Rick Jones: Superhero lover

In writer Stan Lee’s take on his character, was the teenage Rick Jones boyfriend to Marvel superheroes Bruce Banner (Hulk) and Steve Rogers (Captain America)? Read this guaranteed controversial analysis of their relationships and judge for yourself.

From his debut in The Incredible Hulk #1 by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in 1962 and onwards to his appearance in Captain Marvel in 1969, the 16 years-old, orphaned Rick Jones was involved with two of the most handsome Marvel men - Bruce Banner (Hulk) and Steve Rogers (Captain America). How deep did his relationship with those two superheroes go? There certainly were hints of romantic relations to discover in the stories – and with the 60s Comics Code-censorship, hints were all that was possible.

It was hardly the intention of writer Stan Lee for Rick Jones to be anything but a typical boy sidekick, when he and artist Jack Kirby created Rick in The Incredible Hulk #1. Rick was a personification of the teenage boys who were the target audience of Marvel Comics. They could identify with Rick and through his eyes experience the fantastic superheroes from a relatable angle.

But in the 60s, the language of comic books was charmingly different from how it is today. It was before the liberty movement of the homosexuals in the 70s, so in the early Marvel Comics, relationships between men were occasionally described in a manner which seen through modern eyes may be perceived as romantic. And it is noteworthy that Rick Jones, who was above the legal age of consent in most parts of the western world, didn’t show any interest in girls at all before writer Gerry Conway took over the character in 1972 and then converted him to heterosexuality.

Stan Lee was probably not aware that his supposedly innocent descriptions of Rick Jones’ relationships with Banner and Rogers could be perceived as homo-erotic. But intentionally or not, the romantic tone between Rick Jones and Bruce Banner – and later between Rick and Steve Rogers – along with them visually illustrated living together, could be seen as them being sweethearts through modern perceptions.

In ancient Greece, it was natural that grown-up men handled the education of young men, including their sexual training. And what is a teenage sidekick to an adult superhero, if not a modern version of that same casting?

When Hulk became a big-budget movie in 2003, Rick Jones wasn’t in it despite the important part he played in Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk in the comic books. That might be because the filmmakers wanted to avoid the interpretations, which the comic books have given occasion to in this analysis. It argues that Rick Jones and Bruce Banner were lovers. And when Rick Jones left Bruce Banner, did he become Steve Rogers’ lover as well?

Jealous at Betty Ross

Scientist Bruce Banner met Rick Jones, who was revealed to be 16 years-old in Hulk #6, when Rick on a dare from some kids drove his car onto the military area where Bruce Banner’s gamma bomb invention was about to be tested. When Bruce ran out to remove Rick from the test area, the bomb went off and Bruce got exposed to the gamma radiation, which would make him capable of transforming into the incredible Hulk.

Bruce managed to push Rick to safety in a trench before the explosion and Rick subsequently declared to Bruce: “I’m an orphan, and no one ever did ANYTHING for me before – ‘cept YOU, a stranger!”

That was probably why Rick immediately threw his love at Bruce and even moved in with him. One can assume that he saw a father figure in Bruce and was fascinated by Bruce being “the most famous missile expert in the world” and that Bruce was “brainy and cultured.” And almost immediately, in Hulk #1, it was implied that Rick’s infatuation ran deeper when Betty Ross “invaded” his new home with Bruce. Rick got jealous when Bruce went from calling her “Miss Ross” to “Betty” and thought to himself: “Oh, it’s BETTY now! Bah! How revoltin!”

Rick wasn’t frightened by Bruce’s initial “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” transformation to the Hulk in the first issue. Instead, he saw it as a way in which he could be useful in Bruce’s life as his close confidante and helper. Even when Bruce’s Hulk personality pushed Rick aside, Rick loyally ran after him, yelling: “You saved my life! You NEED me now.”

Later in the first issue story, Rick stated his usefulness to Bruce himself: “Without ME around, you might do something awful.” In that manner Rick made himself a more important figure in Bruce’s life than Betty Ross, who did not know that Bruce and Hulk were two sides of the same person, and who was frightened of the Hulk.

Intimate life together

In the first couple of issues of Hulk, Rick Jones was struck by the Hulk a few times, so by Hulk #3 Rick had become afraid of him. Rick still stuck by Bruce Banner though, even though he had other, safer places he could have stayed as witnessed by his visit to his aunt Polly in that issue. So Rick stayed with Bruce because he wanted to, and Bruce did treat him nicely and expressed a need of Rick as a shoulder to lean on – but by stating that he didn’t want Rick especially to become a victim of the Hulk, perhaps also as something more?

Luckily for Rick, an incident with radioactive exposure in Hulk #3 resulted in the Hulk starting to temporarily obey Rick’s commands. The same exposure also resulted in Bruce no longer automatically becoming the Hulk at sunset. Instead, from Hulk #4, the transformation into the Hulk and back to Bruce happened with the aid of voluntary exposure to a gamma ray. Bruce then became the Hulk whenever the need of the Hulk’s physical might arose, and the Hulk even had the intelligence of Bruce Banner, although with a violent and cruel twist that made Rick nervous.

At the same time, Betty Ross seriously began to develop a romantic interest in Bruce Banner. In Hulk #4, she wondered about Rick Jones’ connection to both Bruce and the Hulk and concluded that both Rick and the Hulk were a danger to Bruce. She then decided to sick her father, General Ross and his soldiers on Rick, which of course also served as a way to eliminate the romantic competition.

Of course, Rick refused to tell Betty and General Ross anything about his relationship to Bruce and the Hulk and, of course, a military man like General Ross did not hold Bruce Banner in high regard. He had been calling him a “milksop” since Hulk #1 – an expression often used by heterosexual men about men they don’t know are gay but suspect there is something different about because they don’t conform to their idea of masculinity.

Throughout Hulk #4, Rick’s homelife with Bruce was portrayed as being intimately close. Rick watched television while Bruce was working, and he put Bruce to bed when he was tired after his transformations into the Hulk.

During a guest-appearance in Fantastic Four #12, the scientific genius Reed Richards got suspicious of not just Bruce Banner being the Hulk, but also of Bruce’s relationship to his “young helper” Rick Jones. Why else would he include Rick in the sentence: “I’ve got a feeling there’s a lot we have to talk about – like you, and Rick, and the HULK for instance!”

Despised by the Hulk

In Hulk #5, Bruce Banner explained his relationship with Rick to General Ross and Betty by saying he had hired Rick as his assistant. Meanwhile Betty felt unhappy about Bruce not even noticing her existence, making the readers wonder, “Yes, why didn’t he notice her?”

Betty tried to make Bruce jealous by flirting with the villainous Tyrannus. She thought it was working when Bruce began to keep a watchful eye on her and Tyrannus, but Bruce was simply suspicious of Tyrannus’ vile intentions. But Rick Jones seemed jealous about Bruce’s interest in Betty and Tyrannus and asked, “Who wants to follow a couple of cave-lovers around?”

However, when Tyrannus revealed his villainous side, the Hulk seemed very concerned about the safety of Betty. The theory that the Hulk-side of Bruce’s personality might have been in love with Betty was supported by the fact that the Hulk had seemed obsessed with seeking her out already in the first issue and that he was mean to Rick, calling him “puny fool”, “stupid”, ”clumsy brat” and ”pest” in Hulk #5.

The Hulk’s earlier brutality and now growing verbal abuse towards Rick might be seen as expressions of contempt for Rick because the Hulk himself loved Betty but knew and resented the fact that his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, was interested in Rick rather than Betty.

The Hulk might be seen as the heterosexual side of Bruce Banner, who saw himself as being “a real man” unlike Bruce, whom he in Hulk #1 had called “weak” and “soft” and whom he hated. He would rather be the Hulk than that “puny weakling”.

In Hulk #5, Bruce then also expressed to Rick, that he was concerned about the Hulk seeming more and more unwilling to return to his normal (homosexual?) self.

The first break-up

In the final issue of the Hulk’s first series, Hulk #6, the Hulk was held prisoner by the military. When Rick Jones visited the Hulk in the prison, the Hulk blamed Rick for betraying him and threatened revenge. Rick left in tears and assumed their partnership was over.

Rick then met some of his old friends, who showed him a walkie-talkie they had bought. This gave Rick the idea to form his own Teen Brigade consisting of teenage boys who kept in radio contact and were ready to help when the need arose.

Determined to begin a new life, Rick went to get his clothes at Bruce’s place, but there he met Bruce, who had escaped custody as the Hulk and then transformed back to his normal self. Rick had had enough of being abused in his relationship with Bruce/Hulk but took pity on Bruce and helped him and the Hulk defeat the villain Metal Master with the aid of the Teen Brigade. Then he sent Bruce into the arms of Betty Ross, who had been very worried about Bruce. And so the relationship between Rick and Bruce Banner ended on friendly terms along with the Hulk-series. But with Marvel being Marvel where there is no happily ever after, it was not the end after all. The two gentlemen would appear again in the Avengers series, which began six months later in 1963.

More Hulk than Banner

In Avengers #1, Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade had achieved a certain level of fame. Certainly, even the mighty Thor had heard about them when Rick with a call to the Fantastic Four instead got hold of Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and so was instrumental in gathering the heroes who would make up the Avengers. Rick had read in a newspaper that his old partner the Hulk had become wanted, so he sent the four superheroes to find the Hulk. It turned out that the Hulk had been framed by Thor’s evil stepbrother Loki, who was the true villain, and the Hulk then joined the other heroes in forming the Avengers.

In the stories in Avengers #1 and 2, it seemed like the Hulk was only the Hulk and did not change back to Bruce Banner anymore. This can be interpreted as the heterosexual side (Hulk) having suppressed the homosexual side (Bruce Banner) of the split personality.

The villainous Space Phantom had managed to ruin the relationship between the Hulk and the other Avengers by the end of #2, which resulted in the Hulk leaving the group. In Avengers #3, Rick Jones was asked to find the Hulk because he was too dangerous to be running around loose. Rick found the Hulk at their old stomping grounds and the Hulk seemed more friendly towards Rick than previously. Maybe the Hulk could no longer suppress his homosexual side?

Rick succeeded in getting the Hulk in front of the gamma ray that transformed him back to Bruce for the first time since Hulk #6, so that Rick could once again help him into bed.

The gamma ray dosage was not large enough, however, so Bruce quickly transformed into the Hulk again and then teamed up with the underwater monarch, the Sub-Mariner to conquer humankind. Maybe this aggression came about from the Hulk’s anger at himself for having succumbed yet again to his homosexual desires?

In the middle of the ensuing battle against the Avengers at Gibraltar, the Hulk suddenly reverted to Bruce Banner and ran off before anyone could discover this.

Captain America and… Bucky?

On their way back to the USA in Avengers #4, the team found Captain America, who had been in hibernation since the end of the second world war. When he was revived, he told how his teenage sidekick, Bucky had perished right before he himself had been frozen into a block of ice which had kept him from aging.

Captain America was plagued by sorrow over the loss of Bucky when Rick Jones entered his room. At first, the Captain thought that it was Bucky, who by some miracle was also still alive, but when he realized it was just Rick Jones, it did not seem to ruin his sudden excitement and joy. He was clearly fascinated with Rick’s resemblance to his late partner, which he hesitantly chose to refer to as “a close friend of mine.”

Just as Rick had once seen an opportunity to fill out a role for Bruce Banner, Captain America immediately eyed an opportunity to fill out a role for Rick by being for him as he had been to Bucky: “YOU’VE suddenly made me realize that life goes on! In a way, Bucky can STILL live again!”

Rick Jones did not immediately reciprocate Captain America’s attraction, but then – in the final battle between the Avengers and the Sub-Mariner, Captain America who had hesitated in the background right until Rick Jones was taken hostage, threw himself into the battle, thinking: “The lad is in danger! THIS I will not TOLERATE!”

In that manner, Captain America was different from Bruce Banner/Hulk – Captain America was a protector with whom Rick could feel safe and protected whereas Bruce/Hulk had been decidedly rude, unreliable and actually dangerous for Rick.

Rick concluded that Captain America was “the greatest guy I ever met – and I can tell he wants me to be his partner! But what about – the HULK? He’s sure to return SOME DAY… And when he finds out that CAPTAIN AMERICA has replaced him – will ANYTHING be able to stop him then?”

Rick’s problem wasn’t that he had to choose between Captain America and Bruce Banner, but that he was afraid of the Hulk’s reaction if he followed his desire to be with Captain America. Rick knew that the Hulk had previously struck him for no reason at all. What then could he think of doing to Rick in a jealous fit of rage?

Acting like King Kong

After the fight against the Avengers at Gibraltar, the Hulk was on his way back to Bruce’s laboratory in New Mexico in Fantastic Four #25. En route, he changed back to Bruce Banner, who did not understand what was going on since he was no longer in control of his transformations into and back from the Hulk. He wanted to find Rick Jones in the hope that Rick might be able to help him.

He inexplicably changed back into the Hulk and read in a newspaper that the Avengers had replaced him with Captain America, and he immediately went to New York to get revenge on them. However, at the same time the Avengers were on the way to New Mexico along with Rick to find the Hulk, so when the Hulk went berserk in New York, it was up to the Fantastic Four to stop him in one of the biggest action epics in Marvel history.

The Avengers returned to New York in Fantastic Four #26, where the Hulk grabbed Rick Jones and dragged him along to the top of a skyscraper under construction in a finale reminiscent of the climax in the King Kong movie.

The Hulk expressed his (Bruce Banner’s?) anger over Rick having deserted him for Captain America: “I TRUSTED you, kid! You know all my secrets!”

By using the word “secrets” in plural, it was implied that it wasn’t just the secret that he was Bruce Banner, Rick knew, but also that he was… bisexual?

The Avengers and the Fantastic Four attacked the Hulk like symbols of the flying machines that shot King Kong down from the tower, and the Hulk and Captain America had a “stand-off” with the Hulk accusing him: “YOU’RE the one who tried to get Rick away from me!”

Would the Hulk/Bruce really be so upset about that unless he harbored deep feelings for Rick and had hoped – as implied in Fantastic Four #25 – to get back together with Rick?

Rick now turned against his ex-partner by throwing a gamma-ray treated capsule into the mouth of the Hulk, who then – like King Kong – fell from the tower and died metaphorically by turning into Bruce Banner because of the capsule.

Bruce ended up in the Hudson river and floated away with the current while Rick went into denial and told Giant-Man: “The Hulk would never have hurt ME! No matter what! I KNOW it!”

The happy end?

In Avengers #5, Bruce Banner found his way back to Betty Ross, who welcomed him despite him having been absent for months, which he excused by saying he had been ill. One can see this as Bruce – in his disappointment over Rick having left him for another – settled with Betty. And so, the paths of Rick and Bruce continued independently, but they weren’t quite finished with each other and would hook back up later.

For now, Rick Jones became the superhero apprentice of Captain America, but he was also old enough to be the lover of Captain America’s civilian identity, Steve Rogers. Their teammates in the Avengers did not question their relationship. As expressed by Iron Man in Avengers #5, they thought that it was lucky for Rick to have found a friend like Captain America since the Hulk turned against him.

Captain America also charmed Rick’s friends in the Teen Brigade with an acrobatic exhibition that made the boys cheer in awe of his “trained MUSCLES.” They envied Rick for hanging out with the Avengers.

But as the analytical reader of Avengers #5 would notice, Rick didn’t just join the Avengers on the battlefield in his position as Captain America’s new sidekick, but was also called “Ricky,” which sounded reminiscent of “Bucky,” and who wants to live in the shadow of another person?

Rick Jones and Captain America had a problematic relationship ahead.

Steve’s "young friend”

From Avengers #6, Rick Jones’ role was to assist the Avengers along with his Teen Brigade, but Rick was hoping for Steve Rogers to train him as a new Bucky sidekick to Captain America. Steve thanked Rick for having given him the will to go on following the death of Bucky. “Your loyalty and trust have been a great comfort to me,” he said, but he had changed his mind about making Rick a new Bucky.

Although Rick wasn’t actually Captain America’s crimefighting partner, he seemed to have moved in with Steve Rogers. In Avengers #7, Steve was reading a book while Rick had found Bucky’s costume tucked away in a closet and dressed up in it. Entering the living room where Steve had just been thinking about Bucky, Rick proudly posed for him: “Look how it FITS me! Anyone would think I’M your partner!”

Rick was eager to convince Steve to let him become Captain America’s new Bucky sidekick, but like the husband who is surprised by his wife in sexy lingerie and asks her to take it off because he doesn’t want to see her dressed as a prostitute, Steve became furious at seeing Rick in Bucky’s costume. “TAKE IT OFF,” he commanded. “Don’t ever call yourself my partner AGAIN!”

“Do you think I could bear it if anything happened to YOU, too! I’ll NEVER have another partner,” he woved. while having insinuated that Rick was important to him, but in another capacity. This implied that Rick wasn’t hanging around Captain America all the time because he was his professional partner. It was rather a matter of Steve having his admirer and boyfriend around - his “young friend” as it said in the captions.

In the shadow of Bucky

In Avengers #8 Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade proved their usefulness by freeing the Avengers, who had been taken captive by the time-travelling villain Kang. This deed was probably what motivated Iron Man to nominate Rick Jones for official membership in the group in Avengers #10. However, Captain America objected: “That decision is for ME to make!”

The other Avengers agreed to Cap’s demand – presumably because they assumed that Rick’s membership would be by virtue of his relationship with Captain America.

Rick overheard the conversation and asked Steve if there was a chance – implying, for him to become Captain America’s crimefighting partner after all. Steve replied that he needed time to think about it because he still felt guilty about the death of Bucky Barnes and couldn’t bear to lose a partner – “a boy who had not yet fully tasted life!” - ever again.

Rick was impatient about getting his dream of becoming a superhero fulfilled, though, so he became an easy victim of a ruse by villain Immortus that promised to grant him superpowers in his own right – not just as Cap’s sidekick, but as his equal, so that he would have to be allowed membership in the Avengers. Immortus wanted to use Rick as a hostage against the Avengers and trapped him, and then Steve returned to his apartment and found “his young sidekick MISSING!” -once again suggesting the two of them were living together.

Cap and the other Avengers got Rick back, but the ghost of Bucky Barnes kept Rick from becoming Captain America’s professional partner. This was evident once again in Avengers #11, where Captain America dismissed Rick’s opinion during a meeting with the Avengers, saying, “You have no voting privilege with the AVENGERS as yet!”

This rejection might explain why Rick in Tales To Astonish #62 decided to go to the aid of his former friend the Hulk upon learning he had been captured by the military. Captain America was not jealous and expressed his understanding, saying Bucky would also have gone to Cap’s aid, to which Rick accusingly replied: “You STILL can’t forget your dead partner, Bucky, can you, Cap?”

Rick arrived in New Mexico in time to help out Bruce Banner and the two men had a heart to heart talk about what had gone wrong between them. Rick felt that the Hulk had driven him away, but also that he felt guilty by leaving Bruce to join Captain America. Bruce assured Rick that he did the right thing by leaving him because he was too dangerous to be around with his transformations into the unpredictable Hulk. The two of them then parted as friends.

Avenging Bucky Barnes

Rick went back to Steve Rogers and the little break in their relationship seemed to have done them good. In Tales Of Suspense #60, Rick had a taste of being Captain America’s crimefighting partner, putting his combat lessons from Cap to good use, but by Avengers #12 Steve still hadn’t decided if Rick should be a new Bucky and a member of the Avengers. When Rick was knocked out by a criminal and had to be rescued by Captain America, Rick feared he’d never have a chance to become an Avenger now, but Cap assured him that, “one setback will not affect your status.”

Rick had to go get Bruce Banner out of jail in Tales To Astonish #64. Bruce was accused of being a spy and Rick got the idea to have the President of the United States intervene by explaining to the President that Bruce Banner is the Hulk. Rick was granted an audience with the President by flashing “a top-priority Avengers I.D. card,” and his plan did succeed, although Bruce was whisked away on a mission before he could thank Rick.

Back with the Avengers, in Avengers #15, Rick was kidnapped by Baron Zemo, who had caused the death of Captain America’s former partner, Bucky Barnes. Captain America freed Rick and got revenge for the death of Bucky when Zemo was killed in a fatal rockslide. But would that mean that Steve could finally let go of Bucky and devote himself to Rick instead?

On their way home in Avengers #16, following their final battle with Zemo, Rick mentioned the Hulk and Steve said: “You still have a great loyalty to the green-skinned giant, don’t you, Rick? Personally, lad, I ADMIRE you for it.”

But the reason why Steve wasn’t envious of Rick’s loyalty to the Hulk could also be because he just didn’t feel particularly strongly for Rick. The question of Rick’s status as an Avenger remained unresolved and when they arrived at Avengers Mansion, an unpleasant surprise awaited Rick: There had been a change in the membership roster and Captain America was instated as leader of the new group – which did not include Rick Jones. “I’ll NEVER be a full-fledged Avenger,” Rick said, to which Cap replied, “All in good time, Rick!” – still stringing him along.

Goodbye to Steve?

In Avengers #17, Rick felt very displeased with his standing with the team. “It isn’t FAIR,” he thought: “Those three Johnny-come-latelies are now official members... And Cap STILL won’t let ME be a full-fledged uniformed Avenger!”

After having awaited a decision from Steve through seven issues of the Avengers, this was the final straw for Rick. The new team of Avengers set out to find the Hulk, not knowing that Rick had already found him on his own. Apparently, Rick had left for New Mexico, arriving in Tales To Astonish #68, without telling Captain America anything at all – without even saying “goodbye”?

In Tales To Astonish #69, Rick’s sense of loyalty to his first love, Bruce Banner, led to him deciding to leave Captain America and the Avengers in order to stay in New Mexico and help Bruce.

And why not? Rick felt that Bruce Banner needed him, while Captain America had been unwilling to accept Rick’s help as his crimefighting partner. Maybe Rick never was anything to Steve Rogers but a substitute for Bucky Barnes?

Rick believed that the Hulk was in need of his help, “more than ever before,” in Tales To Astonish #69. This loyal devotion was explained by Rick feeling guilty about Bruce being exposed to the gamma radiation which had turned him into the Hulk while trying to save Rick. But in Tales To Astonish #70, Rick saved Bruce’s life after which Bruce declared: “The debt between us is CANCELLED.”

Outing Bruce

Rick still continued to feel indebted to Bruce for having saved his life, however. In Tales To Astonish #72, General Ross ordered Rick taken into custody for questioning regarding the secrets he was keeping about Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Even though Banner was believed to be dead at the time, the blue-eyed Rick refused to talk. “I can’t break my word to Bruce Banner,” he thought in #75. “Not to the man who turned into the Hulk when he saved my life years ago” although less than a year had elapsed in Marvel time which would be revealed when Rick later turned 17 years-old.

By Tales To Astonish #77, General Ross had to set Rick free, but his aide, Major Talbot who had a crush on Betty Ross and wanted to discredit Bruce Banner to win her love, followed Rick and coerced the youth, who was tortured by memories of Bruce, into revealing that Bruce, “the greatest guy who ever lived,” was indeed the Hulk.

In the following issue, Rick also told Betty Ross that Bruce and the Hulk was the same man, and he agreed with Betty that Bruce was “the most wonderful man in the WORLD!” And then, of course, the Hulk returned from wherever he had been, and when Betty was confronted with him, she refused to believe that that “horrible green-skinned monster” was Bruce and exclaimed “I’d rather believe that Bruce is DEAD” while turning to Major Talbot for comfort.

Unrequited love

Rick spent most of the time up until Tales To Astonisk #100 loyally following the Hulk around, convinced that the Hulk needed him, while Betty came to grips with the Hulk being Bruce Banner and stopped being afraid of him. The Hulk now spent very little time as Bruce Banner, however, and the abusive relationship between The Hulk and Rick Jones from the original 6-issue Hulk series seemed to repeat itself when Rick in Tales To Astonish #88 had to put up with being hit by the Hulk again.

In Tales To Astonish #91, Rick put up with getting hit once more, but then he grabbed hold of the Hulk’s leg and let himself get dragged behind him while desperately trying to reach the man inside. “I’ve got to be WORTHY,” he said – implying “of Bruce’s love”?

Rick’s pleading succeeded in soothing the savage beast, although by also mentioning that Betty needed help, and in Tales To Astonish #92 it was Betty that Bruce longed to take in his arms again, not Rick.

In Tales To Astonish #97, Rick told one of his friends in the Teen Brigade: “Everyone thinks the HULK is just a rampaging, uncontrollable KILLER – who oughtta be SHOT on sight! But he’s NOT! And I’M the only one who KNOWS he’s not!”

And then, in Tales To Astonish #100, Rick said, “I know I’m just a KID – a NOBODY from nowheresville! But, I can’t let it END like this!” And then he stated – just as he had stated about Captain America in Avengers #4: “He’s… the greatest guy… in the whole WORLD!”

And so, it was that much the harder for Rick when the Hulk in Tales To Astonish #100 hit him so violently that he had to be taken to an emergency ward. This was the turning point that would change Rick’s feelings for Bruce Banner and the Hulk forever.

The end of a love affair

Writer Stan Lee took a break from writing the Hulk when the Hulk once again got his own magazine with the numbering continued from Tales To Astonish. Now, what Stan had conceived of as a “soap opera” series was in the hands of Gary Friedrich.

In Hulk #102, Bruce Banner thought of both Betty Ross and Rick Jones, “the only ones who had FAITH in me,” when plunging to his seeming death during an adventure in Asgard. “I’ll be cheated of the chance to ease the PAIN I’ve caused them,” he thought before being returned to New York city in Hulk #103 where Rick Jones was now living in an apartment of his own for the first time ever.

Their friendship over, Bruce did not know Rick’s address and had to look it up in a phone book. “I have no RIGHT to involve him! I’ve caused him too much grief ALREADY,” he realized, “but there’s no one else I can TURN to!”

Rick wasn’t home, but Bruce managed to get a key for his apartment by telling the landlady that he was Rick’s uncle. Inside, he noticed an ad for a TV program about the Hulk with Rick Jones as a guest. Bruce decided to watch the show, thinking, “It’ll do me good to hear somebody say something KIND,” but what he saw was a bitter and angry Rick declaring: “I now realize that there’s no HOPE for the Hulk! When he TURNED on me I was finally convinced that he’s a MENACE… and that he must be DESTROYED!”

Bruce realized that whatever had been between him and Rick was now over. He was about to leave Rick’s apartment when Rick came home and confronted Bruce with a gun, ready to shoot him. Bruce tried to reason with Rick: “You surely wouldn’t pull that TRIGGER – not on the man who once saved your LIFE!”

Bruce’s persuasion worked and Rick fired into the floor at the last second, saying: “I couldn’t… DO it! I just couldn’t make myself HARM him!”

Rick was feeling the famous fine line between love and hate, and when in Hulk #104 he saw on television that Bruce had been captured by the military, he thought: “I know this is all for the BEST… and still it tears me APART to see Bruce hauled away like a MURDERER!”

He decided to go see Bruce one last time: “Maybe I can at least make him UNDERSTAND why I turned against him… and ask him to FORGIVE me!”

Rick didn’t get a chance to apologize to Bruce, however. He arrived just in time for Bruce to become the Hulk again, and when Bruce reappeared the following issue, it was in the middle of a confrontation with the radioactive Missing Link. In Hulk #106, Bruce told Rick to go before the radiation hit him, but only when Bruce once again became the Hulk to battle the Missing Link did Rick finally realize: “He won’t NEED me now…”

The Hulk then went on a journey to far off places for several issues, leaving both Rick and Betty Ross behind worrying about Bruce in Hulk #111. And then Stan Lee, who had returned as writer of the Hulk, decided to use Rick Jones in his Captain America series instead.

Saved by Steve

In Captain America #110, Rick Jones had once again convinced himself that the Hulk wouldn’t hurt him. “Not ME,” he insisted. But luckily for the young man, his old friend Captain America was around to witness how the Hulk almost killed Rick with “a casual GESTURE.”

Captain America brought Rick home with him and, as Steve Rogers, swore that Rick “must NEVER return to the Hulk!” While Rick rested (in Steve’s bed?), Steve lamented: “If only… ALL our lingering ills… could be so easily CURED! But, there are wounds that NO amount of rest… no amount of TIME… can EVER heal! Just as there are MEMORIES… that can NEVER be… erased!”

Here, Steve might have been thinking of both his dead partner Bucky Barnes and his previously failed attempt to groom Rick into taking Bucky’s place.

When Rick recovered from his rest, he repeated his attempt in Avengers #7 to convince Steve to let him take Bucky’s place in both Steve’s and Captain America’s life by surprising him by wearing Bucky’s costume. At first, Steve got upset once again, but this time, Rick wasn’t having it: “If I’m not GOOD enough to fill Bucky’s boots… SAY so! But spare me the HAMLET bit! Sooner or later, EVERYBODY loses somebody! You’re not the ONLY one who’s had it tough!”

Here, Rick may have been thinking of both his own status as an orphan and his failed relationship with Bruce Banner.

And this time, Steve kept an open mind to Rick’s argument. “Maybe… I’m STILL not too old… to LEARN,” he said. Maybe this was an admittance of him having made a mistake by letting the ghost of Bucky stand between him and Rick in the past, but it also had to be seen in the light of the story having opened by introducing the readers to a Steve Rogers, whose eyes revealed no emotion “save a deep, undying LONELINESS!”

Living with Steve again

Rick Jones’ old dream of taking Bucky’s place in Steve Rogers’ life seemed to finally come true – he became Captain America’s superhero apprentice. But in Captain America #111, the ghost of Bucky still haunted them. Steve realized that, “every time I mention BUCKY, Rick thinks I’m putting HIM down!”

“I KNOW he resents living in someone else’s SHADOW,” he thought, but concluded: “And yet, I CAN’T… I WON’T erase the memory of Bucky Barnes!”

Rick had seemingly moved in with Steve again as indicated in Captain America #111, when Rick left a training session with Steve to “grab some SHUT-EYE,” after which he was in Steve’s apartment and fell victim to a gas attack intended for Captain America. And under the influence of the hallucinatory gas vapors, Rick confronted his worst fear: Bucky – “The only one who can DESTROY me! But I won’t LET him! I’M the one who’s alive! Bucky is DEAD!”

When Captain America had to temporarily fake his own death in Captain America #112 and 113, Rick Jones was so heartbroken he could barely go to the chapel to say goodbye – a clear indication of his strong feelings for Steve.

Meanwhile in Hulk #115, General Ross tried to call Rick because Rick had been the Hulk’s only friend and knew all his secrets, but Rick wasn’t at his old address – the apartment in New York’s East Village, nor with the Avengers. But their cleaning woman had heard them mention that he was teaming up with Captain America, so one could once again assume that Rick was now living at Cap’s place.

In Captain America #113, Rick was overjoyed to learn that Steve was still alive, but the joy would prove to be short-lasting. During the long break between Rick and Steve from Avengers #17 to Captain America #110, Steve had done some work for the espionage organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and had fallen in love with their Agent 13, Sharon Carter. Steve’s old-fashioned attitude towards women meant that they weren’t together because she wouldn’t quit her position at S.H.I.E.L.D. and just let Steve provide for her. It is therefore quite possible to assume that the lonely Steve had settled for his admirer, Rick, because Sharon had turned him down.

In Captain America #114, Captain America and Rick had to rescue Sharon from a giant robot, and then Cap once again asked Sharon to resign from her dangerous profession, only to get rejected and then turning to Rick for comfort. “I couldn’t bear to LOSE someone CLOSE to me – a SECOND time,” Steve lamented. “And yet – SHARON – and RICK – how LONG can their luck hold out?” he wondered, fearing for his loved ones to die like Bucky had.

And then, in Captain America #115, when the villain, the Red Skull, called forth an image of the one Cap loved the most – the one he most cherished – it was Sharon’s image that appeared, not Rick’s, so Rick had basically just exchanged one unrequited love (Bruce Banner) for another.

Alone with a broken heart

The presence of Sharon in the periphery of Steve’s life meant that Rick began to doubt Steve’s love for him. When Steve was held prisoner by the Red Skull in Captain America #115, Rick looked everywhere for him – both at S.H.I.E.L.D. with Sharon and at Avengers Mansion, tasking his Teen Brigade with looking for Captain America. Then he got paranoid about Steve’s disappearance: “What if… he just doesn’t WANT me… doesn’t NEED me? What if this is Cap’s way of sayin’… “Don’t call ME, Rick… I’ll call YOU!”?”

With the help of his Teen Brigade, Rick succeeded in finding Captain America in #116 – but what he didn’t know was that it was the Red Skull disguised as Cap he had found. The Red Skull cynically told him off: “Since when do I need the help of a teenage BRAT? Get OUT of here! If I NEED you, I’ll SEND for you! And don’t hold your breath WAITING!”

Rick thought it was the real Steve who had finally told him his honest opinion about him and left heartbroken, thinking: “He never TALKED to me… like that before… And I’ll never give ‘im the CHANCE… to do it AGAIN!”

“Sorry that I BOTHERED you,” he said. “Guess I was a FOOL… to think a guy like ME… could fill the shoes of BUCKY BARNES!”

What Rick didn’t know either was that the Red Skull had transported the real Captain America to a tropical island where a disguised Steve in #117 met the handsome Sam from Harlem whom he trained to become the heroic Falcon. In #118, it was suggested that Cap and Sam had an affair, which meant Steve cheated on Rick whom he seemed to have forgotten all about.

Meanwhile, Rick decided to leave Captain America. In #118 he tore up a signed picture of Cap and realized: “So I’m NOT another Bucky… BIG DEAL! Maybe this is where I GROW UP… Where I stop tryin’ to live some OTHER Joe’s life!”

Rick shed a little tear, facing the end of his relationship with Captain America. And when Cap returned to New York in Captain America #120 after his fling with Sam, he had indeed forgotten all about Rick and could only think about Sharon Carter. However, in #121 he did look at pictures of both Sharon and Rick and felt “LOST and “HELPLESS,” but Rick was now gone from his life, realizing that Steve would never care about him as deeply as he had for Bucky.

Done with Cap

When Rick subsequently started appearing in the pages of Captain Marvel beginning with #17, his fate was now in the hands of writer Roy Thomas. He started by bringing readers of Captain Marvel up to speed on who Rick was, suggesting he was just looking “for AFFECTION… for RESPECT.” After another bad run-in with the Red Skull disguised as Captain America, Rick told the butler Jarvis at Avengers Mansion, “I’M CUTTING OUT!”, packed his suitcase and left town.

Feeling drawn to an Earth outpost of the alien Kree race, Rick stumbled upon a pair of bracelets that enabled him to trade places with the Kree superhero Captain Marvel by putting them on his wrists and slamming them together. With Captain Marvel trapped in the Negative Zone and only one of them able to be in the same place at a time, Rick couldn’t actually interact physically with Marvel, but they shared a psychic bond enabling them to share each other’s experiences. So, if Rick was looking for physical affection, he could not get it from Captain Marvel, but if one of them felt anything, the other would know about it and as such Rick and Marvel had no privacy from each other.

In Captain Marvel #19, Rick was looking for an apartment, which once again suggested he had let his East Village apartment go in order to move in with Steve Rogers. Rick was also looking for a job now, and in Avengers #72 he tried stealing into the handsome Nick Fury’s private home, hoping that Nick, being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., might provide an occupation for him. However, Nick was not at home, and Rick ended up going to Avengers Mansion where he ran into the real Captain America. Cap told Rick that it was the Red Skull in disguise who knocked Rick around and where Cap in Avengers #11 had dismissed Rick’s opinion at an Avengers meeting, he now insisted that “Rick’s not just another “KID”! I vote we HEAR HIM OUT!”

Despite the reconciliatory gestures from Steve and an immediate joy when he said, “maybe you’re handier to have around than I IMAGINED, partner!”, Rick still rejected Captain America, knowing by now that Cap didn’t really mean it. “Besides… I’ve got… a few OTHER irons in the fire now,” Rick said and left Cap without telling him about Captain Marvel.

Done with men

In Captain Marvel #20, Rick had found an apartment and was well on his way to create a life for himself as a rock singer. He no longer seemed to need affection or to feel needed by another man in order to feel self-worth. He demonstrated this with a clarified view of Bruce Banner, with whom he had a reunion in Captain Marvel #20 and 21, and with his attitude to Captain Marvel. Rick wanted his co-existence with Mar-Vell brought to an end – possibly because Mar-Vell wasn’t able to fulfill a role for Rick as a partner anyway, and who wants to be stuck in the Negative Zone while the other roams the Earth? So, Rick regarded Mar-Vell as a hindrance for his independent ambition, like in Avengers #89 where Rick’s chance for a big break as a singer was interrupted by Mar-Vell.

Rick Jones had only aged a year since his debut in Hulk #1 – his age was stated as 17 years-old in Captain Marvel #18, but his relationships with Bruce and Steve had matured him and taught him in a year, what others might take a lifetime to learn. In Captain Marvel #47, Rick reflected upon his life to Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, and said that “the Hulk needed ME less than I needed HIM,” and that Captain America made him feel like a “useless” kid. Like the Greek youth who had been taught by mature men, Rick’s apprenticeship was over and ahead awaited adulthood.