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Symbiote Spider-Man’s battle with the Hulk across dimensions have left the Jade Giant with the same problem he experienced in the MCU.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Symbiote Spider-Man: Crossroads #2, available now from Marvel.
Symbiote Spider-Man: Crossroads has returned to a time when Peter Parker was still in possession of the Venom symbiote, and the second issue (by Peter David, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Frank D’Armata, and VC’s Joe Sabino) places the web-head in the crosshairs of the Incredible Hulk. Fortunately, Spider-Man is in possession of an item that grants him the power to take on the rampaging Jade Giant, while subsequently forcing the Hulk to face a dilemma similar to one he faced in the MCU, namely being stuck in the less powerful form of Bruce Banner.
Spider-Man was banished to the Crossroads via an interdimensional portal by the power of Karnilla, Queen of the Norns after he stopped one of her minions from stealing an artifact called the Norn Stone from a museum. He was then targeted by the Hulk, who had been exiled to the dimension by Doctor Strange after going on a rampage inspired by the mystical villain Nightmare. Spider-Man was able to successfully engage the Hulk in battle after being bestowed with the power of the magical stone, but the artifact elected to leave Peter in search of a more powerful host. The Stone then targets the Hulk, leading to a very unexpected effect.
As the two Avengers engage the hostile inhabitants of their strange new world, the Norn Stone imbeds itself in the forehead of the Hulk, in pursuit of someone with unlimited potential. However, instead of imbuing the already powerful green brute with even more power, the artifact instead instantly transforms him into the physically inferior form of Bruce Banner.
The unlimited potential the Stone senses in Banner unfortunately leaves the doctor defenseless against the forces of the Crossroads, as he is then unceremoniously knocked unconscious. This is very similar to what the Hulk experienced in the film Avengers: Infinity War, when after being beaten severely by Thanos Banner was stuck in his less-powerful human form.
The Norn Stone isn’t entirely sentient, but it does have a mind of its own, and there is no telling what it has in store for Bruce Banner. It can only be assumed that the stone has found in Banner a strength that the Hulk can’t tap into, presumably his intellect, although that hasn’t seemed to help him much in his brutal new reality.
Nevertheless, the Norn Stone has still chosen him, which suggests that there is more at play here than meets the eye. Whatever the case may be, it has at least granted Banner a reprieve from his terrifying alter ego, although in such a hostile environment that may be more of a hindrance than a help.
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