For no particular reason whatsoever, I present the following.

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“Story so far. Advance Idea Mechanics. Crazy super science folks, mostly evil, work for the bad guys. They go corporate. Bad move. Roberto Da Costa, billionaire mutant, buys them out. Jails the evil guys, keeps the non-evil guys, makes them mad-science for the good guys. Calls it ‘Avengers Idea Mechanics.’ America doesn’t like it. I don’t like it. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t like it. I don’t like S.H.I.E.L.D. either. Cue shenanigans. Dust settles –U.S. needs a strong S.H.I.E.L.D. But S.H.I.E.L.D. looks weak. Meanwhile, A.I.M. just saved the president. (The last one, I mean.) So, what now? Answer: A.I.M. mad-sciences for S.H.I.E.L.D. Q Branch meets Mission: Impossible. ‘American Intelligence Mechanics.’ Best of both worlds: Hi-fi meets spy-fi, handling the big crazy, with me on hand to look out for Uncle Sugar. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. has a thing called the Hulk Plug-In. Genetic enhancement, makes you halfway to a Hulk. Nice Toy. A.I.M. irons out the bugs, looks for that one perfect genetic profile to plug it into. And thus, for one hour every day and a half or so –the Hour of Power– one deeply fortunate individual gets to go full-out Hulk. Guess who?” – General Robert Maverick, former Red Hulk

The Hulk Plug-In is a miniaturized nanonite-filled injection device; in order to be used by a subject, it must be surgically implanted within the subject, usually the left forearm. Once the Plug-In is implanted into a subject, a circular LED digital display is clearly visible just beneath the surface of the subject’s skin. Observers will notice the display is either counting down until the Plug-In is fully charged or counting up from the time the Plug-In was last activated. (The display will flash the word “SMASH” for the first few seconds immediately after the plug-in has finished charging.) When the subject presses the display, the nanonites instantaneously re-writes the subject’s DNA, transforming him or her into a Red Hulk. Once activated, a character equipped with the Hulk Plug-In gains the following;

Alter Ego: As a Red Hulk, the character gains the noted bonuses to their physical Abilities, as well as a corresponding boost in Health.

F: +2 C.S. (maximum Remarkable)
A: +0 C.S.
S: +7 C.S. (maximum Unearthly)
E: +7 C.S. (maximum Unearthly)

• Body Armor: Monstrous protection from all Physical and Energy attacks
• Hyper-Leaping: Class 5000 rank, allowing for leaps of up to two miles per round.
• Resistances: Class 1000 resistance to Cold, Heat, Fire, Corrosives, Radiation, Toxins, and Disease.

Due to a safety lock in the Hulk Plug-In, the subject will transform back into human form exactly 60 minutes after activating the Hulk plug-in. Afterwards, the subject must wait for the plug-in to fully recharge before he/she can use it again. The Hulk Plug-In takes exactly 36 hours to recharge.

Though the Hulk Plug-In is not an online device it can be hacked by an outside force; General Maverick discovered this when he unwittingly let a traitorous A.I.M. scientist give him an injection of extra nanonites designed to override the safety lock. The injection did so, leaving Maverick transformed into a Red Hulk for weeks. The physical side-effects of reversing the transformation took its’ toll on Maverick’s health; he was left with red skin, a heart condition that required multiple medications and a compromised Hulk Plug-In that had an unreliable time limit.

As noted in the quote above, the Hulk Plug-In needs someone with a “perfect genetic profile” in order to work properly. What that genetic profile consists of is vague; it may be that Robert Maverick has an “x-factor” in his DNA that makes him the sole person on the planet able to use it. It’s more likely that the genetic odds of someone being compatible with the Plug-In may be slightly more “common,” though probably not greater than one person in every five hundred million.

Recently Shadow Base (the successor to Gamma Base) has refined the Hulk Plug-In into an actual drug, which was given to the Absorbing Man for a mission to help him capture the original Hulk. This mission was somewhat of a success. (Read issues 9-10 of The Immortal Hulk for further details.)