Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The World War Hulk event put the Fantastic Four in the Hulk’s angry crosshairs.

I was debating whether to include World War Hulk on this blog, since the FF are supporting characters and the event doesn’t crossover much with the main Fantastic Four series. Upon rereading, though, I see how important World War Hulk is to this time in Marvel history.

Recap: During the buildup to Civil War, the Illuminati felt that the Hulk had gotten too dangerous, and something had to be done. Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, and our own Reed Richards voted to send him to space and exiling him on a planet of his own. Professor X abstained from the vote, and Namor voted against it. While the Civil War exploded on Earth, Hulk was on planet Sakaar, a.k.a. Planet Hulk. After a lot of ups and downs, he eventually became king and found love with warrior woman Caiera. But then the Illuminati’s original ship exploded, taking all of Sakaar with it, including a pregnant Caiera. Now the Hulk and his new friends the Warbound are on the way back to Earth for revenge.

World War Hulk #1 kicks off with the Hulk arriving on the moon to confront Black Bolt. Black Bolt uses his powerful voice against the Hulk, but Hulk is stronger than ever after absorbing alien radiation on Sakaar, and he fights back. Hulk’s ship then arrives in the sky over New York, broadcasting the Illuminati’s message to him throughout the entire world. Now everyone knows about the Illuminati and what they’ve done. He says he’s giving New Yorkers 24 hours to evacuate the city, and to bring him Reed, Iron Man, and Strange. He then holds up a beaten and bloody Black Bolt for the world to see.

The New Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. begin the evacuation. Iron Man tries to hack satellites to control all the Earth’s nuclear weapons and unleash them on the Hulk, but the Warbound outhack him. Iron Man and Reed ask the Sentry for help. Sentry agrees, but only after asking Tony for, “a word.” Iron Man then shows up in NYC with a new Hulkbuster armor, and he and the Hulk fight. During the battle, Tony broadcasts a message to the whole world, taking responsibility for sending the Hulk to space. He insists he did it for the good of humanity. The fight reaches Avengers Tower, destroying the entire building. Hulk emerges from the wreckage with Iron Man unconscious.

Most of issue #2 has the New Avengers fighting the Warbound while Dr. Strange searches for someone who can help. Then we check in properly with the Fantastic Four. Except this is the “Fantastic Six” of recent issues, with Black Panther and Storm alongside the original four. Reed is working on a huge superweapon. He tells Black Panther to evacuate because B.P. wasn’t involved in sending the Hulk to space. Black Panther stays, to fight on behalf of all humanity. Hulk and the Warbound show up before the weapon is done. It’s another big fight, where Hulk withstands Johnny’s powerful nova flame, as well as the full force of Storm’s lightning. And of course we must have a Thing/Hulk slugfest. Even with the Hulk stronger than ever, Ben puts up a good fight, with them going at it for several pages. Just as the Hulk is about to finish off Ben, the Sentry interrupts them.

But wait, it’s not the Sentry. This is Reed posing as the Sentry to distract the Hulk. Now it’s Reed and Sue’s turn to fight him. Sue begs Hulk to stop, saying he’s not a monster. Hulk points to Reed and says, “No. He is.” Reed knocks Sue out by punching hard against her force fields, and then he beats Reed senseless. Hulk leaves with the unconscious Reed, while Sue contacts Sentry to say they failed. Reed’s weapon was powered by Sentry’s energy, and it failed. Out in the streets of NYC, Hulk’s old friend Rick Jones appeals to him to stop the violence, and then Dr. Strange attacks, teleporting the Hulk to just outside the city. There, it’s the next big battle against Hulk’s old rival, General Thunderbolt Ross, and the armed forces.

Issue #3 has the Hulk fighting Ross’s forces physically, while Dr. Strange confronts him mentally in some sort of astral plane. Strange reaches beyond the Hulk to Bruce Banner, but then Hulk’s anger reemerges, driving Strange out. Hulk then defeats Ross and all the army goons. The Sentry continues to watch from a distance, while the US President pleads with him to be a hero. It looks like Hulk has won, with the Warbound taking over the remains of New York. Then Dr. Strange attacks again, looking more like Dormammu than Dr. Strange.

Issue #4 explains that Dr. Strange merged with an evil entity named Zon to fight the Hulk. Their fight goes on for several pages, stopping only so Hulk can rescue some civilians from the crossfire. Rick Jones catches up to them, reminding Hulk that he’s a hero, and that he’s human. The phrase “Hulk is Banner” is repeated between them. Hulk finally breaks through the Zon spell and punches Strange right in the face (!).

Hulk and the Warbound turn Madison Square Garden into their new headquarters. They’ve taken most of the superheroes hostage, including the FF, and affixed them with “obedience disks” to keep them from fighting back. Reed insists that Illuminati did not destroy Sakaar, but Hulk won’t listen. He makes Reed, Tony, Strange, and Black Bolt fight a bunch of monsters in his own gladiatorial pit, just like the ones he survived on Sakaar. Then he makes them fight each other.

Then we get a flashback to Sentry’s private conversation with Iron Man at the start of the story. Sentry admits he has agoraphobia, making it difficult to join the fight. Also, with the Hulk’s increased power levels, it could be disastrous if Senty were to lose control, even for a second. Tony insists that Sentry’s power is needed, saying, “It’s time to play god.” When the Hulk orders the deaths of the Illuminati, Senty sees it on TV. It’s at that point that he finally leaves his house and flies to New York, repeating, “It’s time to play god.”

Issue #5 begins with Hulk dialing back on the death penalty, not killing the four Illuminati after all. He says he will make sure the world knows the Illuminati are traitors and killers, and he threatens to raze NYC to the ground. Then the Sentry finally shows up, destroying the Warbound’s ship, and fighting the Hulk. Sentry unleashes the fullness of his power against the Hulk, leveling multiple city blocks. With the Warbound ship destroyed, Reed and Tony get back to work on hacking Earth’s satellites.

As they exchange blows, Hulk and Sentry debate whether they are saviors or destroyers. They eventually pummel each other so hard that Hulk transforms back to Bruce Banner and Sentry transforms back into Bob Reynolds. One of the Warbound tries to kill Banner, but Rick Jones jumps between them, taking the blow. This enrages Banner. He transforms back into the Hulk and this time he attacks the Warbound.

Then one of the Warbound, Miek, reveals the bomb that destroyed Sakaar was planted by him, in hopes that Hulk would not be king of Sakaar, but the prophesied “world breaker.” Even though the Illuminati did not destroy the planet, the Hulk still blames them. He argues that none of this would have happened if they hadn’t launched him into space. Then Iron Man succeeds in hacking the satellites, unleashing an unidentified red energy onto the Hulk. This succeeds in turning him back into Banner and knocking him unconscious. S.H.I.E.L.D. takes Banner into custody while the rest of the superheroes are left to reconcile with what’s happened. Far out in space, a musclebound green figure arises from among the remains of Sakaar…

Unstable molecule: Reed’s weapon might look like a big cannon, but it’s to make the Hulk think that Reed is the Sentry, so Hulk can talk some sense into the Hulk. It almost works, as Hulk is mesmerized at that moment.

Fade out: We’ve seen super-strong characters break through Sue’s force fields in the past, so it makes sense that a stronger-than-usual Hulk can do so. But it says a lot about how strong Sue is that she’s able to recover and call Sentry in the next scene.

Clobberin’ time: I’m so happy that this story took time to give Ben and Hulk a proper slugfest. We all knew Ben wouldn’t be the one to save the day, but the comic reminds us all how these two are great rivals.

Flame on: Johnny attacks the Hulk not just with his ultra-powerful nova flame, but his nova flame combined with the full might of Storm’s lightning. The Marvel Wiki alleges that Storm has been given “omega-level mutant” status, meaning her power is nearly limitless, so she and Johnny must have really hit the Hulk good.

Fantastic fifth wheel: It’s a continuity question as to how Black Panther and Storm are still with the FF at this point, when they left the team in issue #550. It looks to me like they announced they were leaving in #550, and then hung around for a bit to fight the Hulk, and then left for real.  

She-Hulk is seen throughout, helping with the NYC evacuation and then fighting alongside the New Avengers. She’s quick to remind panicking New Yorkers that she’s a hulk, but not the Hulk. Luke Cage is also seen among the New Avengers, fighting the Warbound.

Medusa is alongside Black Bolt when the Hulk arrives on the moon. She survives, of course, and will be a major player in the Silent War miniseries.

Trivia time: The green mystery man at the end of the series is Skaar, son of Hulk and Caiera. He’ll soon arrive on Earth for much drama. Until then, though, Marvel sort of closed the book on the Hulk for a while. His series was renamed The Incredible Herc as Hercules took over.

How do Tony Stark’s satellites work, exactly? It’ll soon be revealed that they syphoned gamma radiation out of the Hulk’s body. This radiation will be used in the origin of the Red Hulk.

Rick Jones survived his injuries. He was sent to the original gamma base from way back in Incredible Hulk #1 to recover, and that’s where he too crossed paths with the Red Hulk.

Fantastic or frightful? It’s nice to see the Fantastic Four playing such a large role in World War Hulk. It forces Reed to face up to what he’s done as part of the Illuminati, a character thread that we’ll pick up in issue #551. But he’s also right in that the Illuminati didn’t destroy Sakaar, showing that he’s striving to be a good person and do what’s right. It’s odd to see Miek revealed as the villain, considering he’s comic relief in the Marvel movies. It feels like this might be the bigger conflict Civil War was building toward, except that the Initiative is barely referenced. Beyond that, World War Hulk is a great read, full of classic Marvel action and drama.

Next: Headshot.

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