Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #68

"Hello," He Lied

Nadia Dornova was about to get attacked by some coyotes when she is saved by a monstrous insectile creature. Fleeing for her life, she runs into the man she was looking for, Bruce Banner. When she asks where he went, he said he heard something scream and discovered that it was the deer carcass lying between the coyotes and creature. When the creature approaches them they are shocked when it suddenly changes shape and turns into a form identical to that of Bruce Banner himself. As the clone re-introduces itself to them it is shot in the head by Doc Samson who has arrived at the scene with Betty Ross. Seeing Betty again for the first time in human form is a tense moment for a few moments. He then hugs her and lifts her off her feet. They carry the body of the kitchen, upon examination, Samson is shocked to discover that the creature is still breathing. Still, he tells them that they need to get to work giving Betty a transfusion to cure her of her cancer. However, Betty still refuses to be cured, because his life is practically over and because Bruce has "moved on" with Nadia. This leads to an argument between the two women. When they try to drag Samson into it, he tells them that they need to focus on saving a life.

Suddenly, the clone of Bruce Banner sits up and tells them that their plan won't work. He explains that Bruce's blood won't work they need the blood of the Hulk. When he refers to Betty as his wife, Betty says she isn't. The clone, however, points out that he is an identical duplicate of Banner including his memories with only one difference: He is Hulk free. When Nadia points out how it attacked her the other day, the clone explains that his "death" by the hands of the Hulk reset the mental programming placed on him by Home Base and that he is now normal. Banner reminds him how he was a strange creature the night before that slaughtered a deer. The clone has an answer for this as well: in order for the cloning process to be complete they had to splice his DNA with lower animals. Banner doesn't buy any of what he is saying considering the constant lies of the organization that made him. Samson puts any doubt to bed this by testing his blood.

Eventually, the test comes up clean, but this is still not enough for the real Bruce Banner. Bruce tosses hot coffee on the clone. Although the act increases the blood rate of the clone, it still doesn't trigger a transformation into a Hulk-like creature. Still, Bruce insists that it doesn't prove anything as it could have the same control techniques as he does. They decide the only way to resolve this situation is to kill the clone. However, none of Bruce's allies can bring themselves to do it because the clone resembles the real Banner. So Bruce steps in and decides to do it himself. However, he won't kill his clone in front of the women and forces it outside to die in the desert. Out of sight, Bruce tosses the gun away knowing shooting the creature is useless because it will just come back to life, he has to kill it by dismemberment and separating all the parts. Banner then tells the clone to quit trying to fool him and fight. The clone obliges allowing itself to transform itself into an insectoid version of the Hulk. It punches Banner sending him flying into some rocks. When the Hulk emerges from the rubble, the clone Hulk wonders which one of them will come back down from this hill.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Doc Samson, Nadia Dornova, Betty Ross

Continuity Notes

• Betty's reappearance here is a complicated one. Some facts:

  • Betty died of radiation poisoning in Incredible Hulk #466. As revealed in Incredible Hulk #473-474 this was due to Betty being injected with the Abomination's Blood.

  • The memories of a government organization resurrecting her are false. In reality she was actually brought back to life by the Intelligencia as seen in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1.

  • Betty's memories are part of a scheme by Nightmare as a roundabout way of birthing a child named Daydream as revealed in Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #81 so some elements here, such as Betty's facelift and cancer, are a hoax.