Bruce Banner’s death at the height of Civil War II and his return for a new ongoing series has sparked a dark road for the Hulk to go down, as Bruce finds an altogether smarter and crueller Hulk sharing his body. But it’s a problem that’s starting to affect more than just Bruce.

Marvel’s new Immortal Hulk series already delivered a chilling opening story, re-introducing us to a Bruce Banner who’s starting to feel as though he’s simply along for the ride with a Hulk that’s more vindictive and dangerous than ever.

But its second issue has thrown an intriguing wrench into the mix that makes Bruce’s plight even scarier.

Two years ago Bruce Banner died, and with him, the Incredible Hulk. And then suddenly, that wasn't the case. Bruce Banner came back, and brought the Hulk with him - but death changes a person, and that remains the case whether you're a man or a gamma-irradiated monster.

Over the course of Secret Empire, we've seen Stevil Rogers toy and play with the heroes of the Marvel Universe -- from corrupting the Avengers, to wielding Mjolnir for his own. In his rise to dictatorship Steve has done all he can to twist his old life into a tool of Hydra... and now he's planning to do it with the return of very familiar face.

Bruce Banner has a cold. Well, the flu, really. He gave it to himself, just to make sure he really can't turn into the Hulk anymore. His snot is yellow, not green.

For months now, a Korean-American teenager named Amadeus Cho has been wielding the power of the Hulk. Nobody's seen or heard from Bruce Banner during this time. This week, we see what one of the smartest men in the world gets up to when he doesn't have a raging leviathan inside of him.