This is a mini-series pitting the ultimate versions of Iron Man and Hulk against each other. It’s not actually a battle between the two, even though there is one fight between them. But the main reason behind this team-up is that Bruce wants Tony’s help in trying to remove the Hulk.
After figuring out how the Hulk works, Tony actually manages to insert his nanites into Bruce’s blood and keep the Hulk cells at bay. Unfortunately the Leader kidnaps them and destroys all hope to keep the Hulk locked up.
As it’s a series written by Warren Ellis, there’s a lot of techno babble about the Hulk cells and how they work. It’s an interesting way of seeing the Hulk, and the fact that Tony actually manages to “cure” him is brilliant.
I also liked how Ellis re-worked the Leader’s identity into his own creation Pete Wisdom. The third issue is all about how Pete became the Leader, and I must admit it felt like a Queen & Country issue. It’s all about British intelligence and career advancement. Great stuff.
Obviously by the end nothing really changes, that’s just the nature of this kind of story.
The art by Cary Nord is very good, I think he wasn’t inked, instead it was directly colored, which gives it a nice painterly look.
This is not a particularly great story, but it’s entertaining, and I really liked the 3rd issue.