General Thaddeus
Ross is aboard a Chinese airliner over the Yellow Sea. He gets up and heads to
the bathroom, stopping to pick up a fallen teddy bear for a small child. Once
he is in the restroom, he transforms into the Red Hulk, smashes his way out of
the plane, causing it to explode behind him, killing everyone on board. He
figures North Korea will get the blame for the disaster. Rulk then lands in
North Korea, crashes his way into a nuclear facility and launches nukes toward
several Asian cities…
…and
then we discover Ross, a prisoner of Doctor Doom, was merely outlining a plan
for destabilizing the East. Doom thanks him for his “enlightening thoughts” on
the subject; Ross demands something in return: a phone call, fresh air, a glimpse
of the sun. Doom reminds him who holds all the power, using magic to bounce
Ross off the walls of his cell. Doom has had him outlining various war and
disaster scenarios for months, wearing an inhibitor collar to prevent his becoming
the Red Hulk. And then Ross hears a tapping in Morse Code on his wall. He
learns there are several other prisoners, including Deathlok, General Simon
Ryker of the US Army, Hugo Perez of the Hook Cartel, Harvard Professor Li Wan
Tang, and Machine Man. Doom has kidnapped multiple experts and made them into a
think tank dedicated to global war. So Ross, now with a think tank of his own,
shaves his beard and cuts his hair and dedicates himself to the idea of escape.
So,
daily a Doombot shuts off the force field trapping Ross in, delivers his meal,
then resumes the field and departs. One day, Ross signals Machine Man, who
breaks off and arm, ties a telescopic cable to it and throws it up to catch the
ceiling vent. MM pulls himself up and crawls through the vent to Ross’ cell and
pulls him up to the vent and they climb down into the corridor. The Doombot arrives for the next meal,
disengages the force field, sees the cell is empty and is confused. Ross and MM
attack the Bot and destroy it and use its chip technology to remove Ross’ inhibitor
collar. Other Doombots come to investigate but now Red Hulk is ready for them….