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Trinity

• Bruce-Hulk-Rick
• Bruce-Rick-Rita
• Rick-Rita-Hulk
• Bruce-Rick-Betty
• Rick-Betty-Hulk

Essential conflicts

• Military might: Bruce took his position before 9/11, unsuspecting that the military would soon go into action. Because of that event, his bomb's development was further funded and hastened, and probability was increased that it might be used. The test was accelerated at Ross' urging to respond to allegations that Iraq was building their own nuclear weapons. Bruce is assigned to several other projects afterwards he is not pleased with. He tells himself his work could be used like a ‘smart bomb’, willfully ignoring that their objective is impossible.
• Legacy of nuclear colonization: Black Stone, like other remote areas of NM, experienced fallout from nuclear tests Los Diablos conducted in the 1960s. The town mirrors White Rock, NM. Reparations have been awarded and many townsfolk work at Los Diablos regardless. Los Diablos insists that this test will not have fallout from surrounding areas. Rick starts to notice mutated animals and assumes they are stress hallucinations.

Psychological conflicts

• Guilt: Bruce walls it off almost entirely, Rick feels it in overwhelming amounts and it continues to develop and worsen as time goes on. Bruce is only able to access the guilt he feels for using Rick, not his military role.
• Cognitive dissonance of distant war and weapons development: Bruce is unable to face the violence his work perpetuates and insists that his bomb will never be used as a weapon. He expresses no sense of responsibility or guilt working for the military, telling himself and others he is working under them to establish himself to secure humanitarian grants. He labels himself a pacifist who detests violence. Rick is in disagreement with him but still idolizes him and isn’t sure how to make sense of that. He feels guilt for working with Bruce and for changing his mind that Bruce must be a monster for creating the gamma bomb.
• Moral wounds of war: Rita and Rick are rare townsfolk who learn about and participate in protesting the wars on terror. They lack knowledge about what is actually happening during warfare but feel personally morally wounded by their inability to stop it, especially when they are so near weapons development.
• Hysteria of terrorism: Hulk is assumed to be a weapon of mass destruction created or in league with terrorist organizations without evidence. This assumption leads to Hulk being labeled as a terrorist, and Los Diablos' immediate transformation into a Hulk-hunting base.

People in systems

• Family cycle of violence: Bruce deeply cares for Rick and wants to provide for him, but his transformations into Hulk, amnesia of these episodes, fatigue, and demands to continue transforming put Rick in physical and psychological danger. He worries that he is inflicting abuse and neglect on Rick that goes back at least two generations of his family. He does not know the extent of what he is doing.
• Reversed roles: Rick has to assume the role of a caretaker for Bruce because of his amnesia, fatigue, and need for protection, instruction, and emotional support. He does not attend school or spend much time with peers. He is a willing, enabling participant, but he is very distressed.
• Wearing masks: Bruce wears both his passiveness and the Hulk's destruction as a mask. Rick wears the mask of an inexhaustive, optimistic caretaker. Betty wears the mask of a neurotypical, heterosexual woman. Rita wears no mask and wonders more deeply about who she is and her place on the world.
• Bystanders and lack of influence: Rita is a bystander to Rick’s near death and the military industrial complex she hates. Bruce chose on impulse not to be a bystander when Rick was in danger, and insists on transforming into Hulk to combat threats instead. Rick and Betty are both bystanders to the Hulk's destruction and are largely unable to control him, although Rick attempts to involve himself in guiding Hulk and warning or preventing the military's attacks on him. Betty is witnessed fainting or being kidnapped by bystanders multiple times, and tries not to be one herself when her father is aggressive or insulting Bruce.