Incredible Hulk #76

The INCREDIBLE Hulk #76

Date: October 2004
Title: Shattered
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciler: Dougie Braithwaite
Inks: Bill Reinhold
Letters: Randy Gentile

Colorist: Raul Trevino
Editor: Axel Alonso
Cover Artist: Crain

Nadia concentrates on landing her parachute after jumping out of the helicopter while also concentrating on not letting the Leader know she is alive.

Samson yells at Tony Stark for letting the woman go off while they stayed in the lab. Stark interupts and says that he has Naida's heart beat on radar but not Betty's but she may just be out of range. He cautions about going in and the Leader taking over their minds. Samson says he would regret letting the women get hurt and walks out to go find them. Stark relents and says he will go also but they will have to take a lear jet so that they can go in quiet.

Nadia finds Betty hanging from a tree, unconscious. She gets her down and wakes her up but tells her to be still for a minute so that the Leader doesn't realize they are both still alive. Nadia explains how she put the chute on Betty and knocked her out the copter. Betty realizes Nadia let the copter crash so that the Leader would think they died. Nadia explains that she has been practicing transcendental techniques and just thinking of a brick wall so that the Leader can't pick up her thoughts. They suddenly hear something which sounds like thunder but then they realize it's the Hulk coming through the forest. The Leader waits as the Hulk gets closer.

Samson notices that Stark is going off course. Stark explains that there are F-16's on their tail and he doesn't want to lead them to the Hulk.

Betty and Nadia hid when the mind-controlled Hulk walks through the area. The Leader notices something but then lets it go and tells the Hulk to dig down into the earth and get to the machine controls before the power runs out. Nadia and Betty, whose ankle is hurt, sneak away. Nadia uses some equipment and discovers that the Hulk is digging down to an abandoned missle silo. They figuer the Leader is storing something important there that only the Hulk can get. Betty recognizes the name of the missle silo as the designation code for Home Base's chief operative. No one ever know where he was at and he must have been here the whole time. Betty then explains to Nadia that the lips of the chief person operating Home Base was the Leader all along. Betty finds a ventilation shaft down into the silo. Nadia convinces Betty she is too hurt to go down into the shaft so she goes down alone. She climbs down and falls into the building, right before what's left of the Leader's body. He is basically a large brain, eyes and a jaw floating in a cylinder with liquid in it. The Leader welcomes Nadia and tells her to invite Betty down also and wonders where Samson and Stark are. He would like to have an audience to observe his new incarnation. Suddenly the Hulk comes crashing into the room.

The Leader, still in control of the Hulk's mind, tells him to operate the equipment. The Leader tells Nadia that he was indeed the "lips" but just for a short time longer. He says that the tried to get the thing he coveted the most, namely the Hulk's blood. He explains how he was is a floating telepath in need of a body. Betty appears and asks why he just didn't mentally take over Bruce in the first place. The Leader explains that the multiple personalities in Bruce's head along with the mediation prevented him. He had to wear Bruce down until he was weak enough to take over his mind. Betty points out that there is no lab to clone the Hulk. The Leader says that after Home Base was destroyed, he devised another plan, namely to replace the Hulk's brain with his and take over his body. The Leader says that all the running around and people dying could have been prevented if they had just given him some of the Hulk's blood. He also points out that the tank he is in is bulletproof but Betty just turns and shoots at the Hulk. The Leader tells her that it won't work since the Hulk is his now and he sends the Hulk to kill her. Betty tries to call out to Bruce who falters for a second but the Leader pushes the Hulk, who accidently hits some computers. Betty stops and calls out to Bruce to wake up. She just about gets through when Iron Man comes in and hits the Hulk. Iron Man stops to see how Nadia is and the Hulk hits him to the ground and is about to hit him again when Samson comes in and hits the Hulk also. The Leader enjoys it while Betty knows the situation is getting worse. Nadia yells to Samson and Iron Man that the computers are what the Leader is using to take over the Hulk's body. Iron Man and Samson continue to fight the Hulk as Nadia talks to the Leader so that he does not notice Betty messing with the computers. Samson hits the Hulk towards the Leaders tank, where Betty is standing also. Nadia jumps and pushes Betty out of the way as the Hulk crashes into the tank, sending glass into Nadia's body. The Leaders body falls out of the tank and Betty examines Nadia and finds no pulse so she was dead. The Hulk screams in rage and turns to Samson and accuses him of killing her and proceeds to beat the crap out of him. Betty yells and yells for him to stop.

The Hulk changes back into Bruce and looks at Samson's blood on his hands. Betty runs over to Samson and yells at Bruce to stay away from him and from everyone else. Stark tells Betty to relax but Betty says that all that Bruce has ever brought to the people who love him is pain. She yells insults as Bruce runs out the lab and away.

Return to Main Page