#1: The Hulk: Being Smashing

Say you have a rogue superhero. A Superman. A Thor. Someone tough. How do you stop him? Maybe you get another superhero—one of the Avengers, one of the JLA. Maybe a whole team, if the rogue in question is a really heavy hitter. But what if all the superheroes are compromised? What if the mooks of SHIELD are all that’s left? Or, what if the superheroes still seemed to be out there doing good things, grabbing people from midair as they fall off buildings, but the President of the United States wants to round up mutants and metahumans one and all, because people with powers are too dangerous to bounce around as vigilantes?

Pretend you’re the Director of the CIA. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The world you’re in has people with superheroes. Famous ones, from the stories that we in the real world know. How do you comply with the President’s orders, when you’re up against a class of people that can throw around tanks and maybe, on the far end of the scale, even move planets?

Carefully. With a lot of planning and logic.

The file below is for the eyes in agency with billons of dollars in funding, but not a single superhero on the payroll. An agency that has been tasked either to take superheroes in, or come up with plans in case the President decides to give the order, but has access to nothing more than real-world human technology.

Let’s start reading the document. Let’s see how to stop the Hulk.

Dossier #1: Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Biology and powers description: Human base state. Metamorphosis in seconds to muscular ‘Green Hulk’ form when enraged. Green Hulk form’s rage-fueled strength and endurance without defined upper limit. Green Hulk form can be maintained indefinitely during confrontation. Secondary hulk forms have occasionally been sighted, and are assumed to have similar physical capacities.

Psychological description: Bruce Banner is often transient, and has difficulties trusting people, including himself. Human Banner frequently displays passivity, meekness, and fear. While human Banner is a scientist, interested in studying gamma radiation that turned him into a monster, the aggressive Green Hulk form appears to have a distinctive, less cerebral, personality. Recordings of Banner indicate he is not pleased with his transformed state, as he often warns individuals not to make him angry. CAUTION: There is some evidence to suggest Banner does remain in control while in Hulk form, feigning lack of presence during the altered state. Casualties during Hulk incidents are traditionally low, and the Hulk often targets supervillians.

Capture scenario #1: If officers can find and engage human Banner while he is sleeping, passed out, or in a similar unconscious state, application of tranquilizers may be sufficient to maintain the passive state long enough for Banner to be transferred to a long-term incarceration facility. CAUTION: As Banner’s transition to Hulk form is extremely rapid, and the Hulk form displays high resistance to sedatives, Capture scenario #1 is considered optimistic.

Capture scenario #2: Hulk incidents typically involve Banner’s altered form. In engagements with the Hulk, it is key to understand that Banner’s rage-fueled strength and endurance have been shown to scale to the challenge at hand. Bullets, missiles, and even superhuman strength (not that we have officers with the third asset) are known to have limited stunning effects at best, and accelerate the Hulk’s power enhancement process at worst. Any attempt to defeat the altered form must be highly tactical. Deployment of low-friction surfaces may deprive the Hulk of the ability to leap or fight accurately. Abandoning efforts to physically disable the Hulk in favor of creating a pattern of distractions (perhaps using circling jeeps) may trap the Hulk in a repetitive or predictable series of attacks. Bullets in general should be considered to have utility purely as attention-manipulators, and for that reason, should be as low-caliber as possible, in an effort to delay or deny the Hulk’s power enhancement process. Attacking the Hulk with sealant canisters aimed at the eyes may create a temporary blinding effect and provide time for the deployment of additional low-friction surfaces or harassment vehicles.

The goal of this scenario is to keep the Hulk from moving off-site while gradually reducing the intensity of the conflict, in order to encourage Banner to return to human state, so that he can become susceptible to sedatives. Utilization of satellite or other long-range surveillance may allow officers to set up an extremely wide perimeter for this purpose, allowing the Hulk to believe the combat is done and triggering a revert. Depending on the size and sophistication of the surveillance net, the endgame of this scenario may be identical to scenario #1. CAUTION: Assault teams should be prepared to go through many iterations of the reduction-in-confrontation-intensity cycle before Banner is in custody. Successful tranquilizing may not be possible, which will require study of Custody scenario #1.

Custody scenario #1: In this form, skirmishes with the Hulk proceed indefinitely, while efforts are made to corral the creature in a non-populated zone. Combatants will be continually cycled in-and-out, to maintain fresh wardens. This form of custody may be highly expensive, but has the advantage of not allowing the Hulk to know he is in custody, which may prevent escape attempts. This form of custody is considered feasible because the extreme threat level associated with the Hulk may attract requisite funding.

Custody scenario #2: This plan assumes that the human Banner is successfully injected with a sedative, allowing transfer to a built facility. Because of the boundless nature of the Hulk’s power, incarceration within a general population is unfeasible. Banner in human form may be kept in a sensory deprivation tank, attached to a feeding tube, and maintained on a diet that includes sedatives and other agents aimed at disabling or distracting his consciousness. Keeping Banner unconscious indefinitely may be ideal. More optimistically, a battery of tests combined with endocrine surgery may remove Banner’s physiological ability to become enraged, and allow him to be transferred to a more humane isolation cell. Even in the case of successful surgery, moving Banner to general population or allowing parole is not recommended, as he still would be saturated with gamma radiation, with attendant dire consequences if his ability to become enraged is restored.