You'd think the insidious organization known as Hydra would have learned from their previous debacle to never again tangle with the incredible Hulk, but you'll understand in a moment why they were confident they would be in the driver's seat when the green behemoth is literally handed to them. Having developed the deadly biological weapon known as Virus Nine*, Hydra is almost ready to make their move to deploy it. But there are certain individuals who are both necessary to their plans and who would each also prove to be obstacles--charter Avengers who reunite as allies for the first time, though the mightier of the pair would find himself doing his smashing from a little lower in stature.
*Isn't it comforting to know that Hydra's scientists had eight failures in cultivating this virus before succeeding. They're not exactly A.I.M., are they.
We come across the Hulk while he's still fixated on Jarella, the woman both he and Bruce Banner came to care for when trapped at sub-atomic size and who later briefly appeared on Earth before being forced to return, her loss deeply felt by the brute. But in his dim mind, the Hulk recalls a conversation during the crisis that, in his case, might allow the mountain to go to Muhammed.
The story device of Banner's subconscious allowing the raging Hulk to perform actions or make decisions that would normally be beyond the ability of the brute to formulate has certainly proven to be quite handy for Hulk scripters on a number of occasions, particularly as the Hulk transitioned from a more canny and cunning character to one whose speech and thoughts functioned on only the most rudimentary levels. Here, writer Archie Goodwin uses it to get us from Point A to Point B in record time--"Point B" being Henry Pym's lab in Long Island, a location which wasn't named in the conversation the Hulk recalls but which he inexplicably knows to head for anyway, with Goodwin steering our focus instead to the Hulk's singular goal of the serum he needs to find in Pym's vault.
We also find in the same scene the return of the one and only Hannah, whose holiness has been documented frequently in Marvel's stories of the 1970s.
With the Hulk finally at the stage where he needs to make a choice and select the bottle most likely to give him what he wants, it's not surprising to see Goodwin get us to Point C by stretching the connection to Banner for all it's worth. Only a new development arises that even Banner wouldn't have been able to give the Hulk a heads-up on.
With the Hulk unconscious, and especially given what happens to him off-panel, the Chameleon finds it a simple matter to take him captive and transport him elsewhere once he's conducted his business in Pym's lab. Since our primary villains have already been name-dropped, we can make a fair guess as to who the Chameleon is working for--but as to what he was after in the lab, that will have to wait until we touch base with Pym, as Ant-Man, who arrives at the scene later in response to a silent alarm triggered by the Hulk's break-in.
What Pym's findings mean for the Hulk remains unclear at this point; but for now, we can at least see the serum's immediate effect on the monster when he finds himself delivered by the Chameleon to the forces of Hydra, while we also learn more of the involvement of both the Chameleon and the Hulk in Hydra's plans for Virus Nine.
But while the effects of Pym's serum have weakened the Hulk to a certain extent, his captors will unfortunately discover that the Hulk's condition hasn't decreased their vulnerability to his rage to any significant degree.
By now we can also make a good guess as to what will be unleashed into the air ducts the Hulk has taken refuge in when Agent W's "charges" are unboxed. But thanks to artists Herb Trimpe and John Severin, the effect is no less startling.
(With all due respect to Trimpe, it's putting a lot of faith in starving rats that they would make a beeline for the open vent, rather than skittering across the Hydra complex and chomping their way through all the agents within reach. You'd think any Hydra goon wary of being infected by Virus Nine would have placed the box flush against the vent before cracking it open.)
As for the Hulk, we have to hope that skin that resists bullets and explosions will also be proof against teeth that would infect him with the virus. At any rate, when he flings himself against the vent to escape, the danger presented by a horde of infected rats is narrowed to just one, though circumstances will lead to the Hulk being (you'll excuse the term) "smashed" while facing off with his fanged foe.
Fortunately, thanks to a homing device embedded in his stolen files, Ant-Man arrives like the cavalry--and Goodwin and Trimpe provide us with a well-done if brief scene of these two original Avengers fighting in tandem once more.
With Hydra's plans literally going up in smoke, the story would have us believe that this Hydra operation only needs to be mopped up, with Pym's stolen files no longer in danger of being compromised. Though if we recall the enormous size of this complex, it's asking a lot to write off this Hydra installation because of a fire happening in a single, nonessential room among no doubt hundreds of vital ordnance areas, chambers, and labs (in addition to, needless to say, hordes of Hydra agents).
But it's the Hulk's situation which bears further investigation--and when a further seizure caused by the serum changes him back to Banner, the Chameleon, waiting in the wings, takes advantage of the chance to crush his opposition and escape. Yet due to circumstances beyond his control, how well he succeeds will ultimately depend on one's point of view.
Pym has obviously already penned Banner's obituary--but rather than arriving at the pearly gates (and flatter than a pancake), Banner instead journeys to another fate that even a scientist who specializes in size-changing and who's been to a sub-atomic world himself hasn't taken into account. And along the way, both the Shaper of Worlds and Captain Axis will find their own plans interfered with by the might of the Hulk.
 | Incredible Hulk #154 Script: Archie Goodwin Pencils: Herb Trimpe Inks: John Severin Letterer: Artie Simek |
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