HULK VS. IRON MAN!

(as seen in the pages of Advanced Iron #64)

HULK #316

"Battleground!" - February 1986

Script, pencils, inks : John Byrne

Additional inks : Keith Williams

Doc Samson has succeeded to separate Bruce Banner from the Hulk. Both beings now exist simultaneously in two different bodies.

But while Banner lies in a comatose state in the hospital, the Hulk, completely devoid of humanity or reason, is on an incredibly destructive and mindless rampage through New Mexico.

Two familiar figures soon appear in the sky, determined to put an end to this madness: Iron Man (in his Silver Centurion armor) and Wonder Man. They attack the green goliath with everything they've got, but the beast keeps coming back for more. They are soon joined by Hercules and Namor but before the heroes can truly start to kick green butt, they are interrupted by Doc Samson. He asks the Avengers to let him take care of the situation since the Hulk is his patient and also because he is partly responsible for this crisis. Iron Man agrees, but before leaving, he warns Samson that the Avengers will keep a close eye on him, and that they will return in full force if he fails.

They do eventually return in issue 322 by the way, both East Coast and West Coast teams… but the issue was not particularly impressive, both story and art-wise, and since IM was just one of a very large group of guest-stars, I decided to skip it. Just know that it exists.

Great comic, great story, great art…

John Byrne is truly an extraordinary comic book creator. The action is awesome, the suspense gripping and to top it all off, IM is wearing the coolest armor that was ever designed for him. An absolute must.

As I have said before, I am a great fan of Byrne's work, but I don't like his depiction of the Silver Centurion armor. The domed helmet with no neck looks stiff, like R2-D2's head. When IM is flying, he can't even look where he's going!

During the fight, IM tells Wondy: "We've been pulling our punches, as we would if Bruce Banner were still trapped inside the Hulk. But that's no longer the case. There's nothing even remotely human in there anymore. NOTHING AT ALL!"

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