Incredible Hulk vol3 #5 (2011)
by Jason Aaron & Whilce Portacio
cover by Leinil Francis Yu
Doctor Doom just recovered from his involvement with the Hulk, and he’s already diving into another storyline.
This requires a bit of an introduction. A few issues earlier, the Hulk was recruited by a woman sent by the US Government: Amanda Von Doom, who claims to have “no relation” with anyone with a similar name.
Other than her having a wicked scar on her face and a lot of bravado, we don’t learn anything about her.
The Hulk has actually been separated from Bruce Banner lately, and Banner has gone completely nuts trying to transform back.
And that’s why the Hulk is recruited by Amanda Von Doom (no relation) to hunt him down, because she’s the head of a mad-scientist-killing squad.
And now we can proceed with issue 5, which begins with a flashback to “weeks ago”.
This is set BEFORE the Hulk was separated from Banner, and it’s about his search for someone who could do it.
I’m not going to pretend you can’t figure out who he’s asking for help.
Of course the separation HAS already been done in the past, as acknowledged.
It’s worth nothing that Doom doesn’t have the same pathological need to prove he’s better than Banner. The fact that the same doesn’t apply to Reed is proof that, deep down, Doom might not be all that sure he’s smarter than Reed.
Even though it was perfectly clear from the previous panels, this is when we learn the secret ally is none other than Victor Von Doom (no relation).
And then Doctor Doom does brain surgery on the Hulk…
…WITH A CHAINSAW.
Only in comic books, folks!
Considering the last time they fought Banner gave Doom brain damage, it’s notable that Doom doesn’t just turn him into a vegetable.
Well at least he’s being clear about the exact wording of his promise. I’m sure no dramatic irony will result from that.
The flashback ends with Doom stitching up the Hulk, placing Banner into a newly cloned body.
Back to the present, Crazy Banner meets Amanda’s squad. Which apparently has a bit of a reputation.
Amanda’s origins will largely remain a mystery. According to Banner there’s a “slight resemblance” with Doom, and who wouldn’t trust this gentleman?
Incredible Hulk vol3 #6 (2011)
by Jason Aaron & Whilce Portacio
cover by Leinil Francis Yu
All this time, Banner has been busy making new Discount Hulks.
Something that makes Amanda Von Doom (no relation) rather uncomfortable.
Don’t make her horny. You wouldn’t like her when she’s horny.
Doctor Doom’s fee for separating the Hulk from Banner… is to keep Banner for himself.
I would make a “If you can’t trust Doctor Doom, who can you trust?” joke… but he’s been remarkably honest so far.
However the Hulk doesn’t trust Doom, so he kidnaps Banner.
In a different flashback, we get SOME backstory for Amanda Von Doom (no relation).
Turns out she was born in a Latverian prison.
She will be completely forgotten after this series, but it’s abundantly clear there were plans to make her somebody important.
Incredible Hulk vol3 #7 (2011)
by Jason Aaron & Whilce Portacio
cover by Leinil Francis Yu
Since Banner is obsessed with being Hulk again, he ends up detonating a Gamma Bomb.
So the Hulk kills him and tells Doom about it.
Hulk is convinced that Banner went crazy because of something Doom did…
…but he did exactly what he promised: removing EVERY trace of the Hulk from Banner.
As you’ve probably already deduced, the idea is that Hulk has something of a calming effect on Banner.
Doom is just playing with Hulk here. Granted the Hulk hasn’t fully recovered, but still impressive showing for Doom.
The Discount Hulks are still around for a while, something that Amanda Von Doom (no relation) takes advantage of.
Doom is more interested in one of the human-animal hybrids that Crazy Banner created.
Incredible Hulk vol3 #13 (2012)
by Jason Aaron & Jefte Palo
cover by Greg Land
Hulk has a bunch of Banner-less adventures before he has to deal with Doom again.
He transforms back into Banner, then goes to Latveria to ask Doom to fix him.
Banner repeatedly destroying one Doombot after another, with none of them actually acknowledging it, is genuinely funny.
Honestly, Banner, what kind of doctor in nuclear physics doesn’t use a chainsaw?
And we have the actual reason Doom decided to help the Hulk: to show off.
In the end, Banner is the one who has to leave without obtaining anything.
Incredible Hulk vol3 #14 (2012)
by Jason Aaron & Jefte Palo
cover by Ron Garney & Greg Land
We are still not done with Amanda Von Doom (no relation).
But for whatever reason, Doom decides to sub-contract the job of killing Banner.
Or rather, the Doombots sub-contract this.
All while Hulk gains an alliance from Amanda Von Doon (no relation) to kill Doctor Doom.
Assuming she manages to keep her pants on.
At least her minions manage to play with a Doombot.
Which leads to the most hilarious Doombot quote ever.
It’s been ages since we last saw a group of Doombots arguing among themselves. They get surprisingly existential about it.
They’re still Doombots, though.
They should do these Doombot reunions more often.
Incredible Hulk vol3 #15 (2012)
by Jason Aaron & Jefte Palo
cover by Ed McGuinness
And so we reach the end of both this storyline and this short-lived volume.
Amanda’s team has crashed Doom’s base. The Doombots are aware of her, as well as her claim to be a Von Doom.
But killing Doombots is more important to her than figuring out her origin story.
After a lot of smashing robots, the team is done dealing with Doombots.
Banner basically got better on his own and didn’t even pay Doctor Doom’s his fee.
What a monster.
Doom significance: 0/10
Amanda only ever appears in this series. It’s been 12 years, so I’m not holding my breath for any revelation on her actual origins.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Way too gory to be any higher, but there’s plenty of ridiculous stuff.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
A mixed bag. I don’t typically like the way Jason Aaron writes, but the beginning of this series was rather solid. It had a new dynamic between Hulk and Banner, a mystery on how they got there, and the basic idea behind Amanda Von Doom (no relation) isn’t bad at all. I wish the idea of a hit squad dedicated to killing mad scientists was used elsewhere, there’s great potential there.
But then Aaron loses me when he starts taking a bunch of weak turning points… Banner becomes a raving lunatic, and Amanda despite starting as a tough-as-nails badass devolves in just making jokes about being horny. Once was funny, twice was repetitive, from the third it becomes childish and I think Aaron doesn’t stop until he’s done the joke eleven or so times.
I wonder what Aaron wanted her to be. Unless we go VERY out of character, we can easily dismiss the idea that she’s Doom’s daughter… even at his worst he wouldn’t let a child rot in prison… but that doesn’t leave many options. She can’t really be Doom’s sister: she’s at the very least in her mid-twenties, likely too old to be the daughter of Doom’s father AND be freed from the Latverian prison before Doom takes over the country. We would’ve heard about her if he freed her himself.
So unless we go with time travel shenanigans, at best she’s a cousin or something?
The artwork takes a serious nosedive during the run. I’m not a huge Whilce Portacio fan, but I’ll take him over the messy Jefte Palo of the last run any day of the week.
Speaking of Doom, I rather liked this interpretation. Notice that despite playing things as if he’s above it all, he STILL orchestrates things to prove he’s smarter than Banner.
Swapping him with the Doombots turns things into a bit of a farce, although they had their moments.
The chronological placement is interesting. Doom is a member of the Future Foundation throughout this entire thing: not only he sports his white cloak, but at one point the Thing makes an appearance and he’s in his Future Foundation costume.
But it also means that, while Doctor Doom was a member of a superhero team, he STILL managed to sneak away to mess with the Hulk and create his own army of radioactive human-animal hybrids.
Was Reed Richards asleep during all of this???
It was a Doombot all along
One of the surprisingly few cases where we’re dealing explicitly with Doombots, at least for the last batch of stories. But what about the various flashbacks?
I’m sure the Doom that is able to split the Hulk’s personality in half is the real deal, and considering how helpless these Doombots seem to be it’s also likely that the Doom that Hulk isn’t even able to touch is real as well.
Crazy tech
Doctor Doom is able to perform BRAIN SURGERY WITH AN ADAMANTIUM CHAINSAW on the Hulk!!!