Episode:The Coming of the Hulk

Ruthlessly pursued by the military, Bruce Banner makes his way to Las Vegas in search of one man, one who escaped from a prison where they did experiments that may help Bruce. But this man is only interested in one thing, making Bruce angry. He won't like him when he's angry.

Story
A walks over a  while wandering down a road through the. He carries a large and a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes to hide his face. As a car passes him he looks up to see that he is entering Wonderful. He looks around and then pulls his sweater hood over his head before entering the city.

The man wanders through a group of tourists. They all look at the sights while some take pictures. The man continues to look down.

As he walks down the street he sees a driving by. He looks scared and tries to hide his face. The cop sees the man, turns on his siren, and stops the car behind him. The man sighs and runs as the cop gets out of the car. The cop then begins to follow.

The cop begins to chase the man through the crowds of people, who don't even bother to look at them. The man knocks down a forcing the cop to jump over it. He runs past a man who tries to hand them fliers for s, and the cop knocks the fliers out of his hands.

A stops in the road as the man runs towards him. The man slides across the hood and away. The car begins to pull forward again when the cop comes up and has to run around it.

The cop runs past an alley. He speaks into a trying to give the man's directions. However, the man is hiding behind a. He looks up and his eyes are glowing green. His eyes quickly return to normal and he grabs his head. He tells himself to breathe and calm down then relaxes.

Just then the man hears a loud rumbling. He stands and looks to see a large, heavy vehicle driving down the street. He gets scared and runs the other way down the alley.

The vehicle s at the. Armored men stand atop the thing with large guns. A man leaning on a taxi and another on a nearby bench look in shock as several of the followed by a large  drive down the street.

Inside the large vehicle, a asks a soldier to report. The soldier states that the police found a man fitting their description but lost him. The general is then sure that the is in Vegas. He tells the solider to radio at the  to ready a.

The soldier then asks General Ross why Dr. Bruce Banner, the man running, would come to Vegas. He notes that Banner has stayed away from populated places for months, including leaving the country. Ross tells him that he doesn't care why until after he's locked up.

Bruce sits in a doorway furiously typing on a. He hears a police siren and stops to look around. He goes back to his computer where he's looking up information on the desert, the Cube,, and. He then pulls up the information on.

He then minimizes the data to see that his laptop is pointing him to a location in the desert. He closes his laptop and puts it away. He looks around and runs away.

Later Bruce walks up to the out in the desert. He enters causing the over the door to ring. He looks around taking off his hood and spots Creel at the counter eating.

Bruce sits down next to him and takes off his hat. The walks up and asks for his order. Bruce orders a and tells her to make sure it's  not. As she walks away he then looks over at Creel still eating his soup.

He tries to get Creel's attention, but the man just continues to eat his soup. Bruce tells him that he's been trying to find him for weeks, and knows has been too. He tells Creel that he's not with S.H.I.E.L.D., that he's just there to help, and introduces himself.

Creel then asks how Bruce was able to find him but not the government group. The waitress walks by and hands Bruce his coffee. Bruce tells him he's an expert in and that Creel is emitting it.

Bruce goes on to say that he knows about Creel's record, that he was held in the Cube, a prison specializing in holding those exposed to, and escaped. Bruce thinks to the captured Abomination, Leader,, , and the comprised of , , ,. He laments that radiation turned men into dangerous monsters.

He asks Creel to tell him whatever he knows about the gamma experiments going on in the Cube. Bruce is afraid that S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to turn the people into weapons rather than cure them. Creel continues eating his soup and suddenly stops.

Creel holds up his and stares into the reflection. He notes that Bruce never asked him out he got out. Then, starting with the hand holding the spoon, his entire body becomes the same metal as the spoon.

Creel, revealed to be the Absorbing Man, stands and towers over Bruce. Bruce tries to say that Creel is sick and needs help. But Creel simply smiles and reaches out to Bruce. Absorbing Man laughs as he throws Bruce out the door of the diner.

Absorbing Man strolls out of the diner towards Bruce, who is struggling with himself in the middle of the road. He walks to the road, with the Las Vegas cityscape off in the distance. He states that he knows exactly who Bruce is and has been looking forward to killing him for some time.

Just then Bruce looks up, his eyes having gone completely green. Deep inside Bruce's brain, something triggers. Suddenly Bruce is jolted forward as his body greatly expands. His arm rips his shirt apart as it grows then slams into the ground. His skin goes green as his voice deepens. Bruce's pants rip and his shoes are torn apart. He flexes his back and his shirt is torn to shreds. He opens his eyes and grows.

Absorbing Man looks up as a shadow looms over him. He smiles at the Hulk towering over him. Hulk leans over and lets out a mighty roar.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Quotes
"Suspect, on foot. Heading west on..."
 * -Cop, first line of episode

"Breathe...calm down."
 * -Bruce Banner, first line

"Report soldier." "Local police report that a man fitting the description was sighted. They pursued, but lost him." "It's him. The Hulk is in Vegas."
 * -Thaddeus Ross and Soldier, first lines

"But General Ross, sir, why would Dr. Banner come here? He's stayed away from populated places for months now. He stayed out of the country. Why come back now." "Right now, I don't know and I don't care. We can get all the answers we want when he's locked away."
 * -Soldier and Thaddeus Ross

"Mr. Creel? Carl "Crusher" Creel? I've been trying to find you for weeks. And I know S.H.I.E.L.D. has been looking for you too, but I-I'm not with them. I'm here to help you. I'm a friend. My name is Bruce." "And how do you find me when S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't? Bruce." "Cause you're emitting gamma radiation, Mr. Creel. I know more about gamma radiation than them. I guess you could say I'm an expert on the subject."
 * -Bruce Banner and Absorbing Man, first line

"The Cube is a supervillain prison, specializing in subjects that have been exposed to radiation, which created monsters from men. Dangerous abominations."
 * -Bruce Banner

"It's funny. You never asked me how I escaped."
 * -Absorbing Man

"Ah. Creel. You're sick. Let me help."
 * -Bruce Banner

"One more thing, I know exactly who you are, Bruce. And I've been looking forward to taking you down for a long time."
 * -Absorbing Man, last line of episode

Trivia

 * There are three of the tanks seen driving down the street.
 * The way Bruce Banner looks up just as his eyes go green is an homage to the series The Incredible Hulk staring Lou Ferrigno.

Goofs

 * The rock formations seen around Las Vegas are not seen anywhere near Las Vegas. The Las Vegas desert is quite flat with mountains, not like the ones shown, off in the distance. The mountains shown are closer to those seen in Utah.
 * When Bruce Banner takes off, the cop leaves the car there and doesn't even bother to close the door. An incredibly stupid move considering that he has no partner to watch the car and did not call the situation in.
 * Since a spoon is curved, looking at your reflection would distort the image. Crusher Creel's image is a perfect, non-distorted reflection.
 * Absorbing Man absorbs the properties of his spoon to fight Hulk. The problem being that the metals used to make a spoon, especially one for a cheap diner, would be too soft to handle any stress, let alone for fighting Hulk. After all, any normal person can bend a spoon.

Continuity

 * First appearance of Bruce Banner, Hulk, General Ross, the Hulkbusters, and Absorbing Man in the series.
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk previously appeared in and the  episode.
 * First mention of the Cube, Doc Samson, Leader, and Abomination. The Cube, Leader, and Abomination would be first seen in, and Samson in.

Background
The micro-episode first aired online on September 23, 2010. It would not debut on television until October 11, 2010.

This episode along with the other micro-episodes, , and combined to become the season one episode.

In the comics, Carl Creel became the Absorbing Man when he drank a liquid which the god  laced with rare Asgardian ingredients. Here, he is apparently just another gamma-based villain. And he is typically an enemy of. Ironically, Rick D. Wasserman, who voices Absorbing Man, also voices Thor.