Thanos Vs. Hulk #2 Spoilers

**pinoypanzer** · 01-14-2015, 01:06 PM

spoilers:

It starts with Annihilus telling Blastaar to melt down an automated stand-in of himself and then he talks to Dr. Bultar. Annihilus wants to extract some kind of idiosyncratic property from the Hulk and synthesize it for his own purposes.

The scene changes to Thanos, Hulk, and Banner in the virtual reality network of the Negative Zone. Thanos is talking to them and states that it’s interesting that they are now essentially two souls residing in one body. As Thanos starts to ask Banner questions, the Hulk decides it’s time to “Hulk Smash!”, Thanos casually smacks the Hulk down who keeps getting back up only to be either smacked or blasted down again.

Back in Thanos’ ship, Pip takes a peek at the readings while Thanos is busy in virtual reality and teleports to the Negative Zone. Specifically, he ends up in a room full of computers. He decides to navigate the air ducts.

Thanos is now torturing the Hulk and Banner says he doesn’t know why Annihilus has kidnapped them. Thanos responds that he almost believes them but “almost is insufficient”.

Bultar realizes that someone is in the virtual reality with Hulk and Banner while Pip is slinking around.

Banner realizes that Hulk is too dumb to manipulate the virtual reality so he decides it’s HIS turn to protect the Hulk so he jumps on the Hulk and the Hulk starts to feel stronger and together they land some really good hits and start to give Thanos a fight.

Pip finally gets out of the ducts and sees Annihilus further down who has been informed the virtual reality intruder and is preparing to connect himself to the virtual reality.

Thanos and Hulk/Banner continue to fight but Thanos starts to glow with cosmic energy and he acknowledges that Banner is a genius… by “earth standards”

(gotta love that smugness) and ultimately blasts them both down. Annihilus appears and ejects Thanos from the virtual reality.

Back in his ship, Thanos commented that everything went according to plan. He played along with Pip because it provided him with an opportunity. The battle prevented Annihilus’ tech from realizing that Thanos’ tech was hacking their entire network and now he has all of the Negative Zone’s offensive and defensive capabilities on file. He states that he never had an interest on Hulk or Banner.

Back in the Negative Zone, Bultar has finally separated the mystery property from the Hulk and has begun to analyze and synthesize while Annihilus looks on. Pip sticks his head out of the air duct just above Annihilus.

end of spoilers

While the first issue was about set-up with a little bit of humor, this one was about action. Can't wait to see how this Hulk property will play out not only in the mini-series but if it has also something to do with why Annihilus will be souped up in the upcoming Infinity Relativity graphic novel.

**Anarchist** · 01-14-2015, 02:00 PM

Ha, I loved it.
Always fine to see Thanos do some good pimp-slapping in a *You are so far below me* manner.

**GreenScar1990** · 01-14-2015, 02:01 PM

This response over at the Hulk Message Board, by Liam Gallagher's Unibrow, pretty much sums up my thoughts on the issue.

Predictably anti-climatic.

The whole "fight" takes place in an artificial reality. Thanos, via smarts and tech, controls the rules of the artificial reality, including making the Hulk's soul/consciousness weaker than usual. Banner tries to even the odds with his smarts by rewriting the rules of the VR, but ultimately Thanos is too smart and owns both of them. But it's meaningless because it isn't a "real" fight at all; Thanos notes his success is a product of being more intelligent rather than physical superiority. I suppose in some ways we Hulk fans should be grateful - this set-up allowed Starlin to relentlessly stroke his Thanos pet without actually damaging Hulk's rep.

The rest of the issue is bog standard filler, Thanos gets to look super duper smart as always while the plot (such as it is) barely develops at all.

Judging by the solicits for the next couple of issues this is shaping up to be one of the most anti-climatic arcs in history.

**pinoypanzer** · 01-14-2015, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by GreenScar1990

This response over at the Hulk Message Board, by Liam Gallagher's Unibrow, pretty much sums up my thoughts on the issue.

Predictably anti-climatic.

The whole "fight" takes place in an artificial reality. Thanos, via smarts and tech, controls the rules of the artificial reality, including making the Hulk's soul/consciousness weaker than usual. Banner tries to even the odds with his smarts by rewriting the rules of the VR, but ultimately Thanos is too smart and owns both of them. But it's meaningless because it isn't a "real" fight at all; Thanos notes his success is a product of being more intelligent rather than physical superiority. I suppose in some ways we Hulk fans should be grateful - this set-up allowed Starlin to relentlessly stroke his Thanos pet without actually damaging Hulk's rep.

The rest of the issue is bog standard filler, Thanos gets to look super duper smart as always while the plot (such as it is) barely develops at all.

Judging by the solicits for the next couple of issues this is shaping up to be one of the most anti-climatic arcs in history.

Well like I said, I'm more interested in how this will set-up The Infinity Relativity which it seems it will do. So depending on your reasons for reading the mini you'll either like it or hate it.

**xcoijoi** · 01-17-2015, 02:03 PM

This should have been called "Virtual Thanos beats a handicapped virtual Banner and Hulk, even though the real Thanos would have easily taken them out of their misery anyway."

**Cmbmool** · 01-17-2015, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Anarchist

Ha, I loved it.
Always fine to see Thanos do some good pimp-slapping in a *You are so far below me* manner.