Hulk (The New 52)

Hulk in Marvel - The New 52.

Information
After the events seen in Ironpoint, the Marvel Universe changed significantly. Bruce Banner's past and present remained mostly unchanged, although he has recently rid himself of the Hulk.

Alliance with Leader
After ridding himself of the Hulk, Bruce returned home, resignated. In his New York City apartment, Banner is hounded by his landlord for overdue rent. As he looks out the window, Bruce notices a woman in the building across the street being threatened. He jumps out his seventh story window, crashes through the window of the woman's apartment, and subdues her attacker. Only then does he look up to see the room filled by a camera crew and realize that the woman and her attacker are actors. Some time later, Betty Ross arrives to bail Bruce out of jail. She tells him its time to move on with his life and offers Bruce a job in the Army. Thinking it over, Bruce asks Betty out on a date. Later that night, Bruce and Betty are dining in a fancy restaurant. Bruce tells Betty he will accept her offer for a job and then says he has something else to ask her: he needs her to co-sign a car lease for him. Betty throws her drink in his face and stomps off. Bruce chases after and tries to apologize, not realizing Betty was expecting a proposal. Thoroughly mad, Betty drives off leaving Bruce stranded in a growing rainstorm. Soaking wet, Bruce finally arrives home only to find an eviction notice attached to his apartment door. The night is not over, however, as Leader is waiting and offers Bruce a chance to regain his power.

Despite Leader's offer, Bruce attacks him but Leader easily subdues him. Leader says that Bruce's life has been very difficult lately without the Hulk. Then, Leader takes out a syringe and injects it into Bruce. Bruce becomes the Hulk, and frees himself from the chains and attacks Leader. However, Hulk cannot punch him. Confused, Bruce asks what's wrong and Leader replies that there is nothing wrong. Since Leader worked on the new Hulk, he alone can control it. To prove his point to Bruce, Leader powers down the Hulk and he becomes Bruce again. As he reactivates the power, Leader proclaims that Bruce is his servant. Then, Bruce hears emergency sirens and flies to see the problem, much to Leader's annoyance. Bruce and Leader watch as a bridge is about to collapse. Bruce saves a woman, but Leader powers downt the Hulk and the woman falls to the water. Then, Leader fixes the entire bridge and saves all the victims, including the woman. As Leader reactivates the Hulk, Gregor, one of Leader's Gamma monsters and the one behind the bridge's collapse, attacks them. Leader fights Gregor, proclaiming that all the monsters gave into their sadistic urges instead of obeying the code of conduct he created. Then, he kills Gregor with an energy sword. Leader tells Bruce that the Gamma monsters have enslaved his island Krogar and he will help him destroy them.

Leader explains to Bruce that he needs him to liberate Krogar from the Gamma Monsters. If Hulk's allies get involved, there will be a massacre. Bruce decides to go with Leader, but not before saying goodbye to Betty. However, Leader won't let him, as the fate of Krogar is more urgent. Hulk angrily destroys the ground under Sinestro, causing him to collapse. He tells Leader is not better than him. Leader simply laughs, saying that he is better than Bruce, and he already knows that. Then, Leader flies off to Krogar, followed by a reluctant Hulk.

Bruce and Leader arrive at Krogar, and Leader reveals his plan: they must stay hidden until sunset and Leader will fight the Monsters while Hulk goes to the Gamma Power Emetter and deactivates it, as it can only be deactivated by Huk's DNA. Bruce expresses confusion at Leaders's decision of using the Hulk as a fail-safe for the Power Emmetter, but nevertheless goes along with the plan.

As they hide in Krogar's ruins while waiting for the sunset, Hulk and Leader watch as the monsters enslave the island's enhabitants and bring them to cells. Just as a monster is about to kill a young child, a person named Mercy attacks him. Leader is surprised, as he knows Mercy. However, the monster restrains her and prepares to kill her, and Leader decides to attack.

Hulk, knowing that Leader is drawing their attention, goes to the Gamma Power Emmetter, where he is attacked by another Monster. Hulk quickly kills him and goes to the Emmeter's control pannel, but the Emmetter blasts him, much to Leader's shock.

As Hulk is blasted by the Gamma Power Emmetter, he sees his relationship with Betty with another perspective. However, the Emmetter discovers that Hulk is not Leader and stops blasting him with energy. The Emmetter was not trying to disintegrate him; instead, it was trying to teleport him to the Negative Zone. As Hulk loses consciousness, the Gamma Monsters put him in a cell.

As Hulk comes to, he tries to get out of the cell; however, the cell has been designed to withstand gamma energy. As the Leader's drug begins to wear off, Hulk uses his last ounce of strength to think of Betty, before turning back into Banner.

The Monsters put Leader in a cell alongside Bruce's. Leader's cell is also filled with prisoners. Bruce listens to Leader talk with Mercy, who is personally upset by Leader's betrayal against Krogar. To get out of the cells, Bruce suggests to Leader to use the drug on the prisoners, just like he used it for him. With the power of the Hulk, the Krogarans could fight back against the Monsters. Leader is not sure about this plan, saying that he only has one syringe left and that little would only last ten minutes before wearing off, but Bruce tells him to try. Leader manages to turn the Krogarans into Hulk-like creatures while maintaining their intellegence. However, the Krogarans, led by a vengeful Marcy, decide to use their new power to attack Leader instead.

Bruce asks Mercy and the Krogarans not to use their power to attack Leader, as the drug will not last long. Leader also says that the power the Krogarans have cannot be used against Leader, because he created the drug. To escape their cells, Leader remotely controls a robot, causing an explosion that destroys the cells, allowing Leader, Bruce and the Krogarans to escape and fight back.

Leader uses what's left of his drug to turn Bruce into the Hulk. As the Krogarans fight the Monsters, Leader and Hulk return to the Gamma Power Emmetter to deactivate it. Bruce asks Leader why did he failed the first time he tried to deactivate the Power Emmetter. Leader answers that the Power Emmetter thought Hulk was Leader because the drug had some of the Leader's blood in it. Leader tells Hulk that they must power down the Power Emmetter, activating the Gamma Monster's survival mode, in which the Emmetter begins retracting energy from the Monsters, causing them to fall into a coma. The plan works and the Monsters are incapacitated before they can inflict any serious harm on the Krogarans.

Although Krogar is saved, the Krogarans have mixed feelings towards Leader. Mercy, still angry at him, says that the Krogarans will always consider him their enemy. Hulk and Leader take the Gamma Monsters as prisoners and leave Krogar.

Walking through the desert with the Power Emmetter and the Monsters under custody, Bruce and Leader talk about recent events. Declaring their pact over, Leader gives Hulk a serum, saying he can stay the Hulk, but he never stated he would provide a way to gain the Hulk's power when he made the deal in the first place. Then, Leader sends Bruce back to New York.

Returning to New York, Bruce resolves to find another way to become the Hulk, until he remembers Betty. Bruce goes to the Army base and meets Betty with a kiss, telling her about what happened in Krogar. He apologizes for everything they have gone through tells her that he wants her to be the last thing he sees before he dies and promises to improve their relationship. She accepts Bruce's apology and the two restart their relationship.

Bruce resumes his life in New York with Betty's help. During a date in the Aeronautical Museum, Bruce defends a mechanic from some co-workers that attacked him because he caught them stealing plane parts. After the date, Bruce tells Betty that he doesn't need to be Hulk.

The next morning, Bruce and Betty wake up after spending the night together. Suddenly, Leader appears and turns Banner back into the Hulk, saying that Bruce is still of use to him.

Secret of the She-Hulk
Hulk refuses to obey Leader's commands again, until Leader threatens Betty, causing Hulk to attack him. As Hulk and Leader fight, Leader holds the advantage, as Hulk cannot hurt Leader, who effortlessly incapacitates Hulk and tells him about the Watcher's plans to replace Gamma energy.

Suddenly, She-Hulk appears before Hulk and Leader. She-Hulk declares her intentions to deal with Leader, saying that Leader keeping his gamma blood was a mistake. Then, She-Hulk take Leader and teleport away, with Hulk following them to She-Hulk's headquarters. The She-Hulk knocks Hulk out and puts him in a cell.

As Bruce awakens, he finds he has turned back into Banner. Another prisoner begs Bruce to free him, but an energy blast knocks him out. Then, Corruptor appears before Brue. Bruce asks Corruptor what does She-Hulk want with Leader, and Corruptor replies that they are all saved. He says that Leader is no longer a worry and he will be reborn, just like he was.

Corruptor tells Bruce that She-Hulk will make Leader her own. He also shows Bruce his ability to cycle through the Nova helmet. Bruce tricks him into channeling anger and manages to become the Hulk. As Hulk escapes from his cell, She-Hulk's henchmen come after him. He tries to elude them but realizes he cannot jump through the air. The nanites tell him that the energy Hulk absorbed from Corruptor is simulated energy and the Hulk's power remains limited. Hulk asks if he can still smash, and the nanites replies that he can, but the punches may not be as strong. Hulk punches through a wall and climbs up to a zipline and a motorcycle to escape from She-Hulk's henchmen.

Riding across the dungeon, Hulk encounters a massive statue of Rhomann Dey. Touching a panel in the statue, Hulk activates a series of holograms that say that Rhomann Dey is the creator and savior of She-Hulk. He saved her henchmen, beginning with his greatest enemy: She-Hulk. Suddenly, Hulk is ambushed by She-Hulk's thugs and Leader, who has been converted into a Hulk-like creature.

As the henchmen surround Hulk, Leader expresses regret at everything he has done to Bruce, but Hulk doesn't buy it, knowing that Leader was brainwashed. Hulk asks She-Hulk why her henchmen attacking him, reminding her of the alliance between the two. She-Hulk replies that the alliance still stands, and the henchmen will return him to New York, but Leader will stay on her headquarters. Hulk refuses to leave without Leader, so he escapes into the Forbidden Jungles, hoping to find a gamma power emmetter.

Hulk travels through the jungle and finds a mysterious being, who recognizes him as the Hulk. The being identifies himself as Ratnomo, and Hulk recognizes his name from She-Hulk's oath. Ratnomo says that he didn't want his name to be used on her oath. He also says that "Nok", translated to human languages, means "compassion be with you", and is the name of She-Hulk's hometown. Hulk sees that Ratrnmo is not "hulked out", and asks him if he created She-Hulk. Ratnomo replies that he created She-Hulk along with Rhomann Day.

Leading Hulk to the Gamma Power Emmetter, Ratnomo explains to him the origins of She-Hulk. It was he and Rhomann Day who manipulated the actions of Jennifer Walter so that he could create allies to fight the Marvel Zombies. She-Hulk was also meant to fight the Watchers, because Rhomann had seen the future and discovered they would become corrupted. Ratnomo is preparing to attack the Watchers when Rhomann returns, but Hulk says that Rhomann is dead.

Shocked, Ratnomo states that without Rhomann, they have no chance at defeating the Watchers. Saddened by Rhomann's death, Ratnomo detonates the Gamma Power Emmetter. In that moment, She-Hulk arrives, but the Power Emmetter's destruction deactivates her power. Although Leader is freed from She-Hulk's influence, She-Hulk is depowered

Hulk and Leader run into the jungle, and Hulk explains that the henchmen are in fact brainwashed criminals, but their Power Emmetter is dead and they have reverted to their former selves. Leader tries to fight, but Hulk gets him into a jeep. Leader says that he doesn't need Hulk's help, but Hulk asks if Leader doesn't need him, why did he gave him the power in the first place. He was willing to get his life back on track, but because of the Watcher's plan, he will have to get involved in Hulk affairs again. Leader replies that Bruce is the Hulk, and that is his life.

Suddenly, they stumble upon Ratnomo, and Hulk imprisons him in a cage. Ratnomo pleads to be released so that he can say goodbye to his family, but Hulk asks him to repair the Power Emmetter. Leader threatens Ratnomo by aiming a stake at his neck, but Hulk convinces him that fear will not solve the problem. Leader decides to hold the henchmen off, while Hulk and Ratnomo try to repair the Power Emmetter.

As Bruce and Ratnomo get to the Power Emmetter, Ratnomo asks Hulk how did he know Rhomann Dey. Hulk replies that Rhomann was on the site where he became the Hulk, and was killed by the gamma blast, but Bruce aid he would carry Rhomann's legacy. And if that includes uniting She-Hulk against the Watchers, then he will accept that responsibility as well. Bruce inspires Ratnomo to believe in himself as much as he believed in Rhomann.

Ratnomo tries to repair the Power Emmetter, but he cannot reassemble the pieces without a single spark of compassion. Suddenly, Iquoe (one of She-Hulk's henchmen) enters the Power Emmetter, begging them to repair the Emmetter. Bruce and Ratnomo realize that even without her power, Iquoe is capable of feeling compassion. Using Iquoe's compassion, Ratnomo successfully repairs the Emmetter, restoring the henchmen, including Leader.

Bruce asks Ratnomo to let Leader go, but Ratnomo cannot do that; only She-Hulk can release him. She-Hulk agrees to let Leader go, but only if Bruce helps him find redemption even without the powe. She-Hulk asks Bruce if she believes Leader can be a hero, and Bruce replies that he wants to believe that.

Revenge of Firebrand
As She-Hulk releases Leader, Ratnomo inverts the link between Hulk's and Leader's mind. Now, Hulk can control Leader instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, Corruptor has escaped She-Hulk's control. She-Hulk teleports Hulk and Leader to Krogar, where Leader has hidden the Zombie Virus. As they study the virus to find out more about the Watcher's plans to replace gamma energy, they are teleported right to Corruptor's old home.

After a lengthy fight with Firebrand's forces, Hulk and Leader pass out after running out of gamma power. Firebrand buries Leader and Bruce alive. Hulk breaks free and fights against Firebrand, and is saved by Leader. The two of them fight Firebrand until the Watchers arrive, who command Firebrand to kill them. Firebrand opens a massive fire vortex that sucks Hulk and Leader within, but not before Hulk and Leader fuse their blood together with an unknown message. However, they are later revealed to have survived, but they are trapped in the mysterious Dead Zone. As they venture through the Dead Zone, Hulk and Leader find a mysterious cloaked figure.