General John Ryker
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First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 Vol 1 (unbeknownst) Hulk
#14 (seen)
Relatives: Lucy Ryker (wife)
Powers/Abilities: Ryker is a superior military stragegist. He is well
versed at manipulating people and situations to get what he wants.
During these situations, Ryker is unusually adept at making sure he
stays in the shadows and very few people know of his even existence.
Artist Representation Gallery
Origin: Ryker joined the military at a young age and joined the black-ops
division and proceeded to help determine future history from the shadows.
When his wife developed cancer, he decided to use all the resources
of the military to track and study Bruce Banner since exposure to
gamma radition did not kill him and made him stronger in order to
find some way of saving his wife.
GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY
The Incredible Hulk #14: Ryker stares out a window, thinking
of all the assissinations and murders he has been involved with in
his life. Johnson, his assistant, comes into the room and tells his
that Bruce Banner has been sighted at Betty's graveyard. Ryker looks
at a picture of the site and asks who the woman is, not knowing who
Angela Lipscombe. He tells Johnson to get
samples of the grass where Bruce was to calibrate the equipment so
that they can track Bruce the next time he transforms. Later on, Bruce
turns into the Savage Hulk and Ryker's men
get a lock on his position. Ryker orders to send in the dogs. Ryker's
men create false information to keep everybody away from the area
as his men attack the Hulk. They bring in dogs and after activating
a button, they are mutated into gamma-irradiated green savage dogs.
Ryker listens over the radio as the fight between the Hulk and the
dogs brings them to where the men are stationed. He gets made when
radio contact is broken off.
The Incredible Hulk #15: General Ryker listens to one of the
doctors who works for him tell how how another patient has died from
exposure to gamma radiation. Ryker demands to know why they died,
not how. The doctor says that the gamma mutation can't be predicted
and they are needlessly killing people. Ryker says that the patients
they are using are not actually people due to how they decided to
live their lives. He tells the doctor to perform an autopsy. After
he leaves the room, Ryker tells his assistant Johnson to subtley threaten
the doctor to remind him. Ryker says that they need Banner to unlock
the keys. Johnson says they have a lead, Angela
Lipscombe, an old school associate of Bruce's, was seen in the
vacinity of Bruce. Ryker says that they need to pay her a call. Later,
Ryker and a soldier knock on Angela's door,
pretending to be there to talk about God. From inside, Bruce recognizes
Ryker's voice from being at the Gamma Base in the bunker during that
fateful day when he first turned into the Hulk. Bruce peaks out the
window and watches Ryker and the other soldier walk away. Ryker warns
his people to stay alert when suddenly a desk flys through the window
and the grey Hulk appears, holding Angela.
Ryker gets to cover and tells his men to cordon off the area. Ryker
is surprised to see that the Joe Fixit personality does exist. They
are at a standoff as Joe Fixit and Ryker stare each other down. Ryker
tells his men to shoot the hostage if needed. As Joe Fixit breaks
through the roof with someone in his hands, he is fired upon by a
tank which sends his hostage flying away. Joe is fired upon further
as he lands on the ground, with his hands grasped together. Ryker
orders his men to go and remove the body of the woman. Ryker's soldiers
put special cuffs on Joe, who still has his hands grasped together.
When Ryker asks him what he is hiding, Joe just says it is a surprise.
Joe asks Ryker is he is government. Ryker says there is no government
and proceeds to give his low view of general people and what kind
of dirty operations he is involved in. Joe breaks the cuffs and reveals
an instant camera. He starts taking pictures of Ryker when at the
same time, Ryker's soldiers find the body and realize that it's not
Angela, but a medical skeleton. Joe takes
a few pictures and manages to escape Ryker and his men, then grab
Angela and leave.
The Incredible Hulk #16: Ryker tells his soldiers how disappointed
he is with them for allowing Bruce to escape with a picture of him.
He tells them that they are going to ge Bruce back by destroying his
private life. Each solider is given instructions to examine Bruce's
entire life and make sure anyone who had contact with him at any time
is under their control. Ryker takes Johnson to go visit an old friend.
General Ross goes to the room holding Betty's cryogenically frozen
body to find Ryker there. Ryker tells Ross that he has been given
control of the base, including Betty's frozen body, and that if Ross
doesn't help him bring in Bruce Banner, he will turn off the electricity
to Betty's container and let her body start to decompose. Nick Fury
returns to his apartment to find the Hulk there. Bruce shows Nick
a picture of Ryker and Nick recognizes him and says that officially
he doesn't exist because he's involved with some nasty stuff. Nick
tells Bruce some of the rumors about what Ryker is doing or has done,
including assassinating President Kennedy. Nick gives Bruce a contact
who can give him more information and help.
The Incredible Hulk #17: As Benny Tibbets, also known as Flux,
works out, General Ryker comes in and tells him they have found the
man responsible for his condition: Bruce Banner. Ryker tells Tibbets
that his mission is to bring back Banner and make him responsible
for his crimes. He also says that Bruce has been linked to the Iraquis
and involved with terrorism. During the battle with the Hulk, Tibbets
realizes what he has known all along, that it was his own government
that dropped gamma-radiated bombs on him and his men during the Gulf
war and that Ryker has been lying to him all along.
The Incredible Hulk #18: Private Tibbets recounts to Angela
how Ryker picked him out for a special mission and then subjected
him to radiation, telling him it was for the good of the country the
whole time. Meanwhile Bruce looks up Nick Fury's friend who tells
Bruce that Ryker was involved with the assassination of President
Kennedy and that he actually works for aliens. Ryker stands before
a large globe holding someone inside, deep beneath the ground at Area
51. He tells the unseen person that he is close to a breakthrough
and that Bruce Banner will be arriving shortly as he is the key to
understanding everything. Ryker manages to capture Angela,
Doc Samson, and Private Tibbets at Samson's house. One of Ryker's
men holds a sign outside the house saying "Doctor Bruce Banner" and
welcomes the Hulk as he lands. The Hulk busts into the house and threatens
to kill randomly-chosen innocent people unless Doctor Banner surrenders
himself. The Hulk asks how he knew where to find him. General Ross
steps out of the shadows and says that he told him.
The Incredible Hulk #19: Ryker stares into the face of the
restrained Hulk and dares him to hit him. Ryker tells him how the
restraints were developed to handle superpowerful types where the
energy of the restrainee is redirected back at them. He tells Bruce
that they will get to the bottom of him, even if it kills the Hulk.
He tells Bruce how he is going to flood his body with gamma rays and
submit his mind to unwanted memories and will make him cry like he
did the day Betty died. With the mention of Betty, the Hulk reaches
out at Ryker but is shocked back. Ryker then goes to look in on Private
Tibbets, who is under the same shackles which the Hulk is under. Johnson,
Ryker's assistant, tells Ryker about what Doc Samson found out about
Tibbets mentally. Ryker goes back to torturing Bruce, recalling his
childhood and college. When Bruce mentions Ryker's involvement in
the Kennedy assassination, Ryker just says that what he knows is just
lies and that he lies to everybody so that he is the only one that
knows the truth and is in control. Ryker proceeds to torture the Hulk
more. Ryker is seen talking to the unknown, but deformed, person in
the globe, saying that he is close to the end with the help of Bruce
Banner. Inside Bruce's mind, all the personalities that have been
trapped in the cave get free, including the Devil
Hulk and Bruce doesn't know how to contain them. Bruce goes through
bizarre transformations as Ryker continues to torture. Ryker figures
out that the transformations into the different Hulk personalities
are manifestations used as a defense mechanism as Bruce's subconscious
relates to his surroundings. He figures this knowledge will allow
him to control the Hulk. Ryker then goes to torture Private Tibbets,
using personal knowledge gained by Doc Samson. Back at the lab, Bruce
is gasping for breath and says that he knows that General Ross is
up there looking at him and asks him if Betty would be proud of him.
The Incredible Hulk #20: Ryker watches from above as the Hulk
struggles in his bindings. Ryker remarks how simple it is to control
the Hulk: just use the right provocation. He leaves General Ross and
his assistant to go check on Private Tibbets. Ryker messes some more
with Tibbets mind when he hears some explosions, not knowing that
General Ross has allowed Nick Fury and his men to invade the base
and has let the Hulk loose. Ryker walks into the room with the Hulk
and all the soldiers, with Private Tibbets, in Flux mode, behind him.
He orders Tibbets, who is under Ryker's control to attack the Hulk.
General Ross and Doc Samson sneak off and find that the figure in
the sphere is Lucy Ryker, Ryker's wife. She asks General Ross if he
has come to help with the experiments. During the battle, Ryker's
assisstant Johnson tells him that the President is on the phone. Ryker
tells Johnson to tell the President he will call him back. Ryker continues
to play mind games with Tibbets to get him to keep fighting the Hulk
until General Ross comes on the screen with Lucy at his side. Lucy
asks if what General Ross has told them is true. Ryker says it is
all a lie to trick her. Lucy accuses Ryker of lying to her about the
doctors finding a cure for her cancer and talks about what he has
done to people. Ryker says that he would never lie to her and then
whispers to Johnson to get his jet ready. Ryker makes it to the room
where General Ross and Doc Samson are holding Lucy and aims a gun
at them, telling them to step aside from Lucy. He tells Lucy to come
with him and he will explain everything. Lucy says she didn't want
to be cured if it meant hurting innocent people. Ryker says that she
is the only thing that matters and he would do whatever it takes to
make her beter. Realizing that General Ross won't let Lucy come with
him even if she wanted to, he says that this is not over and he escapes
in his jet.
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