John Ryker (Earth-616)

General John Ryker
Name	John Ryker
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Gamma Corps (Leader), formerly U.S. Army
Relatives	Spouses: Lucy Ryker (wife, deceased)
Marital Status	Widowed
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′2″ (1.88 m)
Weight	190 lbs (86.18 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Grey-haired
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Military General
Education	Advanced military training
Base of Operations	Mobile
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Paul Jenkins
First	Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #12 (January, 2000)
First	Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #12 (January, 2000)

 Well... I hear you people have yourselves a bit of a Hulk problem. 

—General Ryker

History

Early life

John Ryker joined the military at a young age. In at least one iteration of history, he was responsible for creating the conspiracy around the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was revealed Kennedy was really killed by two Corsican mercenaries, but at the time it was deemed too expensive to wage World War III, so the idea of a conspiracy scapegoating Lee Harvey Oswald was created.

The Hulk

General Ryker was obsessed with capturing the Hulk. He wished to study the Hulk and gain information in order to cure his wife Lucy Ryker's cancer.

Initially, Ryker irradiated various subjects to try and duplicate the accident that created the Hulk, with the goal of allowing him to isolate the Hulk's ability to cope with the radiation and use it to heal his wife. His closest success was Private Benjamin Tibbetts, who mutated into the Hulk-like Flux, but his transformation was imperfect, leading Ryker to simply use him as a near-mindless soldier against the Hulk.

However, his brutal treatment of the Hulk, having finally captured him, not only broke down the mental barriers keeping the Hulk's other personalities from taking control away from the known three dominant Hulks; the 'escaped' Hulks included the Devil Hulk, convincing General Thunderbolt Ross to turn against Ryker and free his long-time enemy. Taking Lucy hostage, Ross told her the truth, prompting her husband to depart as she coldly told him that she didn't ask to be healed at the cost of innocent people.

Gamma Corps

General Ryker was responsible for creating the Gamma Corps, a special military unit created specifically to deal with the Hulk. He was spurred into action after his wife, who seemed to have been cured by a transfusion of Hulk blood, died from a sudden revival of her cancer. The Corps were unable to stop the Hulk, who went after Ryker, and caused Gamma Corps member Grey, who had Hulk DNA in him, to lose his temper, resulting in a Hulk-like rage that tore down Ryker's base with the General still inside.

Gamma Corps: Black

Ryker returned as the CEO of the Origins Corporation, a company specializing in giving average people superpowers through gene therapy. He sent his new Osborne-backed "Gamma Corps: Black" to harvest DNA from Lyra, the Hulk's alternate universe-raised daughter.

Attributes

Power Grid

Abilities

• Military Training

See Also

• 17 appearance(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 3 image(s) of John Ryker (Earth-616)
• 2 quotation(s) by or about John Ryker (Earth-616)

Links and References

• John Ryker on Marvel.com
• John Ryker on Wikipedia.org
• http://www.incrediblehulk.com/ryker.html
• Ryker