Contains spoilers for Gamma Flight #5!
Although Rick Jones is known as the Hulk’s sidekick, he is arguably the most important person in the Jade Giant’s life, being partially responsible for his creation. Life has not been great for Rick Jones as of late, as he's merged with Del Frye into one hideous, grotesque gamma mutate. But in Gamma Flight #5, on sale now in print and digital, Rick Jones returns in all his glory.
If Rick Jones had never drove his motorcycle onto a gamma test range, the world may have been spared the Hulk. When scientist Bruce Banner spotted Jones on the range, he went out to save him, causing him to be exposed to gamma radiation—which would turn Banner into the Hulk. Feeling a deep sense of guilt and responsibility for his role in the Hulk’s creation, Rick Jones would become one of the Hulk’s oldest allies and confidants. Jones would go on to fight alongside Captain America and Captain Marvel as well and would eventually get gamma-based powers of his own. Most recently, Jones merged with Delbert Frye, another gamma mutate, and served with Gamma Flight, a team devoted to tracking down and neutralizing gamma-based threats; other members include Puck, the Absorbing Man and Doc Samson. The team is on the run, and their journey comes to an end in Gamma Flight #5, written by Al Ewing and Crystal Frasier, with art by Lan Medina, colors by Antonio Fabela and letters by Joe Sabino.
Gamma Flight is moving in for their final fight against General Fortean, who has merged with the corpse of the Abomination; Fortean has been manufacturing gamma-laced supplements, with the intent of creating an army of gamma soldiers. Gamma Flight plans to use a device called the Cathexis Ray, designed to cure people with gamma inflictions, to separate Fortean. Absorbing Man fires the Ray not at the Abomination, but at the Jones/Frye combination, causing them to separate back into two beings. Gamma Flight decides to remain behind to help Fortean’s victims, but Jones respectfully declines, saying he “needs space.”
Rick Jones is one of the Hulk’s oldest friends, and their destinies are forever intertwined. Jones’ fateful trip to the gamma range set the course of his life, to be a sidekick not only to Hulk, but to other heroes as well. Jones' recent, horrific fate is representative of the dark, horror-tinged direction the Hulk franchise took with the launch of Immortal Hulk. Jones and Del Frye merged together is the pinnacle of the body horror vein Al Ewing and company tapped for the book, but now that the Immortal Hulk era is drawing to a close, Jones is returning to some semblance of a normal life. However, Immortal Hulk has also shown that no gamma mutate is ever truly free of the gamma curse, so it is only a matter of time before Jones finds himself crossing paths with the Hulk again.
Rick Jones is one of the most pivotal characters in Marvel history, being responsible for the birth of the Hulk. And now he has returned to his normal form, ready to take his place at the Hulk’s side once again.