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Hulk Smash Avengers #4

May 2012
Jim McCann, ?

Hulk Smash Avengers #4 cover

Story Name:

What smashes in Vegas


Synopsis

Hulk Smash Avengers #4 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Michael Berengetti sends a message to Joe Fixit (the grey Hulk) to say there's an incoming problem he wants fixed.

And incoming to Las Vegas is a quinjet containing the West Coast Avengers. Chairman Hawkeye wants to see the sights and maybe get properly remarried to his co-pilot Mockingbird. But Iron Man reminds them they're here to stop a turf war between mob leaders including Berengetti and his mysterious enforcer.

Suddenly an alarm goes off and the plane starts bucking. Wonder Man looks out a window and sees a large grey/purple-suited figure shooting at them with 2 tommy-guns. The bullets must be something special because they rip through the walls, narrowly missing Tigra. And the quinjet goes down.

The 5 Avengers leap out of the crashed plane. They see that their foe is Hulk-sized. But they know Hulk is dead, and this guy denies being him anyway - he says he's Mr Fixit. So they figure this must be the mystery enforcer.

Hawkeye orders an attack. Tigra leaps on Joe but her claws can only damage his clothes and he hurls her away. A vibranium shock arrow doesn't have much effect either. Mockingbird leaps next and smashes her battlestaves in his ears. Then leaps away as Iron Man gives full repulsor blasts. But Fixit hits him for 6 too.

Wonder Man is last up at bat. But Fixit appears to run away, and Simon Williams follows. Joe reaches the Luxor Pyramid casino and does the comics strong guy trick of lifting it up by the edge of the base. Wondy realises what's going to happen and streaks in with his hip-jets. Next thing we see is him holding a mound of building up with his comrades underneath (and a bit of help from Shellhead). Until he hurls it away.

(What he throws appears relatively small so probably Hulk just threw a large chunk of the Pyramid at the Avengers.)

Now WM is angry and he jets full tilt into Mr Fixit. They strain against each other. But, still denying being the Hulk, Fixit slowly pushes Simon back. And then throws him away - a long way away.

Hawkeye desperately fires arrows as Mockingbird and Tigra retreat. And he calls on Tony Stark to do his Iron Man stuff. Now it's his turn to jet into Fixit - who doesn't budge but grabs IM in a bear hug.

Tony says he wants to talk, so Fixit leaps them both away. He lets IM go and Stark removes his helmet. Tony says he knows it's Bruce Banner in there. Mr Fixit effectively admits who he is, but says he's not Banner or Hulk anymore. He's Joe Fixit and he likes this life. He may be a Mob enforcer but he promises Tony that on his watch only the guilty will suffer. Then he leaps away.

The other Avengers see him leap, but Hawkeye says they don't go after him until Shellhead's back. And then they take him as a team. But when Tony does return he says they're leaving. They can trust Fixit to keep things under control.

(It is unclear to me whether their quinjet is still working or Iron Man summons another 1.)


 

Review / Commentaries


Hulk Smash Avengers #4 Review by (March 22, 2016)
This issue places itself just before West Coast Avengers #5 and Hulk #347. But those issues were published 2½ years apart. This story fits OK between Hulk #346 and #347 so the Marvel Chronology Project have chosen a WCA position that is compatible with that, between WCA#29 and #30.

(Hulk #347 came out the same month as WCA#36. Maybe there's a misprint and WCA#5 was intended to be WCA#35? But the WCA's costumes seem more like #5 than #35. By now Tigra has grown a tail, Hawkeye has (re-)bared his arms and Mockingbird has bared her legs. Hawkeye says Tony Stark has only recently returned to being Iron Man, but he took the title back in his #200 before he joined the gang. His armour is still the Silver Centurion version that he donned then, but it's been a while now. So all in all it sounds like both writer and artist believed the WCA#5 date)

The already-grey Hulk 'died' in his #345 in an atomic explosion caused by the Leader and was mourned in #346. #347 begins with Joe Fixit already working for Michael Berengetti and the mob war already happening.

At this point in time the WCA have 2 other members:- Dr Pym and Moon Knight. They've just finished an arc involving the criminal cartel Zodiac, and their next few issues will be standalone adventures. More significantly Iron Man is in the middle of the Stark Wars arc (later called Armour Wars) where he hunts down characters who wear armour based on Stark tech. In MCP terms IM#227 comes before this issue, both lying between WCA#29 and #30. In it Iron Man disables all SHIELD's Mandroids.

Hawkeye married Mockingbird at the end of his 1st mini-series. They eloped that time, and he's suggesting here that they get remarried with some team-mates as witnesses.

When Wonder Man is holding up the building over their heads Hawkeye gets deja vu to the cover scene of Secret Wars I #4 where Hulk similarly appears to be holding up a mountain. Inside the issue it is a whole mountain range that Molecule Man dropped on the heroes! But then also inside the issue it turns out he only holds up part of it to form a sheltering cave until his pals can blast their way out.


> Hulk Smash Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra
Hulk Smash Avengers #4 cover

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

?
Jaime Mendoza
Javier Tartaglia
Lee Weeks (Cover Penciler)
Lee Weeks (Cover Inker)
Andy Troy (Cover Colorist)


Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clinton Barton)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Wonder Man
Wonder Man

(Simon Williams)


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