In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack's term) "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book creator comments on/references the work of another comic book/comic book creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message." This time around, we look at a little teasing of Iron Man and the Illuminati's betrayal of the Hulk when they shot him into outer space.

The history of the Illuminati's betrayal of the Hulk is a strange one and it's probably one that I should address in greater detail somewhere else, but the main gist of it is that there was a special group of superheroes known as the Illuminati. These heroes each represented a major part of the Marvel superpowered Earth. Iron Man represented the Avengers, Mister Fantastic represented the Fantastic Four, Professor X represented mutants, Doctor Strange represented the world of magic, Namor represented life under the sea, Black Bolt represented the Inhumans and Black Panther represented Wakanda.

For reasons that I won't get into right at the moment, the Illuminati got together and decided, "Hey, you know what? The Hulk is more trouble than he is worth." It is important to note that decades earlier, Doctor Strange had made the same basic decision with the Hulk during a period when Nightmare had taken control of the Hulk's consciousness. Strange banished the Hulk to another dimension and the Hulk slowly but surely made his way back to this dimension. So once again, he and the others decided that it was time to get the Hulk off of the Earth.

First off, Nick Fury enlisted the Hulk's help in taking out a threat on a space station. Once the Hulk succeeded in his mission, he assumed that he was on the way home. However, in Incredible Hulk #91 (by Daniel Way and Juan Santacruz - Santacruz comes into play later on!), the Hulk is betrayed. Instead of being returned to his home, he is instead blasted into outer space...

At the start of the next issue (by Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan and Jeffrey Huet), we see the message that the Illuminati left for the Hulk...

Their plan was to send him to a peaceful planet. However, his ship was knocked off course and since the Illuminati were in the middle of splintering into rival factions during the superhero "civil war" over Superhero Registration, they did not notice that their mission had failed miserably. Actually, boy, Reed and Tony sure do fail miserably a lot with their stuff, don't they? Like when they cloned Thor and it went nuts and killed Goliath. That was a fairly big "oops" there.

Anyhow, the Hulk conquered the planet he accidentally landed on and was actually happy. Then one of his "friends" blew up the ship Hulk arrived on, killing the Hulk's new wife and now the Hulk returned to Earth and almost destroyed it in World War Hulk while getting revenge on the Illuminati (the "friend" felt that the Hulk was getting too peaceful).

Okay, so that's the set-up, now check out how this was turned into an awesome joke in Marvel Adventures: Avengers!

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Just three issues after the historic M.O.D.O.C. issue where the Avengers were turned into M.O.D.O.C.s, Marvel Adventures: Avengers #12 (by Jeff Parker, Juan Santacruz - remember him? - and Raul Fernandez) saw the Avengers have to deal with the newly discovered threat of Ego the Living Planet.

Iron Man got a space shuttle to send the Avengers out to take care of the giant planet that was wreaking havoc with the Earth's gravitational systems.

Before they leave, Bruce Banner says that he would understand it if Tony were to eject him into outer space if he hulked out during the mission. Iron Man explains that he shouldn't be silly. They would never toss the Hulk into outer space.

Zing!

When they reach Ego, they discover that he is actually HITTING on EARTH!!

They need to distract the planet and Wolverine, well, he didn't make the same promise that Iron Man did...

You have to love how a story that involves a joke about the Avengers from this "Marvel Adventures" all-ages continuity (where Giant-Girl and Storm are Avengers) not being willing to throw the Hulk into outer space STILL ends up with the Hulk ejected into outer space!!

If anyone else has a suggestion for a future Meta-Messages, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!