On a late night in a Midwestern town, Hulk is suddenly
attacked by Cobalt Man; Hulk beats him down and then smashes a truck over his
head and departs. Hulk, still angry, leaps to a construction site where he smashes
the big machines and then goes to sleep under an upturned truck…
…where he awakens in the morning as Bruce Banner. He finds an
unoccupied cabin and helps himself to some clothes. Walking toward the forest
he hears a sound he interprets as a gunshot and ducks and then sees a young
woman shyly waving to him, the noise having been a broken branch. They chat and
she introduces herself as Chrissie Cutler, a journalism student following the
trail of the Hulk. As they share a meal, Bruce tries to persuade her that the
“Hulk” was actually a tornado, a claim belied by the large footprints in the
area. A large egg-shaped craft falls from the sky and opens up to reveal an
obsolete model of robot. It throws a net over Chrissie and Bruce transforms
into the Hulk and tears the robot apart. He frees Chrissie who calls him “Dr.
Banner,” which sends Hulk into a rage against her and the young woman cowers,
convincing Hulk she is weak so he wanders off and falls asleep. He soon gets up
as Bruce Banner and checks on Chrissie; she confesses that the robot was after
her. It was a model created by the defunct defense contractors
Wright-Armstrong. Her parents worked for the company and she grew up in one of
their facilities; many of her friends went into hiding when the company was
shut down after a scandal. When she left school, the company must have thought
she was searching for the other refugees and sent the robot to get her back.
Her friends knew about the Hulk and considered him a hero so she set out to
enlist his help but now she apologizes to Bruce for endangering his life and
leaves….
Elsewhere, defense contractor Mohamed Simensky has seen the
Hulk via the viewer on the robot and now explains to his aide Ken the plan to
capture Hulk and turn him over to the Defense Department and in return they
would allow him to revive the Wright-Armstrong project….
Later, Bruce crosses paths with Chrissie again and asks for a
lift. But first he locates the tracking device in her coat, cuts it out, and
throws it in the bed of a truck going in another direction. He dozes off and
when he awakens, he finds the car stopped and Chrissie gone. He tracks her to a
small shack where she is in tears. The words, “Nightmerica,” “Broken toys,”
Military industrial complex,” and “Guinea pigs” are scrawled on the walls….