Hulk (Robert Bruce Banner)

== History ==
: Tony Stark and Reed Richards use their genius to save the world every other week. That's how they'll be remembered in history. Meanwhile, I – I who, forgive me, have just as much to contribute – will be lucky if my tombstone doesn't simply say "Hulk Smash." 
:: -- Bruce Banner src
=== Early Years ===
Robert[18] Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic physicist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated their child and he never wanted children becuase of what happened to him and his sisters Susan Banner (Earth-616) and Elaine Banner (Earth-616) . An alcoholic, and a very, very angry man, Brian was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son.[1]Brian then abused Bruce and finally murdered Rebecca, then was placed in a mental hospital. After that, Bruce was raised by his aunt and father's sister, Susan Banner, who understood his great pain and rage over his childhood sufferings thanks to his crazed father, and raised him with love and care as if he were her own child, Susan never wanted to do with her brother after what he had done to him and also Bruce's mother. Bruce, grew up from then on as a highly withdrawn, intellectually gifted youth, in fact, a child prodigy[19]
=== Education ===
After graduating from Science High School, Bruce studied nuclear physics in Navapo, New Mexico, at Desert State University as the star student of Professor Herbert Josiah Weller.[20] He also studied for a time at Harvard University.[citation needed] He later transferred to Pennsylvania State University where he briefly worked with Canadian student Walter Langkowski finding a similar interest in gamma radiation.[21][22] He also worked with Peter Corbeau, and Raoul Stoddard. It was during his time at Penn State that Banner found inspiration from noted scientist Albert Einstein and like the famous scientist, bought a wardrobe consisting entirely of purple suits.[23]
As a young student Bruce first met another student with a brilliant mind; Tony Stark. They both attended Dr. Derenik Zadian; "Forward Thought Conference" at Oxford University. This would lead to a life long scientific rivalry between the two and they became best friends and also they teamed up and joined Avengers (Earth-616).[24]
He obtained his doctorate in nuclear physics at the Caltech (California Institute of Technology), alongside Philip Sterns (later Madman).
=== Physicist ===
Eventually, as an adult and a genius in nuclear physics, Banner wished to pursue philanthropic brands of science, but couldn't receive any financial funding for his projects,[24] and thus in lack of other options, went to work at a United States Defense Department nuclear research facility at Desert Base, New Mexico. There Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and his daughter Betty Ross. Banner and Betty eventually fell in love with each other. Banner designed and oversaw construction of the "Gamma Bomb" or "G-bomb," a nuclear weapon possessing a high gamma radiation output.[25]
=== The Hulk ===
Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground test detonation of the Gamma Bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to delay the countdown while he tried to escort the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing, confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench.[25]
Before Banner could get himself to safety, the Gamma Bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation reached the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to frequently transform into the vastly powerful, green-skinned, humanoid monster named "the Hulk".[25]
At first Banner changed into the Hulk at sunset and reverted to human form at dawn. However, Banner's body eventually changed so that his transformations into the Hulk were triggered by the release of adrenalin when he became intensely excited, no matter what time of day or night it was.
Usually the Hulk possessed little of Banner's memory and intelligence and was easily enraged. While the military attempted to contain Hulk, he thwarted their every attempt, with Rick Jones, feeling responsible for Banner becoming the Hulk, trying to help keep him away from the military. Hulk ultimately thwarted an attempt to destroy America by the Gargoyle, another being mutated by gamma radiation. Hulk changed back into Banner and help cure the Gargoyle, who helped Banner escape back to the U.S., where, with the help of Rick Jones, he maintained his identity as the Hulk a secret and attempted to keep the Hulk contained at night.[25]
=== Early Adventures ===
When Bruce next turned into the Hulk, his skin was green, a skin tone that remained the most constant for the Hulk. Banner became a target of the so-called Toad Men, who sought to invade Earth. Although at first their attempts to exploit Banner's intelligence made him appear to be a traitor to his country, Banner was able to use his might as the Hulk to thwart the Toad Men's invasion and cleared his name.[26]
In an effort to control his transformations, Banner began using a Gamma Ray Projector to force transformations into Hulk and Banner vice-versa, however his Hulk persona was reluctant to transform back into Banner.[26] After the Hulk was shot into space and passing through a radiation storm Rick Jones briefly found himself able to control him. They worked together to stop the Circus of Crime. Jones' control over the Hulk faded away. Hulk's transformations were not limited to nightfall after this adventure.[27]
Hulk next foiled a hoax perpetrated by the Russian agent Boris Monguski (Mongu) aimed at trying to learn the secrets of the Hulk's strength,[28] saved Betty from the underground ruler Tyrannus, and battled the Chinese General Fang.[29] When Gamma Base was the subject to sabotage, Hulk was blamed and the Fantastic Four were called in to deal with him. This led to the first of many clashes between Hulk and the Fantastic Four's Thing. In the aftermath, the scientist Karl Kort was ultimately held responsible.[30] Shortly thereafter, Hulk prevented Metal Master from invading Earth.[31]
=== The Sentry ===
The Sentry met the Hulk and found that somehow his powers soothed the Hulk's raging temper. They were partners for a time, battling the Sentry's eternal enemy, the Void. Eventually Sentry had to erase his existence from the minds of the world and Hulk forgot about his one time partnership with the Sentry for many years.[32]
=== The Avengers ===
Hulk became a pawn of Loki who tricked Hulk into battling his half-brother, Thor. This plot was foiled, leading to Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp joining forces to form the Avengers and defeat Loki.[5] Hulk was a founding member of the group and together they clashed with Dr. Doom.[33] The group's mistrust in him became apparent when they were manipulated by the Space Phantom, prompting Hulk to quit.[34] The Avengers began hunting down their unpredictable former ally. Hulk found an ally in the Sub-Mariner, and clashed with the heroes, Thor in particular,[35] but Hulk was defeated and disappeared in the water.[36]
Hulk soon resurfaced in New York City seeking revenge against the Avengers, clashing with them as well as the Fantastic Four, leading to a rematch with Thing. The battle ended with Hulk being swept away in the New York harbor.[37]Hulk resurfaced back in New Mexico where he was tricked by the Avengers into aiding them in preventing the Lava Men's attempt to eradicate human life on Earth's surface.[38]
While hiding out in a cave near Hollywood, Hulk was disturbed when the Green Goblin's plot to use the Enforcers to kill Spider-Man encroached into his hiding spot, leading to a brief clash between Hulk and Spider-Man before Hulk fled the scene.[39] Later, Hulk was manipulated into battling his former Avengers comrades Giant-Man and Wasp by their foe the Human Top.[40]
=== Back at Gamma Base ===
Banner continued his stint as a scientist at Gamma Base. Meanwhile, General Ross suspected Banner of being a spy and having some sort of connection with Hulk. The base soon became the target of the Chameleon who had been hired to steal a new experimental robot tank designed by Banner.[41] Banner's attempt to stop the spy was complicated by the arrival of Lt. Glenn Talbot at Gamma base, who shared General Ross's suspicions.[42] When the military decided to move Banner and his tank to another base, the Chameleon's employer, the Leader, deployed his Humanoid to steal it. Hulk battled the Humanoid and prevented it from stealing the device. Banner was arrested by the military under suspicion of having something to do with this attempted theft.[43] Banner remained a prisoner until Rick Jones revealed Banner's double identity to the President of the U.S., earning him a pardon.[44]
Banner went to Astra Island with his new experimental Absorbatron device. The island was attacked by Leader's Humanoids, but Hulk defeated them.[44] The battle ended with Banner being captured by Communist agents. Banner refused to work for the Communists and the Hulk freed himself and the other captured scientists.[45] Thanks to the sacrifice of one of these scientists Hulk was able to fight his way out of Russia and ended up in Mongolia.[46] There Banner was picked up by thief Kanga Kahn who attempted to hold Banner for ransom for safe return to America. Glenn Talbot, believing him to be a traitor, was sent to retrieve Banner[47] but Hulk left Talbot behind and returned to the U.S. where Banner was arrested.
Banner was again pardoned by the President and was allowed to return to Astra Island for another test.[48] The Leader's Humanoids attacked again and Hulk and the Absorbatron were once again captured.[49] Banner used one of Leader's devices to bring the army to the site. By the time they arrived, Hulk had sent the Leader fleeing. The military drove the Hulk back, only to find a seemingly dead Banner when they searched the site of the battle.[50][51]
Rick Jones stole Banner's body and attempted to revive him in his lab. Another bombardment with the Gamma Ray Projector triggered a transformation into Hulk, but for the first time ever Banner's mind possessed Hulk. This came at a cost: if Hulk reverted back to Banner, he would die due to a shrapnel lodged in his brain. Leader showed the power of the stolen Absorbatron to potential buyers by sending a gigantic Humanoid to attack Gamma Base.[52] The Hulk and Rick Jones were knocked away from the battle when General Ross fired his new "Sunday Punch" missile destroying the giant Humanoid. When Hulk and Rick sought refuge in one of Banner's secret labs the military followed them. Banner sent Rick out to hold up the military during an air strike. Leader teleported Hulk away, seeking to form an alliance with him. The military assumed that their assault had atomized the Hulk.[53]
Hulk refused to ally himself with Leader. Realizing something was wrong, Leader bombarded him with more gamma radiation and removed the shrapnel from his brain. He then sent the Hulk to the Watcher's home planet in order to steal the Ultimate Machine.[54] He clashed with the Amphibion, an alien who also sought the Ultimate Machine, and bested him in combat, and was returned to, Earth. Leader took the Ultimate Machine from Hulk and attempted to use the device. Leader's plan backfired, as the machine seemingly killed him.[55]
Learning that Rick Jones was a prisoner of the military for refusing to reveal the Hulk's true identity, the Hulk attempted to seek a Presidential pardon for his friend. In Washington, D.C. he was ironically attacked by the last weapon he invented for the military: The T-Ray.[56] The T-Ray transported Hulk to the distant future of Earth-6676, a post-apocalyptic world ruled by King Arrkam. There, Hulk battled his enforcer, the Executioner. Ultimately, the effects of the T-Ray wore off and Hulk was returned to his native Earth-616.[56]
=== Outed As the Hulk ===
Rick Jones, believing Banner dead, revealed Hulk's true identity to General Ross and Glenn Talbot.[57] Learning that the Hulk was alive and well, Talbot hounded the Hulk again with Banner's replacement Konrad Zaxon. This prompted Rick to also tell Betty about Banner's double identity.[58] Ultimately, Hulk killed Zaxon for trying to use the Hulk as a battery for weapons he hoped to use to take over the Earth. The military chased after Hulk not knowing of Zaxon's true plans.
The fleeing Hulk (from Captain America) had a brief clash with Hercules.[59] Then, Hulk was used as a pawn by Tyrannus who was then at war with another underground dweller, the Mole Man, over the Fountain of Youth.[60][61] Later, Hulk was caught in the middle of the Secret Empire agent Boomerang's attempt to steal the new Orion missile, taking Betty as his prisoner. Hulk managed to defeat and then was repeatedly beaten by captain to an unrecognizable stoop. Boomerang and save Betty.[62] Hulk sought out the Avengers in New York, only to be hounded by the authorities.[63] While in New York, the Hulk was hounded by Spider-Man who sought to capture him in an attempt to earn membership in the Avengers, a mission he would fail due to his sympathy for the Hulk.[64]
Number One of the Empire attempted to use the Sub-Mariner to destroy the Hulk, however this plot failed and Number One accidentally blew himself up. A spy for the Empire sent the Orion Missile off its testing course to impact with New York City.[65] Banner redirected the missile to explode harmlessly in the ocean.[66] Getting into a battle with the Leader's Hulk-Killer android, the Hulk eventually short circuited the Hulk-Killer, although Rick Jones was injured in the fight.[67] For his part in stopping the Orion Missile from destroying New York, the Hulk was hailed as a hero and received a full Presidential pardon; however the media frenzy frightened the Hulk off. The Hulk was attacked by Boomerang, seeking a rematch, seemingly ending in Boomerang's death.[68]
=== A Menace Once More ===
The Stranger attempted to use the Hulk to wipe out most of humanity hoping that the survivors would build a better world before leaving for the stars.[69] Not wishing to be a menace, Banner attempted to kill himself with a powerful burst of gamma radiation. Banner was arrested by Glenn Talbot and locked up, leaving the spy Emil Blonsky to be mutated into the Abomination. The Hulk battled the Abomination, who the Stranger found more useful to his goals.[70]
The Hulk attempted to force the Silver Surfer to take him into space.[71] The Hulk was next captured by hunters in the employ of the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary attempted to advance Banners evolution by ten million years to use him to keep his invading New Men at bay.[72]
Hulk was tricked into helping the Lords of the Living Lightning capture Gamma Base. The Hulk turned against them for threatening Betty and put an end to their organization. In the aftermath the Hulk was once again believed to be dead.[73] The Hulk fell under the control of the Puppet Master who had him attack Rick, estranging him and the Hulk for a time, and then sent him after the Sub-Mariner. Coincidentally, this was at a time Namor was exiled from Atlantis and seeking an alliance with the Hulk. The clash between the two ended in a giant tsunami that ruined the Puppet Master's base and reverted the Hulk back into Bruce Banner. Not recognizing the Hulk in his human form, the Sub-Mariner returned to the sea.[74]
Loki once again attempt to use the Hulk as his pawn, transporting him to Asgard, leading to a clash with the Warriors Three, Executioner,and an army of Trolls. Odin banished the Hulk into the deep reaches of space[75] where he clashed with the Space Parasite.[76]
=== Hunted by Everyone ===
Hulk was captured by the US military, now fully backed by his longtime ally, Rick Jones. Banner was targeted by the newly restored Rhino, who was seemingly killed in a fuel truck explosion.[77] Briefly back in human form, Banner was shot by crooks but transformed back into the Hulk when being chased by police. The Hulk next battled the Missing Link, an irradiated prehistoric man sent to attack America by Chinese communists. The Link was seemingly destroyed in an explosion when it reached critical mass despite interference from Glenn Talbot, Nick Fury and his Russian counterpart Yuri Brevlov.[78][79] During this battle, Rick Jones was injured by the Hulk and then taken in by Captain America to become the new Bucky.[80]
Attracting the attention of the Mandarin, the Hulk was tested by the villain who hoped to work with him, but the Hulk rejected the offer,[81] trashed the Mandarin's castle, and escaped.[82] The Hulk accidentally freed the evil Inhumans led by Maximus, who attempted to overthrow Black Bolt's rule of Attilan. The Hulk wanted nothing to do with their rebellion and easily trounced them. Black Bolt offered the Hulk a place with the Inhumans, but after realizing that the other Inhumans feared him the Hulk left the hidden land.[83]
After a battle against Fin Fang Foom,[84] the Hulk was dogged by the Chinese military. The Hulk hitched a ride on an experimental rocket which crashed in the Antarctic. Banner awoke in the Savage Land and got captured by the Swamp Men who attempted to sacrifice him until he was rescued by Ka-Zar.[85] Hulk clashed with the alien robot Umbu the Unliving and destroyed it with Ka-Zar's help and saved the Earth. Banner suffered from exposure to Umbu's radiation.[86] Having detected the destruction of Umbu, the Galaxy Master captured the dying Banner and revived him. The Hulk battled the Sagittarians on a distant world[87]and the seemingly destroyed the Galaxy Master, freeing its slaves.[88]
=== Many (Un)Happy Returns ===
The Mandarin sent the Sandman against the Hulk, resulting in the Sandman being fused into glass. The Hulk was once again captured by General Ross.[89] With the Hulk in captivity, the Leader returned alive and well and offered his services to neutralize the threat of the Hulk once and for all. To this end he trapped the Hulk in a Plasticine prison.[90] Betty freed the Hulk, but by then it was too late to stop the Leader from attempting to use the bases nuclear weapons to jump start World War III.[91] Although Bruce Banner stopped most of the missiles, the Leader launched a second one prompting Banner to become the Hulk again to stop it.[92]
Rescued and restored to health by Lady Dorma, a rival for Namor's affections. The Sub-Mariner defeated Hulk in underwater combat when Mistress Fara convinced the Sub-Mariner that Dorma was romancing another man.[93] Washing up on the shores of Costa Salvador, Bruce Banner found that the island had been taken over by Maximus and his evil Inhumans. The Hulk clashed with them, and Maximus retreated.[94] Fleeing to Florida, the Hulk ended up battling the Glob, a creature the Hulk would destroy before realizing it was much like him.[95]
=== No Happiness for Bruce Banner ===
Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four developed a cure for Banner's condition that worked to a degree. Banner gained the ability to transform into the Hulk at will while maintaining his intelligence. Vowing to never become the Hulk again, Banner proposed to Betty who accepted.[96] Sadly, the Leader recruited the Rhino and fired a gamma ray during Bruce and Betty's wedding causing Banner to turn into the Hulk once more. The Hulk clashed with the Rhino and the Leader, hospitalizing General Ross and destroying his home. The Hulk escaped, and Glenn Talbot vowed to Betty that he would destroy The Hulk.[97]
Returning to the desert, the Hulk was sought out by the X-Men who were seeking one of Banner's inventions that could heal their injured leader, Professor X. Although they briefly clashed, Banner returned long enough to give the X-Men what they needed to save their leader.[98]
Banner agreed to work with Glenn Talbot to try and stop a radioactive comet threatening Earth. This meteor turned out to be the Absorbing Man, whom the Hulk defeated.[99] Banner's body was captured by a cult that sought to release their demonic masters, the Undying Ones. The Hulk was sent into the realm of the Night-Crawler along with Barbara Norris. Dr. Strange came to the Hulk's aid to stop the Undying Ones. Barbara Norris sacrificed herself so that the two heroes could escape.[100]
The Hulk once again became a pawn in the ongoing war between Tyrannus and the Mole Man. This time Tyrannus attempted to win the Hulk's cooperation by making him befriend his robot Mogol. When the Hulk learned that the creature was really a robot he considered it a betrayal and destroyed him, and left Tyrannus' realm.[101] Trying to get the surface, the Hulk nearly caused a massive earthquake by effecting fault lines on the west coast, leading to a clash with his old team, the Avengers.[102] The Hulk was targeted by the Leader who revived the Glob and sent him after the Hulk in a plot that ultimately ended in failure.[103]
Rick Jones sought out his old friend to find a way to separate himself from the Kree soldier Captain Marvel. A student protest set Banner off, leading to a clash with Captain Marvel.[104] Another former colleague, Dr. Raoul Stoddard, succeeded in splitting the Hulk from Banner, sending the Hulk on a rampage to destroy Banner.[105] The Hulk fled the military and hid out in the slums of Los Angeles and befriended the young Jim Wilson while Banner, the military and Iron Man attempted track down the Hulk in order to merge Banner and the Hulk.[106] After merging Hulk with Banner once more, the military asked Jim Wilson to stay with them to keep the Hulk under control. Wilson was also targeted by the terrorist organization Hydra who also sought to control the Hulk. This plot ended in failure, however Jim was seriously injured. Betty Ross suffered a nervous breakdown from the stress of dealing with Banner's double life as the Hulk.[107]
=== Have Hulk, Will Travel ===
The Hulk ended up in the nation of Morvania and helped the resistance remove its dictator, Draxon.[108] Trapped in the future and seeking revenge against the Avengers, Kang the Conqueror sent the Hulk back in time to World War I to kill the Phantom Eagle. The Hulk foiled this plot and return to his own time.[109]
The Hulk and the Abomination were enslaved by Xeron and traveled the stars to hunt down and kill the creature known as Klaatu.[110] Although the Abomination attempted to kill Banner/Hulk, the crew's captain Cybor seemingly slayed Klaatu. The Hulk and Abomination clashed sending them crashing back to the Earth.[111] Hulk clashed with the Sandman, who tried to force a blood transfusion with Betty to stop himself from turning into glass. The defeated Sandman lost in a whirl pool while Betty was transformed into glass as a result of the transfusion.[112]
In the South American nation of San Diablo Hulk and the Silver Surfer were recruited by the Sub-Mariner into a group called the Titans Three to destroy a weather control device that threatened Earth.[113] This led to a clash with the Avengers until the Sub-Mariner's scientist Ikthon could repair a flaw in the device. The confused Hulk fled the scene.[114]
The Leader sought to exert the Hulk to the point where the monster would die of a heart attack. He created psycho projections and led him towards the hospital where Betty Ross was, threatening to shatter Betty's fragile glass form. Thanks to interference from Jim Wilson, the Leader's plot was foiled.[115]
Hulk was captured by the military with aid from Mr. Fantastic and Charles Xavier, however he was teleported away by the insectoid Psyklop. Psyklop sought to shrink the Hulk down in size and use him as a power source to bring his masters, the Dark Gods, to Earth. The Avengers interrupted, causing the Hulk to shrink out of sight[116] and get transported to the Microverse world of K'ai. In K'ai the Banner persona was restored and Hulk joined a rebellion led by Jarella against the evil warlord Visis. Hulk and Jarella formed a relationship and they were prepared to wed when Psyklop found the Hulk and brought him back to the Earth. With his savage state restored, Psyklop's base was smashed and the Hulk escaped.[117]
With vague memories of his adventure in K'ai, Banner was taken back to the military when psychiatrist Leonard Samson came up with a duel solution for curing Banner and restoring Betty back to human form. Samson was successful, however he used the siphoned gamma radiation to mutate himself into a gamma spawned Adonis. Samson romanced Betty Ross, making Banner jealous. Banner purposely bombard himself with gamma radiation and become the Hulk once more to battle Doc Samson. When Betty vocalized concern for Samson over the Hulk, the Hulk fled the scene.[118]
The Hulk became the new pet project of the Parrington family. The Hulk was targeted by the Enchantress who turned the Parrington's daughter Samantha into a host for Valkyrie to battle the Hulk. The plot ended in failure and Samantha reverted back to normal.[119] His next rampage through New York made Banner the subject of a military man hunt. He was rescued by Dr. Doom, [120] who smuggled Banner into Latveria in order to exploit his brilliant mind and then sent the Hulk out with a bomb in order to annex neighboring countries into Latveria. This was opposed by Doom's childhood love Valeria and led to a battle between Doom and the Hulk. The Hulk fled when he realized Valeria could have been harmed if the fight continued.[121]
Dr. Strange recruited the Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer to stop Yandroth from setting his Omegatron to destroy the Earth. They formed a loose knit team of heroes known as the Defenders. The Hulk answered a call from the Avengers to help to stop Ares and the Enchantress from fulfilling a prophecy that would have given him mastery over the entire world.[122] Hulk later ended up in Egypt where he was talked into taking a part in a movie being filmed there. Banner was fired from the movie set and was caught in the middle of the Horusians God-Spawn battle, destroying their champion, the Colossus.[123]
=== Project: Greenskin ===
The US military built Project: Greenskin, aka Hulkbuster Base, as a specialized facility to capture the Hulk. Upon its construction, General Ross was replaced with a robot by the Leader. The Leader was disguised as Glenn Talbot in the hopes of not only destroying the Hulk, but replacing the President and Vice President with robot duplicates.[124] The Hulk foiled the Leader's plot, and in the aftermath of the battle Doc Samson lost his powers. The Hulk fled into the desert, briefly encountering a mirage city that would vanish as quickly as it appeared.[125]
The Hulk was again captured by the military and cured by Peter Corbeau. Jarella transported herself to Earth to seek the Hulk. She was followed by an assassin sent by Lord Visis. Banner exposed himself to gamma radiation to become the Hulk again to save her. When it was determined that Jarella's presence on Earth risked the planets destruction Jarella willingly return to K'ai.[126] Sedated at Project: Greenskin, the Hulk battled the High Evolutionary's exiled New Man, the Inheritor, when the creature came seeking radiation to prolong its evolved state.[127] When the Hulk came across Lorna Dane he confused her for Jarella and captured her. Lorna was saved by her fellow X-Man, Havok. Betty heard Bruce calling out for Jarella, prompting her to begin a romance with Glenn Talbot.[128]
Banner sought out Henry Pym in Washington D.C. to find a means to shrink small enough to return to Jarella's world. There, Banner learned Pym's talk had been cancelled and turned into the Hulk and went on a rampage. The Hulk ultimately saved Washington from Senator Morton Clegstead who, while trying to find a cure for cancer via gamma radiation, had mutated into a massive pile of ooze.[129] Returning to the Nevada desert, the Hulk was captured by Project: Greenskin and S.H.I.E.L.D. Banner was put on trial for his rampage in Washington D.C. Lawyer Matt Murdock (secretly Daredevil) represented Banner.[130] It seemed likely that the Hulk would be sentenced to death until Reed Richards offered to try and cure Banner with his Nega-Gamma Gun, however this only strengthened the Hulk further allowing him to escape.[131]
Hulk broke into Pym's lab and consumed one of his shrinking formulas. This caused him to shrink to miniature size and be captured by the Chameleon who was then working for Hydra. The Hulk attempted to escape Hydra's clutches with the help of Ant Man, however the unstable formula shrank him down to the Microverse.[132]As he shrank down to size, he ruined the fantasy world created by the Shaper of Worlds for the former Nazi Kronsteig.[133] Finally reaching Jarella's world, the Hulk, with Banner's intellect restored, helped Jarella overthrow Visis once more. Pym's formula wore off sending him back to Earth.[134]
=== The Defenders ===
The Hulk was reunited with his fellow Defenders battling Dormammu in Rutland, Vermont,[135] stopping Xemu the Titan's attempt to change children into members of his long dead race,[136] and lastly foiling a plot by Necrodamus to sacrifice the Sub-Mariner in order to free the Undying Ones.[137]
The Hulk was reunited with Jim Wilson, after which he learned of Betty's coming marriage to Glenn Talbot. He was forced to battle a Leader controlled Rhino.[138] The Rhino and Hulk were launched into space and ended up on the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth where they were embroiled in a battle between the New Men. During this adventure the Hulk met Counter-Earth's Bruce Banner who was married to Betty Ross and had a son, Bruce Jr. The conflict ended with the Hulk and Rhino being shot back to their own Earth.[139] With their ship blasted out of the sky en route to Earth, General Ross forced the Abomination to go out and keep the Hulk away from Betty and Glenn's wedding. The Abomination lost the fight but he succeeded in his task. Learning that Betty was heading to Niagara Falls he pursued her.
The Hulk got sidetracked when he was recruited by Dr. Strange to rejoin the Defenders in searching for the Silver Surfer, clashing with Calizuma.[141] The group ended up in the realm of the Undying One, battling their leader the Nameless One and rescuing Barbara Norris.[142]They next clashed with the Enchantress and Executioner, ending with Barbara being revived as the Valkyrie.[143] The Defenders were then called to clash with the Omegatron, which with Valkyrie's aid they destroyed.[144]
One day Banner went to visit his beloved cousin Jennifer Walters, a Los Angeles-based lawyer. At that time Walters had been defending a hood named Lou Monkton, whom gangster Nicholas Trask had framed for murder. While Walters drove Banner to her home, one of Trask's henchmen shot her. To save his cousin's life, Banner improvised an emergency blood transfusion. The transfusion of Banner's blood mutated Walters, causing her to become the She-Hulk.
=== Separated from the Hulk ===
Leonard Samson captured the Hulk[145] and succeeded in separating Banner's psyche and atomic structure from the larger atomic structure of the Hulk. The Hulk's body, with all personality and memory removed, was inert until Samson stimulated the brain within the body. This new Hulk escaped and became a greater menace than ever before.[146]
Banner became leader of a new Hulkbusters task force which he headed from Gamma base.[147] Banner finally married Betty Ross, believing himself free of the curse of the Hulk.[148] During the honeymoon, Bruce became gravely ill and was hospitalized.[149] Due to his separation from the Hulk, Bruce's body began to lose molecular cohesion. The Hulk's body soon followed suit and he was defeated by the Avengers.[150] With the aid of the synthezoid Vision, Bruce was re-merged with the Hulk. The original Hulk persona assumed control of the body,[151] however the reintegration was unstable and an attempt to stabilize and possibly cure Bruce in a nutrient tank resulted in the Hulk returning to his original gray incarnation who only manifested at night.
Rick Jones absorbed the excess gamma radiation and became a light green Hulk-like creature when he was pushed into the nutrient bath by General Ross, who was attempting to sabotage the experiment and kill Hulk.[152] Bruce reasoned the best way to cure Rick was to use the machine from Hulk's Cave to change himself into the Hulk. Little did he know that this was a subliminal suggestion placed by Hulk himself, who once free smashed the machine to avoid turning back into Banner. Complicating matters, the Leader arrived, having followed the Hulk in hopes of regaining his faded intellect. When he found the machine destroyed, the Leader made a deal with the now-smarter Hulk to transfer Rick Jones' gamma radiation into himself. Shortly after, a dishonored Thaddeus Ross managed to take control of the energy creature Zzzax. When Ross and Jones were defeated and the radiation energy was transferred from Jones the lab exploded allowing all concerned to believe the Leader dead.
=== Ground Zero ===
Little did Hulk or Banner know, Leader survived and sent the vampiric Half-Life after him. Hulk tore off Half-Life's limbs close to daybreak before the villain could pull himself together.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Council decided they had enough Gamma bombs so that Banner was no longer required and ordered Agent Quartermain to murder him. The mutant bounty hunters X-Factor managed to locate the Hulk and freeze him in place before placing a call to S.H.I.E.L.D. After transporting Hulk back to Gamma Base, Quartermain went against the orders of the Council before blowing up several large explosive charges that wiped out Gamma Base. Quartermain took Banner and Rick Jones away from S.H.I.E.L.D. While on the way to the government stash of gamma bombs, Betty Banner was released from the Leader's captivity to help stall them. She revealed that she was pregnant with Banners' child. Hulk decided to keep Betty safe, despite her being Bruce Banner's wife, not his. The quartet made their way to the government facility but found out too late that the Leader's henchmen Rock and Redeemer had already taken a gamma bomb. When the Leader detonated the gamma bomb in Middletown with the Hulk at ground zero, the Hulk was assumed to be dead.
In reality, Hulk had been transported to Jarella's world moments before the detonation. There, the Hulk helped a group of minor wizards to overthrow the "Grand Inquisitor" in return for a spell which was promised to rid him of Bruce Banner for good.
When the Hulk returned to Earth, he took a job as an enforcer at a casino. Calling himself Mr. Fixit, the Hulk spent several months without reverting to human form. It was during this time that he met and dated Marlo Chandler, who would one day marry Rick Jones. Banner eventually returned and the Hulk's life as Mr. Fixit soon came to an end through the machinations of the Maggia.
Banner found Betty working in a convent when he was attacked by Prometheus, an agent of a team called the Pantheon. The stress and anger of being unable to get to Betty caused the Savage Hulk persona to resurface and sent Bruce's psyche into turmoil. The Grey Hulk managed to keep the Green behind a mental door, but knew that since he had been unleashed once, it was only a matter of time before the Savage Hulk would take over.
When the Hulk was needed to fight the Super Skrull, the Grey Hulk convinced Banner to bring him out instead of the Savage Hulk. The Gray Hulk managed to outsmart the Super Skrull and managed to save Betty. Inside Banner's mind, the Gray Hulk and the Green Hulk were fighting for dominance. Through hypnosis, Samson created the green intelligent "Merged" Hulk - an integration of Banner's separate personalities.
=== The Pantheon ===
This Hulk joined the Pantheon. The Pantheon were led by Agamemnon, an immortal offspring of an Asgardian and a human. Unknown at the time was that centuries earlier, Agamemnon had offered any of his offspring to the alien Troyjans in exchange for the ability to pass his godhood down to his descendants.
As a favor to their friend Jim Wilson, Hulk and Rick agreed to help out at an AIDS benefit concert with Rick headlining and Hulk providing security. The concert was disrupted by the drug-addicted assassin Speedfreek who was sent to kill one of the concert's attendees. Jim was stabbed defending the man and the Hulk got rid of Speedfreek before he could kill anybody.
During one of his missions with the Pantheon Hulk fought alongside a rebel force in Trans-Sabal against both S.H.I.E.L.D. issue Mandroids and the government mutant team X-Factor. Tran-Sabal's dictator Farnoq Dahn had promised the US government energy assistance if they helped him keep his place as unchallenged ruler. He was exposed as a psycho when he tried to win the war by tying a mother and child to two separate missiles and threatened to launch them if the Pantheon did not withdraw. He was stopped by Hulk and X-Factor. The tyrant was forced to face his people for the crimes he committed but most of them still saw him as a god and bowed at his feet. He was then shot and killed by a traumatized Rick Jones.[citation needed]
Pantheon member Atalanta was shot down in the Himalayas by the Troyjan warrior Trauma and Hulk, Ulysses, and Hector were sent to find her. Trauma found Atlanta and confessed his love to her before the Hulk showed up and brought down an avalanche on top of him.[citation needed]
During this time Marlo was killed by a woman posing as Rick's mother. Because the Leader shared a mental bond with Rick he offered to bring her back to life. Leader attacked the Pantheon's headquarters, The Mount, using both his gamma soldiers and the U-Foes to distract the Hulk so that he could ask Agamemnon for help against Hydra. Agamemnon agreed to help and the Hulk left in anger. Agamemnon betrayed the Leader by sending the Hulk to Freehold in order to kill him. The Hulk crashed into Freehold during the middle of the Hydra invasion and when Leader was trying to resurrect Marlo. Overcome with anger Hulk ignored Rick's pleas to stop and destroyed the machine because he thought that Leader was lying and taking advantage of his grieving friend. The Leader was seemingly killed in the battle. The Hulk knocked the helmet off of Redeemer, saw the resurrected General Ross, and realized his mistake.[citation needed]
When Agamemnon felt it was time to venture out into the world to reconnect with the common people and he appointed Hulk as his replacement. On his first mission as leader he traveled to the Amazon to investigate a new company that was cutting down the rain forest. There, he was jumped by the Juggernaut who was working as an enforcer for the New World Order (NWO) and their leader, the Red Skull. Hulk was captured and brainwashed into fighting the Avengers, believing that the Juggernaut was his abusive father. Hulk was able to shake off the mind control when the Juggernaut praised him and he realized that his real father would never have shown such kindness. The psychic backlash released the creature Piecemeal from his holding container.[citation needed]
The Hulk began showing signs of instability when he began referring to himself as Hulk instead of Bruce. As a favor to a former Pantheon member Perseus, Hulk traveled to Lock Ness to investigate reports of a monster in the lake which turned out to be Piecemeal. The Hulk was about to defeat him when Madman interfered. After Perseus was killed, Hulk killed Piecemeal and appeared to kill Madman but no body was found. Using his new power as leader of the Pantheon, Hulk led a strike against a maximum security prison to free an ex-girlfriend who had been falsely imprisoned.[citation needed]
Trauma returned and kidnapped Atalanta was to make her his bride. With the help of the Silver Surfer and the Starjammers, the Hulk and the Pantheon attacked the Troyjan home world. Upon arriving they were all shocked when Trauma's father, the Troyjan leader, Lord Armageddon, told them the truth about Agamemnon. If they tried to take Atalanta back then the Troyjans would take back the extended lives of the entire Pantheon. Hulk did not care about the deal and attacked Trauma, accidentally impaling Trauma on his own shoulder spike. With his last words, Trauma pardoned the Pantheon and asked his father to let them all leave in peace.
=== Maestro ===
You don't know what lies ahead for you. I do. Listen to me, Bruce... They're going to take it all away. You're going to end up with nothing and no one. Why go back to that... when you can stay here and have everything 
--Maestro
The Hulk was taken into the future by Rick Jones' granddaughter Janis to fight his future self, Maestro. Maestro was a tyrant who had killed all the heroes and villains on earth and named himself emperor of the post-apocalyptic world. He had the intelligence of Banner and was twice as strong as the Hulk. Maestro was killed when Hulk sent him back in time to ground zero at the moment the gamma bomb that created him had gone off. After killing Maestro the Hulk was sent back to the present, haunted by the thought of losing control and becoming Maestro.
Soon after this Rick and Marlo were married. At the wedding Betty told Hulk that she wanted to move into the Mount to be with him. After the wedding Hulk was attacked by the disgraced Skrull warrior Talos the Tamed. In an effort to gain back some honor Talos wanted to be killed by earth's strongest warrior. Hulk refused to fight because of how well his relationship with Betty was going and he did not want to risk losing his temper again. Later, Hulk received news that his old partner Jim Wilson was at an AIDS protest that was getting out of control. He took him back to the Mount to give him treatment but despite the advanced technology Jim still died.
Having discovered the truth about Agamemnon, Hulk and the rest of the Pantheon made him stand trial. Agamemnon resurrected all of the dead Pantheon warriors to kill everyone in the Mount. Agamemnon tried to escape but was killed by Atalanta which brought an end to the undead warriors. Achilles, still loyal to Agamemnon, tried killing teammate Ulysses but the bullet ricocheted and hit Betty. The Hulk became so angry that he reverted back to Bruce Banner's body with Hulk's brain. Even in his human form he gave off enough gamma radiation to make Achilles vulnerable and Ulysses killed him.
The Pantheon fled their former base and the still mindless Bruce was taken into custody and temporarily placed in the care of Doc Samson while Betty was treated for the bullet wound. Nick Fury took Banner into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody because he was a fugitive. During Bruce's transport Betty died and her soul was given the chance to go to heaven. First she wanted to visit Bruce to see if he still loved her. He calmed down when he saw her and was able to transform and escape. After seeing how important she was to him Betty decided to live and returned to her body. Hulk visited the destroyed Mount and saw a hologram set up by Paris telling him that he was now the leader of the Pantheon and that Hulk was fired.
Living under the last name Danner, Hulk and Betty moved to a small town in Florida. To hide his green skin, Hulk wore bandages all over his body and claimed to be a burn victim. Soon after their move a child was killed by a gigantic shadowy figure, and the Hulk was suspected of the crime because of his size. Upon investigation Hulk found out that the true killer was a deranged old man living in the everglades with the Man-Thing, and rescued a child. A few days later Hulk and Betty offered their help to a young pregnant homeless girl. While at the clinic protesters attacked and the girl was shot and killed. Hulk offered the girls' father his help in bringing her killer to justice. They learned the killer was just a kid who had accidentally shot her when someone pushed him. The father revealed himself to be Speedfreek and tried to kill the kid. Hulk hurled a car battery at Speedfreek which covered him in battery acid burning most of the skin off his face and causing him to flee.
Hulk learned that the Abomination was fighting cops in the sewers of New York and decided that it was his problem. The homeless were being cleared out because the police commissioner was working for a drug lord who needed the sewers for new drug routes. While Hulk and confronted the Abomination, the cops used the opportunity to clear out the homeless by killing almost all of them. Abomination snapped and started killing all of the cops then took his battle with the Hulk to the surface. They crashed through the Daily Bugle before the Abomination jumped onto a news copter and crashed it. He used the opportunity to escape while Hulk was distracted.
=== Ghosts of The Future ===
An army squad led by Matt Talbot captured Betty. After Hulk saw Matt shoot Betty in both legs, he went so far over the edge so he reverted back to his Banner form. Banner was taken into custody. During a jailbreak Bruce, still with the mind of the Hulk, ran towards a grenade and nearly died when it went off. He was able to transform into the Hulk before he could be killed but shrapnel was left in his brain extremely hindering his intelligence.
Seeking a device to remove the shrapnel he traveled to the Leader's Freehold. With the Leader dead, the hidden arctic sanctuary Freehold had been placed in the care of Omnibus. Omnibus believed that there would eventually be a nuclear war that would kill everyone on earth so he decided to speed it up by ordering terrorist attacks across the world to cause strain on global relations. He had also mentally controlled many high ranking government officials including Talbot which explained his insane behavior. Jailbait overheard Omnibus's plan and exposed him to the people of Freehold and he was sentenced to death. Hulk decided that the best way to save the world would be to pose as Maestro and claim to be the man behind the terrorist attacks. A psychotic Thor was sent to defeat him. It was a close battle until an atom bomb was dropped on top of them. The Hulk was believed dead by most of the world but he had actually used a hidden Pantheon base to survive.
=== Onslaught/Heroes Reborn ===
Traveling through Alaska, Hulk ran into Janis and took her to an unused Pantheon, He was then mentally ordered by Onslaught to find and kill Cable. Cable and Storm were able to free Hulk from Onslaught's control and they joined the rest of the heroes in New York for the battle against Onslaught. Hulk and Banner were separated after he destroyed Onslaught's body. Banner was among the heroes who sacrificed themselves to destroy Onslaught.[153] and the Savage Hulk was unleashed on the world once again. Banner was seemingly killed when Onslaught was destroyed, but like all the other heroes who had seemingly sacrificed their lives, Banner had actually been transported to the Counter-Earth pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards.
In this new pocket-universe, Banner and the new heroes were reborn. He lived a new life where he had gone to State University with Reed Richards, Victor von Doom, Tony Stark, and Henry Pym. Along with Tony's friend Conner "Rebel" O'Reilly they formed the Atomic Knights of the Round Table. Banner worked with them on an exosuit project; however none of them could decide how to use it. Banner shifted his focus to gamma radiation research instead. After university, he began working for Stark Industries.
Stark Industries became a target of the terrorist organization Hydra (secretly funded by Victor von Doom, now Dr. Doom). At the time Banner was creating a gamma bomb for the military which Hydra set off with Banner inside. The resulting explosion mutated Banner into a new incarnation of the Hulk. He clashed with Stark in his new persona as Iron Man.[154] The Hulk escaped and was later manipulated by Loki to attack the newly formed Avengers at their Avengers Island headquarters. The battle injured many of their members, decimated their base and caused a breach in its power supply, the powerful gamma core.[155] The Hulk aided the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the Avengers in containing the breach and saving the eastern United States from destruction.[156][157]
The Hulk and his cousin, Jennifer Walters sought the aid of Leonard Samson to find a means to stabilize the Hulk's mutation. Samson, also mutated by gamma rays, received a blood transfusion to stabilize his mutation, and Jennifer impulsively took a transfusion as well mutating herself into the She-Hulk. They joined together as the Hulkbusters and offered their services to Tony Stark.[158]
The Hulk aided the world's heroes in stopping Galactus.[159][160][161][162] The Hulk also aided the world's heroes when the Counter-Earth dimension was briefly merged with a universe from a distant cosmos (designated Earth-50) to create Earth-13 and prevented an invasion from the Skrulls and the Negative Zone before the proper status quo was restored.[163][164][165][166]
=== Back on Earth-616 ===
While Bruce Banner was reborn into a new life on Counter-Earth, the Savage Hulk -- free from Banner once more -- still existed independently on Earth-616. The Hulk's body began giving off radiation equivalent to a nuclear bomb. The army found that anything that came within five feet of him would be melted by radiation. Betty showed up and the Hulk broke free. Moments later Jason the Renegade stepped from the shadows and shot the Hulk with a Pantheon gun which caused the soldiers to panic and begin shooting. Hulk laughed off the bullets and escaped with Janis leaving Betty in tears.
The Pantheon had become a democracy and had outvoted Paris to bring Hulk back into the group. Paris approached Henry Gyrich with a proposition to take down the Hulk for good. The Pantheon attacked Janis and appeared to kill Hulk, but it was actually just a mindless cloned body created by the Pantheon. Hulk destroyed their ship and headed towards Washington DC with Janis where she told the military that the Hulk would not run anymore. If they attacked him he would attack a major city in retaliation.
While he was traveling through the Midwest Hulk and Janis were attacked by the Thunderbolts whom he easily defeated, then he destroyed a dam to fulfill his promise of retaliation. Hulk began having chest pains that would force him to keel over in pain although at the same time he was physically becoming more powerful. Dr. Strange found that because of his split from Banner, excess energy from an alternate universe was channeling through him that could destroy the universe.
Under extreme emotional stress Hulk returned to the gamma base where he was created. He was ambushed by the newest person placed in charge of capturing the Hulk, Colonel Cary St. Lawrence. Hulk considered this the ultimate invasion of privacy because he considered the gamma base "his place". He was about to kill her when he had the idea to take over an island in the Florida Keys which he renamed Hulk Island. He saved the inhabitants from a hurricane and they grew to respect him.
A few days after the hurricane Janis showed up with an alternate Hulk that came to Earth-616 when the Hulk was teleported away by Dr. Strange. He offered his help to Hulk but the shrapnel in his brain was making him angry at everything so he fought him until he was taken back to his own time.
Hulk was manipulated by Apocalypse into becoming one of his Horsemen. Hulk agreed to serve him if Apocalypse would remove the shrapnel from Hulk's brain. He battled the Absorbing Man and Juggernaut who were sent by the NWO with Rick and Janis Jones to stop this new Hulk that was using the power of the Celestials. He nearly killed the Absorbing Man and Juggernaut but Rick jumped in and Hulk swung at him. Seeing the crippled body of his best friend caused the Hulk to break free of the mind control and flee in shame.
Mercy sensed the Hulk's desire for death and sent him on a path to fight Mr. Hyde, but the Hulk wanted a good death and refused to be killed by what he considered an unworthy foe. Wanting to help put the Hulk out of his misery, Mercy sent him to one of his deadliest enemies, the Abomination. Sulking through New York, Hulk found the Abomination but because of all the damage done to his brain he hallucinated he was in the Abomination's place and he began letting out all his built-up rage from the last few months on him.
=== Heroes Return ===
By this point, the Celestials had come to judge which universe would live and which one would die: Universe-616 or Franklin Richard's Counter-Earth pocket dimension. They sent their agent Ashema to Earth to show Franklin Richards his handiwork and force him to choose between one world and another.
At this point the Hulk on Earth-616 was on a rampage through New York City, bringing Doc Samson, Hercules, Spider-Man and the Thunderbolts together to try and stop him. Meanwhile on Counter-Earth, the Banner-Hulk was on rampage through New York City as well clashing with the Thing and Thor. Dr. Strange found a link between the trans-dimensional energies coming from the Hulk's body and from Franklin Richards' mysterious blue ball. Bringing the ball in close proximity to the Hulk caused both he and Spider-Man to be transported to Counter-Earth where the two Hulks clashed, attracting the attention of the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and Dr. Doom. It was decided that in order to save both realities from destruction, all the Earth-616 heroes would have to return to their native world. Both Hulk and Banner were brought back with them. When they breached the gulf between both worlds the Hulk and Banner were merged back together again.[167]
=== Self Destruction ===
After finally being reunited with Banner the Hulk was transported to the site of his birth, the gamma bomb test site. The strain on his body was slowly killing him and he was giving off massive amounts of radiation that was sufficient enough for the Maestro to absorb and return to life. Maestro was taken by trolls to be the newest mind to inhabit the Destroyer.
Bruce and General Ross were attacked by the Destroyer and his troll minions. During the battle the Destroyer stepped in a pool of Hulk's blood. It recognized that Hulk and Maestro were the same being and drew the Hulk's mind inside of it. Hulk was able to outsmart Maestro and crush him under a rock slide. Bruce was brought back to Gamma Base where he established some kind of control over the Hulk and started rebuilding his life with Betty and made peace with her father, General Ross.
Later, the Troyjans attacked and Bruce and agreed to meet with their leader, Lord Armageddon. After seeing Bruce leave with the aliens the press believed that he had heroically sacrificed himself to save the president's daughter. Armageddon wanted Hulk's help in resurrecting his son Trauma with the device the Leader had previously used to bring Marlo back to life. The device needed a very large gamma power source in order to work and he planned on sacrificing Hulk to do it. Bruce said no but Hulk agreed and stepped into the machine. During the process Hulk gave off too much radiation and incinerated Trauma's body. Armageddon agreed to live in peace out of fear of punishment from the Silver Surfer, but after Hulk left he leveled Freehold and killed everyone living there including the gamma beings Jailbait and Hotshot. Bruce was given a secret pardon for his crimes as the Hulk for saving the president's daughter.
=== Death of Betty Banner ===
Just when everything started going right with the Hulk, Betty nearly died due to gamma radiation poisoning that resulted from her time with the Hulk. Bruce was able to find a cure using his blood in a transfusion. But then she was pushed over the edge by the transfusion when the Abomination secretly switched it with his blood instead as revenge. Bruce went insane and tried to kill himself seconds after Betty was pronounced dead. Doc Samson stopped him but he turned into the Hulk later and escaped from gamma base. He began coming up with elaborate scenarios to kill himself, but he would always transform seconds before death.
With Betty dead and Bruce believed to have killed her General Ross started to hunt the Hulk once more. Bruce figured out the truth behind Betty's death when he went to the home world of the Watcher and was given infinite knowledge. He returned to Earth to get revenge on the Abomination but he let him go. Confronting General Ross he told him that they were both to blame for Betty's death.
Due to the deteriorating effects of ALS and the chaos ravaging his mind-scape[168], Banner cut a deal with the three dominant Hulk personalities - the Green Hulk, the Gray "Joe Fixit" Hulk and the "Professor" Hulk - essentially to time-share their existence in return for stabilizing his fractured psyche and providing him with release from his disease[169]. Despite the intervention of General John Ryker[170], Bruce was able to retain control until the Leader provided the means to cure Bruce[171], using genetic samples taken from the corpse of Brian Banner and added to the Hulk's DNA by Ant-Man, the transformation back into Bruce Banner triggering a catalytic reaction that repaired the damage to Bruce's cellular structure and cured the disease[172].
The original Defenders, including Hulk, re-formed when Yandroth surfaced again to menace the world. Though the heroes defeated his plan, Yandroth used his sorcery to levy a deathbed curse upon their heads, binding them to come together in times of crisis. The curse magnified the egos of the cursed quartet until they became mentally unstable. They became the Order, seeking to end all threats to the Earth by taking control of it. Other heroes fought them, and the energies unleashed by the battle were harnessed to resurrect and further empower Yandroth. Coming to their senses, the Defenders stopped fighting and Yandroth was reduced back to his human form, defeated, and imprisoned.
=== Planet Hulk ===
Banner sought refuge and peace in Alaska where he lived as a hermit loosely connected to the town community. He was eventually tracked down by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., who required his help in defeating the Hydra space weapon called the Godseye which could detonate all the nuclear bombs in the world. Sent up as the Hulk, he discovered that the Godseye was actually a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that could match the strength of any enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Godseye found that though it could try, it could not match the increasing power of the Hulk- unable to duplicate Banner's unique ability to channel gamma energy even if it could duplicate the energy itself-, and it exploded.
A S.H.I.E.L.D.-commissioned space shuttle was sent to retrieve the Hulk, or so he believed. Seizing the opportunity to be rid of the Hulk, a group of superheroes known as the Illuminati decided to jettison the shuttle into space to a planet with no intelligent lifeforms. Unfortunately, there was a navigation error, and the Hulk landed on the planet Sakaar, a world filled with barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled by a corrupt empire. The planet was situated near a portal, which gave it access to several different cultures and technologies. The Hulk was captured and became a gladiator. Hulk ushered an uprising, overthrowing the current regime.
Installing himself as king, the Hulk met and fell in love with a queen named Caiera Oldstrong. Together, they ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity for Sakaar. Caiera became pregnant with the Hulk's child, but died when the shuttle that brought the Hulk to Sakaar suddenly exploded, killing millions of people. Driven to new heights of rage and fury, the Hulk swore revenge against the Illuminati, whom he held responsible for the death of Caiera Oldstrong. With his allies, the Warbound, the Hulk rode atop the prow of an alien warship as it set course for Earth.[173]
=== World War Hulk ===
Reaching the moon, the Hulk defeated the Illuminati member Black Bolt (who was actually a Skrull impersonating Black Bolt and not the real one). The Hulk then proceeded to New York City, where he demanded that the city be evacuated and the presence of the Illuminati. As the time limit for the evacuation of New York had passed, Hulk defeated Iron Man and Stark Tower was destroyed in the process.
The heroes engaged the Hulk and his Warbound but were defeated. After Hulk became allied with Hercules, Namora, and the Angel, General Thunderbolt Ross called in the U.S. Army to dispatch the Green Goliath. Despite the army's best efforts, including the use of adamantium bullets, Hulk defeated them. Alongside his Warbound, he transformed an area near Madison Square Garden into a gladiatorial arena.
Doctor Strange, mystically invoking a powerful old enemy, Zom, battled the Hulk. Barely holding back the demon Zom, Dr.Strange began to exhibit some of the demon's traits. Strange sent the Hulk crashing into a building that crumbled upon him and the innocent bystanders who had gathered to watch the fight. The Hulk had protected the innocent bystanders. Distraught by his actions almost killing innocents, Dr. Strange stopped fighting, and an uncaring Hulk gave Strange a lesson on control and pummeled him into the ground.
After implanting "obedience disks" in all of the captured heroes, the Hulk set Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, and Iron Man into the arena. The Hulk had them fight each other. In the end the Hulk spared them, declaring he intended justice and not murder. Hulk planned to destroy New York City and leave the Illuminati to their shame. Soon, a nearly insane Sentry arrived on the scene and a cataclysmic battle ensued between him and Hulk. Sentry unleashed forces that nearly destroyed what was left of New York, but ultimately, it was a stalemate between the two. The Hulk then briefly reverted back to Bruce Banner and the Sentry reverted back to Bob Reynolds and in their human forms, Bruce Banner was able to knock out Bob Reynolds.
Warbound member Miek impaled the Hulk's longtime friend Rick Jones, and revealed he intentionally allowed the mass deaths on Sakaar to happen, knowing they were caused by former followers of the Red King and not the Illuminati. The Hulk and the Brood No-Name attacked Miek in retaliation. The betrayed and enraged Hulk unwillingly began releasing energy that threatened the Eastern Seaboard, and prompted Tony Stark to activate a series of satellite devices that opened fire and eventually left the Hulk in his Bruce Banner form unconscious. S.H.I.E.L.D. imprisoned Banner in a facility three miles underground and the other Warbound members were placed under U.S. custody.[174]
=== Red Hulk Incident ===
While Banner was incarcerated at Gamma Base, a new mystery revealed itself when the Abomination was found murdered in his homeland of Russia. The perpetrator soon revealed himself as a massive creature referring to itself as the Red Hulk. This new incarnation of the Hulk decimated the likes of She-Hulk, Iron Man, Rick Jones in his new powered up identity of a creature named A-Bomb, and even Thor.[175]
Banner was set free when the clash between the Red Hulk and A-Bomb caused an earthquake that damaged his prison. The potential threat to Banner's life triggered his transformation into the Green Goliath, and the Hulk wasted no time in confronting his new nemesis. The Hulk, caught unprepared for the Red Hulk's fighting style, was defeated in their first meeting - suffering a broken arm in the process - but the outcome was much different during their second meeting. The Hulk found a potential weakness in the Red Hulk and exploited it. Once the Red Hulk was beaten, the Hulk left before he could find out the Red Hulk's true identity. However, Banner began spending his time trying to track down the Red Hulk before he could do more damage. On his journey, Banner ended up in Las Vegas where the Hulk had to team up with Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and even Brother Voodoo to quell a pack of Wendigos from devouring everyone inside a casino.[citation needed]
=== Skaar ===
Meanwhile, on Sakaar, the Hulk's thought-dead son, Skaar, had risen. Skaar was progeny of Hulk and Caiera the Oldstrong. After Caiera's death a cocoon containing Skaar fell into the lake of fire. After a period of time, Skaar emerged from the cocoon, appearing to be the age equivalent to a human preteen. He quickly grew into what seemed to be an adult. Skaar wanted revenge on Hulk was because he felt he abandoned him and his world to death.[citation needed]
Skaar was exiled from his planet and was warped to Earth. Skaar confronted his father, who was then in his savage persona. Skaar was disgusted with his father's diminished intelligence. Hulk engaged Skaar in a fight that created a fissure that endangered a nuclear power plant. The Warbound were trying to prevent a nuclear catastrophe when they were unexpectedly aided by the Hulk and Skaar. Skaar, using the Oldpower, sealed the containment building and saved the workers at the plant. Skaar subsequently impaled the Hulk and left, claiming he would come back when he was worth killing.[citation needed]
=== Hulk No More ===
Sometime later, the Grandmaster came to Hulk with a proposition: if Hulk chose to participate in a game and won, Grandmaster would bring his love, Jarella, back to life. Hulk agreed and was told he could pick a group of allies to aid him in the game. Hulk chose his former teammates in the Defenders: Namor, Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange. When the time came to meet their opponents, the Collector appeared with the Hulk's nemesis, the Red Hulk, and his team: Baron Mordo, Terrax and Tiger Shark - now known as the Offenders. The Grand Master gave the Savage Hulk Bruce Banner's mind and had each team member transported to the times and places that the hulk had gathered the defenders from. The Hulk battled with the Red Hulk in Atlantis where The Red Hulk pierced the Hulk's heart with a cosmic energy charged trident. Hulk was eventually revived by the Grand Master and knocked out the Red Hulk with one punch.[citation needed]
Afterward Banner was captured by AIM, and was detained underneath Gamma Base to be used to create a gamma powered super soldier program, headed by MODOK and backed by General Ross. M.O.D.O.K. was responsible for the creation of the Red Hulk, Rick Jones' transformation into A-Bomb, and the evil split personality of Doc Samson. The plot was uncovered by She-Hulk. To infiltrate an A.I.M base Jennifer recruited reporter Ben Urich to help uncover the truth, who in turn recruited Peter Parker to aid in photography. A battle soon interrupted the tank containing Banner, causing him to transform into the Hulk. When the two Hulks clashed, Red Hulk used his radiation absorption abilities to steal the gamma energy from inside the Hulk, preventing him from ever becoming the Hulk again. As the base reached critical mass the defenseless Bruce Banner was rescued by a now intelligent A-Bomb.[citation needed]
In the aftermath of the explosion Norman Osborn sent Ares to learn if Banner could still turn into the Hulk. When Ares attacked Banner Rick rushed to his defense but was quickly defeated. Ares was soon outsmarted by Banner and he was locked in a room built to hold the Hulk. After evading Ares Bruce and Rick parted ways.[176]
=== Training Skaar ===
He confronted Skaar in the Mojave desert. After much deliberation Skaar grudgingly agreed to allow Bruce Banner to train him on how to defeat the Hulk, should he ever return[177] Bruce lured the Juggernaut into fighting Skaar,[178] and then Wolverine and Daken.[179] Soon after, the pair encounter Norman Osborn's Femme Fatales, Victoria Hand and Ms. Marvel.[180] Bruce discovered Betty Ross was alive, and was immediately attacked by a Harpy who turned out to be Marlo Chandler.[181] The pair come to the aid of the Fantastic Four, who are in the middle of a battle with the Mole Man and later Tyrannus.[182] Later on, Bruce saved Skaar from Dr. Doom.[183] Bruce and Skaar tried to protect Hank Pym from the Leader but failed.
Bruce then assembled his own group of Avengers to try and save Betty.[184] Betty, who was angry with him for marrying another woman, was used by the Leader to distract Bruce so that he could "hulkify" many A.I.M. marines and heroes. Bruce was captured by the Leader and hooked up to a virtual reality machine.[185] He was unwilling to leave the virtual world until he was convinced by Dr. Doom, who was also trapped. When Bruce escaped, he was saved from Dr. Doom by Red She-Hulk, who was stabbed by Skaar and turned out to be Betty herself.[186] The Leader escaped and the Cathexis Ray Generator machinery was reversed and all the radiation from the Hulked-Out Heroes returned back to the Helicarrier. Bruce then absorbed all the energy to contain it at the behest of Reed Richards. Doc Samson died trying to help. The Helicarrier crashed and the Worldbreaker Hulk emerged from the rubble.[187]
Skaar had his chance to fight the Hulk at last. During the confrontation, Hulk rescued innocent bystanders endangered by their fight. Skaar reacted to this act of compassion by ceasing his assault, but Hulk continued his, causing Skaar to revert to human form. Hulk was reminded of Banner's own abusive father and reverted to human form as well, recognizing that he couldn't continue this fight without Bruce becoming Brian Banner. Banner apologized and embraced his son, and Skaar accepted his love.
=== The Hulk Family ===
The Red Hulk set himself up in the White House, planning to take over America. However,the Hulk showed up to foil his plan. After having Ross Imprisoned in Gamma Base Steve Rogers released him to stop the Leader and M.O.D.O.K.'s contingency plan called Scorched Earth. Banner was put in charge of countering the program and learned how to shut it down from clues from the depowered M.O.D.O.K. Banner assisted Red Hulk and shut down the Living Supercomputer running Scorched Earth, not knowing it was a distraction made by M.O.D.O.K to cover the trail of his cloned successor, M.O.D.O.K Superior.
The Hulk family, composed of Skaar, Korg, A-Bomb, Hulk, She-Hulk, Savage She-Hulk, and Red She-Hulk all went into seclusion, ignoring the attempts of the government to bring them out of hiding. Hulk's other son, and Skaar's twin, Hiro-Kala set his sights on Earth, planning to destroy it with the planet K'ai. Hiro-Kala was confronted by his father. Skaar used his own old power to seal Hiro-Kala in a sphere of stone. Hiro-Kala was merged with the Worldmind to create a miniature sun, to use the Old Power to warm K'ai.
=== Heart of the Monster ===
After a wishing well's power was unleashed, the Hulk found himself facing some of his mightiest foes. One of them was the alien warlord Arm'Cheddon. He defeated and depowered She-Hulk and A-Bomb as part of his revenge scheme against the Hulk. He then revealed that he had reconfigured his power-channeling abilities so that he could channel the Hulk's energy; the stronger the Hulk got, the stronger he got. When the Red She-Hulk interfered with the conflict, he hit her with the full force of his power. In a rage, the Hulk killed Arm'Cheddon.
=== Fear Itself ===
When the Serpent was freed by Skadi, he called seven hammers to Earth. The Hulk was transformed by one of these hammers, becoming one of the Worthy: Nul, Breaker of Worlds. Rampaging through South and Central America, Nul was eventually transported to New York City where, teaming with the Angrir-possessed Thing, the two began battling a lonesome Thor. After defeating the Thing, Thor stated that he never could beat the Hulk, and instead removed him from the battle by launching him into Earth orbit, after which Thor collapsed from exhaustion. Landing in Romania, Nul immediately began heading for the base of the vampire-king Dracula. Opposed by Dracula's forces, including a legion of monsters, Nul was seemingly unstoppable.[188] Only after the intervention of Raizo Kodo's Forgiven was Nul briefly slowed.[189] Ultimately, Nul made his way to Dracula's castle where the timely arrival of Kodo and Forgiven member Inka, disguised as Betty Ross, was able to throw off the effects of the Nul possession. Throwing aside the hammer, the Hulk regained control, and promptly left upon realizing "Betty's" true nature.[190] Claiming that he wanted to be alone, Hulk separated himself from Banner and went to ask Doctor Strange for help to stop Nul.[citation needed]
=== Asunder ===
Hulk resorted to Doctor Doom in order to separate himself from Bruce Banner, resulting in him removing the portion of the brain controlled by Banner and moving it to a gamma-free cloned body of Bruce Banner.[191] Hulk moved underground, where he lived with a tribe of Moloids until Commander Amanda von Doom contacted him for help to hunt an insane Bruce Banner.[citation needed]
Hulk helped the Mad Squad (Doom's team) to assault an island which Banner used as a base, where he created gamma-mutated animals experimenting to become the Hulk again. The attack resulted in Banner's vaporization in a gamma bomb, which resulted in Bruce Banner sharing Hulk's mind once more, but still with his insane mind, and Hulk wouldn't have any memories of his time as Banner. With the transformation shifted so that Hulk was the 'dominant' persona, reverting to Banner when he became too calm, Bruce Banner lead the Hulk to a journey in different locations around the world, including an old Russian space station, a village of Bigfoots, and an old SHIELD base, which ended with Hulk waking up strapped to a chair with a needle pointed above him and Banner talking on a video screen. The recording of Banner revealed that he had finally discovered the cure for the Hulk, the components of which was what Hulk had been gathering throughout his "journey". However, Banner also revealed that he was no longer interested in controlling the Hulk, having come to recognize that he was a better person with the Hulk than he would have been without it, prompting the two personas to join forces once more in investigating Doom's latest plan, using the gamma cure that Banner had despised to return the animals on Banner's former island headquarters to normal[192].
=== Indestructible ===
Weeks after his reunion with his Banner persona, which caused the Hulk persona to lose intelligence as well as his Banner persona becoming good again, the Hulk exiled himself to the American desert until an aquatic villain stole from a convoy of the army, forcing Hulk to face him.[193] In order to known who this villain was, Hulk took a torn piece of his suit to the Avengers, revealing that he was a member of the new Zodiac, which were revealed to be the pawns of a returned Thanos, who tried to use a human-created Cosmic Cube stolen from the Army to rule the universe, but because it was human-crafted, it wasn't a real Cosmic Cube, thus not very powerful. Thanos was finally stopped by the Avengers with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy.[194]
After a few weeks back in his exile, Hulk was asked by Captain America in Colorado to help the Avengers win the war against Cyclops and the X-Men, Cap stating that he knew of the Hulk's preference for solitude but also knew that the Hulk could be relied on to fight the biggest battles. Hulk agreed to do so, saying "Hulk will smash for you."[195] Because of his invaluable help, he was offered to return as an Avenger as well as offering his help to S.H.I.E.L.D., so his Hulk persona would be controlled while at the same time he could use his vast intellect as Bruce Banner to create new technologies with the necessary resources to help humanity, both offers were accepted.[196] Among his missions, he helped S.H.I.E.L.D. battle the Quintronic Man[196] and the Byzantine.[197] When the space-time continuum was broken, it was revealed to Banner S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret splinter branch codenamed: T.I.M.E.. With the aid of the Tomorrow Man, Hulk defeated the Chronarchists, a group of travelers which took advantage of the state of reality to reknit history to their desire.[198]
=== Becoming Doc Green ===
After being shot in the head in the name of the Order of the Shield, because their Terranometer had determined he was going to cause an Extinction-level event,[199] Bruce Banner suffered severe brain damage.[200] He was ultimately cured by Tony Stark, who used the Extremis virus in the process to restore Bruce's brain.[201]
This procedure also increased Banner's mental capacity, which gave him the intelligence to tweak the Extremis virus within him and unleash a new persona for the Hulk: the super-intelligent Doc Green. With his newfound intellect, Doc Green came to the conclusion that the world was in danger by Gamma Mutates and thus needed to be depowered. He developed a serum made from Adamantium nanobites that absorbed gamma energy.
Doc Green managed to depower A-Bomb,[202] Skaar,[203] and Red She-Hulk.[199] He also developed an artificial copy of his mind who went rogue soon after teleporting Lyra to an undisclosed reality when Doc Green planned to send her to her home reality.[204] Doc Green later prevented the haywire A.I. from killing the Gamma Corps, and depowered them in the process.[205]
After depowering the Red Leader (who would shortly after be helped by the Doc Green A.I. to recover his powers),[206] Doc Green finally confronted the Red Hulk, and after a furious battle, he was able to depower Ross.[207] However, he decided not to depower Jennifer Walters as he recognized that she was the only gamma mutation whose life had been genuinely improved by her condition, leaving her with the last injection of the cure to use on him as he sensed that his intellect was reverting to normal and he wanted to avoid the risk of his darker side taking control while he tracked down the A.I. version of himself that now sought to take his body.[208]
=== Time Runs Out ===
After finding out that the Illuminati had been reformed, Bruce Banner joined their cause after the tyrant Avengers arrived on Earth-616.[209] Soon after being forced to confront a colliding Earth inhabited by noble heroes,[210] an event after which none of the Illuminati were willing to destroy that Earth, Namor decided to take matters to his hands and do it.[211] Later, eight months into the future, they went into hiding due to the Avengers being on the hunt for them.[212]
While on the run, the Illuminati attempted to find numerous times a way to solve the problem of Incursions, from trying to create a new Earth with a Cosmic Cube and then with Franklin Richards' powers, to asking for help to the Celestials. However, all of their plans failed.[213] After setting a trap to Steve Rogers and his forces,[214][215] both parties managed to reach a middle ground[216] and started working together.[217]
=== The New Hulk ===
Once the incursions had been neutralized, Bruce reverted back from his Doc Green form into his regular self. Some time after this, Banner, along with Black Panther and Iron Man, attempted to stop an experimental fusion plant from having a meltdown by transforming into the Hulk and absorbed excessive amounts of a new type of radiation from the plant.[218]Although he saved the lives of fifty million people, Bruce was theorized to detonate if the excess radiation took over him.[219] Hulk's friend Amadeus Cho feared the Hulk melting down and killing countless people. So, Cho used special nanites to remove the Hulk from Banner and absorb it into himself to become the new Hulk.[220]
=== Death ===
Bruce Banner was working at his laboratory in Utah when he is visited by Captain Marvel.[221]When asked to come outside, Banner discovered himself surrounded by a team of assembled heroes. Banner was told that the new Inhuman precog Ulysses Cain had a vision of him transforming into the Hulk and going on a rampage, which resulted in him killing several heroes. The Beast also discovered that Banner had been injecting himself with gamma-irradiated cells after hacking into his computer. When Banner became defensive over the accusation, Hawkeye responded by firing an arrow into Banner's head, killing him. Hawkeye later explained that Banner had requested him several months earlier to kill him with a special arrow tip Banner himself provided in case he was about to transform into the Hulk again.[222] However, Banner's experiments in gamma radiation were actually provoked/inspired by Doctor Erik Selvig and Steve Rogers- both 'reprogrammed' to believe themselves to be Hydra sleeper agents- seeking to distract Ulysses from discovering their plans by giving him more immediate threats to predict.[223]
His body was subsequently stolen by the Hand after his funeral, as part of the Hand's efforts to bolster their ranks following an alliance with the spirit of Daniel Drumm.[224] Fortunately, Doctor Voodoo was able to escape and alert his teammates in the just-disbanded Avengers Unity Squad to the plan, but despite them teleporting straight to Japan to stop the ritual, they arrived at the ceremony just after it had been successful.[225] Following a brief confrontation, the mindless Hulk's rampage was finally contained within a magical doorway of Voodoo's creation, which allowed the sorcerer to enter Banner's soul and cleanse it from the Hand's corruption, reverting back to his human form and dying, once again, in the process.[226]
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