World War Hulk (2024)

World War Hulk was an event in which the Hulk was banished from Earth by the Illuminati. At the end of Planet Hulk (in Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #104-105), Hulk returned to Earth, seeing revenge against the Illuminati.

Plot[]

In his time spent on the planet Sakaar, the Hulk had become stronger than ever before and wanted revenge on The Illuminati. In his spaceship headed for Earth the Hulk was blinded by rage at The Illuminati, blaming them for the death of his wife, his unborn child, and the million citizens of planet Sakaar who had died. (Without confirming if it was actually them who caused the warp core to explode or some third-party.) Seeing his friends as enemies while training, he almost killed Korg and the Brood.^[3]

Reaching the moon, the Hulk defeats the Illuminati member Black Bolt, who he was unaware was actually a Skrull infiltrator. The Hulk then proceeded to New York City, where he demanded the presence of the Illuminati and that the city be evacuated.^[4]

Leaving for a short while, he travelled to the nearby X-Mansion, home of the X-Men, where Professor X, one of the members of the Illuminati absent when they decided to send the Hulk off-planet, admitted he would have agreed to send the Hulk away. The Hulk proceeded to defeat several teams of X-Men, and the Juggernaut. When Mercury led Hulk to the mansions graveyard and told Hulk about the loss of some of their allies and mutants during Decimation, Hulk decided to spare Professor X, believing he was already suffering enough and left.^[5]

The Hulk returned to Manhattan to complete his ultimatum. Iron Man engaged him in battle, wearing an enhanced Hulkbuster armoured suit, but was defeated after trying to subdue the Hulk with sabotaged anti-Hulk nanotechnology.^[6] Avengers Tower was destroyed in the ensuing battle.^[4] After this, the Hulk fought Ghost Rider.^[7] The remaining Avengers teams engaged the Hulk and his Warbound but were defeated, as were Doc Samson and the The Fantastic Four. Reed Richards' plan to simulate the Sentry's presence in order to calm the Hulk also failed, and Susan Storm attempted to call the real Sentry to have him intervene.^[8] The Hulk crushed the hands of Doctor Strange, preventing the sorcerer from employing mystic spells.^[9]

After the Hulk was close to becoming allies with the Renegades; Amadeus Cho, Hercules, Namora, and Angel, General Thunderbolt Ross called in the U.S. Army.^[10] The Hulk defeated them, and with the Warbound he transformed Madison Square Garden into a gladiatorial arena.^[9]^[11]

At Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Warbound members Hiroim and Elloe defeated Iron Fist, Ronin and Echo. Doctor Strange, mystically invoking a powerful old enemy, Zom, restored himself, his shattered hands replaced by spiked maces, and defeated Hiroim. In the gladiator arena, Doctor Strange threw Hiroim's body in front of the Hulk and attacked him, barely able to hold back the influence of Zom. Strange punched the Hulk out of the arena into the midst of a group of bystanders. Strange then knocked the Hulk into a building, which caused it to collapse on him and even more onlookers. Strange, aware that he could have hurt someone, flew down to find that the Hulk protected the people. Strange, now doubting his ability to control his powers, was beaten by the Hulk and imprisoned.^[12]

At the arena, Hulk has a lion fed to an alien. Hulk then placed "Black Bolt", Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Dr. Strange, all outfitted with obedience disks, up against a Devil Corker from Sakaar. The four defeated the monster using teamwork, but the Hulk turned the tables on them and set them against each other in a series of gladiator matches, the first fighters being Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man. Mr. Fantastic defeated Iron Man, and was then ordered by the Hulk to kill Iron Man. Meanwhile, in the Sentry's home, he witnessed the battle on television and left to fight the Hulk, declaring that it was time for him to play God.^[13]

Mung the Inconceivable, was killed while taking Miek's Hivelings (against Miek's wishes) on a rampage, hunting any human stragglers who had not evacuated. He ran into a returning Punisher and Stuart Clarke, fresh from a mission on the Mexico border. Armed with a crude Venom-like suit and a bag full of Clarke's weapons Castle challenged Mung to a duel, which he accepted. This was only a ruse to protect evacuating civilians heading for the Staten Island Ferry. The Punisher managed to not only rip Mung's arm off, but was also able to cut Mung's head open with his own sword. The Hivelings scattered as the one Mung called "Frank of Earth" told them to run. The people Castle was protecting managed to get on the Ferry, but the Punisher stayed on the shore to continue helping trapped people.^[14]

Meanwhile, the Hulk decided to spare the Illuminati, but said that he would destroy New York City and leave them to their shame. As soon as his decision was made, the Sentry arrived and attacked the Hulk. This attack destroyed the stadium, so the heroes and the Warbound teamed up to save the civilians still present. The Sentry unleashed his full power against the Hulk, but so much energy was used in the battle that the two reverted to their human forms. Robert Reynolds thanked Bruce for stopping him, before collapsing. Miek screamed about how the Hulk was not done exacting his revenge, and charged at Banner. Rick Jones, however, pushed Banner aside and was impaled instead, causing Banner to once again transform into The Hulk. The Hulk punched Miek aside, only for Miek to reveal that he was the cause of the mass deaths on Sakaar. He knew that the ship had been rigged to explode by followers of the Red King, who the Hulk had usurped, but did nothing to stop it. Miek reminded the Hulk that he was a warrior, not a peacemaker. He was then seemingly killed by the Hulk, who became so enraged that his mere footsteps began to destroy Manhattan. Tony Stark then used a satellite mounted beam that nullified gamma radiation to defeat him. It was later revealed that the Hulk was then kept in a coma in an underground base. Meanwhile, on Sakaar, a long-haired figure rose from the planet's surface. This was Skaar, the son of the Hulk who had survived his mother's death.^[15]

Production[]

World War Hulk consists of the World War Hulk five-issue miniseries, several World War Hulk sub-miniseries and one-shots (World War Hulk: Front Line and World War Hulk: Gamma Corps, World War Hulk: X-Men, World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker), as well as issues of the regular Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) series, and selected issues of Avengers: The Initiative, Heroes for Hire (Vol. 2), Invincible Iron Man, Ghost Rider (Vol. 5), Irredeemable Ant-Man.

Cast of Characters[]

Heroes[]

Warbound[]

Other Characters[]

Revised shipping schedule[]

The originally announced shipping schedule was updated on May 21st, 2007^[16] to include additional titles, delays, and the cancellation of the one-shot "World War Hulk: Young Avengers" title. ^[17]

May 2007:

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

The situation was stated to be an Omega Level Threat (designating both Hulk and his invasion).^[6] While Hulk was battling in the streets, S.H.I.E.L.D. Wakandan agent Derek Khanata stated that there was "a Class Omega situation" going on.^[18]