Hulk in the MC2

With all the build up for Avengers: Endgame, I've elected to cover the MC2 incarnations of the films main cast. For this entry, we'll be looking at the green-skinned giant himself, the Incredible Hulk!

Bruce Banner makes his MC2 debut in A-Next #3 where we learn that he's retired to Denver, Colorado and has a son named David. Bruce indicates he is finally rid of his alter ego for good and hasn't 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.

 Pitted against the newly formed next generation of Avengers, Hulk remains under Dr Strange's control until a hit from Stinger's...erm...stingers breaks him free of the spell (A-Next #3). It's also worth mentioning that this is where Dr Strange informs Doc Magus that the Hulk has a destiny to fulfill. While the action ends there, J2 #3 expands on the fight between J2 and the incredible Hulk and ends with the two demonstrating mutual respect for one another. 

It seems Banner is back to transforming into the not-so-jolly green giant but he appears to maintain some control over the Hulk if not retaining all of his intelligence, as he shows up in J2 #12, accompanying his fellow Defenders into the Crossroads of Infinity on a mission to rescue J2 and Doc Magus and the original Juggernaut and in Wild Thing #0 helping Wolverine, Dr Strange and Wild Thing against a pack of Wendigos.

After this though, the Hulk doesn't appear for a while, finally re-emerging in Spider-Girl #86-88 where he briefly battles Apox the Omega Skrull before being sent into space. There he is rescued by the Earth Sentry and Nova and accompanies them to the Skrull Worldship and is present when the Skrulls surrender. 

Anyone who's read some of my recent posts knows what happens next. During the events of Last Hero Standing, Hulk is enthralled by Loki's spell and goes on a rampage against several of the Earth's heroes. Finally freed when Captain America breaks Loki's connection, Hulk narrowly avoids death at Thor's hands. Devastated by the fresh destruction he has wrought after his years rebuilding his life, the Hulk joins Loki as he is exiled to Limbo by Thor.

Now, that should have been the last time we see the Hulk in the MC2, but eagle eyed readers may have noticed a magical energy duplicate created by Sylene in Avengers Next #4-#5. Either this is an artistic error or confirmation that the Hulk found a way back to Earth. After all, Hulk is strongest one there is!

Hulk's exile leaves it up in the air who's looking after his son, David. Perhaps Betty Banner (formerly Betty Ross) is alive and well in this reality? Perhaps Bruce's cousin She-Hulk is raising her nephew? We may never know!

Until I find a form of gamma radiation that turns my genes green, I remain

frogoat 

Thor in the MC2

With all the build up for Avengers: Endgame, I've elected to cover the MC2 incarnations of the films main cast. I figured the best place to start would be with the god himself, Thor.

The first of the original Avengers to appear in the MC2, Thor is revealed to be the Lord of Asgard in A-Next #1. When Loki attempts to steal the enchanted mace 'Thunderstrike' from Kevin Masterson, he transports the assembled heroes opposing him to the Isle of Silence on Asgard. However, Kevin ends up transformed into the heroic Thunderstrike when he leaps into Loki's magicks and saves the other heroes by summoning Thor to their aid with a huge signal in the sky.

Thor greets the assembled heroes with warmth, despite at first mistaking Kevin for his deceased father, Eric Masterson, the original Thunderstrike. After a celebration, Thor sends the heroes back to Earth using Mjolnir, leaving them with the parting words 'The planet spins! The page turns! And the world still needs heroes. May each and all prove worth of the privilege before you!'.

We don't see Thor for quite sometime until Last Hero Standing #4 when, as a result of Loki's scheme to end the Age of Heroes, Thor encounters his former teammate Captain America alongside other heroes stranded on Asgard. With the Hulk on a rampage thanks Loki's spell, Thor and Captain America discuss the latter's declining abilities and Cap reveals he intends to retire after this final mission (Last Hero Standing #5).

Thor transports the group of heroes back to Earth to confront the Hulk and find Loki. When Spider-Girl reveals Loki, Captain America confronts him as Thor battles the Hulk. Loki's spell is almost sealed by the spilling of fatal blood when Thor nearly kills Hulk. But thanks to Captain America breaking Loki's spell by destroying his dark crystal at the cost of his own life, the day is saved.

Thor banishes Loki to Limbo and the Hulk voluntarily exiles himself alongside the god of mischief to atone for the destruction he has caused. As Captain America lays dying Thor intervenes, combining Asgardian life force with the spirit and power of Cap's country channeled through Mjolnir to transform the heroes soul into a new star that will inspire generations to come.

In the sequel series Last Planet Standing, all of Asgard is threatened when Galactus launches an attack on the Realm Eternal, seeking the Odinsword in his quest to satiate his endless hunger. Despite Thor leading all of Asgard Assembled against Galactus and his Herald Dominas, Asgard is destroyed and Thor is taken captive by the world eater as survivors of the attack flee (Last Planet Standing #2).

Later, with Galactus' plan nearing it's completion, his Worldship containing energy from a thousand worlds is destroyed when energy from Captain America's Star overloads the containers, freeing Thor.  Thor arrives on Earth in time to witness Galactus and the Silver Surfer merge into a new being and reverse the destruction caused by Galactus.

While this is Thor's last present day on-panel appearance we do meet his daughter Thena on a mission for him in Avengers Next #2. We also learn that both Thor and his father Odin are attempting to revive Asgard using the Odin Power in Avengers Next #3 as well as glimpse a younger Thor in a flashback in this same issue.

And that's it for Thor in the MC2 at present. A more mature Thor, the loss of Asgard and the introduction of Thena certainly lend themselves to future stories, which I sincerely hope we get to see someday.

Until I learn to how to speak like the Asgardians, I remain


frogoat

Kree in the MC2

As there isn't a huge amount to cover this time around, this post should be relatively brief. Let's take a look at the Kree in the MC2.

Members of the Kree race makes only one major appearance in the MC2 way back in A-Next #2. When the Earth's Orbital Defense Grid shoots down and splits in two a Kree vessel, the two sections crash in the Washington National Park. With the Avengers on the scene thanks to Bill Foster, the team organise into two groups to seek out the remnants of the crashed vessel. Investigating the first crash site, Thunderstrike and Mainframe learn the Kree's robotic Sentry 666 separated from the Kree vessel when attacked by the Orbital Defense Grid. Mainframe surmises the Kree have sent Sentry 666 and his Mission Commander to assess Earth's current military capabilities.

Meanwhile Stinger, J2, Bill and John Foster explore the inside of the meteor-camouflaged Kree ship and discover the Kree Mission Commander has died in the crash. When Bill's leg is caught in the ships bulkhead door as it tetters over a cliff top, John accesses the ships system, inadvertently merging his DNA with that of the Kree Mission Commander and downloading all the ship's data into his brain.

Transformed, John Foster saves his father and the Avengers from Sentry 666, destroying the Kree ship in the process. Dubbing himself the Earth Sentry, John heads off to decipher the Kree's plans for planet Earth.While the Earth Sentry would go on to make several more appearances, we never learn what the Kree were planning. Presumably off-panel the Earth Sentry saved the planet from this Kree plot, but so far we haven't been privy to how things unfolded.

Notably, earlier in the issue Mainframe mentions that the Earth hasn't had an attempted invasion since 'The Skrull Incident' some years prior. This tells us that the Kree likely haven't made contact with the Earth in some time, a fact also supported by their attempt to assess the planet's military capabilities using Sentry 666.

On a side note, two researches working for Bill Foster are named Carol and Walter, almost certainly a reference to Carol Danvers and Walter Lawson, the identity assumed by the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell. I nice nod to other Kree-related heroes!



Until the Kree stop making their technology so compatible with Humans, I remain

frogoat

Nick Fury in the MC2

So, my last post about Carol Danvers in the MC2 made me wish I had more to talk about. So today, I'm going to talk about Carol's co-star in the Captain Marvel movie, by discussing his counterpart on Earth-982: lets talk about Nick Fury in the MC2.

To begin with, Nick Fury does actually appear in the flesh in the MC2, but isn't mentioned by name for several years. Fury is first alluded to in A-Next #5 when, following the unconfirmed appearance of Doctor Doom in Latveria by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, the Fantastic Five are tasked with investigating. When Cassie Lang aka Stinger requests the Avengers conduct the investigation instead, Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch is initially reluctant, saying 'The Big Guy himself' had asked them.

A few issues later, while helping the hero Argo to find his father Hercules, the Avengers find themselves in the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility within Mount Athena. There they learn 'The Merchandise' (actually Hercules himself) is buried several miles within the mountain in a special Adamantium cell. Hercules identity as 'The Merchandise' is kept strictly need-to-know and none of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents at Mount Athena are privy to this information. However, Agent 33 receives orders from 'The Top Man himself' to allow the Avengers to take custody of 'The Merchandise.'

Unless I'm mistaken, we don't get any more mentions of Fury until Amazing Spider-Girl #9 when Maria Hill mentions her 'Superiors' tasking Special Agent Arthur Weadon with securely transporting 'Specimen 297' (actually a piece of the Carnage symbiote) through New York City. When the transport convoy is attacked by a faction of  S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents led by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and the Specimen accidentally let loose in the city by Spider-Girl, Carnage is reborn.

Nick Fury makes his first on-panel appearance - albeit shrouded in shadow-when he assures President G.W. Bridge the situation would be resolved despite the complications (Amazing Spider-Girl #10).

It's in Amazing Spider-Girl #12 that we finally see Nick Fury in full and learn the entire plot. As the United States was unwilling to destroy the Carnage symbiote despite the United Nations stance on the use of bio-weapons, G.W. Bridge and Nick Fury organised for the team of disguised S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to 'steal' the Specimen, setting up Weadon's team to fail.

 This was all to demonstrate the dangers to the congressional committee wishing to keep the symbiote for bio-weapon research under the guise of finding a cure for cancer. Despite the operation not going as planned, the situation was salvaged thanks to Spider-Girl's intervention, providing the President with a sound rationale to convince the congressional committee to destroy the remaining Specimen.

As you can see, Fury is still up to his classic spymaster shenanigans, though he appears to prefer to remain in the shadows (both literal and figurative) more than before.

Until I find a nice fitting eyepatch and retire to the darker corners of the MC2, I remain

frogoat