Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Iron Man arrives at SHIELD's scientific base in Nuclear Springs Nevada unhappy that they've let Bruce Banner wander free on a vacation. Director Maria Hill isn't worried. He's riding 1 of Captain America's motorbikes, fitted with a GPS tracker, and he's got an implanted transmitter. And there's a drone following him.
But then an agent rushes up to say that Banner's transmitter has gone. The drone shows that a character whom Tony Stark recognises as Pip the Troll teleported onto the back of the bike and injected Bruce with a sleep-drug. Then he teleported them both away.
SHIELD's files say that the alien was a member of the Infinity Watch and recently worked for X-Factor. But Stark is more concerned that Thanos was also in Infinity Watch. He bets that the big baddie has Hulk, and they could be anywhere in the universe.
Where Banner actually is is within the type of spacecraft we saw in the Annihilation Wave. Pip has delivered him to the Negative Zone villain Blastaar and some insectoid aliens, all working for some unnamed boss. Bruce transforms to Hulk when he wakes up, but a Cerebral Disruptor on his forehead turns his brain off.
The Troll claims his prize for delivering the Hulk. And the aliens return his hostage 'girlfriend' Heater Delight. They teleport away to a bar somewhere in space. Pip fears the Avengers might be after him for kidnapping Hulk, so he figures he'd better do something about getting him back. He leaves Heater to chat up another patron of the bar and teleports to find ...
... Thanos in his Sanctuary spaceship. The Titan is guarded by some of the Outriders seen in Infinity. And he's not pleased to see the Troll. Pip tries the tactic of telling an obvious lie, to lull his opponent into accepting the alternative as the truth. Thanos immediately dismisses Pip's claim to have just dropped in for a chat for old time sake. Then the Troll gives an edited version of the true story, leading up to Hulk now being in the hands of Annihilus (who didn't guess that?).
Pip finishes by asking Thanos for help getting Banner back. The mad Titan reminds the Troll of the last time he disturbed his peace - he lobotomised him. Pip teleports a hasty retreat.
But after he's gone Thanos activates a hack into Annihilus' network and learns about the Cerebral Disruptor that the Negative Zone scientists had devised to control Hulk. As Pip had expected the Titan wants to know what Annihilus needs the Hulk for. And the sneaky Troll is still hanging around waiting for Thanos to locate their target. Once found Pip hopes to do the rescue by himself.
Blastaar has taken Hulk to the Negative Zone and the lab of Dr Bultar, inventor of the Cerebral Disruptor. who confirms to Annihilus that Hulk contains the element they seek. When we finally get a good look at Annihilus we see that he is still the young version. Something about the Hulk is going to restore him to his full stature.
Bruce and the Hulk have found themselves in the unusual situation of both being together in the 'place' they exist while the other is in control of their body. Then Thanos materialises beside them, a conscious projection from his spaceship.