Assassination of Bruce Banner

The Assassination of Bruce Banner was a murder of Bruce Banner, carried out by Yellowjacket to disrupt the Avengers Initiative.
==Background==
Following the steps of her mother, Hope van Dyne joined S.H.I.E.L.D., however, she was killed during a mission in Odesa. Blinded by grief and rage, Hank Pym blamed S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury in van Dyne's death and swore revenge. Using his old S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance, Pym found out that Fury started the Avengers Initiative to put together a group of remarkable individuals. Armed with the Yellowjacket Suit, Pym took it upon himself to ruin everything Fury wanted to build by killing any candidate for the Initiative.
Using the ampule with the Lithium Dioxide, Pym managed to kill Tony Stark, making it look like Black Widow did it. When S.H.I.E.L.D. apprehended Black Widow, she escaped from the agents to find a true culprit behind Stark's murder, as Fury ordered her. Romanoff arrived to the Culver University where she approached Betty Ross, asking her for help.
Ross ran some tests on the antidote ampule but could not find any trace of foreign substances but noted that the antidote did not enter Stark's body in the moment of his death. She told Romanoff that whatever was the cause of Stark's death, it was not biological, as the tip had been shattered by a tiny object. Romanoff was later informed by Fury that the murderer is targeting the Avengers Initiative candidates, as Clint Barton was killed as well, and Bruce Banner. Romanoff found Banner hiding at the university and told him that they need to run away before the murderer finds them.What If...?: 1.03: What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?
==Assassination==
However, Bruce Banner was tracked down by the United States Army battalion, led by Thaddeus Ross. Soldiers surrounded the Culver University, so Black Widow tried to stop them from attacking, claiming that Banner was under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody. While the soldiers were holding them at gunpoint, Yellowjacket entered Banner's body, making it look like he was shot by a sniper. The injury resulted in Banner turning into Hulk and attacking the soldiers who opened fire at him.
As the military launched a full-on attack to take Hulk down, Betty Ross tried to get him to stop, and Black Widow stopped her, saying that Ross was not the one who started it. While Hulk was fighting against the soldiers, Yellowjacket inside his body hit his heart with the Pym Particle Disc, causing it to enlarge. Hulk's body suddenly swells and explodes, much to Ross' horror and distraught.
==Aftermath==
In the wake of Bruce Banner's death, Black Widow hid at Manassas Public Library to investigate the murders. After getting an access to the Avengers Initiative files in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database from Phil Coulson, Romanoff discovered that Hope van Dyne accessed the files the last day, despite being dead for two years. She managed to figure out that Hank Pym was connected to the murders, before she was attacked by Pym himself. Pym killed Romanoff but not before she called Fury and told him that "it's all about Hope".
==References==
Category:Events