FRAGMENT

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unrevealed

Occupation: Parasite (?)

Group Membership: Unrevealed

Affiliations: Unrevealed

Enemies: Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Known Relatives: None (see comments)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    Only seen in the deserts of New Mexico

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#328 (February, 1986)

 

 

Powers/Abilities: Fragment can read minds, and he seeks to promote the neuroses of others, possibly even feeding on said neuroses. He can teleport and change his appearance and size, altering his strength and durability. He appears to be made of pieces like a puzzle, and he can survive being shattered into these pieces, reassembling himself under certain circumstances. He can also apparently cast illusions or alter the perceptions of others, though it seems that if one maintains the confidence to resist his emotional assaults, that being can achieve some degree of immunity to further attack...or it just may be that Fragment gets bored when he's no longer having fun and will abandon his target.

 

 

 

 

 

History:
(Incredible Hulk II#328) - Bruce Banner was immersed with self-pity about his continued existence as the Hulk. On the way back to Gamma Base he crashed his jeep avoiding a man sitting in the middle of the road. The man claimed to be dying of cancer and to have hired an assassin so that he could die under his own terms. Fragment then appeared, and Banner tried to force him to stop, but Banner backed off when Fragment told him that he could choose to die in the old man's place. Fragment then caused Banner to sink into the ground, where he was plagued with images of the damage he had done to his friends, but Banner then turned into the Hulk (Gray Hulk / Joe Fixit) and broke free. The Hulk pummeled Fragment, smashing him into the ground, only for Fragment to suddenly strike him from behind. The Hulk then savagely battered Fragment, burying him under a pile of rubble. Fragment then reappeared, bigger and stronger than ever, in an explosion that stunned the Hulk. This time Fragment attacked the Hulk's own neuroses, telling him, "You're nothing! You're one man's dark side is all, just a little piece of his mind he keeps tucked away from unsavory thoughts. You're his power trip. His guilt trip. You have no existence but for Banner." Enraged, the Hulk struck back, but Fragment continued, "You're not even alive! You don't laugh! You don't cry! You don't love. You just destroy. You're nothing but a state of mind!" The Hulk then smashed Fragment, shattering him into pieces, but his disembodied head continued to taunt the Hulk.

 

 

 

    The Hulk then confronted the old man, looking for an explanation, only for the old man to remove his disguise, revealing himself as Banner. The false Banner then told him that, having gone through fear, disbelief, and rage, he needed to accept being the Hulk. As the Hulk turned back into Banner, the false Banner told him that his other option was to kill himself, and handed him a gun. Though Banner resisted the urge to take the easy way out, casting away the gun, the Hulk began to torment him as weak, telling him that only he had the strength to oppose Fragment. Despite the Hulk's strongest efforts, Banner held him inside. After regaining control, Banner found both Fragment and the old man gone. He suspected that he might have imagined the whole thing, but then saw the Hulk's handprint crushed into the hood of his car, which had occurred during the struggle with Fragment. Banner drove off, accepting his situation and concluding that where there was life, there was hope.

    From a freshly made hole in the road, Fragment's pieces commented, "Doc, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard! ...Aaaaha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Peter David, Dwayne Turner, and Tony DeZuniga.

I really don't know what to make of Fragment...he seems to feed on emotions and promote neuroses, something like Animus. Maybe he's a branch down the road from the Fear-Lords or an agent of Deathurge or something...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

images: (using page numbers)
Incredible Hulk II#328, cover (standing over Banner's aspects)
    p7, panel 3 (old man)
    p9, panel 4 (face)
    p17, panel 1 (standing over Hulk)

First Posted: 03/15/2005
Last updated: 03/16/2005

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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