The First Chapter of Countdown! Doctor Sterns is approached by Madman and forced to secretly inject Bruce with a poison so deadly that it even affects the Hulk. After Bruce is infected, the Abomination attacks the Nuclear Research Center to steal some of the nuclear waste and recognizes Bruce as he is having a heart attack brought on by the poison. The Abomination then throws Bruce into a machine that causes him to transform into the Hulk. Abomination is shocked by the Hulk's gray skin, and the Hulk is shocked that the effects of the poison aren't going away. Their fight destroys large portions of the research center and the Hulk ends up throwing Abomination into a barrel of toxic waste leaving him permanently scarred.