J. Jonah Jameson is touring a depressed area of South Bronx
with Councilman Wade who advocates demolishing the area and building a new neighborhood;
Jameson is concerned about the locals who would be displaced. Peter Parker is
along to take photos despite being seriously ill with a cold….
Bruce Banner is in space with Nick Fury, aboard a SHIELD craft.
An agency satellite needs repair but is bathed in gamma radiation. The only one
who can repair it is the Hulk now that Banner’s mind is in control. As Hulk is working
on the device, an alien slime enters his suit, leaving Fury to call for help….
Aboard the Helicarrier, Hulk is studied by scientists, who know
that the alien bio-plasm is trying to attach itself to Hulk’s nervous system.
Hulk awakens, goes insane, and crashes out of the sickbay, knocking Nick Fury out
cold in his rampage. Quartermaster Waldo claims the command with Fury out so,
on his orders, Hulk is trapped in an airlock and ejected from the carrier. Hulk
crashes to the ground in the South Bronx neighborhood, scaring off a bunch of
punks who were trying to rob Peter Parker. Pete changes into Spider-Man and discovers
the Hulk…
Quartermaster Waldo is surprised to learn the Hulk survived
the fall which brings him a rebuke from Contessa Valentina de la Fontaine,
questioning his fitness for temporary command. Waldo reasserts his authority
and dispatches a trio of destruct-drones to deal with Hulk….
Spidey is dismayed to learn that Banner is not in control
and the old rampaging Hulk is back. Spidey’s reflexes are slowed because of the
cold and he is having a great deal of trouble facing Hulk. Then the destruct-drones
strike…
…while Waldo defends his use of them, insisting the drones
are programmed to contain Hulk without causing damage to the surroundings…
…while Spidey is rescuing people from the havoc and hustling
them to safety. Hulk’s battle against one of the drones destroys a large swath
of the neighborhood. Hulk crashes out against the remaining two drones and
Spidey spies a mother with a small child on an upper floor of the wreck. He
manages to take hold of them as that section of the building is blown up…
…shocking Waldo who only now learns the drones had never
been tested in combat….
As the second drone falls to the Hulk’s fury, the third one
opens fire regardless of Spidey and the two innocents in his way. He manages to
hide in a stairwell where he finds a terrified wino. Spidey webs up the stairwell
to provide protection for his three charges….
Waldo discovers that the drones have changed their own
programming to terminate Hulk….
Hulk, sounding like Bruce Banner again, and seriously ill,
collapses near Spidey. Pete spots the alien organism on the back of Hulk’s neck
and realizes it is dying. Nick Fury and the Contessa arrive….
A rescue/disaster control operation is put into place. Peter
Parker reports to Jameson that the alien organism was killed by the cold Spidey
had inadvertently infected it with. He also reveals that the incompetent junior
officer in command is in trouble and that Councilman Wade got his wish, the
neighborhood was razed but he will not be reelected. Peter goes home to recover
from his cold….