Reminder: Moments pages are Spoilers Off
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- The crowning moment comes in issue #13 - a weakened Hulk is being overwhelmed by the hell monsters his father Brian (and by extension the One Below All) have unleashed upon him. Absorbing Man, in a moment of heroism, gives back all the Gamma Energy he took from Hulk, allowing the latter to come back to full strength and charge at his father. Brian Banner blusters that Bruce isn’t his son but Hulk mocks his father saying: "Look at you, still trying to figure me out —learn the rules, find out the secrets. Do you think you ever knew what I was, old man? Here's your special theory, dad, the only equation you'll need! HULK IS HULK!" and blows Brian and One Below All away with a Shockwave Clap.
- The reveal that the Hulk let himself be captured and dismembered by Fortean's people so he could figure out how his own biology worked. Followed seconds later by Hulk busting out while still dismembered. Horrific? Yeah. But also very satisfying to see Dr. Clive realize he's screwed.
- Puck's speech when in the Below-Place, after Creel asks him how he can be so casual about being in the Hell of Hells:" When I was eight, I hunted my first bear. Big grizzly. That was 1922, in the Yukon, and he kept us through a cold winter. In Spain, I fought bulls and fascists—and I let the bulls live. In Nepal, I hunted the Tiger God and killed all fear in me. I've fought queens of dreams and the world's secret master. I've fought demons in Hell and stolen their thrones—and those thrones haven't bound me. And it all comes back to one thing. I was eight, full of bear meat and adventure—and I made a vow, Mr. Creel. I vowed I would live an interesting life. I think I've done okay so far, eh?"
- Absorbing Man, angered that he had been manipulated by the One Below All and Brian Banner into opening the gates to Hell, looks like he's ready to fight. Both antagonists attempt to goad at Creel's pride once more. But he knows and accepts that he can't win this fight, and instead uses his powers to return Hulk's gamma power to him. In short, Creel learned from his past follies and gives Hulk the chance to end this nightmare and return them all to Earth.Carl:...Nah. I ain't gonna fight. 'Cause I'd lose. but I know a guy who doesn't.
Brian: No! Stop! You can't! You can't take him away from me!
Carl: Too late, pal. Here comes the main event. - Shadow Base has Banner pinned down in an abandoned laboratory, pummeling him with ultraviolet radiation through special emitters to prevent him from transforming while Bushwhacker hunts him down. So Joe Fixit takes over Banner's body and manages to work out a solution: the emitters can't be turned off, but they can be cranked up and focused. After all, all it takes is a few levels of compression and ultraviolet rays become X-rays. A little more than that, and they become gamma rays. Cue the mother of all Hulk Outs.
- Fortean and his goon squad have Puck, Titania and Absorbing Man surrounded, boasting that they're ready for whatever the Hulk throws at them. Suddenly the entire base starts shaking, and the three realize what's causing it.Puck: You said you're ready? No-one's ever ready.
(cue Hulk, Harpy and Rick smashing their way into the base) - In issue 25, as horrifying as it is, the Breaker of Worlds punching through a planet in one blow is a sight to behold.
- Savage Hulk (in his special dialect) telling McGowan that he doesn't give a rat's ass about public opinion. He then goes on to explain that he was the target of the hatred and fear of the populace for long and that, if given the choice between protecting the world and his reputation, he will chose the world's safety without care for his reputation, as he has done throughout his lifetime.
- Issue 31 has Absorbing Man turning into a goddamn plane to fight the Hulk.
- Issue 32 is basically Xemnu wins: the Comic. So far, the only one showing immunity to the effects of Xemnu's hypnosis are Dario (maybe) and Savage Hulk. Even Banner and Devil Hulk are affected, Devil Hulk no longer knowing what the word Hulk is, and Banner becoming the personality Xemnu describes for him. Savage Hulk is locked away, and beyond frustrated with everyone for falling for Xemnu's lies. Which is when the Green Scar, the Worldbreaker, shows up in Hulk's psyche, ready to take action.
- Issue 33 answers with Laser-Guided Karma and Catharsis Factor especially for readers of Jason Aaron's Thor. For all those who wished Dario Agger got a well-deserved comeuppance, Xemnu does it for us: he grabs Dario and tries to absorb his body, reducing him to a hideous blob of mangled tissue and half-formed machinery who can only whine for mercy.
- After showing up only briefly to this point, and largely spending those appearances crying, the Savage Hulk finally reminds us why he's still around. For the last few issues, Bruce and co. have been laying the foundations of a carefully considered plan to take Roxxon down once and for all. When Savage Hulk hears it, he's.. unimpressed. Sometimes- especially when dealing with a mindreader like Xemnu- thinking too much about a problem just makes it worse, and talking about it does nothing. But this Hulk's never been known as someone who spends much time thinking.
Hulk: "Time for Hulk plan. Less talk in Hulk plan! Hulk plan simple! TWO WORDS ONLY!"- Xemnu grabs Savage Hulk and is slowly taking him over with his enhanced power. Xemnu boasts to Rick, who just fed Hulk some gamma energy, that would now be of no use since he has Hulk's mind. Ricks response?
Rick: Look who's coming to get youGreen Scar: Welcome to the magic planet huh?- The Green Scar's Pre-Mortem One-Liner as he emerges to kill Xemnu:"Welcome to my planet. WELCOME TO PLANET HULK!"
- Issue 34 has Ewing tying together over fifty years of the Leader's plots, plans and deaths. And his apparent ultimate end-goal? Take the power of the One Below All. That's never going to end well, but damn if it doesn't show the Leader's got some serious chutzpah.
- In issue 35, Banner calling Betty out on how she's using her new Red Harpy form, which he quite accurately describes as a living embodiment of her anger, hate and rage, a manifestation of the worst, most evil parts of herself, to hide from the world.
- Then, Betty turns this around by succinctly pointing out that that this ugly form is part of her. And the fact that Bruce cannot face her means that he honestly never cared to know her as a whole person.
- Issue #37 becomes the mother out of any Wham Episode related to Hulk when it's revealed that that the Leader has been experimenting on both trapping those who enter the green door on the other side, and that he learned to hijack bodies as well. That includes Del Frye, who he uses to kill Doc Samson and entrap him on the other side, Rick Jones as revealed earlier, and finally The Green Scar. His endgame is to take over Hulk's body by eliminating or imprisoning the other personalities, and having just manipulated Gamma Flight into taking out Savage Hulk for him by destroying a town and pinning it on Hulk. Now that's how a villain makes his return.
- The previous issue #36 also shows something that rarely happens in Hulk's life. Despite only surviving because of Rick (possessed by Leader) shielding her, Jackie McGee immediately jumps in between Gamma Flight and Hulk, pointing out the Hulk did not intend for the destruction to happen and that he was not even fighting back against their attacks. Mind you, the Gamma Flight had She-Hulk rogue Titania, Thor/Hulk/Spider-Man/Daredevil rogue Absorbing Man, and former Alpha Flight member and superhuman Puck, anyone who could destroy the skinny non-combat trained journalist with a flick. That didn't matter to her, Hulk was her friend. She truely proved herself to be A Friend in Need for Hulk in that moment.
- The Devil Hulk's first appearance to young Bruce shows that he's been a Papa Wolf to the kid ever since he first manifested while also showing just what Bruce's true character is.
- Devil: Hey, big guy. I hear you, kid. I love you. I'll always be here for you. He's not your dad. Not a good dad. A dad can't hurt you and be a good dad. Just let me out, okay? Let me out and I'll kill him.Bruce: Don't wanna.
- Devil Hulk frees himself from the Leader's prison. How? Simple. The Leader hurt Savage Hulk and Banner and that really pissed him off enough to break out and confront him in his true scaly form.Devil Hulk: And when you hurt Banner... I take that real personal.
- The most cathartic piece of the whole picture is the fact that Leader is terrified of Devil Hulk. For issue after issue he'd been a near untouchable Smug Snake and then the Devil comes and shatters it to pieces.
- Joe Fixit makes his return in another awesome strategy: he bursts out of the normal Hulk body, which is kept aboard a space station, and blows his way out. Because the station's personnel aren't aware that the Hulk is now weaponizing Body Horror and wrongly assumed that he'd attempt to change sizes and prepared accordingly. Bonus points for Henry Peter Gyrich not being informed of Hulk's new transformation method.
- The Thing steps up for a rematch with the Hulk. He is drawn in this series to look very rocky and formidable, and more than likely to give the Hulk (in his current weakened state at least) a good clobbering.Thing: I know ya know what time it is.
- On Christmas during the King in Black event, a symbiote monster pursues Joe Fixit into a department store. He maneuvers it in front of a music player loudspeaker, which plays at full volume to blow apart the monster. For added fun, the track he uses is Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas".
- Joe is laying low, knowing that Gyrich is looking for Hulk's gamma signature. He then ends up coming across a young black kid being accosted by cops for doing nothing more than walking down the street wearing a "Hulk Smash" hoodie. Even though it brings the U-Foes to him, cue What Joe Is In The Dark:Joe: Just wore my name on his back... No. It ain't my fight. I ain't a good guy. I ain't. We ain't. Are we? What do you think?
[Savage Hulk clenches a fist in righteous anger in reflection]
Joe [smiling]:... Yeah. Okay, kid.
[Cue Hulk-out] - After being beaten to a pulp, disintegrated, and sent down to hell, Joe turns the tables on the One-Below-All and the U-Foes in truly spectacular fashion. Using the Cosmic Rays X-Ray's been bombarding Hulk's body with, Joe transforms into a Red Hulk, driving back the One-Below-All and breaking through the seemingly indestructible Red Door to resurrect him and Savage. The comic ends with a restored and Hulked-out Joe, with glowing red veins to showcase his newly-gained Cosmic power, staring down the utterly horrified U-Foes.
- Bruce's one-sided conversation with Devil Hulk explains not only how Joe could do this, but why he's been in human form up until now. Devil "left room" in Joe on a hunch, meaning that he's the one who emptied his Gamma reserve, causing him to lose the vulnerability the other Hulks had towards Cosmic Radiation and instead allowing him to use it as a power source. In other words, Devil put together a counter for anyone who used Cosmic Rays against him or the other Hulks almost thirty issues before they even came into play.
- Joe's fight with the U-foes in #46, which can barely even be called a fight. It only lasts 5 pages and never once during the entire fight does Joe lose the higher ground. He starts crumpling Ironclad's head like a tin can, forcing Vector to try and force him off and causing an enraged Vapor to try and kill him by changing into sulfuric acid gas. This leads to Joe inhaling her before defiantly walking over to Vector and just exhaling her on him, causing him to get bombarded with what he himself had just described as Venus' atmosphere. Finally, as a horrified Vapor rapidly changes into an alkali gas to neutralize the acid Vector uses his powers to force Joe away at the cost of his mission. By the end, Joe's gained valuable ground on his former pursuers while they're left trembling in the graveyard they fought in, reduced to a gang of whimpering bullies who just had their victim strike back hard.
- In same said issue, Vapor chews out Henry Peter Gyrich for not getting ready to fully secure the Hulk, no doubt wasting time on currying the favors of Orchis which led to Ironclad getting maimed and Vector becoming blind. After getting told to go to Hell, Gyrich responds he's already there by having no choice but to call on the Avengers. And while Gyrich may not have gotten comeuppance on this comic, another series penned by Ewing makes up for it.
