Hulk loves two things: smashing and puppies, but not smashing puppies. That’s cruel. Indestructible Hulk Special #1 has Bruce Banner working for SHIELD, joining up with Spider-Man and some de-aged X-Men, and cuddling puppies while Hulked out.
The latest Indestructible Hulk opens up with a woeful, self-deprecating monologue from Bruce Banner that continues throughout the issue. Bruce and his alter-ego, Hulk, are working with SHIELD to take down bad guys, and it turns out some of SHIELD’s more inventive members have come up with the perfect way to calm Bruce down from a green rage: a puppy attack. The team members gather up a dozen of their own dogs, put them in a metal crate in the Hulk’s path, and release the hounds. It’s sort of ingenious.
But Banner, once restored to his normal self, is called away from Hulk smashing duties to Empire State University where Ultimate Spider-Man and some suspiciously young X-Men are waiting for his help.
Several members of the Original X-Men — Jean Grey, Hank McCoy, Scott Summers, and Bobby Drake — were transported back in time a little while ago only to run into one of Hank’s former professors, Dr. Jude. A mysteriously young Doctor Octopus attacked them once they reached Dr. Jude’s lab, only adding to the mystery of their displacement.
Needless to say, Spider-Man isn’t too happy to be having to deal with Doc Oc.
And while Spider-Man is also incredibly hesitant about the Original X-Men, Bruce is more than willing to help the kids out, especially after realizing that he technically knows them. He has, after all, dealt with his fair share of time travel and mysterious circumstances.
Most of the issue consists of the assembled group doing science and trying to figure out what’s up with Doc Oc and the reason for the kids being displaced in time. But the real action sets in when Abomination, the Hulk’s original rival, shows up, seemingly out of nowhere.
Bruce tells the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Dr. Jude to run as he prepares himself for battle against his nemesis, Hulking out at just the right time. Jean is shocked to find out that Bruce is completely “gone” when in Hulk form. “It’s like a child,” she says of the Hulk. “He just wants to be left alone and he’s so angry…”
A mysterious, Starktech-filled lab is discovered right after Hulk removes Abomination’s head to find he’s actually a robot. It turns out Dr. Jude made Abomination and Doc Oc, and that he’s not at all who Hank thought he was. Jude destroys the helicopter the X-Men and Spider-Man are escaping in, resulting in an enormous explosion that doesn’t look good at all for the heroes aboard.
Indestructible Hulk Special #1 is now available.
