Hulked Out Heroes

Hulked Out Heroes is a 2-issue comic book crossover mini-series, written by Jeff Parker and published by Marvel Comics in June 2010. It is part of the "World War Hulks" crossover storyline.^[1]

The series stars Hulk, Red Hulk, and includes some of The Avengers in a "Hulked" form, including Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man and Thor. In addition, a "Hulkified" Deadpool called "Hulkpool" serves as the antagonist alongside Doc Samson and the Intelligencia.

Plot summary

Bob, Agent of HYDRA sends Hulkpool (a gamma-powered Deadpool) back in time, using the machine Red Hulk used to send Thundra to the future so she may kill herself. However, he meets with a Blackbeard-the-Pirate version of Thing (and way back in time). After moving a storm and sending away Johnny and Reed (who were trying to get to Thing), he becomes a pirate until the British Royal Navy attack him with a Kraken. He and the Thing attempt to defeat it, but dinosaurs arrive, thanks to Bob's mistake while trying to take back Hulkpool. They defeat them, and Thing asks if Bob can get him to his time period. Hulkpool says "yes", and the Thing leaves with them, taking a dinosaur with him. They then arrive to the Old West in 1873, where Hawkeye is lost in time, and dinosaurs are released everywhere. However, Bob sends them back in time (including Thing and Hawkeye), but Hulkpool is sent when Captain America was losing Bucky and decides to save him.^[2] While in an alternate reality's version of World War II, Hulkpool manages to kill that reality's versions of Adolf Hitler, Red Skull, and Deadpool, as well as prevent the origin stories of every superhero he knows of, i.e. stopping Spider-Man from being bitten by the spider, or Doctor Strange from having his car crash.^[3]

Elsewhere, a battle broke out between the Hulkified versions of Spider-Man and Thor (known as the Spider-Hulk and Thorr respectively). Thorr vowed to protect the Capital from an army of A.I.Marines (Hulkified versions of some A.I.M. agents). Memories from both their pasts resurfaced, sparking the decisions they made, but their memories reminded them of things that made them angry too. His irritation building, and overpowered by his more savage instincts, Spider-Hulk was the first to attack. Thorr was not about to bested by a mortal and unleashed the full fury of the lightning at his command. Spider-Hulk was down, and Thorr moved in to deliver the final blow. Meanwhile, the Hulkified versions of Cyclops and Iceman (referred to as Hulklops and Icehulk) are plagued with suppressed memories and try to make the others see their point.^[4] While in an irritated state, Thorr forgot what it means to be the son of Odin as his hammer, Mjolnir will not let him strike back Spider-Hulk.

The commotion drew the attention of the A.I.Marine army outside, and they entered the museum. Once inside, they started tearing up the place, and Spider-hulk could not sit idly by and allow the destruction of the museum to happen. He did his best to keep the A.I.Marines at bay, but he was overwhelmed. Thorr calmed himself enough to remember a promise made to his father to always be worthy of being his son, and Mjolnir was his to command once more. Thorr rushed to Spider-Hulk's side, and together they drove their enemies back outside and continued their brawl in the street. Meanwhile, the fight between Hulklops and Icehulk as if it could go on forever until Hulklops became bored with it and walked away, leaving Icehulk by himself. There was no clear winner, but it was certain that Hulklops and Ice-Hulk would never see eye-to-eye.^[5] The suffering inflicted on Wolverine while he stood by and watched gave Wolverine all the motivation he needed to keep his advantage. The Hulkified versions of Wolverine (referred to as Wolverage) and the second Captain America relive their past when Wolverine knew Bucky as Winter Soldier. Although respecting Bucky for time served as the sidekick of Captain America during the war, Wolverine was a victim of Winter Soldier's cruel and ruthless brainwashing, suffering brutal tortures at Bucky's command. Wolverage struggled against the effects of the radiation due to his healing factor, but the more time spent as a Hulk forced him to give in to his rage, and he was determined to get revenge. Meanwhile, the Hulkified versions of Monica Rambeau and Thing (referred to as No-Thing) end up in a fight with the Hulkified versions of Human Torch (referred to as Hulking Torch), Ms. Marvel, and War Machine (referred to as Hulk Machine).^[6] Bucky fought back as hard as he could, but it did not matter. There was a time Wolverine admitted Winter Soldier was probably one of the only men who could actually kill him, but it would not be as a mindless Hulk. Similar to the past, Wolverine defeated an enemy, but he did not give in to his rage. Wolverage just left Bucky in the streets, trussed up.^[7]

Collected editions

The series is collected into a trade paperback:

• Hulk: World War Hulks - Hulked-Out Heroes (112 pages, softcover, July 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4371-8).

In other media

An episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes featured the Avengers, and the population of Nevada, getting mutated by massive amounts of gamma radiation; however, instead of "Hulking out", everyone's mutations are completely random.^[8]

The first Season of Avengers Assemble adapts the storyline in an episode of the same name.

References

External links

• Hulked-Out Heroes at Marvel.com
• 'Hulked Out Heroes' at the Grand Comics Database
• 'Hulked Out Heroes' at the Comic Book DB