Betty Ross

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

## Background Narrative

### Betty Ross: 1962 - 1980

Born in Lompoc, California, Betty was the eldest child of career Air Force officer Thaddeus Everett Ross and his wife Karen. Betty's father was assigned to the nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base at the time. Betty would end up living on or near multiple different military bases throughout her childhood. Later in her youth, teenaged Betty had a younger brother, Everett, join the family. However, Betty's mother Karen began to suffer from severe undiagnosed postpartum depression and when Betty was sixteen, Karen tragically took her own life.

Betty's father, Thaddeus blamed the military life on the loss of his wife. In his grief, he came to the conclusion that women were unable to cope with the stresses of military life. Unwilling to abandon his career, but wishing to preserve his family, Thaddeus made a misguided attempt to protect his daughter. Shutting Betty out of his life, Thaddeus promptly and unceremoniously shipped Betty off to boarding school — while Betty was still struggling with the loss of her mother. Now left without a mother and a father that wouldn't return her calls, Betty had a mental break.

Thankfully, the boarding school had its own on-site psychiatrist who was able to help Betty come to terms with the changes in her life. Saved from any long-lasting effects on her mental health, Betty became thankful to the psychiatrist that saved her life and when she graduated with her diploma, Betty was already contemplating studying psychology in college.

### Betty Ross: 1980 - 1984

After boarding school, Betty flew out to Canada where her father was now living as a senior agent for the Sentinel Service Division's Super Soldier Project. Betty was pleased to see that her father was in a somewhat more stable place. Thaddeus also seemed eager to make amends for shipping his daughter off to school. However, Betty was interested in maintaining her academic momentum and spent her summer applying for college. Having come to terms with kind of man her father was, Betty was not all that interested in repairing her relationship with her father. After the two had a rather emotional confrontation, Thaddeus made a phone call to an old friend that taught aeronautics at CalTech, Betty was suddenly accepted at CalTech.

Leaving home once more, Betty felt bad about how she left things with her father. Over the next few months, while studying at college, Betty learned of two geniuses that were working on recreating Erskine's Super Soldier Formula. Betty originally just mentioned the boys to her father as an excuse to call him and open a dialogue to begin to fix the damage that have been done. However, Betty didn't really expect her father to take such an active interest in those boys.

When one of the boys, Bruce Banner, confronted her, Betty panicked and told Bruce that she was interested in him. While Betty figured this little white lie would just lead to a date or two, Betty actually took a genuine liking to Bruce. He was not like the others she had dated. Not only was he incredibly smart, but Bruce had a tragic past and deep-rooted psychological issues stemming from his father.

The two began dating and grew increasingly intimate. Betty attended the prison execution of Bruce's father and was surprised to find the experience was therapeutic, not only for Bruce but for Betty herself.

### Betty Ross: 1984 - 1995

When Bruce and his research partner Hank went to Canada to work full-time for the SSD, Betty enrolled at Empire State University's Medical School. These years were difficult on her relationship with Bruce, as long-distance relationships often are. However, afraid of losing her, Bruce proposed to Betty. Of course, Betty accepted, but as their marriage kept getting delayed, she began to become frustrated.

After becoming a psychiatrist, Betty moved to Canada and accepted a residency for the SSD, so she could repair the relationship with Bruce. However, she didn't understand the stress Bruce was under at the time. Her growing friendship with her supervisor Dr. Leonard Skivorski, made Bruce fear Betty was cheating on him, and he took drastic measures to prove his Super Soldier Formula was ready for human testing. It wasn't.

With Bruce becoming the Hulk and becoming a fugitive, Betty was eventually ousted from the SSD. The purpose for her termination was she was suspected of tipping Bruce off about SSD movements (she absolutely was). However, while the SSD saw her as a liability, I saw her as an asset and Betty was one of the first I recruited her to join Shield. She is now helping me fulfill the Avenger Initiative

## Shield Analysis

### Special Value: 6

* **Relationship to Bruce Banner:** Ross has a close relationship with Bruce Banner, and thus, the Hulk. Without a doubt, Ross has the best chance to coercing the Hulk to revert to Banner. Not only is she an expert psychiatrist with intimate knowledge of Banner's psychiatric problems and personality, but she is also the woman who Banner loves. Though it does appear to be a lot of conflict between Banner and his alter-ego, the two do seem to share more than just a body. SSD Agents, under the direction of Betty Ross's own father, have even utilized voiced recordings of her in an attempt to subdue the Hulk. At least twice the tactic worked, only being thwarted later when Bruce Banner realized the ruse and managed to affect an escape before he could be transported to custody.

### Heuristics Value: 3

* **Firearms:** Ross was taught by her father to properly handle, maintain, and use firearms.
* **Self-Defense:** Since she was a girl, growing up around soldiers and living on military bases, Ross has learned to take care of herself in a fight.

### Intellectual Value: 4

* **Smart Cookie:** Ross is a very intelligent woman with an exceptional memory and emotional intellect.
* **Well-Educated:** Ross had a remarkable education and even post-university, she continues to educate herself on all manner of various subjects and disciplines

### Expertise Value: 6

* **Hypnosis:** Ross is an accomplished psychiatrist who has added hypnotherapy to her repertoire in an attempt to help her fiancé Bruce Banner gain further control of his giant green alter-ego. However, Bruce is not the only one to benefit from Betty's newfound skill, I had also scheduled sessions for Donald Blake to help him recover his memories, Natasha Romanova to ensure that she doesn't have any latent Russian programming, and Steve Rogers to help him recover from missing out on the last fifty years.
* **Profiling:** Though she is a certified criminal behavioral analyst, Ross' skills in psychiatry and her naturally perceptive nature make her a highly skilled profiler.
* **Psychiatry:** As a trained Psychiatrist, Ross is skilled in identifying and treating a range of mental health issues. Ross prefers traditional therapy to psychiatric medication.

### Logistics Value: 3

* **Linguistics:** Ross is fluent in English and French.
* **Vehicle Operation:** Ross appears to be a very responsible driver. The only moving violation on her file was given to her over five years ago while on a secret weekend getaway to Canada.

### Director's Value: 8

* **Who Doesn't Love Betty?:** "Betty is the All-American Girl-Next-Door daughter of one of the United States's most decorated career military commanders. You can't accuse her of treason, even if she is engaged to an emotionally compromised mad scientist living out a real-life Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde scenario. However, more importantly, Betty is a highly trained and effective psychiatrist with an interest in protecting the mental health and well-being of super soldiers. I trust Betty and since she believes I am sincere in my promise to bring Bruce in and protect him from her father, she's agreed to help me in my endeavor to construct and maintain a team of enhanced operatives to serve as Earth's mightiest heroes".

### Threat Assessment

* **Special Value:** 2
* **Heuristics Value:** 3
* **Intellectual Value:** 5
* **Expertise Value:** 4
* **Logistics Value:** 3
* **Director's Value:** 8
	+ **TOTAL:** 30

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* Betty Ross resides in Subsidiary-Reality M, within Murum Locus.
* Betty Ross is a character originating from *Marvel Comics*.

## Fury Files

Fury Files: Betty RossFury Files: Avengers Assembly

## Links and References

* Appearances of Betty Ross

1. ↑ Fury Files: Betty Ross