WORLD WAR HULK is over and Bruce Banner has been detained. But there’s a new Hulk in town (or ‘Rulk’ as he was often referred to at the time). So who the hell is he? And what happens when the real Hulk comes back, dumber than ever? Let the murder, mystery and tongue-in-cheek silliness begin…!
SCROLL DOWN to the bottom for the KEY COLLECTED EDITIONS for this event!
Minor Crossover: The ‘King-Size Hulk’ one-shot was released to cover for some of the delays to the main series and does more to set up for the next joint-story arcs to follow this one. Bear in mind, while parts of King-Size Hulk take place before Hulk #2, it contains spoilers for that issue.
Must Reads: Story arcs marked with a ✔are must-read stories from this time period, along with any key related stories and often-forgotten tales that are worth a read.
Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue, so you don’t need to read the other four.
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- WORLD WAR HULK – The fall of the Hulk
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Hulk #1
- ✔ King-Size Hulk #1 [1/6]
- ✔ King-Size Hulk #1 [3/6]
- ✔ Hulk #2
- ✔ King-Size Hulk #1 [2/6]
- ✔ Hulk #3-6
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| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Hulk #1 Iron Man, Doc Samson, Maria Hill, General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross and She-Hulk investigate the murder of the Abomination in Russia. He was killed by someone with Hulk-level strength who shot him in the head as a finishing move. Not the Hulk’s style. During a fight with the Winter Guard, She-Hulk learns the Abomination’s killer has red skin. Elsewhere, Rick Jones wanders naked in the snow, trying to figure out what he’s gotten himself into this time. Ross and Samson drop in on the imprisoned Bruce Banner (locked away during WORLD WAR HULK) to get his opinion on who this new ‘Hulk’ might be… |
| ✔ | King-Size Hulk #1 [1/6] Bruce Banner tries to figure out the identity of the new ‘Hulk’ and is given access to a report that details the fight he had with a Wendigo right before he killed the Abomination. The ‘Hulk’ ended the fight by ripping the Wendigo’s head off, unaware that a whole pack of Wendigos were watching… |
| ✔ | King-Size Hulk #1 [3/6] General Ross reviews the history of the Abomination, including the murder of his daughter, Betty Ross-Banner, at the creature’s hands. |
| ✔ | Hulk #2 (pp.1-3) The new Hulk stole a giant gun from SHIELD. Now it looks like he’s trying to get another one when he attacks the Helicarrier, attacking She-Hulk first… |
| ✔ | King-Size Hulk #1 [2/6] (pp.1-5) Despite the initial surprise, She-Hulk holds her own against the Red Hulk at first. But he quickly retaliates… |
| ✔ | Hulk #2 (p.4) Iron Man and Maria Hill can only listen to the brutal battle between the new Hulk and She-Hulk. |
| ✔ | King-Size Hulk #1 [2/6] (p.6-7) Red Hulk warns She-Hulk he could kill her any time he wanted, then blocks her air supply until she falls unconscious… |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Hulk #2 (pp.5-6) Iron Man knows he has a fight on his hands, when an unconscious She-Hulk is returned to him. |
| ✔ | King-Size Hulk #1 [2/6] (p.8) She-Hulk regains consciousness and formulates a plan for revenge for herhumiliating defeat… |
| ✔ | Hulk #2 (pp.7-22) In search of his rampaging foe in the darkness of the Helicarrier, Iron Man finds an injured Thunderbolt Ross. Turning his back on Ross, Iron Man is attacked head-on by this ‘Red Hulk’ who forces the Helicarrier to crash. Later, Red Hulk locates Rick Jones in Nevada and slaps him around, triggering his transformation into a new version of the Abomination… |
| ✔ | Hulk #3 In the wreckage of the Helicarrier, Tony Stark takes times to watch a video featuring Thunderbolt Ross having a private chat with Bruce Banner in his cell. But what were they saying? Red Hulk’s fight with A-Bomb (Rick Jones’ new dumb, mutated persona) breaks the ground down to Bruce Banner’s cell beneath Gamma Base. Now the original Hulk is free again and he stands ready to fight the Red Hulk… |
| ✔ | Hulk #4 Uatu the Watcher arrives to observe this pivotal conflict and gets punched in the face by the Red Hulk for his trouble. Returning to his fight with the real Hulk, Red Hulk bests the green Hulk and breaks his arm. He takes him to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco where he plans to blow his brains out with his huge gun. Hulk destroys the gun. Thor arrives to confront Red Hulk. Clay Quartermain is struck off the suspect list when he’s found dead by SHIELD, although it’s starting to look like Doc Samson might be the Red Hulk… |
| ✔ | Hulk #5 Thor and Red Hulk knock the tar out of each other ’til Red Hulk grabs Mjolnir and leaps into space, dragging the Thunder God with him. In Earth’s orbit, he beats Thor into submission and uses the lack of gravity to utilise Mjolnir again, dragging them both back to Earth. But the fight and re-entry has set off the San Andreas fault and threatens to knock San Fransisco into the sea. A-Bomb helps get the Hulk back on his feet and the two gamma-spawned behemoths are joined by Iron Man, She-Hulk, Thing, Ares, the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner who are all looking to make the Red Hulk’s behind that much redder… |
| ✔ | Hulk #6 The heroes rush to save San Francisco, leaving the Hulk to tackle the Red Hulk. Thor helps out for a while until A-Bomb convinces him to let Hulk do this. The madder Red Hulk gets, the hotter he gets, so the Hulk angers him until he burns himself out which gives the Hulk the chance to knock him unconscious. Thor and Hulk depart, leaving the unconscious Red Hulk lying on the ground. A-Bomb turns back to Rick Jones and is shot by Doc Samson and dragged away before he can announce the Red Hulk’s identity. Thunderbolt Ross stands over the Red Hulk, taunting him and telling him he’s now on his own… |
| Must Reads | Issues & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | Hulk Smash Avengers #5 (2012) The untold story of the Mighty Avengers’ clash with the Red Hulk (immeditatley following his first attack on Iron Man. | |
| ✔ | Hulk #7-9 (2008) She-Hulk leads a new team of Lady Liberators line-up against the Red Hulk; the Hulk and the Avengers fight a pack of Wendigos in Las Vegas; Hulk is briefly transformed into a ‘Wendi-Hulk’ when he’s bitten by a Wendigo. | |
| ✔ | Secret Invasion #1 (2008) Another SHIELD Helicarrier is destroyed. | SECRET INVASION |
| ✔ | Hulk #10-12 (2009) Hulk and the Defenders face the Red Hulk and the Offenders when they next fight. | |
| ✔ | Incredible Hulk #600 (2009) Hulk faces Red Hulk once again; Doc Samson is revealed to have been brainwashed by MODOK; Bruce Banner is purged of his gamma powers and is unable to become the Hulk. | HULK NO MORE |
| Incredible Hercules #129 (2009) Abomination is seen in the Underworld. | ||
| ✔ | Hulk #15 (2009) A Red She-Hulk first appears. | |
| Hulk: Winter Guard #1 (2010) The Crimson Dynamo is killed by Igor Drenkov. | ||
| ✔ | World War Hulks #1 (2010) Bill Davis is transformed into a red ‘Hulk’ (though he never uses that name). | WORLD WAR HULKS |
| ✔ | Hulks #21 (2010) The Intelligencia initiate their plot to create an army of Hulks; Bill Davis is transformed into a red Hulk (though he never uses that name). | FALL OF THE HULKS |
| ✔ | Hulk #23 (2010) Red Hulk is revealed to be General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross – part of a plan by AIM and the Intelligencia; Doc Samson is revealed as Clay Quartermain’s killer; Rick Jones was also transformed into A-Bomb by the Intelligencia; Red She-Hulk is revealed to be Betty Ross-Banner. Incredible Hulk #610 (2010) Bruce Banner’s Hulk powers are restored. Hulk #24 (2010) Hulk and Red Hulk have their last major fight when Banner learns Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk’s identities. | WORLD WAR HULKS |
| Darkstar & the Winter Guard #3 (2010) The new Red Guardian is revealed to be a Life Model Decoy; the new Darkstar is killed defending Russia from the Dire Wraiths. | ||
| ✔ | Incredible Hulks #612 (2009) Hulk, She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk and A-Bomb form a team of Incredible Hulks. | DARK SON |
| ✔ | Incredible Hulks #618 (2010) The Abomination is briefly resurrected. | CHAOS WAR |
| Must Reads | Issues & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | Avengers #12 (2011) Red Hulk joins the Avengers. | |
| ✔ | Thunderbolts #1 (2013) Red Hulk forms his own blacks-ops squad with Deadpool, Elektra, the Punisher and Venom. | MARVEL NOW! |
| Thunderbolts #5-6 (2013) The Leader is resurrected as Red Leader. | MARVEL NOW! | |
| Indestructible Hulk Special #1 (2013) A robotic clone of the Abomination is created. | THE ARMS OF THE OCTOPUS | |
| ✔ | Hulk #1 (2014) A mindless Abomination is resurrected by the Order of the Shield to hunt the Hulk. Hulk #6 (2014) Hulk’s ‘Doc Green’ persona removes Rick Jones’ A-Bomb powers. | ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW! |
| ✔ | Hulk #8 (2015) Doc Green depowers Red She-Hulk. Hulk #10 (2015) Doc Green depowers the Red Hulk. | OMEGA HULK |
| Planet Hulk #1-5 (2015) Another Red Hulk called the Red King appears as the Baron of the Greenlands of Battleworld on Earth-71612 (though his identity is never revealed). | SECRET WARS | |
| ✔ | USAvengers #1 (2017) A new Red Hulk (General Robert L Maverick) emerges. | MARVEL NOW! |
| ✔ | Captain America #26 (2021) Thunderbolt Ross becomes the Red Hulk again when Cutthroat tortures him for the Power Elite; as Red Hulk, Ross salutes Captain America. |
Notable collected editions featuring the Green Hulk/Red Hulk…
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Hulk vol.1: Green Hulk/Red Hulk tpb/HC | Hulk #1-6 Wolverine #50 [part] |
| Hulk vol.2: Red and Green tpb/HC | Hulk #7-9 King-Sized Hulk #1 |
| Hulk vol.1: Green Hulk/Red Hulk OHC | Hulk #1-9 King-Sized Hulk #1 Wolverine #50 [part] |
| Hulk by Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness – The Complete Collection vol.1 tpb | Hulk #1-12 Incredible Hulk #600 King-Sized Hulk #1 Wolverine #50 [part] |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Hulk by Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness Omnibus OHC | Hulk #1-6 King-Sized Hulk #1 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023
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