Betty Ross Presents: The Abomination!

In order to foil the scheme of the alien entity known as the Stranger, who sought to use the Hulk to wipe out human civilization across the Earth, Bruce Banner decides on a drastic course of action which would end the life of the Hulk, as well as his own:

Meanwhile, Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross is on the hunt for a dirty rotten spy:

And that dirty rotten spy is none other than Emil Blonsky, who's out to snap pics of Banner's gamma ray machine that he's used on occasion to turn himself into the Hulk*, so that he can sell them to interested parties behind the bamboo curtain**.

*You'd think our tortured scientist would want just the opposite, but you know how fickle physicists are.

**We seldom know from these references which side of the bamboo curtain is interested in our secrets--the Communists to the east (e.g., China), or the non-Communist, capitalist states of southeast Asia. Laos, a southeastern country, was considered "behind" the bamboo curtain at one time, though the Chinese have often been featured in Marvel stories as parties aggressively subverting U.S. interests.


Blonsky is forced to duck out of sight, however, when Banner arrives to use the gamma ray machine one last time.  But Banner's plan goes awry when he's pounced on by Maj. Talbot and his M.P.s:

...which leads our dirty rotten spy to conclude that the gamma ray machine is even more powerful than anyone realized.

It never occurs to this dirty rotten spy to locate and pocket the blueprints to this device, rather than acting as a human guinea pig and actually using it on himself; adding the specs to the pics would no doubt fetch an even higher price for our D.R.S.  But thanks to his lack of foresight, you and I are about to witness two classic scenes of Marvel history from 1967: (1) the birth of the awesome Abomination...

...and (2) the brute's first battle with the incredible Hulk!

We're also about to learn why the dirty rotten spy Abomination was initially regarded to be more powerful than the Hulk***:

***Phooey.  With all due respect to set-the-record-straight Stan, I can't believe a foot-activated machine in a lab would generate more intensity than a full-blown gamma bomb detonation. (Though we'll have to defer to The Man on the matter.)

That only leaves the formality of a dramatic new name for our dir... er, new villain. Fortunately, Betty Ross, who in those days crumbled into tears over anything that threatened the well-being of Bruce Banner, is on the job.

And regrettably, Gen. Ross is absolutely right. But let's give this creature points for thinking ahead.

With the Abomination on the loose, and his daughter in danger, Ross has no choice but to grit his teeth and enlist the help of the Hulk, assuming he's still alive after the Abomination's pummeling. Of course, as Ross bluntly points out, the Hulk wasn't so hot against the Abomination the first time around.

(I count five M.P.s lifting and moving a 1,400-pound Hulk--
what are they feeding these guys in the commissary?)

The Army's medic basically throws up his hands and has no idea how to revive the Hulk--so thank goodness Rick Jones is on the scene to advise how to use special equipment to do the job. But these desperate people should have given some thought to exactly what they were going to say to a raging brute waking up in their midst:

Now if someone blurted out to you that you have a thick ugly skull, would you be in the mood to cooperate? Nice going, General!

With Ross's men helpless to prevent the Hulk's escape, and with Rick Jones out of options (heaven help us all if we've come to that), there seems to be only one recourse to convincing the Hulk to stay and track down the Abomination. It's an interesting choice on Lee's part, though he's been known to insert subtle and not-so-subtle references to religion in his Silver Age stories. I believe you'll agree that this would fall into the not-so-subtle category.

With Banner now back in the picture, it becomes clear that Ross isn't happy about it--not just because of the irony of this man having to rely on the Hulk to save the day, but likely also because he's always considered Banner to be a weakling and the polar opposite of a "man's man," and no respectable match for his daughter. But he appears to at least cut him some slack when Banner begins calling the shots (and jeez, just look at this scientist bark out the orders here--Reed Richards must have given him a few pointers):

Compelled to return by Banner's Infinite Ray technology, the Abomination is unaware he's walking right into a trap--one that will sap his power and end his threat. But due to the rise in tension Banner experiences, he only manages to level the playing field--and before you can say "Hulk will smash!", Round Two is upon us!

Yet the clash will see to the end of two threats--for the Stranger has been monitoring these events and reconsiders his course of action against the human race, while relieving the Earth of a powerful threat.

It's debatable how "valorous" the Hulk was in facing the Abomination--he seemed mostly filled with rage toward this enemy. But then of course if the Stranger had failed to consider the Hulk in another light, the Abomination would have made the perfect substitute for the Stranger to use in his original plan. It would have been quite an upgrade for a dirty rotten spy.