T-GUN
Classification: Terrestrial technology
Creator: Bruce Banner (designer); U.S. military (builders)
User/Possessors: U.S. military, under the command of General Thaddeus Ross
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#75/2 (January, 1966)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: When aimed at an individual and activated, the T-Gun fired an energy beam which altered the light-waves around that person, and thereby transported him to another time-period (see comments); however, this was only temporary -- after an unspecified period of time, the effects of the beam wore off, resulting in that individual returning home to his own time-period.
History:
(Tales to Astonish I#75/2 (fb) - BTS) - At
some point, Bruce Banner theorized that a method of time-travel could be
accomplished by distorting light-waves around a person -- to achieve
this end, he secretly designed the T-Gun (see
comments).
After Banner was wrongly believed to be a traitor and supposedly killed (@ Tales to Astonish I#69/2 ), the plans for his T-Gun were confiscated by the U.S. military; thinking the device to be a weapon, General Ross ordered for the T-Gun to be built, although no one but Banner knew what its function was.
(Tales to Astonish I#75/2) - The Hulk was sighted heading to Washington, D.C., so the T-Gun was transported to the nation's capital in record time, in the hopes that the large apparatus would be able to prevent the jade giant's rampage.
As the Hulk approached the White House, the T-Gun was aimed at him and activated, resulting in the Hulk vanishing from sight when its beam struck him -- finding no trace of the Hulk afterward, the military initially believed that he had been atomized by the device.
But from the Hulk's perspective, once the throbbing and blinding flashes of the T-Gun's beam finally ceased, he found himself in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Washington in the future (25th Century Earth-6676), where he was confronted by King Arrkam and his soldiers.
(Tales to Astonish I#76/2) - Although captured and imprisoned in Arrkam's fortress, the Hulk soon escaped, only to find the citadel under attack by the forces of the "Evil One" (soon revealed to be Asgardian Skurge the Executioner).
(Tales to Astonish I#77/2) - After battling the Executioner and driving him and his army away, the Hulk was once again confronted by King Arrkam and his soldiers, who ordered him to surrender or die. But suddenly, the Hulk began to fade away -- the effects of the T-Gun had worn off, and the Hulk returned to his own world and time... (see comments).
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Mike Esposito.
...but oddly enough, although the T-Gun originally transported the Hulk to the future when he was in Washington, D.C., he returned back to the present in Bruce Banner's secret cave laboratory in the desert.
These stories were from before the world at large learned that Banner and the Hulk were one and the same -- believing the Hulk to be dead, Rick Jones revealed the secret connection between the two to Major Glenn Talbot in Tales to Astonish I#77/2.
Although I could find no mention of it in these stories, the "T" in "T-Gun" undoubtedly stood for "time". The T-Gun hasn't been seen since its one-and-only use, so it's unrevealed if it could send someone to a different future era, or even to the past.
And it would seem that along with being an expert at gamma radiation and building robots, Banner can also add a knowledge of time-travel to his resume.
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The T-Gun has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#75/2, p3, pan3 (T-Gun, surrounded by General Ross and various military personnel)
Tales to Astonish I#75/2, p8, pan2 (T-Gun, about to be fired at approaching Hulk)
Tales to Astonish I#75/2, p8, pan6 (Hulk getting SHOOMed by beam of T-Gun and vanishing)
Tales to Astonish I#75/2, p9, pan5 (after being
hit by beam of
T-Gun, Hulk
finds himself
transported to
the ruins of
Earth-6676's
25th Century
Washington,
D.C.)
Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#75/2 (January, 1966) - Stan Lee
(writer/editor), Jack Kirby (layouts), Mike Esposito (pencils/inks), Sam
Rosen (letters)
First Posted: 03/28/2022
Last Updated: 03/28/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to http://www.g-mart.com/ for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!