Marvel Event Spotlight: World War Hulk

justinsayne

Cody Rhodes is an excellant
World War Hulk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

250px-World_War_Hulk_1.jpg

Quick Summery

"World War Hulk" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self titled limited series and various other titles published by Marvel Comics in 2007, featuring the Hulk.

The series consists of five main issues titled World War Hulk, with Greg Pak as writer and John Romita, Jr. as penciller, and three other limited series: World War Hulk: Front Line, World War Hulk: Gamma Corps, and World War Hulk: X-Men. It also ran through several other Marvel comics series.

The plot is the culmination of a series of events that began with the Hulk being tricked into space by the Illuminati and a life model decoy of Nick Fury, the Hulk's subsequent exile seen in Planet Hulk and his imminent return to Earth to seek revenge on the Illuminati.

Plot Summery

Blaming The Illuminati for the explosion of a space vessel they had constructed, leading to the deaths of his wife, his unborn child and millions of inhabitants of the planet Sakaar, the Hulk and his allies the Warbound (consisting of Hiroim, Korg, Elloe Kaifi, Miek, No-Name the Brood, Arch-E-5912, and Mung) come to Earth intent on revenge. First stopping at the moon, the Hulk defeats Illuminatus Black Bolt (later revealed as a Skrull impostor). The Hulk proceeds to Manhattan, New York City, where he demands the presence of the Illuminati and that the city be evacuated.

He travels to the nearby X-Mansion, home of the X-Men, where Illuminati member Professor X, absent from the decision to send the Hulk off-planet, admits he would have agreed to that but not to permanent exile. He offers to turn himself in to the Hulk, but the rest of the X-Men won't allow it. The Hulk defeats several teams of X-Men, and battles the Juggernaut, but leaves after learning of the mutant population's heavy losses during M-Day, believing that Xavier has suffered enough.

When the Hulk returns to Manhattan, the superhuman-operative team Gamma Corps battles him, but the Hulk convinces them they follow a false cause.

As the time limit for the evacuation has passed, the Hulk defeats Iron Man, destroying Stark Tower in the process, and fights Ghost Rider, who after realizing the Illuminati do not deserve vengeance, rides away. The Hulk and his Warbound next defeat the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, Doc Samson and the Fantastic Four, including temporary members Black Panther and Storm. Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards' plan to simulate the Sentry's presence in order to calm the Hulk also fails, while Sue Storm and the U.S. President vainly attempt to have the real Sentry intervene. The Hulk attaches "obedience disks" to the defeated, imprisoned superheroes, preventing them from using their powers.

After a brief battle involving Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora, and Angel, the Hulk defeats General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and a U.S. Army force. The Hulk then encounters Doctor Strange, breaking the sorcerer's hands in an attempt to prevent him from invoking spells. At Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Warbound members Hiroim and Elloe defeat Iron Fist, Ronin, and Echo. Strange mystically merges with a powerful old enemy, Zom, replacing his shattered hands with spiked maces, and defeats Hiroim.

An imprisoned Tony Stark (Iron Man) communicates with Dum Dum Dugan, acting director of the international espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in Stark's absence. Stark reveals an emergency plan to engulf Manhattan in the Negative Zone, thereby annihilating all positive matter on the island, including the Hulk, should the heroes fail. Trauma is sent to defeat the Hulk using his shapeshifting abilities which are based on fear, but is defeated by the Hulk, who tells him 'I'm not afraid of anything'.

The Hulk and the Warbound transform Madison Square Garden into a gladiatorial arena. Meanwhile, he repels an assassination attempt from Scorpion, and a confrontation with the Initiative, He also defeats the Zom-possessed Dr. Strange and the demonic entity flees Strange to seek a new host, but after controlling Stark's Hulkbuster Armor MK_II it is defeated by the Renegades. Following speeches from supporters in the arena (including Tom Foster about how Iron Man was partially responsible for the death of his uncle Bill Foster at the hands of the Cyborg Thor clone) and the Hulk feeding a lion to a Demon Shrike (an alien creature), the Hulk arranges for Illuminati Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and Mister Fantastic to fight a tentacled alien and later each other to the death, as a cheering audience watches. When the Hulk orders Mr. Fantastic to kill Iron Man, the Sentry, in response, leaves his mountainside retreat and speeds toward the arena.

The Hulk spares Mister Fantastic and Iron Man, declaring his intention was for "justice and not murder", that nobody had to or would die, and declares that he plans to destroy New York City and leave the Illuminati to their shame. The Sentry arrives and attacks the Hulk, leading to a prolonged battle that leaves them spent. They revert to their human forms, with Bruce Banner delivering the final punch, thus defeating Robert Reynolds. Warbound member Miek impales the Hulk's longtime friend Rick Jones, and reveals he intentionally allowed the mass deaths on Sakaar, knowing that they were caused by former followers of the Red King. The Hulk reverts from his Bruce Banner alter ego, and he and the Brood No-Name batter Miek in retaliation. The Hulk, overwhelmed with rage from Miek's betrayal, unwillingly begins to release energy that threatens Earth. Illuminati member Reed Richards tells the Hulk that they will try to help him this time. The Hulk responds "I will never forgive you and will hate you forever. Almost as much as I hate myself." When the Hulk asks Tony Stark to stop him before he destroys the world, Stark activates a series of weaponized satellites that open fire on the Hulk, leaving him in his Bruce Banner form, unconscious.

S.H.I.E.L.D. later imprisons Banner in a facility three miles underground, with the other Warbound members having been taken into U.S. military custody. Meanwhile on Sakaar, the Hulk's presumed-dead son, Skaar, arises. His story is chronicled in the sequel Skaar: Son of Hulk.

Aftermath

A continuation of both "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" began in May 2009. A special stand alone prologue and Skaar: Son of Hulk #11 will see the beginning of "Planet Skaar" an arc which is intended to bring Skaar directly into the middle of the Marvel Universe. Following the return of the Silver Savage (the Silver Surfer) in issue #7 events begin to spiral that forces Skaar to not only abandon Sakaar but to head towards Earth. Already revealed by series writer Greg Pak is that Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards, will not be amused with the arrival of another Hulk-like being and that the meeting between father and son may not be very pleasant for the Hulk.

In the 2010 "World War Hulks" storyline, it is revealed that the satellites used to revert Hulk back to Banner at the end of "World War Hulk" siphoned off the gamma radiation from his body, in order to collect it for the cathexis ray later used to create the Red Hulk.

Bibliography

Avengers: The Initiative #4-5
Ghost Rider vol. 5, #12-13
Heroes for Hire vol. 2, #11-15
Incredible Hulk vol. 3, #106-111
The Invincible Iron Man vol. 1, #19-20
The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10
Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #12
World War Hulk #1-5
World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker #1
World War Hulk: Front Line #1-6
World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1-4
World War Hulk: X-Men #1-3

Justin's Thoughts

I've actually have been wanting to read this for awhile now, & think that I'm going to pick the the tpb on my next trip to the Comic Shop, I've become a big fan of Hulk over the past couple months, & this arc looks epic as fuck!!! I love the idea of Hulk just going ape shit and destroying pretty much every hero in the Marvel universe, I'll post again once I get and read the tpb

Discussion Questions

-Planet Hulk, the arc that took place prior to World War Hulk, was made into and animated movie, would you like to see Marvel turn this arc into a animated movie as well?

I loved Planet Hulk, and thought they did an amazing job on it, if they could get the same team from that project on this, then I think it would be awesome to see

-Hulk challenges and defeats many of Marvels greatest superhero's in this arc, of all those battles which do you feel was the most epic?

I havn't really read this yet, so when I do I'll have a better answer to this question, but reading through the plot summery when I was putting this together, I found the section that talks about Hulk taking out several teams on X-men to be pretty fucking impressive, that is something I most definitely can't wait to read

-Is there anything about this arc you would have changed, and if so what?

Seeing as how I have not read it yet I can not really say what I would change if anything
 
Based strictly on what you have written, I'm not quite sure what I think of this arc.

As awesome as it would be to see a Super-pissed Hulk tearing up everything in his path and fighting some of the big names within the Marvel Universe, the story itself sounds kind of convoluted. But then again, it could just be me and my limited knowledge of the history of Hulk.

Still might be a decent read though, as obviously more detail and the images would allow the reader to help understand the story.

Lately, I've had a strange urge to pick up and read some Incredible Hulk books, so this might be something worth looking into.
 
Based strictly on what you have written, I'm not quite sure what I think of this arc.

As awesome as it would be to see a Super-pissed Hulk tearing up everything in his path and fighting some of the big names within the Marvel Universe, the story itself sounds kind of convoluted. But then again, it could just be me and my limited knowledge of the history of Hulk.

Still might be a decent read though, as obviously more detail and the images would allow the reader to help understand the story.

Lately, I've had a strange urge to pick up and read some Incredible Hulk books, so this might be something worth looking into.

I'm actually in the process of reading it right now, as as convoluted as the plot summery in my post is, it not nearly as convoluted when you read the tpbs, so far I'm about 2/3rds of the way done, and for me personally I would have to say this is on par with, if not better than Civil War, & I hold Civil War up as one of the best things I've read in comics, for any fan of Hulk I'd say this is a must read, tons of action, and tons of just pure awesomeness so far
 
World War Hulk was a breath of fresh air for the Hulk character. Since Peter David's epic run had finished, the character was sort of in limbo with various bizarre storylines until this one came along. It was something fresh, exciting and was a totally new take on a character. Hulk had never really been explored in this way and it was great to see a change in pace for the character. It also allowed us to be introduced to a variety of new characters as opposed to the usual cast which had changed very little since the very first Hulk stories. We got to see Hulk tear through everyone and destroy pretty much anything that moved, somewhat embracing the monster portion of the character. It was something that had been done before but in a totally different way. I'm a big fan of Planet Hulk and its follow-up.
 
I finished reading this yesterday, and holy shit was this awesome, this is easily one of my top 3 tpb/graphic novels ever, I was literally late coming back from my break cause I didn't want to put this down, every fight was huge and epic right up until the end, & as Funkay said the story was very fresh and very fun to read, I highly recommend anyone who wants a amazing story that's full of action to read this, fucking epic in every way, I would easily rank this above Civil War, or really anything else that "I" have read in the Marvel universe, when I finished the first thought to pop in my head was "God damn that was good!!"

It should be noted that if you look for this in trades that the main title doesn't feature any of the Hulk vs. X-Men stuff, I guess that's in a separate tpb (which I need to find a read)
 

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