Synopsis / Summary / Plot
This issue is set 4 months ago. Bruce Banner wakes up with only his trousers as usual. But this time he can't remember what happened. He steals a shirt, intending to pay for it later. But the owner starts to beat him up. Bruce fears he'll turn into the Hulk, but is amazed and glad to find that he doesn't. And then the Hulk arrives to rescue him.
Bruce is confused to see that this Hulk is really his pal Amadeus Cho. Cho-Hulk takes Banner to 1 of his old cave hideouts in the Mojave Desert. There he recaps the flashbacks from #1-4: Hulk absorbed radiation to stop a nuclear meltdown, but became a nuclear menace himself. Tony Stark, T'Challa and Monica Rappaccini decided the only way to deal with the problem was to send Hulk into the Negative Zone. But Amadeus Cho sneakily siphoned the Hulkiness out of Banner, and the radioactivity disappeared. However, the Hulk power entered Cho.
Now, Bruce is free of his curse, and Amadeus enjoys being the Hulk, without Bruce's anger issues to fuel the Hulk's rage.
Later, Banner realises that he really doesn't feel the Hulk trying to escape from inside him anymore. He really is free.
Next, we see him joyriding in the desert and crashing the car. He wanders for a long time before finding water. And a bear cub. And the momma bear! Running away, he falls down a waterfall. And at no time did he Hulk-out.
He wakes in a hospital and they fearfully let him walk out when he tells them who he is. He causes a riot by entering a Las Vegas casino (and presumably announcing his name again). Then, Iron Man arrives to find him alone with a croupier and demanding to play cards.
Tony Stark asks Banner if he's got a death wish. He rattles off all the dangerous situations Bruce has put himself in, ending up with a SWAT team surrounding him here because Hulk has trashed Vegas several times. Tony gets Bruce to understand that he must forgive himself for all the Hulk has done.
But Bruce adds that he can't forgive Iron Man and all the others who pursued Hulk when all Greenie wanted was to be left alone. They were responsible for Hulk's rage. (Conveniently forgetting about baddies like the Leader.) Bruce gets angry about it all and smashes his arms down on the card table. But all he does is hurt his arms. Then, Tony steps out of his armour and offers to let Bruce hit him. But Bruce just hugs him with tears of joy as he finally really realises that he's not the Hulk anymore.