The Triad

First Appearance:The Incredible Hulk #308

Powers/Abilities/Skills: Guardian, Goblin, and Glow are not actual beings but are mental projections only seen by the Hulk who appeared to help the Hulk recover after Bruce Banner psychically withdrew from the world, leaving a Mindless Hulk. Each represented a different personality trait which would help Bruce come back to the real world: Guardian represents survival instinct, Goblin represents rage, and Glow represents reasoning. Guardian uses an arrow which she fires at the Hulk which does no physical damage but can cause memories to open to make the Hulk aware of something. Goblin antagonizes the Hulk by getting in his face and talking to him until the Hulk gets made enough. Glow just uses talking and reasoning to get it's point to the Hulk. Each's appearance is based on somthing or someone from Bruce's childhood.

Artist Representation Gallery

GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY

The Incredible Hulk #308: Guardian, Goblin, and Glow appear above the sleeping Hulk, who unknowingly was just betrayed by the Puffball Collective. Guardian mentions how they have watched long enough and how they are all pledged to protect the Hulk and how the Puffball Collective's telepathic probe of the Hulk's mind awoke them and alerted them that the Hulk needed their help. Before they disappear, Guardian shots an arrow at the Hulk and when it hits him, it causes him to wake up and see a demon in front of him. When the demon slashes his chest, the Hulk is surpised to see the Goblin appear by him and tell him to take some evasive action, which the Hulk does. Guardian next appears and trigges the Hulk's self preservatioin by shooting an arrow at the Hulk's chest and making him finally realize that he has been hurt. When the Hulk is surrounded by more demons, Goblin suggests more fighting whereas Guardian is worried there are too many demons to fight. Glow says that reason dictates that the time is right for flight which the Hulk does, by leaping away. The Puffball Collective notices the Hulk heading towards the dimensional portal and Goblin, Guardian, and Glow are suprised also at how smart the Hulk is to head towards it. They never thought his surpressed intelligence would manifest itself so soon. The Hulk escapes and is sad because he is along again at the Crossroads but Goblin, Guardian and Glow appear and say that he will not be lonely anymore.

The Incredible Hulk #309: The three stand before the Hulk and call themselves the Triad and say they are there to help. Noticing that the Hulk has begun to talk, Guardian feels that the Hulk is starting to make a recovery after Bruce withdrew totally from reality before. Guardian shoots an arrow at the Hulk's head, causing the Hulk to remember all of his past. The Hulk screams in pain and Guardian causes him to fall asleep, not wanting to go too quickly. Goblin is against helping the Hulk recover because when he does regain his intelligence, they will disappear. Guardian reminds him that if something hurts the Hulk, he would get hurt also. The Hulk wakes up and says he wants to go home, but he can not go there yet. Later, they are all standing in front of another dimensional portal. Guardian reminds Goblin that the Hulk must enter other dimensions to get food and water and Glow says that the Hulk must face some reality to come out of his psychic withdrawl. Glow says that the Hulk must make the decision to go into a portal. Once the decision is made, they can follow him and help him. They land on a desert planet and Guardian wonders why Dr. Strange would do something like this to a friend. Goblin says that the Hulk is tough enough to handle the planet and jumps on the Hulk's back and starts to tell him to jump. He manages to tick the Hulk off who elbows him and sends him flying. Guardian tries to get the Hulk to trigger the fail-safe and take them back to the Crossroads but the Hulk just growls and jumps away. Guardian blames Goblin for goading the Hulk into staying on the planet but Glow reminds them it is hard to determine yet what is the extent of the Hulk's free will at this point. They disappear and reappear where the Hulk finally lands after leaping for miles. They try to talk him into going back to the Crossroads but the actual choice must be the Hulk's. As the Hulk continues to walk into the desert, Glow thinks that the Hulk is too brainless to act in his own self-interest but Guardian says to have faith in the Hulk, that he is a survivor. They walk along, hot and dehydrated, until the Hulk spots water. Goblin runs ahead and dives in but discovers it is just a mirage and gets a mouthfull of sand. Glow and Goblin think it is too late to even go back to the Crossroads, the Hulk is so weak, but Guardian still have faith. A sandstorm comes up and the Hulk protects the other three until it is over. After the Hulk knocks the sand from the sandstorm off of them, Goblin is just happy to still be alive so he runs ahead andsees an oasis with water and food. Guardian says she knew the Hulk's will would not let him die.

The Incredible Hulk #310: The Triad follow the Hulk through a swampy world, talking to each other along the way. Goblin says that they are only there because the Hulk is screwed up and that he likes existing, so they should keep him the way he is. Guardian reminds him that they only exist to help make the Hulk whole again by merging the mindless Hulk with the brain of Bruce Banner. Glow wonders if Bruce Banner even exists anymore but Guardian brings up that fact that the Hulk is starting to think again. Goblin says it is due to basic learning. Glow says that this Hulk is not acting like Bruce nor the former Hulk but a new Hulk. Guardian says that if the Hulk is capable of original thought, then they would not need to exist. Glow suggests that Bruce and the former Hulk personas still exist and they are there to rebel against this new Hulk. They stumbled across a city and a person being carted through the city. Goblin keeps saying that it is a sacrifice but nobody believes him. The robes come off the figure to reveal a beautiful alien woman who is about to be sacrifed so the Hulk jumps to her rescue. All three of the Triad wonder which one motivated the Hulk and they realize the Hulk did it on his own. The Hulk starts to fight some warriors as the Goblin jumps on his back and fuels his anger. Guardian and Glow notice the warriors have very dangerous weapons so Guardian fires an arrow at the Hulk, turning the anger to reason as the Hulk remembers he was there to help the girl. A warrior comes up and strikes the Hulk with it's weapon and Goblin yells at Guardian for distracting the Hulk. The Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner, who is confused about what is going on. The Triad tell Bruce that they were helping the Hulk during Bruce's disappearance but now that he was back, they were not needed. The three disappeard in front of the very confused Bruce.

The Incredible Hulk #311: Bruce Banner is tied to an alter about to be sacrificed so he tries to force himself to change into the Hulk. When he looks inside his mind, he sees Guardian, Goblin, and Glow and wonders what they are doing there. Later, when the Bruce is about to be attacked by more skeletal warriors, he lets the Hulk loose and the Triad reappear. Gobline immediately gets the Hulk angry so that he can hit the skeletal warriors before they can touch him with their weapons again. Guardian shoots the Hulk with arrow representing the light of reason which basically lets the Savage Hulk come out. The Hulk looks around and doesn't see the girl he can to save, so he leaps away instead of staying and fighting. The Hulk goes back to the Crossroads and takes the Triad back with him.

The Incredible Hulk #312: Bruce relives the memories of his life, from when he was a baby to right before the Gamma Bomb went off. We see that Glow was hanging over Bruce's crib when he was a baby and Guardian was a doll from his mother. Anyone who was mean to Bruce, such as his nanny or his father, he perceived as the goblin. After going through his life, Guardian, Glow, and Goblin talk to the Hulk at the Crossroads, saying that they are the only thing that remains of the childhood Bruce. They talk about how his father called him a monster for so long, that that's what the Gamma Bomb brought out. Going through his childhood made Bruce realize that the three of them have always been inside him and will always be there to help him overcome his fate and accept who and what he has become. With that said, the three go back within the Hulk and Bruce Banner changes back.

Return to Hulk Sidekicks Page

Return to Main Page