Devolution
StoryAn area of the southwest desert has all sorts of strange, and extinct, species of animals in it. Into this area, Rick Jones drives Betty Ross-Talbot and Bruce Banner. Rick and Betty are devolved into extinct monkeys but Bruce is not. In searching for the monkey that stole the keys from the car, Bruce finds the High Evolutionary, who seems pleased to see him.
The Evolutionary tells the tale of how Counter-Earth was put on display and how his armor wouldn't allow him to kill himself. The devolution of the human population, which Bruce now finds out includes Rick and Betty, pushes him over the edge. The Evolutionary tells the Hulk that when his armor is destroyed everything will be put back to normal.
The Hulk starts to lay into the Evolutionary. Voluntarily, the Evolutionary does not resist, the armor, however, does. The armor retaliates physically and in devolving the area of the planet that they are on, past tar and molten lava to a thick choking gaseous substance. Only the Evolutionary's re-evolving of the planet allowed the Hulk to continue.
Finally, the armor is destroyed, and the Evolutionary fulfills his promise to restore the devolved creatures. The Evolutionary Devolved himself out of existence.
Notes:
The armor tried to devolve the Hulk, but couldn't. Talk about a cool
resistance. Nice to see what the armor can do even with the Evolutionary's
resistance to it.