Bruce Banner & Rick Jones Reading List
"He was like a father and brother, a best friend who could be your rock, and then just as suddenly need you for a tether to reality."
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Bruce Banner & Rick Jones Reading List
"He was like a father and brother, a best friend who could be your rock, and then just as suddenly need you for a tether to reality."
Bruce and Rick developed a familial relationship in the years after Bruce saved Rick from the gamma bomb explosion and was mutated in the process. At the time, he was in his early twenties while Rick was sixteen. Around fourteen years have passed since this incident in the Earth-616 timeline.In the time since Bruce has mainly stayed on the run from the government, while Rick experimented with being a musician, author, talk show host and sidekick to other heroes. Throughout this, he's regularly returned to help Bruce.Here I've included the issues I felt featured Bruce and Rick the most and contributed to the development of their relationship as family to one another.I hope you enjoy reading about these two and grow to love them too! Please message me if you have questions or need trigger warnings for specific issues.
Earth-616 Reading List
Content warnings: body horror, bombing, child abuse, domestic violence, grief, kidnapping, military, suicide.
Incredible Hulk (1962) #1 - 6
Bruce is mutated while saving Rick, Rick vows repay him by protecting him from the military and the world from Hulk.
Fantastic Four (1961) #12
Bruce has to save Rick from a kidnapper.
The Avengers (1963) #1 - 3
Rick accidentally helps form the Avengers while trying to help the Hulk, who doesn't stay with the team for long.
Fantastic Four (1961) #25
A jealous Hulk steals Rick away from the Avengers' mansion.
Tales to Astonish (1959) #62,#64, #70, #71, #77, #100
Rick returns to assist Bruce, disaster and tragedy ensues.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #103 - #106
Rick loses trust in Bruce, then tries to make amends.
Captain Marvel (1968) #21
Bruce tries to help Rick regain agency over his life by dissolving his bond to Mar-vell, but things don't go as planned.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #204
Bruce is given the opportunity to travel back in time to the original gamma bomb incident and do things differently.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #263 - 269, #276 - #282 & #285
Bruce, Betty and Rick reunite to support Bruce in ending the Hulk. Villains, alien abductions and radiation poisoning stand in his way before earning a pardon.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #319 - 332
Rick returns for Bruce and Betty's wedding, which is violently interrupted. After surviving their respective near death experiences, Bruce must protect Rick once he's mutated.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #346
Rick testifies after 'Gammagate' to describe the type of person Bruce was, now that he's presumed dead.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #374 - 377
Bruce and Betty search for Rick after he's gone missing. Afterwards at Rick's home, Bruce's lies are revealed.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #457, #458, #462, #467 & 468
Bruce returns after years of Professor Hulk's fronting and tries to make up for Hulk having injured Rick.
Earth-616 Reading List
Content warnings: body horror, bombing, child abuse, domestic violence, grief, kidnapping, military, suicide.
Incredible Hulk (2000) #108
Rick remembers his teenage years of acting responsible for the Hulk while trying to locate him.
World War Hulk (2007) #2 - 5
Rick tries to reason with the devastated Green Scar and end his war on the heroes who betrayed him.
Hulk (2008) #13, second stories of #26 - #27 & #28
A newly mutated Rick finds the newly depowered Bruce, wanting to protect him. Bruce later guides Rick on missions protecting people from monsters.
Incredible Hulk (1968) #603
Rick meets Skaar and tries to give Bruce parenting advice.
Fall of the Hulks: Gamma (2010) #1
Rick attempts to speak his mind at General Ross' funeral, before Bruce interrupts him to speak his.
Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk (2010) #3
Bruce risks his life to undo Rick's brainwashing.
Incredible Hulks (2010) #612 & #613
Bruce and his family try to rest at the oceanside.
Incredible Hulks (2010) #618 - #620, #631 - #633, #635
Bruce tries to protect his family from magical mayhem.
Hulk (2014) #5, #6 & #8
Doc Green depowers Rick and reveals a terrible secret to him.
Totally Awesome Hulk (2015) #8
Bruce is visited by his family while recovering from the flu.
The Fallen (2016) #1
Bruce's family attend his funeral and the reading of his will.
Immortal Hulk (2018) #13 - #20, #22, #23, #28, #35, #36
Bruce has difficulty accepting Rick's death after surviving his own, and later must rescue his desecrated corpse.
Extra Reading
Content warnings: bombing, child abuse.
Incredible Hulk Ashcan Edition
Marvel (2020) #1 pages #16 - 29
The following stories are written in text only from Rick's perspective as he describes how Bruce rescued him.
Ultimate Hulk (1998) pages 13 - 22
Alias (2001) #8 autobiography pages
Multiverse Reading List
Content warnings: bombing, child abuse, domestic violence, drug use, grief, military, suicide, torture.
Reading
Rampaging Hulk (1977) #1 - 9
Incredible Hulk Novel: Stalker From the Stars (1978)
What If? (1977) #45
Incredible Hulk Vs. Superman (1999)
Marvel Adventures Hulk (2007)
Hulk: Season One (2012)
Watching
Incredible Hulk (1982) series
Incredible Hulk (1996) series