Marvel Makes The Hulk Smart Again

The only thing more deadly than an angry hulk is an angry hulk who also happens to be intelligent, and the Avengers just met him that version in person.

Spoilers incoming for Avengers #686, so if you haven't read the issue yet you've been warned.

The Grandmaster's ace in the hole is his newly resurrected Hulk, who in his quest to grab the last Pyramoid has run through just about every Avenger that's managed to get in his way. The only one that stands in his way is Wonder Man, and in this issue, he gets an unexpected surprise.

Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, is taking Hulk's punches as well as he can, all the while not striking back and attempting to appeal to the human that lies within Bruce Banner. At one point Simon tells Hulk "Come on Bruce. It's me. Simon. We're friends."

Hulk responds with "Friends", giving the indication that Simon has managed to get through to Bruce. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as Hulk grabs Simon by the neck and smashes him into the wall and takes him to task for calling them friends.

"We're not friends. You're a Hollywood snob. Drowning in ego. Preaching nonviolence when it's easy--when violence can't ever reach you. Well, I can reach you Williams, and I can hurt you. I can SMASH you..."

At that moment Simon realizes he hasn't been talking to Bruce at all. "His voice. God. His voice. Ice and granite and raw, bloody hate. This isn't Bruce. This is the other guy."

As it dawns on Simon who he's really talking to, Hulk asks "What's wrong Simon? I thought you wanted to talk..."

It was assumed that when Grandmaster brought Hulk back it would be the same rampaging behemoth fans are accustomed to, but in this case it seems Hulk has his own distinct personality, and one that isn't all HULK SMASH...well, at least not only Smash, though he does do his fair share of that by issue's end.

You can check out the spoiler image above.

Avengers #686 is in comic stores now, and is written by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub, and drawn by Paco Medina.