Incredible Hulk, The (1968 series) #420

Jim Wilson, longtime friend and ally of the Hulk, is dying of AIDS. After being injured during a protest, Hulk rushes him to the Mount’s medical facility, desperate to help. Jim, clinging to hope, asks Bruce for a blood transfusion—believing that Hulk’s gamma-irradiated blood might cure him. Bruce warns him of the risks: mutation, uncontrollable transformation, the loss of self. Jim insists, and Hulk agrees.

But in a heartbreaking twist, Jim dies peacefully—without ever receiving the transfusion. Bruce made the call to withhold his blood, fearing the consequences. The decision haunts him. Standing over Jim’s body, Hulk is consumed by doubt, unsure whether he acted out of wisdom or cowardice. The scene is quiet, raw, and devastating.

Parallel to this, Betty Ross, working a crisis hotline, receives a call from a man also living with HIV. She offers compassion, resources, and hope—but the man, overwhelmed by despair, takes his own life by stepping in front of a train. Betty is left shaken, questioning the limits of empathy and the cruel finality of silence.

This issue doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it presents a layered meditation on mortality, agency, and the burden of power. Hulk, often seen as a force of destruction, is rendered powerless in the face of human suffering. And Betty, a voice of reason and care, is reminded that even the most heartfelt outreach can fall short.