What If (1977 series) #2

In The Incredible Hulk #1, Bruce Banner turned into the Hulk for the first time after being bathed with gamma rays from the first gamma bomb blast. What if Bruce’s mind remained dominant of the Hulk’s form?

Turned into a green-skinned Hulk, Banner goes to his apartment to pick up his gamma research docs hoping to find a cure. He finds Igor Starsky, who is a Russian spy in disguise, the one responsible for triggering the bomb. Starsky was searching for the same documents. Hulk locks him and the police later arrest him.

Secretly, Starsky sends a message to the URSS informing of the Hulk’s existence. The Gargoyle receives the message and flies over to the US. When facing the Hulk, he convinced the Gargoyle to leave his villainous ways.

Banner only turns into Hulk at night. He fells in love with Betty Ross. She discovers his dual identity. Both convince her father, General Thunderbolt Ross, that Hulk is not a menace to humanity. The world accepts the monster instead of fear of him.

A happy couple, Bruce and Betty, marry. Reed Richards, from the Fantastic Four, asks Banner to aid him to cure Ben Grimm the Thing. Banner succeeds.

On his way back home, Loki tries blaming Hulk for the destruction of a train. Such caused Hulk to battle Thor in the normal timeline. But Hulk doesn’t fall into that trap, unknowingly preventing the formation of the Avengers.

Richards invites Banner to live with them in the Baxter Building. Banner would assist in Richard’s research. Professor Xavier does not form the X-Men and joins the two in their research. They create a device capable of detecting super-power beings. Emissions attract Galactus, endangering the planet. Using another invention, the Psychotron, the heroes merge into one powerful being called X-Man to battle Galactus.

Ben Grimm attacks X-Man, ignoring who he really was. X-Man dispatches Grimm and defeats Galactus, who leaves the planet with no desires to return.

X-Man separates back into Banner, Richards, and Xavier. As a side effect, they lose their respective powers. But the energy released from X-Man turned Ben Grimm into a mighty Savage Thing. Aware of the new threat, General Ross takes on the mission of chasing the Savage Thing for life.

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