General John Ryker is a fictional comic book antagonist who appears in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an enemy of the Hulk. Created by writer Paul Jenkins and artists Ron Garney and Mike McKone, he first appeared in The Incredible Hulk vol. 3 #12 (March 2000). He is a corrupt Army General depicted as being obsessed with the Hulk, and makes numerous attempts to capture the creature.
Fictional character biography
John Ryker joined the military at a young age and wanted to help determine future history from his shadows. One of his most prominent actions was manipulating the creation of the conspiracy around the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Apparently Kennedy was really killed by two Corsican mercenaries, but at the time it was deemed too expensive to wage World War Three so the idea of a conspiracy was created. When his wife Lucy developed cancer, Ryker used the military to hunt down Bruce Banner, who turned into the Hulk after exposure from gamma radiation during a nuclear test that Ryker supervised. Initially, Ryker irradiated various subjects to try and duplicate the accident that created the Hulk, with the goal of allowing him to isolate the Hulk's ability to cope with the radiation and use it to heal his wife. His closest success was Private Benjamin Tibbits, who mutated into the Hulk-like Flux, but his transformation was imperfect, leading to Ryker simply breaking him to use as a near-mindless soldier against the Hulk.
However, his brutal treatment of the Hulk, having finally captured the Green Goliath, not only broke down the mental barriers keeping the Hulk's other personalities from taking control away from the known three dominant Hulks- the 'escaped' Hulks including the Devil Hulk-, but also convinced General Thunderbolt Ross to turn against Ryker and free his long-time enemy. Taking Lucy Ryker hostage, Ross told her the truth, prompting Ryker to depart as she coldly told him that she didn't ask to be healed at the cost of innocent people.
He is responsible for the creation of the Gamma Corps, a special military unit created specifically to deal with the Hulk. He was spurred into action after his wife, who seemed to have been cured by a transfusion of Hulk blood, died from a sudden revival of her cancer. The Corps were unable to stop the Hulk, who went after Ryker, and caused Gamma Corps member Grey, who had Hulk DNA in him, to lose his temper, resulting in a Hulk-like rage that tore down Ryker's base, with the General still inside.
Ryker reappears later however, as the CEO of Origins corporation, a company specializing in giving average people superpowers through gene therapy, and sending his new "Gamma Corps: Black" to harvest the DNA from Lyra, the new She-Hulk.
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel reality, a General named Ryker is one of the ones in charge of Project PEGASUS in Devil's Point, Wyoming when the Serpent Squad attacks, until stopped by the Fantastic Four.
In other media
Television
- In the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Hard Knocks," Ryker is the leader of the group of soldiers hunting the Hulk under the orders of Agent Pratt.
Video games
- General Ryker appears in the Hulk video game voiced by Jano Frandsen. General Ryker is very similar to his comic counterpart. In the game, he sends out the military to capture the Hulk so that he might be able to study him. Also, he only appears in the cutscenes of the game. When discovering the Gamma Orb, Ryker plans to get it for his own purposes, but Ravage gets the orb. Ryker decided to kill both the Hulk and Ravage. He also had the Hulkbusters and Private Benjamin "Benny" Tibbetts to fight the Hulk.
References
External links
- General John Ryker at the Comic Book DB
