HTMLGiant’s Superhero week has, like a day-glo-green mutagenic ooze, spilled over into an additional week, and may continue for all of the weeks to come, forever. In this post, I construct some (let’s call it) free-verse poetry from more Superhero Wikipedia pages, this time focusing on some of the Hulk characters. My feeling isn’t that the language of these things is beautiful, though it is sometimes what I would call incredible. What I find continually hypnotic is their dedication to story above all. CLICK BEYOND THE FOLD TO LEARN THEIR EPIC STORIES!

The Leader:

Born Samuel Sterns in Boise, Idaho, he worked for a chemical plant there in a menial capacity. While moving radioactive materials into an underground storage area, some of the radioactive materials exploded, bombarding Sterns with gamma radiation. He recovered, and found that the radiation had changed him from an ordinary human into a green-skinned, super-intelligent entity with an oversized brain housed in a towering cranium. … The Leader sends a spy to steal a robot Banner was developing. Banner goes after the spy but turns into the Hulk. The Spy overpowers an unsuspecting watchman, leaving him bound and gagged while he gets into the robot and drives it to the test. … The Hulk eventually escaped the Leader and destroyed most of his lab, along with the Absorbatron … After operating on the Hulk to save his life, the Leader reminded the Hulk that he was in his debt. Using this leverage, the Leader sent the Hulk to the homeworld of the Watcher to raid the Watcher‘s “Ultimate Machine”, a device containing all the knowledge in the universe. … The Leader then created android duplicates of the President, Vice President, and military personnel in an attempt to kidnap the real President and Vice President. … After a period of time, the gamma radiation in his body began to wear off. At first, the Leader attributed his lapses in concentration to overworking his mind finding ways to defeat his greatest enemy (the Hulk). By the time the Leader realized what was happening, much of the intelligence that could have solved his plight was gone and texts that were once child’s play to him were now hopelessly beyond him (he even forgot the access code of his secret base). In this period, he made cash however he could by means fair or foul, until he managed to convince the Gray Hulk to help him regain his intelligence by promising that he would help the latter to remain the Hulk full time (instead of only at night). … However, this time the mutagenic process was slightly different resulting in a cranium that resembled an over-sized brain, rather than a towering forehead. He was also a lighter shade of green. As a side note, this transfer also created a psychic link between the two. … Before long, the Leader’s new form was revealed, and he dispatched Half-Life to battle the Hulk.^[25] The Leader dispatched an army of four-armed robots against the Hulk, and created Rock and Redeemer. The Leader dispatched Rock and Redeemer against the Hulk. … He employed something he ironically called the Deus Ex Machinain conjunction with his follower, the gamma-enhanced reverend nicknamed Soul Man … The death of the Leader left his follower Omnibus in control of Freehold. … Apparently he really had perished when the Deus Ex Machina was destroyed, but his disembodied consciousness had evolved beyond the need for a body. … However, later still his consciousness once again contacted Banner, apparently shocked by what he had discovered “beyond the veil”; he was unable to return, however, and was not heard from again until much later. …  In the end, after all his other agendas had failed, the Leader finally managed to mind-control the Hulk and guided him towards his secret base, with the intention of taking his indestructible body for himself. … the Leader died again. These events, bizarre and nebulous as they seem, may or may not have taken place in this form… they may be partly true, or entirely a construct by the extra-dimensional demon Nightmare in a bid to avenge himself on the Hulk. At present, the Leader has a body incorporating traits from both his previous incarnations; it is unknown exactly how he acquired it, but it may have been relatively easy, given his history. … It is as yet unclear whether this person is indeed the original leader, or the Samuel Sterns of “Earth-Alpha”, the inhabitants of which had been swapping places with their 616 counterparts for a while prior to this trial. … It is revealed that the Leader is dying, and that he constructed the dome to cure him. … A powerless Leader is later seen in custody demanding “gamma” (the one thing no one is willing to give him) if he was to divulge any information on stopping the Intelligencia’s failsafe doomsday plans.

MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing):

George Tarleton is a technician for the organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). Having recently created the artifact the Cosmic Cube, the AIM scientists use advanced mutagenics to alter Tarleton and create the super intelligent MODOC (acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing) to study and improve the object. MODOC, however, becomes ambitious and kills its former masters and takes control of AIM. Calling itself MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), it comes into conflict with the hero Captain America, … MODOK reappears and kidnaps Betty Ross, changing her into the mutant Harpy in a bid to destroy the Hulk. The character follows the Hulk and the Harpy to a floatingaerie, where the Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner cures Ross of her condition. MODOK and an AIM team arrive in time to kill the creature the Bi-Beast, the guardian of the aerie … fter an attempt to plunder the resources of the Savage Land and a battle with the savage Ka-Zar and the Hulk,^[13] the character develops a new biological agent called Virus X. … Abandoned by AIM for these failures, the character revives long-time Hulk foe the Abomination, planning to use the monster against his superiors. The plan fails when the Abomination is revealed to be unstable … AIM hires the Serpent Society to assassinate the villain, with the character being killed by Death Adder.^[16] The Serpent Society return MODOK’s body to AIM, with the organization using it as a supercomputer. A rogue AIM agent remotely operates MODOK’s body in a bid to destroy Iron Man, with the battle ending with the body’s destruction.^[17] Although MODOK is no more, AIM replaces him with his more loyal and in certain ways more effective female counterpart, MODAM. … MODOK is resurrected because AIM needs MODOK to assist with the creation of another Cosmic Cube. … Employing an elaborate scheme and double-cross, MODOK restores his personal wealth and power and establishes himself as the leader of AIM once again. It is also revealed that MODOK was involved in the creation of the Red Hulk, and belongs to a secret organization of super-intelligent supervillains. … Amadeus Cho is affected as well. Unlike the others, who become ‘Hulked-Out Heroes’, his mind expands and becomes so powerful he gains the ability to warp reality within a ten-foot radius. Using this power, he reverses the process that created MODOK, turning him back into George Tarleton … Unknown to everyone, the doomsday plans left behind by MODOK serve as a distraction. The plans themselves are coordinated by a ‘cluster’ of brains, cloned from MODOK’s own, who act as one non-sentient supercomputer. … However, one of the cloned brains, rather than being utilized as an organic computer, was allowed to develop naturally and then uploaded with MODOK’s own memories. This new MODOK (apparently free from the traumas and weaknesses of the original) declares himself superior and prepares to make his own mark on the world. … During that time, MODOK Superior starts to develop a crush on Zero/One.

Red Hulk:

The Red Hulk was created to boost sales and create buzz in the lead up to the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk,^[7] and depicted to be an uninhibited, tactically intelligent adversary to the Hulk.^[8][9] … Initially, Red Hulk’s identity was unknown both to the characters in the story^[12] and to the reading audience.^[13] … The subsequent “Code Red” story arc^[12] made further allusions to Red Hulk’s real identity, and introduced a Red She-Hulk character.^[15] … In Fall of the Hulks: Gamma, Red Hulk is related in flashback to have killed General Ross at the behest of Bruce Banner, with whom he has formed an alliance.^[19] However, the 2010 “World War Hulks” storyline reveals that Red Hulk is Thunderbolt Ross himself, the Red She-Hulk his daughter Betty,^[20] and that the Ross who was “killed” was a Life Model Decoy used to convince the world that he had died. … Red Hulk tells Hulk that it was his idea to fake Ross’s death and that he can never again resume that identity. After imprisoning Red Hulk in the Gamma Base, Banner makes arrangements with Captain Steve Rogers for Red Hulk to join the Avengers.^[21][22] …  Although Banner had claimed that he removed Red Hulk’s energy-draining ability from him because it was killing Red Hulk, Red Hulk is shown to still possess this ability.^[23] … Red Hulk attempts unsuccessfully to stop the Thing (in the form of Angir: Breaker of Souls) from destroying the Avengers Tower,^[25] as MODOK Superior and Black Fog converge on both combatants during the fight. …  “Everything the Green Hulk isn’t, the Red Hulk is.”^[9] The character has abilities almost identical to those of the current Hulk.

Doc Samson:

Leonard Samson was born Leonard Skivorski, Jr. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father, Dr. Leonard “Leo” Skivorski, was a popular psychiatrist in his hometown who specialized in treating young women, often conducting extramarital affairs with them.^{[volume & issue needed]} Mrs. Skivorski had nicknamed her husband “Samson” after his long hair. Leonard Jr. initially expressed disinterest in becoming a psychiatrist, perhaps because he resented his father’s philandering. … After Robert Bruce Banner was temporarily cured of being the Hulk by siphoning off the gamma radiation that caused his transformations, Samson, who had been working with Banner/Hulk in his job as a psychiatrist, exposed himself to some of the siphoned radiation, granting him a superhumanly strong and muscular physique and causing his hair to turn green and to grow long. Initially, Samson’s physical strength depends upon the length of his hair, … his flirting with Betty Ross causes a jealous Banner to re-expose himself to radiation, becoming the Hulk once more to battle Samson.^[1] Samson learns that his power decreases when he cuts his green hair,^[2] but he loses his powers due to the bombardment of intense gamma radiation. … Samson eventually regains his powers in a gamma ray explosion. … He shrinks and projects the Hulk into Glenn Talbot‘s brain to cure Talbot of amnesia.^[6] Samson then battles the Rhino.^[7]  … He attempts a psychoanalysis of the Hulk through his dreams, and diagnoses him with multiple personality disorder.^[10] … The Vision offers Doc Samson a position as the leader of a midwestern branch of the Avengers. Samson says that he is flattered, but has already accepted a position teaching at Northwestern University, which he prefers to the life of a hero, and additionally that administration is not his strong point.^[18] … Samson, determined again to cure the Hulk, defeats him in battle by calming him.^[19] He succeeds in separating Bruce Banner and the Hulk physically into two separate individuals. … Samson adopts a new costume and battles the heroes Iron Man, Wonder Man, Hercules, and Namor the Sub-Mariner for the right to recapture the Hulk.^[21] He battles the Hulk,^[22] destroys the Hulk robot, and battles theHulkbusters, resulting in the death of Carolyn Parmenter.^[23] He battles the Hulk and the Hulkbusters again,^[24] but the Hulk defeats Samson and the Hulkbusters.^[25]Samson then attempts to merge Banner and the Hulk, but an accident results in Banner’s transformation into the grey Hulk.^[26] Samson becomes mentally dominated by a mutant mind-parasite.^[27] … To “cure” the Hulk’s multiple personality disorder, Samson hypnotizes Banner with the Ringmaster‘s help and successfully begins the process of integrating the Banner, grey Hulk, and green Hulk personalities into a new Hulk.^[30] … Samson sports an eyepatch during much of this run. … He is befriended by Doctor Strange‘s new pupil Jack Holyoak,^[32] and helps his friends’ daughter Tina Punnett rescue her “new-age hippie” parents from dealing with a ghost of musician Cam Larson guarded by Living Totem.^{[volume & issue needed]} … She-Hulk punches Samson into another state after realizing that Samson was siding with the Illuminati. … Samson’s increased anger brings him to attack the President, but he is phased out of the plane by the Ghost. … Samson later shoots Rick Jones and drags him away after Jones attempts to reveal the Red Hulk’s true identity.^[49] … In Incredible Hulk #600 (Sept. 2009), it’s revealed the reason Samson shot Rick Jones is because Samson now has multiple personality syndrome. Samson grows larger in size (hence the high gamma output and ripped jacket in the Red Hulk story arc), his hair grows out, and in this form he is stronger and faster … A subsequent appearance features “Samson” apparently attending a psychological evaluation which discusses his feelings of inadequacy compared to other heroes, never attracting the attention of either the public or women despite his powers, only for the appointment to be revealed to be a confrontation in Samson’s mind between his three personas: Samson, Doc Samson, and Dr. Leonard Samson PhD. … Samson “kills” his other two personas, prompting MODOK – who has been watching Samson in a cell while the “dream” takes place – to conclude that he is ready. … Samson steps in and absorbs the additional excess energy, but for unknown reasons, his body is unable to absorb the energy as readily as Banner’s body can and he is killed by the overload, reduced to a charred skeleton in seconds.^[52] During the Chaos War, Doc Samson returns from the dead after what happened to the death realms. … When Red Hulk and Doctor Strange traveled to the Monster Metropolis and enlisted the help of the Legion of Monsters, they discover that the spirit that has been haunting Red Hulk is the insane evil side of Doc Samson (referred to as Dark Samson) which hasn’t passed into the next life. Using a ghost entrapment device, Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters were able destroy the Dark Samson spirit by ripping the Dark Samson spirit in half.