Rick Jones (Earth-616)

## Rick Jones

**Richard Milhouse "Rick" Jones** is an American orphan.

## Biography

### Early Life

Rick Jones was born in Scarsdale, Arizona to Albert and Elizabeth Jones. Rick was orphaned at a young age and moved to New Mexico.

### Meeting the Hulk

Rick was challenged by some other teens to sneak past the security guards of a secure site and stay there. As Rick was playing his harmonica, when a scientist named Bruce Banner arrived and attempted to escort him away fromt he site as the government was testing a gamma bomb inthe area.

Banner threw Rick into a bunker that was safe from radiation, but the bomb went off before Banner could get in himself. Banner was exposed to the radiation, but was collected and put in the infirmary with Rick staying with him. Bruce and Reed were quarantined in the ward, and a nearby Geiger counter kept ticking. As night fell, Bruce turned into a hulking, gray monster that broke through the wall. The creature was hit by a jeep sending the soldiers sent flying off to the ground, and the creature ran into the desert with Rick following him.

The creature was hiding from soldiers that were hunting him down which refer to him as the Hulk. The Hulk attempted to make his way back to Bruce's house. Entering into the home, the Hulk witnessed Igor Drenkov (Banner's assistant) ransacking it in search of Bruce's notes on the gamma bomb. Igor shot the Hulk who in a rage grabbed the gun and crushed it, before grabbing Igor and slamming him on a table. The scuffle revealed the hiding spot of Bruce's notes and Rick took it with the intention of turning it in to the army for safe keeping. The Hulk saw a picture of Bruce, but was enraged from looking at it declaring that Bruce was a weakling. Rick attempted to get the Hulk to remember his origin. The Hulk remembered the gamma bomb and that he was Bruce Banner. The Hulk was happy with his transformation but realizing that Rick was the only one who knew his origin, The Hulk prepared to attack Rick, but daybreak came and the Hulk transformed back into Bruce. Bruce was happy with having returned to his human form and Rick came to assist him.

The military police suddenly stormed the house as they had tracked the Hulk to it. The MPs arrested Igor realizing he was the spy they had been searching for and believed him to be in league with the Hulk. The captain of the MPs questioned Bruce asking why he had left the ward and how he got injured, believing that he may be part of a conspiracy. Two soldiers chimed in stating they had seen the Hulk and that he had looked nothing like Bruce and offered their own theories on the nature of the Hulk. Bruce turned in his notes to the captain and sat down on a sofa. Betty Ross (the daughter of General Thunderbolt Ross) attempted to comfort him, but Rick insisted that all Bruce needed was some alone time to recover. Bruce escorted Betty out of the house, before conversing with Rick about the Hulk. Bruce realized that he had transformed when night fell and only turned back when day broke, and was fearful that he would once again transform that night.

### The Gargoyle

That night, Bruce took a jeep and drove off into the desert in order to make sure the Hulk had less of a chance to destroy or hurt anyone and Rick was coming with him in order to make sure he stays away from people and property. Bruce began transforming in the car. As a result, the car crashed and the Hulk began wandering the desert. The Hulk realized that the Ross house was nearby and wanted to see Betty. The Hulk accosted Betty who was having a midnight walk to clear her head, and she fainted. Rick tried to get the Hulk to leave Betty alone but both were confronted by a notorious Russian agent known as the Gargoyle.

The Gargoyle pulled out a gun which fired a specialized bullet that forced both the Hulk and Rick to follow his will. The Hulk and Rick were transported to the coast and then to a jet on a submarine. As the jet flew in the outer atmosphere, daybreak came and the Hulk reverted to Bruce. Having landed on Russian soil, the Gargoyle was perplexed about the sudden disappearance of the Hulk and appearance of Bruce but realized who Bruce was and that he and the Hulk were the same person. The Gargoyle transported Bruce and Rick to his stronghold and questioned them in their cell. The Gargoyle suddenly had a breakdown as he believed that Bruce had intentionally mutated himself and couldn't fathom why as the Gargoyle himself had been mutated from radiation exposure and was distraught at his freakish appearance. Bruce explained that he had no choice in his transformation and knew no way to fix it, but he did know a way to cure the Gargoyle but explained the procedure would render the Gargoyle's intelligence to that of an average man rather than the scientific genius he became. The Gargoyle contended that such a sacrifice was one he was willing to make and that he would even be content with dying from the procedure if it meant he died a regular human once again. Bruce conducted the procedure which worked and reverted the Gargoyle to his human form. Having returned to human because of the work of an American rather than that of Russia, the Gargoyle decided to betray his homeland and help Bruce and Rick escape back to the United States. The Gargoyle escorted Bruce and Rick to his personal escape shuttle and had them fly back to the United States. As the pair flew home they witnessed the stronghold explode as the Gargoyle decided to destroy it.

### The Toad Men

A few weeks after the incident, Rick found the Hulk rampaging through a town and lured him away into safety.

Some time later, Bruce and Rick were preparing to work on a project they had come up with when Betty and General Ross arrived to speak with them. While Ross continued to insult Bruce, Betty continued to express her concern for his safety to which Bruce attempted to assuage her fears. Bruce and Rick then left and went into a cave that they hoped to use as a prison for the Hulk. After the pair finished setting up the mechanism and finished testing it, the pair were suddenly pulled to the wall and toad-like aliens confronted them. The Toad-Men brough the pair into their space ship as prisoners when the captain of the ship Torrak questioned them through a screen. Torrak explained that the Toad Men were preparing to invade the Earth but wanted to first know who advanced the planet was scientifically. The Toad Men wanted Bruce to answer their questions otherwise they would use their weapons to decimate the Earth. Bruce refused to cowtow to their demands, and when Rick spoke to reassure Bruce's choice, the Toad Men put him in a capsule and fired him back at Earth. Rick landed safely on Earth, however night time came and Bruce turned into the Hulk.

Back at the base, Rick attempted to stop the army from shooting the ship down out of fear that Bruce would be hurt, however his protests were in vain. Bruce was the only one found in the ship and was arrested for treason. Bruce conversed with Rick from his jail cell, but was frightened by what would happen when night came. That night, the Hulk attacked the Ross home and Rick attempted to calm the Hulk down, but the Hulk knocked him away.

The Hulk took Betty to the lab in the cave, but Rick entered and pleaded with the Hulk to deal with the Toad Men who escaped while Bruce was arrested. An earthquake knocked everyone on the ground and daybreak came and turned the Hulk back into Bruce. Rick explained what happened while Bruce was the Hulk, and Bruce decided to leave Betty (who was rendered uncouncisus from fear of the Hulk) in the safety of the lab.

Bruce came up with a plan to use a gamma gun to counter-act the magnetizing weapons of the Toad Men. Bruce and Rick snuck onto the base and began to power up the gamma gun, when Ross and his soldiers arrived to arrest them. Rick grabed a hose in order to keep them at bay for enough time for the gun to power on and hit the Toad Men's fleet which sent them into deep space. With the Toad Men defeated by Bruce's hand, he was cleared of all charges, however, Ross still disliked Bruce and believed there was a connection between him and the Hulk. That night, the Hulk is imprisoned in the prison that Bruce and Rick made and raging while Rick holds the door closed until daybreak comes.

### Banished to Space

One night, the Hulk was locked in the prison but was thrashing against the door, with Rick holding it shut. Rick then left so he could go to sleep. Reed was then confronted by a squad of soldiers who took him to Thunderbolt Ross who explained that Ross wanted to test a new missile/rocket and use the Hulk to test it. Rick agreed and opened the vault and the Hulk began chasing Rick to the base. Rick tricked the Hulk into entering the rocket, which then shot out into space.

Back at the base, Rick learned that Ross tricked him and just wanted to launch the Hulk deep into space to never return. Rick then secretly manipulatied control panel causing the Hulk's capsule landed back in New Mexico, although Rick was shocked by cosmic radiation. The Hulk then bursted out of the capsule and began attacking Rick, with the Cosmic Radiation allowing the Hulk to manifest during the daytime. Before the Hulk had the chance to seriously hurt Rick, he suddenly stopped and Rick discovered that the two were linked because of the radiation allowing Rick to mentally command him. Rick then brought the Hulk to his home to sleep. That night however, the Hulk broke out of the house and went on a rampage. Rick managed to subdue the Hulk and brough him to the prison and locked him in the vault once more so that the Hulk would be unable to escape in the event that Rick fell asleep.

### Circus of Crime

The next morning, Rick let the Hulk out but left him in the cave so he could bathe and eat and so he went to his Aunt Polly's. Rick also visited a circus, however the circus performers were criminals and the Ringmaster had a hat that could hypnotize the audience and steal all their valuables. Rick managed to send out a telepathic cry for help to the Hulk who leaped into the circus and began fighting the members. The Hulk was stunned and captured by the Circus of Crime and the Ringmaster decided to incorporate him into their show.

The Circus traveled to a new town, however Rick arrived with several FBI agents. Rick's presence caused the Hulk to go berserk but Rick managed to regain control of him and use him to capture the Ringmaster. The army then raided the circus, and the Hulk grabbed Rick and fled the circus with Thunderbolt Ross vowing to hunt the Hulk down no matter what happened.