Avengers (vol. 2) #6
Industrial Revolution Part 1: A Hard Day’s Night
This story continues from Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #6…
After rampaging on Avengers Island as the Hulk, Bruce Banner has fled to the Baxter Building to seek the help of the Fantastic Four.[1] Breaking into the building, he is caught by the Fantastic Four while they are preparing to call it a night. Mister Fantastic is shocked to discover that Banner is still alive and they are quickly told about the destabilized gamma core on Avengers Island.[2] Bruce explains that if something isn’t done to contain it soon, the core will blow up and wipe out the entire eastern United States.
Meanwhile, SHIELD is trying to contain the situation, while politicians try to figure out how to spin the situation.[3] While on the ground, SHIELD troops are searching the wreckage for survivors. First they find Hellcat, then Captain America and the Swordsman, the latter of whom is shipped off because he was seriously injured during the battle with the Hulk.[4] A team also goes down to try and contain the gamma core, but the radiation is so strong that it kills them all within seconds. As Fury tries to get Henry Gyrich — the Avengers government liaison — to get more hardware, everyone around Nick is suddenly frozen by a magic spell. Loki then appears before Fury who finds the SHIELD director amusing due to the fact that he is a both a deceiver and manipulator like the trickster god is.[5] He tells Fury to play his hand carefully because his actions will determine the fate of Thor and the Avengers.
By this time, the Fantastic Four and Bruce Banner have arrived on Avengers Island. As they search through the rubble, they find Thor. The thunder god wakes up after the Thing taps him in the face. However, Ben Grimm is looking away when this happens and Thor believes he is being attacked by someone new.
At the same time, Fury is about to send another team when their path is blocked by Iron Man. The armored hero has decided to take matters into his own hand since the Avengers Island facilities were build by Stark Enterprises. He tells Fury that Tony Stark will take full responsibility for what happened next. When Nick complains about Iron Man’s interference, the hero reminds Fury that he has all the necessary shutdown codes that can prevent SHIELD’s further interference. When threatened with having the whole helicarrier shut down, Nick decides to give Iron Man his shot.
As Iron Man flies down to the island he is almost knocked out of the sky by the Thing, who was knocked high into the air by a blow from Thor. When the Human Torch catches up with Ben, he fills Iron Man in on what’s going on. Iron Man is equally surprised when he learns that Bruce Banner is still alive.
On the ground, the Fantastic Four meet up with Captain America and Hellcat, who welcome Reed Richards help. However, along the way Hellcat notices that Banner has the same scent as the Hulk. She is about to attack when Cap orders her to stand down, telling her that now isn’t the time for another battle. The threat to himself causes Bruce to panic and he tries to keep himself calm. When they get down to the back door into the gamma core, Bruce is able to keep it together long enough to give them the password to open the door. However, he soon loses control and transforms into the Hulk once more. Hearing himself being called by Bruce angers the Hulk who demands to know why they are calling him by the name of the man he hates more than anyone else!
… This story continues in Iron Man (vol. 2) #6.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Swordsman), Iron Man, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Hulk, Loki, SHIELD (“Nick Fury”), Henry Gyrich
Continuity Notes
The Hulk’s rampage on Avengers Island was chronicled in Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5. It should be noted here that The Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four are all the original characters. Everyone else in this story are constructs created by Franklin Richards when he saved all of those who sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught by transporting them to a pocket dimension. See Onslaught: Marvel Universe and Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4. Even Thor is a construct, the real Thor won’t turn up until Avengers (vol. 2) #9.
Bruce Banner was believed to have been killed in the gamma bomb explosion that turned him into the Hulk. See Iron Man (vol. 2) #1-2.
The man who appears to be Nick Fury here is actually a Life Model Decoy planted within SHIELD by the Sons of the Serpent, as revealed in Captain America (vol. 2) #11.
The Swordsman’s hands were crushed by the Hulk in Avengers (vol. 2) #4. He will remain out of commission until Captain America (vol. 2) #12.
Here Loki seems to aware that this is an alternate reality, which is not entirely accurate, it’s actually a pocket dimension, but whatever. Anyway, this seems to imply that this is the real Loki from the Earth-616 universe. It’s later revealed in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 that this is actually another one of Franklin’s constructs and the idea that he is the original Loki were a mistake on his own part.
