Current music:	the man who sold the world - nirvana
Entry tags:	creator: greg pak, creator: jeph loeb, publisher: marvel comics, title: hulk, title: incredible hulk

So, yeah, Hulkpool.

He happened because of the Intelligencia's big plan, the one they've been building up to.

The one for which they neutralized the Earth's smartest people, stole Tony Stark's big gold Helicarrier, and set Rulk upon everyone else.



... one contingent on several heroes (led by Bruce Banner and Skaar) launching an attack to get their smart guys back in Incredible Hulk:



yeah, Wizard's been using his old Frightful Four fellows as subordinates.

while in Hulk, Rulk (working with Banner after having cut ties with the smart guys) mounts a second front of attack, only to run into Awesome Andy (now jacked up on cosmic energy; the Mad Thinker's part of this too) and MODOK:



With the help of the recently acquired Cosmic Hulk robot, the two overpower him and strap him into a chamber that drains all the energy he's absorbed into a 'Cathexis Ray.'

Back in Incredible, the heroes eventually overpower the Intelligencia, and Bruce thinks he's won: he's saved his friends, got Amadeus Cho in position to free Betty Ross from a secure cell, and prevented them from turning a bunch of mercenaries into soldier Hulks.

... except that the Cathexis Ray is triggered, fueled by the captured Rulk, and it's all according to plan:



(Hulkadeus! Ha.)

But the soldiers weren't the only target; over in Hulk, a trap of the Trapster's making is sprung (who knew that guy was useful for more than dissolving Adhesive X?)

As Rulk monologues, Cathexis radiation blasts the heroes (these guys seem to be the second wave, after Banner's first):



And say what you will about everything so far, but this two-page spread is so worth it:



(yes, ignore Bucky's hulked-up cybernetics; the idea of Rulk getting his ass handed to him by several Hulked-up heroes is almost worth a lot of the stomping he did in his early days... though he'll probably just up de-Hulking them with his energy drain powers.)

Oh, and don't worry, the first wave also got Hulked back in Incredible, as Bruce discovers:



as the mercenary Hulks descend on Washington, as Banner is strapped into the Liddleville thing, and as Rulk is about to get into a hell of a fight... the Fall of the Hulks ends.

(oh, right, Deadpool. He was Rulk's backup, and got Hulked in the Cathexis blast.)