Iron Man # 19

Overview

A WORLD WAR HULK TIE-IN! Something's coming to Earth from deep space...and he's very angry. The Hulk wants revenge, and Iron Man's on his list. Can Tony Stark's space defenses even slow down the green giant? What special armor will Iron Man don against the ultimate opponent? One thing's for sure -- when these titans clash, the shockwaves will rock the Marvel Universe!

Spoilers

With the Warbound's ship about to enter the Earth's atmosphere, Tony Stark sends a fleet of his Iron Man armor to the Hulk's ship as unmanned drones. Controlling the armors from the ground, Stark's goal is to attempt to learn something of the Hulk's purpose for being back on Earth. Like Tony expected, after seeing the armors heading for the ship Hulk sends out a directional E.M.P. destroying the circuitry of all of the suits except for his stealth suit which is shielded (a move which he anticipated and was prepared for by sending this very suit up). The stealth suit makes its way to the ship when Hulk's hand reaches out into the vacuum of space and crushes it like a tin can. For the first time Tony begins to realize how serious the situation actually is.

When Hulk's ship does the first fly-over over New York city to announce the reason for his return it really begins to hit the fan for Stark. As director of S.H.I.E.L.D. he must look for what is best not only for the people in his command but the entire country. While Dum Dum Dugan begins to question Tony's leadership more now than ever, Tony makes the decision to grant total amnesty to all unregistered heroes lending a hand for the duration of the war with the Hulk.

Fortunately, Tony has been preparing for this day ever since he realized that the Hulk actually landed on Sakaar instead of where they originally intended for him to land. Tony has anticipated the Hulk's angry return and has been building his most heavy-duty Hulk-Buster armor ever.

When fighting breaks out with the Hulk, Iron Man has a deep conversation with his inner self about the reasons for why this is happening and of the nature of his responsibility in the matter. He sends out an audio apology for all of those who are still close enough to listen while he is battling the Hulk. He injects the Hulk with the same nannites he used to de-power the She-Hulk as well as so many of the Hulk's gamma based enemies hoping it will at least slow the Hulk down. In the end the Hulk's heightened rage show that Stark's trickery may not mean success for the Earth, or survival for the heroes targeted by the Hulk.