Avengers, The (1963 series) #5

First meeting of Hulk and Captain America.

The Avengers come home from another battle with the Hulk in Fantastic Four #25-26. Captain America starts to train Rick Jones, cementing their partnership and increasing his separation from Hulk. Meanwhile Bruce Banner returns to the military desert base where Gen'l Ross says he's been missing for months. It isn't obvious exactly when Hulk was last regularly occupying his civilian identity. We haven't seen Ross and his daughter Betty since Hulk #6. But there was a cameo of Banner at work in Tales of Suspense #49, between issues 2 and 3 of this series. Banner's transformations still seem to be happening at random. Hulk now drops out of the Avengers attention for a while (though he's still on the masthead in #6). He will next appear in Amazing Spider-Man #14, and then with Giant-Man and Wasp in Tales to Astonish #59, then a cameo in Thor #112 before starting his regular stint in TtA#60. The next time Avengers try to track him down will be in #17. One of the Lava Men named Molto has been to the surface before, when Loki caused a volcano to spew him out in Journey into Mystery #97, until Thor sealed him back in the volcano again. There he spouted the usual threats about his people coming to take the surface world away from weak humans. He didn't seem to have or learn the liking for humans he espouses here. The issue ends with the Teen Brigade alerting the Avengers of the Masters of Evil's rampage in New York. Cue the next issue. And with apologies to Peter, Cap and Hulk first meet and fight in FF#26.