The Hulk now has a plan to literally smash capitalism

Two weeks ago, the Hulk smashed an entire universe. This week, he’s doing something even more ambitious: Trying to take down capitalistic forces.

In Immortal Hulk #26, Bruce Banner released a video manifesto revealing that the US government had allocated a secret $1.2 billion to try to create new, weaponized Hulks. It also revealed his plan to use those secret facilities to break the wheel.

“You’ve almost certainly heard the phrase ‘disaster capitalism’,” he says in one panel, “Catastrophes create opportunities for ruthless people to profit from them — economically or politically. And when the main means of profit is itself creating the catastrophe — runaway climate change, with all the resultant political instability it brings — we’re left with a feedback loop. Disaster by design.”

“If there are no meaningful consequences for those who would use their power to engineer and profit from disaster,” he concludes, he’s going to use the Hulk to create some. We’ll see how that goes.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? I’ll tell you. Welcome to Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor, me, enjoyed over the past seven days. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” Let’s get started!

Immortal Hulk #26

Al Ewing, Joe Bennett/Marvel Comics

In the meantime, creators Ewing and Bennett show plenty of folks reacting of all sorts reacting to Banner’s announcement, from protestors dressed in purple pants and green hoodies, to “Hulk Smash” graffiti on police stations, to Iron Man here.

Undiscovered Country #1

Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Daniele Orlandini/Image Comics

Undiscovered Country is about a world in which America suddenly cuts itself off from all outside contact for 30 years. An unstoppable pandemic threat to human life opens the doors to a small group of scientists, operatives, diplomats, and reporters. It’s a comic with a wild creative team of Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Daniele Orlandini, and that creative team has some wild ideas for what America looks like after 30 years of isolation.

X-Force #1

Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara/Marvel Comics

Professor X was shot in the head — or at least it really, really looked that way — in this week’s X-Force #1. But death doesn’t mean what it used to mean for mutants, and Jonathan Hickman has talked a lot about how he has discouraged the X-Men writers’ room from going back to the Death Well. So the fallout from Professor X getting shot by invaders on Krakoa might be a lot more interesting than it would seem.

New Mutants #1

Ed Brisson, Jonathan Hickman, Rod Reis/Marvel Comics

Ron Howard voice: It wasn’t.

New Mutants #1 covers like three issues’ worth of ground in one book. I’m excited to see where it continues to go.

Spider-Man & Venom: Double Trouble #1

Mariko Tamaki, Gurihiru/Marvel Comics

Look! How cute! Spider-Man and Venom are! In this comic! Where they are roommates!

The Dreaming #15

Simon Spurrier, Bilquis Evely/DC Comics

Abel grafting his own eyeballs onto Matthew the raven so that he can see what’s wrong with the Dreaming is macabre in the extreme but I still can’t help finding Human-Eyeballs-on-Raven-Head Matthew cartoonishly hilarious.

Batman #82

Tom King, Mikel Janín/DC Comics

Damn, Selina. Damn.

Batman Universe #5

Brian Michael Bendis, Nick Derington/DC Comics

These pages are great. That’s it.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #1

Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook/DC Comics

Jonathan Kent, you stop being so adorable right this instant.

Lois Lane #5

Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins/DC Comics

Sometimes Lois Lane is just a little too real. In that I go “man, we could use a Lois Lane in the real world” and then I remember that we have actual Lois Lanes, they do good work, go unsung, and don’t have a terrifyingly powerful husband constantly listening to their heartbeat to know when they’re in mortal peril.

Young Justice #10

Image: Brian Michael Bendis, John Timms/DC Comics

A lot happened in Young Justice this week — they finally got home from the multiverse, we got to see what was in Jinny Hex’s mysterious box, Jinny was revealed to be queer, the gang met Naomi — but I figured you might want to see the reveal of Tim “Robin” Drake’s new costume and his new codename “Drake.”

Have fun protecting your secret identity, Tim.

Crone #1

Dennis Culver, Justin Greenwood/Dark Horse Comics

So you know those stories that are like “Conan got old and went to live up a mountain to wait for an opponent who could possibly kill him but none ever came because he was just too badass even as a 90-year-old, but then he gets dragged back into Old Business by an Old Friend.”

Crone is that but she’s a lady, and she’s gay, and I didn’t know how much I needed that.

Die #9

Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans/Image Comics

Did you know that the Brontë sisters and their brother all had a shared fantasy world that they would write stories and plays about? Because I didn’t until I read Die #9.

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #3

Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios/Image Comics

Pretty Deadly! is! Pretty!

November Vol. 1: The Girl on the Roof

Matt Fraction, Elsa Charretier/Image Comics

And on the other side of the DeConnick/Fraction house, Matt Fraction’s newest independent book is out, with artist Elsa Charretier, telling an intricately laid out story of a single crime from the many perspectives of the people involved in it.