Hank, again, wiping out almost all heroes and humanity... except Hulk. When Silver Surfer visits, Hulk demands that Galactus wipe out the Skrull planet as his vengeance, and after being left all alone again, Galactus promotes him as his Herald.

** One version had it that Iron Man's nuclear strike to subdue Hulk ended up wiping out most of the heroes, one of them being [[SecretInvasion Skrull Queen Veranke]] (under the guise of SpiderWoman), causing the Skrulls to view Hulk as some sort of prophet of their upcoming invasion. When SecretInvasion kicks in, even ''more heroes die'', but Hulk wises up and joins the resistance against the Skrulls... and then it turns out Wasp was being impersonated by the Skrulls rather than Hank Pym, and then plants the human bomb serum to Hank, again, wiping out almost all heroes and humanity... except Hulk. When Silver Surfer visits, Hulk demands that Galactus wipe out the Skrull planet as his vengeance, and after being left all alone again, Galactus promotes him as his Herald.

* TheWorfEffect: [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] was considered to be one of the very broken characters in cosmic Marvel, but Hulk takes him down first, and almost entirely off panel. [[spoiler:Though that ends up subverted come SecretInvasion, when it turns out Hulk just beat down his Skrull imposter.]]

** Another version had [[TheMightyThor Thor and the Asgard warriors]] join in the brawl, but was interrupted when an innocent civilian pleads them to use their strength not to fight each other, but to help them from peril. While doing that, Hulk was reminded of his old friendship with the fellow heroes, and [[spoiler:Miek]]'s treachery was discovered before it could result in a great disaster. Sentry came too late as eventually Thor told the heroes to redouble their efforts to win the people's trust, and Hulk went back to Sakaar to rebuild the planet and punish the traitorous [[spoiler:Miek]]. Yeah, they really ''did'' live HappilyEverAfter.

In the aftermath of ''World War Hulk'', the title was turned into ''TheIncredibleHercules''.

A 2007 Marvel CrisisCrossover, which occurs between Comicbook/CivilWar and SecretInvasion.

Bruce Banner is later imprisoned until he can control his Hulk self, and [[StatusQuoIsGod was later released]] when the mysterious [[EvilTwin Red Hulk]] appeared. Meanwhile, in the planet of Sakaar, it turns out that Hulk's son Skaar survived. But that is another story...

Unexpectedly, the ship which brought him to Sakaar exploded, shattering the planet and killing many people, including Hulk's wife and unborn child. Hulk got mad. So he gathered his remaining friends and returned to Earth, hellbent on making the Illuminati pay for what they did to him. At this time Hulk was in a new form, the Green Scar, who retained his mind and whose rage, while at levels it had never touched before, [[TranquilFury was dispassionate and icy cold]]. Already disorganized and estranged by Civil War, the heroes were unable to meet him in force. They were also suffering an enormous loss of popular support, which only increased once Hulk revealed what the Illuminati had done to him. In short, they're all screwed when Hulk gets back.

Before the Civil War, the Illuminati (a group consisting of IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], Comicbook/DoctorStrange, Prince Namor the {{Sub-Mariner}}, [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Professor Xavier]] and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) made the decision that [[SelfDemonstrating/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was a threat to the world because of his unstable and dangerous mood swings. Instead of killing him, they shot him into space, towards a planet without intelligent life where they hoped he'd find peace.

-->'''Bruce Banner[=/=]Hulk''':[''Seconds later''] Got you. *[[Fingore breaks Strange's hands]]*

-->'''Bruce Banner[=/=]Hulk''':[''Seconds later''] Got you. *breaks Strange's hands*

* AntiHero (Type IV)/ AntiVillain: The Warbound

Before the Civil War, the Illuminati (a group consisting of IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], Comicbook/DoctorStrange, Prince Namor the {{Sub-Mariner}}, [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Professor Xavier]] and [[TheInhumans Black Bolt]]) made the decision that [[SelfDemonstrating/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was a threat to the world because of his unstable and dangerous mood swings. Instead of killing him, they shot him into space, towards a planet without intelligent life where they hoped he'd find peace.

* TheWorfEffect: [[TheInhumans Black Bolt]] was considered to be one of the very broken characters in cosmic Marvel, but Hulk takes him down first, and almost entirely off panel. [[spoiler:Though that ends up subverted come SecretInvasion, when it turns out Hulk just beat down his Skrull imposter.]]

** Another version had [[TheMightyThor Thor and the Asgard warriors]] join in the brawl, but was interrupted when an innocent civilian pleads them to use their strength not to fight each other, but to help them from peril. While doing that, Hulk was reminded of his old friendship with the fellow heroes, and [[spoiler:Miek]]'s treachery was discovered before it could result a great disaster. Sentry came too late as eventually Thor told the heroes to redouble their efforts to win the people's trust, and Hulk went back to Sakaar to rebuild the planet and punish the traitorous [[spoiler:Miek]]. Yeah, they really ''did'' live HappilyEverAfter.

* ContemptibleCover: Issue 13 of ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'', volume 2, which tied into this, features a cover more fitting for a {{hentai}} manga than a manstream superhero comic, depicting Black Cat Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing surrounded by tentacles.

* FanNickname: "War to See Who Is The Most Epically Brain Damaged By Running Into the Hulk's Fists Repeatedly".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Banner tricking Doc Strange into lowering his guard so Hulk could cripple him could be seen as foreshadowing for Bruce's more cold, manipulative behavior after he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] in ''FallOfTheHulks''.