When Titans Marathon

(All right, I know it's not a verb--artistic license, guys!)

Having unknowingly defeated none other than the Hulk in a battle of strength vs. strength, the member of the Fantastic Four known as the Thing turns to hear challenging words directed at him--words he recognizes as familiar in both tone and limited thought, spoken by one he had thought dead.  It's a development which signals that his true fight, even if a welcome one, may have just begun.

What we're witnessing are events orchestrated by Dr. Doom, who had approached the gray Hulk (in his guise as "Joe Fixit," a Las Vegas enforcer working in the service of crime boss Michael Berengetti) to aid him in regaining the throne of Latveria from his young charge, Kristoff Vernard--taken as a child and programmed in the event of Doom's death to be a simulacrum of Doom's mind and will, so that he would continue to act as Doom from that point on. Unable to convince Kristoff of his bona fides and driven from Latveria, Doom failed to succeed in petitioning Fixit for assistance--and so he manipulated him into attacking the Thing in order to have his revenge for the FF's interference with his plan to steal the power of the Beyonder. Sir Walter Scott's verse regarding tangled webs and deception clearly had nothing on the methods of Victor Von Doom.

As we've seen, the Hulk was soundly thrashed by the Thing; and now, Doom arrives to find Fixit in a dejected state, to say nothing of confused as to the identity of the green behemoth newly arrived on the scene. Just who or what is it that the Thing is fighting?

Say what you will about Joe Fixit, he has his pride--and in combination with a shrewd mind that has excelled in outwitting and dealing with the opposition to be found in the criminal underworld, it's clear he plans to rally and deal with the Thing in short order.

Speaking of whom, Ben Grimm has been doing a little thinking himself, and realizes that the creature he's been facing may not be the Hulk at all--or, for that matter, even alive. But the one who has observed the final moments of this fight plans to make sure that the Thing will soon be facing both, in a rematch he won't soon forget.

It would be understandable if there were those of us who might have assumed we'd be seeing Round Two of the previous battle between these two take the form of another slugfest, considering that Round One took place in the Fantastic Four title and ended in the Thing's favor--the presumption being that their follow-up fight, now in the Hulk's title, would reverse their fortunes and give Fixit a little of his own back. In one sense, that basic premise will pan out--but we'll find that writer Peter David is quite clever in how he chooses to balance the scales, using means that conform to Fixit's character perfectly.

With Doom's refitted robot out of the way, Fixit sees the way clear to put his plan into motion--the crux of which appears to be to put the Thing into motion.

So far, the Thing has been exerting himself in a 45-minute struggle and basically gotten nowhere, at least in his primary goal of settling things with Fixit. In distance, however, he's covered a lot of ground, simply from being taunted; and even when the hour hand is reached, despite his fatigued state, he isn't prepared to call it a day.

It's really the only part of David's story that doesn't add up in terms of staying true to the character. Given his experience, the Thing doesn't seem to be the type who can't recognize when he's being played and doesn't stop to think about the situation--and how does his pride enter the equation, if he's already proven himself against Fixit? What's the Thing's urgency, if there are no lives at stake here from his foe's actions?

At any rate, the Hulk has reached the point where he literally has the Thing where he wants him--after one final gesture that, let's face it, plays the Thing like a chump.

Even at the bottom of the lake, the Thing isn't necessarily defeated--nor is Fixit the type to just leave it at that. What he has planned will deprive him of the anonymity he had while the world believed the Hulk was dead--but Fixit, as we've noted, has his pride, as well, and his final words to the Thing will virtually render their previous battle moot.

The Hulk has every reason to savor his win--and, realistically in terms of his character, he couldn't very well head back to Vegas with the Thing's thrashing of him hanging over his head. But if we needed further proof that Joe Fixit is "back in town," we have only to look at how things are left between himself and Doom, who settles for the Hulk's rebuff of his proposal--for now.

I had the impression that things were going down in Doom's situation with Kristoff, but obviously the Hulk disagrees. I know when to leave well enough alone.

Incredible Hulk #350 Script: Peter David Pencils: Jeff Purves Inks: Terry Austin Letterer: Joe Rosen