Today’s post will again be something a little different, a look
at something we did not see in the MC2. For this entry in what I am
still calling the Untold Tales of the MC2 which looks at costumes,
concepts, story ideas and characters that never made it to the printed page, we
first need to talk about someone who did make it into the MC2: the Son
of the Hulk.
Making his first and only appearance in the pages of A-Next
#3 is the young son of the Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk,
David Banner. In this issue we learn that Bruce Banner has
retired to Denver, Colorado and he indicates
he is finally rid of his alter ego for good and has not seen Doctor
Strange in years. When Strange appears
unexpectedly to reform the Defenders, he takes complete mental
control of Banner and forces Bruce to once
more transform into the Hulk. Concerned for his son as he begins to
change into the Hulk, Bruce shouts for his son to run but Doctor
Strange assures him that David is in no danger. David Banner
is left stunned and confused, and this is all we see from the boy in the published
works of the MC2.
Now, let us take a look at the unpublished side of things
for David, thanks once more to MC2 co-creator, artist and ideas
man, Ron Frenz. On his official Facebook page,
Ron shared the following image with this description:
Davey and (the Green) Goliath!
An un-used MC2 idea for Bruce Banner
and his young son David involving an accidental gamma mind link and
ensuing hi-jinks!
While it is just a concept that never saw publication, Mr
Frenz evidently put some thought into this, going so far as to clarify why ‘Davey’
has green hair in his sketch when asked:
The “gamma mind link” turned his hair green.
It sounds like this unpublished story idea would have been a
lot of fun. As I mentioned in my She-Hulk
post, we don’t know who would have looked after David Banner after his father was
sent to Limbo by Loki and
it’s never mentioned who his mother is or even if she’s still alive. Perhaps that
is a topic for another time?
Until I stop exploring every corner of the MC2 and finding
more reasons to love it, I remain
frogoat