WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Immortal Hulk #42 by Al Ewing, Alex Lins, Adam Gorham, Rachael Stott, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Chris O'Halloran, Paul Mounts and VC's Cory Petit on sale now.
The Immortal Hulk has found Bruce Banner short of allies recently as the One Below All continues his assault on the Green Goliath using the Leader as its avatar. They've dragged Hulk to their gamma hell to experiment on him and break him, while Doc Samson (in his new Sasquatch form) and Gamma Flight aren't as equipped to help out back on Earth.
However, Immortal Hulk #42 gives Hulk a possible savior in the form of Jackie McGee, his reporter buddy from the Arizona Herald. But the problem is that it's not clear if she'll end up as the newest gamma monster who wants to wreck the world.
While Henry Gyrich basically boots Gamma Flight and Samson off the job to hire the U-Foes to track down and end the Hulk, Jackie's facing problems of her own. She's spent so much time investigating, doing research and being one of Bruce's entourage on his recent road trips that she knows him well and has become personally invested. Unfortunately, her paper sees this as a liability and they demote Jackie in a cost-cutting exercise which sends her angrily back to her apartment. There, she's surprised by former Shadow Base head, Charlene McGowan, who delivers some really bad news.
Charlene's been stealing tech and data from the government and she has a device that detects gamma mutates, and it is pinging off around Jackie. Clearly, she's been infected and it seems to be from Immortal Hulk #35 when the Leader-possessed Rick Jones caused Hulk to explode. At a function in Georgeville, Iowa, honoring Hulk after beating Xenmu, Sterns sets him off as a gamma bomb, and it apparently left Jackie dosed with gamma.
While she doesn't Hulk out, she starts visually tapping into the gamma world, seeing monsters and a mysterious man which suggests she's peering into the Green Door. The thing is, this is the One Below All's playground, so Sterns or the gamma god itself could possess and use her like other gamma victims.
If that's the case, she could become a gamma monster soon enough to help do their bidding. The Leader knows that Bruce cares for her as well, so it'd be a great emotional trump card to have, as it would allow him to bargain with Banner using her soul. Conversely, Jackie's grown tired of humanity and secretly understood why Devil Hulk wanted to raze mankind and restart the world, so if he doesn't return, she might mutate fully and finish the job due to sheer cynicism.
For now, it seems like they don't know about her and that Jackie wants to stay on the good side. And she might be the key to getting Bruce out of Hell. If Jackie's powers evolve to include telepathy, telekinesis or even opening the Green Door herself, she may be able to send Gamma Flight and Samson in to rescue Bruce, assuming that she can use her gamma-irradiated abilities for good.