X-MAN
of Earth-774

Real Name: Bruce Banner / Reed Richards / Charles Xavier

Identity/Class: Extradimensional human/mutant mutates (Earth-774)

Occupation: Scientific researchers (Richards, Banner, Xavier)

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: (X-Man) None;
formerly the Fantastic Four (Reed Richards)

Enemies: Galactus, Ben Grimm (both of Reality-774)

Known Relatives: Sue Richards and Betty Banner (wives of Reed and Bruce);
Nathaniel Richards, Brian Xavier, and Brian Banner (fathers),
Evelyn Richards, Sharon Xavier, and Rebeca Banner (mothers)
David Charles Haller (presumptive son of Xavier with Gabrielle Haller)
any other relationships that would have existed on Earth-616 prior to Incredible Hulk I#1 could all be included, but are beyond the scope of this profile. Please see the Earth-616 profiles on the relevant characters for more complete listings.

Aliases: "The Ultimate Self-Induced Mutation", "the Living Embodiment of the Unknown";
Banner: formerly the Hulk; Richards: formerly Mr. Fantastic

Base of Operations: Baxter Building, New York City (Earth-774)

First Appearance: What If? I#2 (April, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: The X-Man had amazing telepathic powers that rivaled even those of Galactus. In addition, the X-Man apparently radiated cosmic radiation, and had great physical strength, probably on par with the Hulk. Being a combination of three of the most brilliant minds of his world, the X-Man may have also possessed superhuman intelligence.

Height: 12'
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Golden yellow
Hair: Bald

History:
(see comments for relevant back-history of Earth-774)

(What If? I#2) - With the arrival of Galactus upon Earth-774, that world's Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, and Charles Xavier hooked themselves to the Psychotron--upon activation, the device exploded as it merged the three into one physical being, combining their powers. Investigating the disturbance, Ben Grimm came to help his friends; but not understanding their transformation, Ben was swatted aside by the X-Man, who had no time for "foolish humans."

   Smashing his way out of the Baxter Building, the X-Man confronted Galactus on a nearby rooftop and used his full telepathic might against him. Although he was struck by invisible waves of mental force nearly equal to his own, Galactus believed that he could ultimately win the psychic struggle against the X-Man... but it might take months or even years to defeat him, after which Galactus would be too weak to stand against the other inhabitants of the planet. Accepting the inevitable, Galactus re-entered his spacecraft and departed, in search of easier worlds to conquer and devour.

   After Galactus left, the X-Man collapsed and separated back into his component entities of Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, and Charles Xavier, but they discovered that their respective super-powers were gone.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe.

This issue's 34-page story--What If the Hulk Had Always Had Bruce Banner's Brain?--obviously had the Hulk/Banner as the central character, and the X-Man only appeared in a total of 12 panels.--Ron Fredricks

Here are the Rules of Thumb when it comes to dealing with alternate Earths.

The premise of the What If? worlds, although not always followed 100%, is that the history was EXACTLY the same as that of Earth-616, up until the "point of divergence"--which in this case occurred very early in the modern era, in Incredible Hulk I#1. (In other words, What If? worlds are largely a specific type of alternate Earth known as a divergent Earth--Kyle)

A couple of significant factors in this alternate Earth:

  1. No reason for Banner's mind remaining in control of the Hulk was given. It just worked out that way.
  2. The Hulk/Banner befriended the Gargoyle (Russian mutate, father of the Gremlin), who survived and went off to live his own life
  3. The Hulk/Banner quickly made his peace with General Thunderbolt Ross and married Betty Ross soon after.
  4. Banner and Reed Richards worked together to cure Ben Grimm from being the Thing--Ben subsequently married Alicia Masters, and they were soon expecting a baby.
  5. Feeling the team wasn't worthwhile without the Thing's strength, Johnny Storm left for college soon after, leaving only Reed and Sue, thus no more Fantastic Four (Reed even ceased wearing a "4" symbol on his chest).
  6. The Hulk/Banner didn't fall for Loki's manipulations (@ Avengers I#1) and thus the Avengers were never formed.
  7. The Banners eventually moved into the Baxter Building, with Bruce joining Reed in his research projects. They were joined soon after by Charles Xavier, who never founded his school or the X-Men.
  8. The interaction of Ben Grimm with the X-Man caused him to revert back into the Thing, but he was now much stronger, and was decidedly more hostile. The Thing became the menace to the world that the Hulk sometimes seemed to be on Earth-616. There were few heroes to oppose the Thing, but General Ross led the army against him in Operation: Thing.

It is extremely likely, though not ever confirmed, I think, that Sue and Reed were married. The coming of Galactus on this world would likely have occurred at the same time as on Earth-616 (@ Fantastic Four I#48-50). However, on this world, with no Fantastic Four adventures or other members to distract them, an earlier wedding seems likely. Sue told Betty that Bloomingdale's gives a special discount to superheroes' wives, but that's about as far as the confirmation goes.

Although this reality's Galactus mentioned having a Silver Surfer, his herald wasn't seen in this story--instead, Galactus had been guided to Earth by the powerful emanations of Xavier's Cerebro machine.--Ron Fredricks

I'd think it possible that the Psychotron could retain the power and maybe the memories of the X-Man, who could be released at a later date. Maybe the Exiles will visit this world and face the X-Man...yeah, that'll happen!

Carycomix adds: It could be that, upon this particular parallel-Earth, Bruce Banner never had an abusive childhood, so the gamma radiation never catalyzed his multiple personality disorder into the one so painfully familiar to the friends and acquaintances of our Incredible Hulk!

New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Sammy7D, Luis Dantas, and Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The X-Man, this temporary composite being of Earth-774, is not to be confused with:

The X-Man was the composite form of the Earth-774 counterparts of the following character:

The Psychotron of Earth-774, used to create the X-Man, has no known connection to:

Psychotron

On Earth-774, it was a device designed by Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, and Charles Xavier; its purpose was to link their powerful brains in case there ever existed a threat to their world greater than what they could stop individually.

The threat eventually came in the form of the planet-devouring Galactus, so the trio activated the device and it merged them into the giant X-Man.

After the X-Man defeated Galactus, the golden giant collapsed and split apart, returning to the forms of the three men; but unexpectedly, their super-powers were gone.

The Psychotron merged the minds, bodies, and powers of Banner/Hulk, Professor X, and Reed Richards. It was also wheelchair accessible.

--What If? I#2

images: (without ads)
What If? I#2, p30, pan1 (main image - X-Man; Ben Grimm [background])
What If? I#2, p31, pan3 (headshot - X-Man unleashes mental force against Galactus)
What If? I#2, p32, pan1 (X-Man collapses)
What If? I#2, p25, pan4 (Charles Xavier, Bruce Banner, and Reed Richards work on Psychotron; Ben and Alicia Grimm [foreground])
What If? I#2, p29, pan2 (Charles Xavier, Hulk, and Reed Richards activate Psychotron)

Appearances:
What If I#2 (April, 1977) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Tom Sutton (inks), Glynis Oliver (colors), Tom Orzechowski/Joe Rosen (letters)

First posted: 11/23/2002
Last updated: 08/10/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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