Indestructible Hulk #15

Mar 16

Mar 16 Indestructible Hulk #15

Agent of T.I.M.E.: Conclusion

While attempting to stop the Chronarchist named Khotto from altering his own history, the Hulk has gone back to the day of the Gamma Bomb test that first created him. Unfortunately, this played into the hands of Khotto and his leader Zarrko. The resulting gamma bomb blast bombarded the Hulk, transforming him into an even more powerful creature than ever before. With its database becoming more and more compromised, the ROB unit (that had the memories and personality of Bruce Banner programmed into it) transferred all its knowledge into the mind of the Bruce Banner from this era. Seeing this new incarnation of the Hulk going on a rampage, Bruce Banner rejoices as he thinks that this is not a problem. When Rick Jones suggests they flee, he assures Rick that the Hulk won't turn back and attack them. When Rick asks Bruce how he can know all of this, he quickly explains the situation to the confused teenager.

That's when General Ross arrives with his soldiers who try in vain to stop the Hulk. When Ross demands to know what the creature is, Banner tries to explain the power of the Hulk. Thaddeus scoffs at this, calling Banner a milksop. He's not prepared when Banner loses his temper and begins reaming him out. Bruce finds the ability to let out his emotions without worrying about becoming the Hulk. He then sits on the ground and begins boasting about how he will be able to settle down with Betty and have a family. That's when Thaddeus Ross tells Bruce that he doesn't have a daughter. This causes Bruce to remember when Zarrko warned him that Betty was being erased from history. Not wanting to live in a world without Betty Ross, Banner decides to try and set history back on the proper course. Hopping in a jeep, Bruce races toward the gamma bomb in the hopes he can still use it to turn himself into the Hulk in some way. He is blocked by Khotto, who presents to him a time screen with the image of Zarrko on it. Zarrko reveals that he was working with the Chronoarchists the entire time and that he had orchestrated this series of events to create a Hulk powerful enough to break the Tomorrow Man out of his cell. He explains that the same moment, his past self is being transferred to an impenetrable SHIELD bunker a few hundred miles away. He intends to free himself decades before the present day, explaining that now that time is broken, there is no paradox that can prevent him from altering history.

In a desperate attempt, Bruce Banner leaps at Khotto and begins activating the controls on his time armor. Catching the Chronoarchist off guard, Bruce is able to move them back in time a few minutes in time. They appear just as the gamma bomb goes off, but it doesn't do anything to change history or Banner. Banner realizes that the Chronoarchists found a means to changing time forward and backward. As he makes this realization, Khotto turns his attention ahead to see the future Hulk pushing Banner's past self into the trench and taking the full brunt of the gamma bomb blast himself. From his vantage point in the present, Zarrko gloats and sends the Uberhulk in to destroy Banner, explaining that with time being broken, all the rules are broken as well. Suddenly, Banner sees a fragment of the temporal element that Khotto used to set off this chain of events. Grabbing it, he is able to alter his own history to restore himself to being the Hulk prior to getting caught in the second Gamma Bomb blast. The Hulk then grabs Khotto and leaps at the time screen before he can be attacked by his alternate self. Banner motivates the Hulk to hit the screen with the maximum strength and rage he ever demonstrated, employing the Chrono-metal in his hands as means of connection. In doing so he induces the Hulk to strike the screen with enough fury to shatter the time barrier, pulling himself, Zarrko and Khotto into the time stream. Once in the time stream, the Hulk demands that Zarrko send him home. Suddenly, the Chronoarchists mysterious master reaches out with the hands of pure chronal energy and grabs both Zarrko and Khotto, causing them to disintegrate. The Hulk then scrambles to the opening via the view screen to get back to the present. As he struggles, the Red She-Hulk suddenly arrives and helps pull him back to the present.

24 Hours Later

With the Chronoarchists defeated, their plot to change history has been thwarted. The White House and the displaced populace of Bejing are returned to their proper place. Although Bruce believes that history has been put back on its proper course, he knows that something has changed but struggles to remember what that might be. Sometime later, someone breaks into a top secret facility and pulls a classified file about the Gamma Bomb test.