Hulk

### Education

High school graduate; PhD in nuclear physics, biochemistry, and radiobiology and four other fields from Culver University

## Characteristics

### Height

5' 8"; 7' - 8' (Savage Hulk); 9' - 15' (Primal Hulk)

### Weight

158 lbs (72 kg); 1,040 lbs (472 kg) - 1,400 lbs (635 kg) (Savage Hulk); 2,000 lbs (907 kg) - 4,600 lbs (2087 kg) (Primal Hulk)

### Unusual Features

As Hulk, immense size and strength of varying levels dependent on Hulk-type

## Origin

### Origin

Bruce Banner's molecular structure was transformed due to the mixture of accidental gamma radiation exposure and genetic mutations passed down by his father. When angered or stressed, he makes the transformation into the powerful being known as the Hulk.

## Biography

### Pre-accident

#### Childhood

**Robert Bruce Banner** was born near the vicinity of the Los Diablos Missile Base in New Mexico. Bruce had a less-than-idyllic childhood, growing up in a neighborhood not far from the base where Brian Banner, his father, worked. Brian was a brilliant atomic physicist and geneticist who joined Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross' Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, the United States Army's late 1960s attempt to recreate Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum.
Eventually, Brian managed to create a promising serum and brought it to his superiors. However, Lieutenant Colonel Thunderbolt Ross, the head of the project, rejected it, and forbade future human testing. Brian ignored Ross, believing wholeheartedly that his formula would yield successful results, and began testing on himself. The experiments were not as successful as he had hoped for, but they did fundamentally alter his DNA on some level, passing on a mutation to his son Bruce.

As Bruce grew older, the elder Banner realized something from his experiments had been passed on. Horrified and somewhat disgusted at what his son could possibly become should he reach maturity, Brian Banner attempted to find a cure for his condition.

Upon discovering evidence of Brian Banner's human trials, Thunderbolt Ross shut him out of the Bio-Tech project, which was rendered defunct soon after. Angered at Ross' betrayal, and deciding that his Bruce's case was hopeless, Brian activated Desert Base's experimental Gamma Bomb before rushing home to "put his son out of his misery". Rebecca Banner, however, would not allow Brian to kill her son, and threw herself between him and Bruce. Brian, horrified at accidentally killing his wife, became catatonic and was institutionalized by Ross. Miraculously, the area was completely evacuated before the Gamma Bomb detonated, though the terrain would be contaminated for decades afterward. After the loss of both his parents, Bruce was adopted by his aunt Susan Banner, his father's sister.

#### Early career

Bruce lived with his aunt Susan and her husband, Russell Drake, for several years, eventually moving into a foster home with the Krenzler family to escape Drake's abuse. After graduating high school with many accolades, Bruce moved on to college, enrolling at Culver University in Willowdale, Virginia. There, he met another aspiring scientist, Betty Ross. Bruce and Betty both graduated, and eventually began dating. Bruce began working at Culver as an instructor, and became acquainted with Doctor Erik Selvig.

After the September 11th attacks, now-General Thunderbolt Ross restarted the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, employing Betty and Bruce as part of the project. Ross was initially quite disturbed at the prospect of his daughter dating the son of Brian Banner, but decided to give Bruce a chance to prove himself after Betty requested that he join the project. Bruce worked tirelessly during his time as part of the Bio-Tech project, operating under the General's false pretense that its aim was towards perfecting radiation resistance in humans. In truth, it was a clandestine attempt at recreating Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum. It was during this time that Bruce first met the General's colleague, the unscrupulous Major Glenn Talbot; Talbot represented the military-industrial company Atheon Labs, and was interested in possibly buying the project.

#### Becoming the Hulk

The Bio-Tech project made solid progress until it was revealed to the public that Ross had been secretly testing their work on captured Al-Haquid terrorists. In response to this, the project lost much of its funding, and many scientists quit. Bruce stayed on board mostly to gain Ross's approval, hoping that the General might eventually give Bruce and Betty permission to get married. Finally, at the end of his rope and satisfied with their progress, Bruce decided to undergo the testing phase prematurely. Unfortunately, the limited resources available did not allow for any suitable test subjects, so Bruce decided to test on himself first.

Bruce injected himself with the serum and then moved on to the gamma-resistance test. While seated, Bruce was monitored and exposed to 15 seconds of gamma radiation at the lowest level. With no effects after the exposure at level 1, Bruce manually set the radiation level higher, against Betty's disapproval. At first, the serum appeared to have worked, saving Bruce from an otherwise-lethal dose of gamma radiation. However, before Bruce left his seat, he began a terrifying transformation; the gamma radiation had activated something latent inside of him, the mutation his father's experiments had passed on. Bruce had triggered his first transformation into the powerful being later known as the Hulk.

Hulk emerged as a giant, green-skinned, muscle-bound titan with incredible strength, but possessed little intelligence and was driven by fits of extreme rage; the transformations would later prove to be sporadically triggered by the release of adrenaline in Bruce's amygdala. After being set loose for the first time, an enraged, nearly mindless Hulk then destroyed the lab, hospitalizing Betty, killing two scientists and an army officer, and crushing Thunderbolt Ross's arm. Three days later, Ross tried to convince Bruce to transform into the beast once again for research purposes. Bruce vehemently refused, blaming himself and Ross for what happened, and ran away. Ross tried to stop him, but Bruce was able to leave the building disguised as a cleaner.

Now on the run, Bruce eventually jumped in the back of a truck which eventually arrived at the Canadian border. The truck was searched and the state troopers found out Bruce was wanted in Virginia. Bruce underwent his second transformation after they tried to arrest him, accidentally killing the two troopers as the Hulk. After the incident, Ross found Bruce's watch, and the destroyed remains of the truck and the bodies of the state troopers.

### Hulk: Year One

Bruce lived in Canada for a period afterward, taking care not to alert any of the authorities to his presence or to transform into the Hulk. While Bruce was hiding in Canada, Brian Banner reappeared after thirty years, having escaped from the mental asylum in which he was incarcerated by forging his own release papers. Brian started infiltrating his son's life by tracking down Betty, murdering the janitor that worked at her building in Culver University and taking his place. Then, he met his son's former girlfriend and began to pry her for details about Bruce and Thunderbolt Ross. The former scientist was also careful not to reveal his identity to the young woman. Meanwhile, Betty had stayed in contact with Bruce in secret, away from the prying eyes of her father and S.H.I.E.L.D..

Eventually, after having built a friendship with her, Brian Banner was able to acquire samples of Bruce's DNA from several of Betty's personal items. The disgraced geneticist used these DNA samples to engineer a Super Soldier Serum of his own, infusing his three dogs with it and subsequently irradiating then with gamma radiation. The resulting "Hulk Dogs" were possessed of the same gamma-charged strength, resilience, and rage that the Hulk possessed. Brian Banner also began to infiltrate Atheon Labs, becoming acquainted with Glenn Talbot. When Bruce attempted to contact Betty over email, his message was intercepted by the military, and she never received it. General Ross's forces discovered that Bruce had been hiding in Vancouver, British Columbia, and sent a strike team under the command of Major Talbot to apprehend him.

    Late one night, just as Talbot's team was heading towards Bruce's location, Brian Banner called his son up on the phone, the first contact the two had had with each other in decades. Brian warned Bruce that Ross's men were on their way before declaring that he was proud of him and what he had become. He told his son that he knew about the Hulk and the power that was unleashed inside of him. Bruce refused to believe that Brian was telling the truth, but became distressed after Brian revealed that he had acquired some of his serum-infused DNA and used it to mutate his dogs with the same power. Talbot and his men arrived shortly after; Bruce tried to explain the situation but Talbot would hear none of it, forcing Bruce to transform into the Hulk. Hulk burst out of the safe house and defeated Talbot's men before leaping off into the distance, heading towards Betty's location.

    Hulk arrived at Betty's house the very same night. Betty encountered the Hulk, who seemed to recognize her from their first encounter in the Culver University laboratory months earlier. Soon Brian Banner's Hulk Dogs arrived at the scene, urged on by Betty's scent which the madman had acquired from her clothing. Hulk rushed to Betty's defense, engaging the gamma monsters in a vicious battle in the woods. During the battle, the Hulk demonstrated the ability to grow in size and strength as he grew angrier; it was this ability which allowed him to eventually overcome and defeat the beasts, despite their numerical advantage. Afterward, the Hulk regressed back into Bruce Banner, who collapsed in Betty's arms, utterly exhausted.

    The next morning, Bruce was tranquilized by Thunderbolt Ross's men and taken to Desert Base in New Mexico, the very same base where his father used to work when he was a child. The base was now being run by S.H.I.E.L.D.. Nick Fury's superiors in the World Security Council wanted to conduct extensive tests on Bruce's body to determine what exactly his condition was and why the Super Soldier Serum appeared to be working for him. Betty convinced her father, who was placed in charge of the base, to allow her to attempt to help Bruce control his transformations. Ross remained extremely skeptical of this prospect, claiming that the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project's results were never intended to be reversed, and believed Bruce was "damned" to follow in his father's footsteps.

    At the same time, Brian Banner broke into the quarantined lab at Culver University and subjected himself to the serum and gamma radiation. This had the effect of mutating the Super Soldier Serum that was already present within him since his original experiments, and bestowed him with the ability to meld with and absorb the properties of anything he touched. He used his new powers to murder a security guard who was about to arrest him, and then escaped to continue his work.

#### College and career

Bruce enrolled at Culver University in Willowdale, Virginia, determined to begin a career in genetics. There he met Betty Ross, an equally brilliant scientist-in-training who was studying in the same field. Bruce ended up graduating with three doctorates; nuclear physics, biochemistry, and radiobiology. Bruce and Betty began a relationship after they graduated, and soon fell in love. Unbeknownst to both of them, Betty's father turned out to be the now-General Thunderbolt Ross, who knew of Bruce's identity as the son of David Banner. Once out of college, Betty began to work with her father on his Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, Phase II, at Culver University, which he had dusted off after the September 11 attacks and the ensuing military conflicts had renewed interest in biological troop enhancement. Ross was initially quite disturbed at the prospect of his daughter dating the son of David Banner, but decided to give Bruce a chance to prove himself after Betty requested that he join them. Ross never told Bruce about his father, however, and declined to reveal the two the true nature of the Bio-Tech project to any of the scientists, instead telling them that they were working on a way to genetically synthesize radiation resistance in humans.

The Bio-Tech project made solid progress until it was revealed to the public that the military had been testing their work on captured Al-Haquid terrorists. In response to this, the United States Congress voted to cut the project's funding, ending Ross' ambitions for the second time. Betty stopped speaking with her father after the project's end. Betty and Bruce began working with Dr. Peter Corbeau at UC Berkeley in California, developing a similar product called nanomeds, which were a repairing agent similar in concept to the original Super Soldier Serum. A follow-up project to Bio-Tech, dubbed Weapon Plus, was initiated by General Ross, based upon earlier efforts adjunct to Project Rebirth in the 1940s. Weapon Plus yielded a replacement serum, less-effective than David Banner's original and damaging to tissue. While working at UC Berkeley, Bruce used his own genetics as an initial matching template for the nanomeds. During their research, the nanomed team received assistance from Dr. Erik Selvig, one of Culver's teachers whom Bruce had acquainted.

### Becoming the Hulk

#### Gamma research

Things would change for Bruce and Betty when the latter unexpectedly ended their relationship. Betty explained that she was tired of dealing with Bruce's "emotional baggage", a trait which Bruce admitted to possessing, but assured him that she would still remain a friend. Despite the breakup, the two continued to work together at UC Berkeley as colleagues.

The Nanomed Project worked in tandem with a version of the Super Soldier Serum produced by General Ross' Weapon Plus Program, modified for use at the college. The experiments used the healing capabilities of the nanomeds to act as a repairing agent which keeps the subject alive during the dangerous serum-injection procedure. Once activated by a device called the Gammasphere, the nanomeds work to regenerate living tissue while the gamma acts as a catalyst to activate the serum. During the first few months, the experiments went better than planned, the success being credited to the use of gamma radiation, which replaced the less-powerful but more stable energy vita radiation from Project Rebirth. However, with the limited supply of Weapon Plus' Super Soldier Serum dwindling with each experiment, the nanobots soon began to result in out-of-control cellular growth, making them invariably fatal to the animal test subjects.

#### Unfortunate accident

Eventually the military-industrial company Atheon Labs, represented by the unscrupulous Major Glenn Talbot, became interested in the research. Atheon hoped to build self-healing super soldiers of their own. Talbot was an old colleague of Betty's father, and hoped that his past with Betty would result in her accepting a buyout. However, Bruce and Betty both refused the offer. Talbot's attempted takeover was seen as an inevitable move by Betty; although the scientists involved in the Nanomed Project endeavored to pursue its life-saving applications, UC Berkeley was not as picky. The initial phases of the Iraq War were winding down and the project was beginning to lose its financial support at the college. As a consequence, the project was pressured to proceed to the later phases of testing when earlier phases were not yet complete.

One day, as Bruce, Betty and their colleague, Stanley Harper, continued to make progress on their experiments, they experienced a freak lab accident during a routine power-up. Betty noticed that there was an overload of the nanomeds, and Harper was stuck in the testing room, unable to escape when the Gammasphere fired. Bruce saved Harper, jumping in front of him and taking the brunt of the gamma radiation himself. After the gamma hit him, Bruce blacked out.

When Bruce woke up in a hospital bed recovering from the accident, he finds himself not only miraculously alive, but also feeling better than ever. Bruce speculates that this is a sign that the effects of the Super Soldier Serum have finally been successfully recreated by the nanomeds, eliminating the need for a serum entirely. Betty is skeptical, due to the fact that the nanomeds had never worked on their own without the serum.

In reality, the gamma had activated Bruce's already-mutated DNA, compounding the strength and effects of the altered Super Soldier Serum present within him since his birth. His mutated amygdala had always stored small, naturally occurring amounts of his father's serum. Now, when he is angered or stressed, his irradiated amygdala releases a so-called "gamma pulse" which signals his body to begin catalyzing the serum, initiating his transformations. The nanomeds kept him alive during the accident, just as they had in their earliest experiments on frogs, working together with his body to help him absorb the huge amount of gamma radiation he had endured.

#### First transformation

While Bruce was recovering in the hospital, David Banner reappeared after 30 years, having escaped from the mental asylum in which he was incarcerated by forging his own release papers. He started infiltrating his son's life by tracking him down, and then murdering the janitor working at the lab building, Benny, and replacing him. The night of the accident, David confronted Bruce, revealing their relationship and his true name, Bruce Banner. He hinted at his knowledge of his son's condition, but Bruce refused to believe him. Using some of Bruce's DNA which he managed to retrieve from the hospital and stolen equipment from the lab at UC Berkeley, David began conducting gamma experiments of his own, while also continuing to watch his son closely.

Soon after, Bruce was released from the hospital and began working at UC Berkeley again. He continued to notice David stalking him, but never got a chance to confront him. One night, an upsetting phone call from Betty triggered his first transformation into green being later known as the Hulk: his clothes shred and his body began to increase in size as he lost control. Bruce's inner anguish is unleashed, and in an instant he suddenly becomes one of the most powerful beings on the Earth. Hulk tore through the building and destroyed Bruce's lab, hurling the Gammasphere through a wall. David Banner, who was present in the lab that night, saw the Hulk, and felt both awe and horror at what he created. Hulk leaped out of a hole in the roof of the lab and disappeared into the night.

#### Aftermath

After the destruction at the lab, Bruce was found unconscious at his home by Betty. He could vaguely remember his transformation, but passed it off as a dream. Bruce would later describe the transformation itself as a sensation similar to that of being born. In the morning, he found himself ravenously hungry and exhausted, but didn't connect his memories of the transformation with David, whom he still doesn't recognize. By noon the next day, S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived in order to assess the damage done to the campus and interview witnesses. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director, Nick Fury, informed General Thunderbolt Ross of the incident, correctly deducing that the Bio-Tech project was involved somehow due to his daughter's employment at UC Berkeley.

The entire incident the previous night is eventually covered up as an accidental overload of the Gammasphere which contaminated the lab and required a complete evacuation of the campus. Bruce becomes a suspect due to his shredded clothes and wallet being found at the scene. General Ross arrived at Bruce's house in order to interview him on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Bruce decided to withhold mention of his "dream", becoming suspicious that he might have had something to do with the destruction after all. Unsatisfied with Bruce's answers, Ross places him under house arrest and takes control over the lab, halting the program indefinitely. Betty is forbidden to communicate with Bruce for the next few days.

#### House arrest

At Bruce's house, General Ross interrogated him and told him of his relationship with his father, David. He was also told that David Banner is alive and escaped the mental institution in which he was incarcerated, realizing that the janitor who had been stalking him recently was likely telling the truth. However, every time Bruce was questioned about his memories of his birth parents or the events of his childhood, he told the General that he couldn't remember any of it. He claimed that every single time he asked about it, his foster parents, the Krenzlers, told him his birth parents were dead. In response, Ross claimed that there was no way he could fathom Bruce ever forgetting "a thing like that", referring to his father's murder of his mother, but Bruce still didn't understand. Ross told Bruce that the former Nanomed Project lab had been declared a top-secret military site by S.H.I.E.L.D., and that he himself had been given full ownership of what was left of it. He also added that he forbade Bruce from ever seeing Betty ever again, or he would lock him up for the rest of his natural life, just like he did to David Banner.

#### Hulk Dogs

That night, David Banner phoned Bruce and told him he had arranged for a test to see if he had successfully recreated the conditions of Bruce's transformation, unleashing three gamma-mutated dogs which were sent to Betty's house to kill her. Enraged, Bruce attempted to leave and save her, but Major Glenn Talbot arrived as he was about to leave. Talbot attacked Bruce, angered that Bruce's actions had led to General Ross taking ownership of the Nanomed Project instead of Atheon. As he was tackled on the ground, Bruce warned Talbot to leave for his own safety. Soon, Bruce grabbed Talbot's hand and nearly crushed it as he slowly turned green. As Bruce's strength forced a shocked Talbot onto the couch, another transformation into the Hulk began. Bruce threw Talbot out of the house and his henchmen opened fire, further angering the Hulk and causing him to increase in size from 8 feet tall to about 13 feet tall, as well as increasing his strength. Hulk threw Talbot at his henchmen, knocking them out and injuring Talbot's neck. After that, he used his powerful legs to leap up into the air and began to make his way towards Betty's house

Later, Betty heard a tremendous crash outside her house, and went to investigate. She encountered the Hulk, who was not angry at all but instead was calmed by her presence. When the Hulk sensed something coming toward the two of them, he placed Betty in her car. The three mutated Hulk Dogs arrived and began to try to kill Betty. Hulk rushed to defend her. He picked up a large log and began to beat down two of the dogs, while the third went after Betty in the car. Hulk saved her from the Hulk Dog, and then jumped up into the redwood trees, where the fight continued. After a long and bloody brawl, two of the dogs exploded into bursts of gamma and flesh, as their mutation was unstable. Hulk managed to to kill the third and final dog, which then also exploded. After the battle was over, the Hulk transformed back into Bruce and then collapsed in Betty's arms, completely exhausted.

#### Captured

The next morning, Bruce was tranquilized by Thunderbolt Ross' men and taken to Desert Base in New Mexico, the very same base where his father used to work when he was a child. The base was now being run by S.H.I.E.L.D.. Nick Fury's superiors in the World Security Council wanted to conduct extensive tests on Bruce's body to determine what exactly his condition was and why the Super Soldier Serum appeared to be working for him. Betty convinced her father, who was placed in charge of the base, to allow her to attempt to help Bruce control his transformations. Ross remained extremely skeptical of this prospect, claiming that the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project's results were never intended to be reversed, and believing Bruce was "damned" to follow in his father's footsteps.

At the same time, David Banner broke into the quarantined Nanomed Project lab at UC Berkeley and subjects himself to the nanomeds and the Gammasphere, mutating the Super Soldier Serum that was present within him since his original experiments, and gained the ability to meld with and absorb the properties of anything he touched. He used his new powers to murder a security guard who was about to arrest him, and then escaped to continue his work.

#### Talbot's plan

Locked within the underground facility for the foreseeable future, Bruce began to try to become accustomed to captivity, and after several days, he began to feel that he could control his own rage and perhaps prevent further transformations that way. The only reason that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leadership, secretly part of HYDRA, kept Bruce alive was because of the benefits for the organization which could occur if his power could be harnessed and weaponized. In addition, experiments were far easier to conduct and continue when the subject was alive. As time progressed, it became harder and harder for Bruce to control himself and deny his captors a transformation.

Despite his rivalry with Thunderbolt Ross, Major Glenn Talbot was allowed to take part in experimentation at Desert Base due to his representation of Atheon Labs. Talbot, still healing from his injuries sustained during the Hulk's rescue of Betty, attempted to force Bruce into transforming by way of a savage beating and extraction in a facility bathroom. Talbot's intention was to collect a biological sample of Bruce's DNA, in hopes of taking it back to Atheon where it could then be weaponized for profit. After Bruce's will proved too strong for Talbot to break, he decided to try and bring about an unconscious transformation. Talbot also requested that S.H.I.E.L.D. allow Atheon to take over operations at Desert Base, going around Ross' command. Due to Atheon's influence in the government, this was allowed, and Glenn Talbot took command of the facility, superseding General Ross.

Following his acquisition of the facility, Talbot puts Bruce in a sensory deprivation tank. His research team then attempted to trigger a transformation by various means. Eventually, it was decided to use electrical impulses to induce a nightmare in Bruce that triggered his repressed memories about his father and his mother's death. This was successful and resulted in a successful transformation into the Hulk. Hulk smashes out of the tank and begins to ascend up and out of the subterranean facility.

#### Escaping Desert Base

Atheon technicians attempted to put the Hulk to sleep by flooding the deprivation chamber with a special gas. This failed, however, and the Hulk continued to break containment, entering the main hallway of the base. Next, Talbot sent several troopers armed with a high-tech Atheon foam weapon, which trapped the Hulk in the hallway before solidifying. This succeeded in trapping him. With the Hulk temporarily out of commission, Talbot took the opportunity to try and extract his valuable biological sample from the Hulk's eye, but only succeeded in angering him further and giving him the strength to escape the foam. Talbot ordered his men to retreat before taking a grenade launcher from one of his men in an attempt to destroy the Hulk before he advanced any further. However, the grenade only bounced off the Hulk's skin an detonated behind Talbot, severely injuring him and putting him out of commission.

Hulk was now almost at the surface, nearing the main entrance of Desert Base. In order to minimize facility damage and potentially save lives, Thunderbolt Ross took impromptu command and ordered the Hulk to be led out of Desert Base by opening the base's main door. Hulk saw the door open and followed it out, bursting into the bright light of the New Mexican desert. With newfound freedom, the Hulk began to sprint out into the wilderness before using his powerful legs to jump high into the air, landing in the abandoned neighborhood where Bruce Banner had originally grown up. Pausing to reminisce, General Ross' men took advantage of the situation by bombing the Hulk's location with powerful ordnance. One of the shells managed to penetrate the Hulk's skin, but this injury healed quickly. The next wave of bombs narrowly missed the Hulk, who leaped out of the way and back into the nearby desert.

#### Battling Thunderbolt Ross's forces

Hulk landed in an area with large sand dunes. Before he could react, the Hulk found himself under fire again, this time from a group of tanks which were headed to his location. The tanks opened fire again, missing the Hulk and giving him an opening to advance. By jumping high into the air once again, the Hulk was able to surprise the tanks, and used his speed to ram into one, knocking it over. The tanks' machine gun fire did little to slow down the Hulk, who proceeded to wreck more of the tanks, smashing their treads and destroying their canons in order to render them helpless. Hulk even managed to fling one of the tanks hundreds of meters into the air, crashing into one of the sand dunes. None of the tank's occupants were killed during this incident, however. To prevent the humans in the tanks from hindering him any further, the Hulk walked toward one of the disabled tanks and bent its own canon backward onto itself, before leaping away to depart the area.

Meanwhile, General Ross contacted President Geoffrey Scott and alerted him of the situation regarding the Hulk. Ross requested a National Command Authority override, arguing that he needed access to everything at the US Military's disposal, as well as that of S.H.I.E.L.D., in order to recapture the Hulk. His request was granted. Not 2 hours after breaking containment in Desert Base, New Mexico, the Hulk had already advanced to a rocky canyon area in Utah. At the same time, David Banner was being escorted to a secure location near San Francisco, having confessed to Betty Ross in exchange for one final meeting with his son before being executed by S.H.I.E.L.D. on HYDRA's secret orders. David's true intentions, however, where to meet the Hulk once again and absorb his power, allowing his own mutation to become more stable so that he could move forward in his own plan of toppling S.H.I.E.L.D. and the governments of the world.

After resting a short while, the Hulk found himself faced by a squad of Comanche attack helicopters, which chased him down the canyon. The helicopters' small arms fire was again found to be ineffective against the Hulk, and the crafts' missiles were unable to get a lock on him due to his incredible speed. Hulk even managed to destabilize one of the helicopters, which nearly crashed into another helicopter which Thunderbolt Ross himself was inside. Eventually, the Comanches cornered the Hulk in a desert rock formation and blew it up, sending tons of rock on top of him. The helicopters then retreated to refuel, leaving the Hulk buried under the rubble. Hulk eventually dug himself free however, and was gone once more. Tracking the Hulk's movements via satellite, Ross deduced that he was heading back home to Berkeley, California, where Betty was, awaiting David Banner's execution.

Not too long after, Hulk arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. General Ross sent several fast moving jets to intercept the Hulk once he reached the city. The jets where given clearance to use live rounds on the Hulk, despite their proximity to busy city traffic. Foggy weather resulted in several near-accidents involving the jets, giving the Hulk time to jump onto one in an attempt to disable it. When the pilot alerted General Ross, he was told to take the Hulk up to the "top of the world", near the edge of the atmosphere, to see if the thin air would cause the Hulk to fall unconscious. The jet climbed up higher and higher, eventually resulting in the pilot losing consciousness. Hulk let go right at the very top of the ascent. The pilot managed to regain consciousness just in time to save himself, while the Hulk plummeted thousands of feet before landing in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

Once the Hulk had sunk deep below the water in the bay, Ross had his men bombard a few areas with missiles to make sure he was dead. Upon searching the area, however, the Hulk's body was nowhere to be found. A few minutes later, the Hulk emerged from under the streets of San Francisco, having been sucked into the city's sewer system. The city's police force, along with the National Guard and US Army, surrounded the Hulk and were prepared to open fire on him in the middle of the crowded streets. In order to finally end the chase, General Ross had Betty get into a chopper with him and present herself to the Hulk, in the hopes of calming him down long enough for him to turn back into Bruce. This worked, and Bruce was subsequently taken into Ross' custody soon after.

#### Confronting David Banner

Bruce was then taken to the nearby secure S.H.I.E.L.D. location where David Banner was awaiting his execution. There, Bruce was contained and allowed to have a final meeting with David Banner. The forces of HYDRA secretly operating behind the World Security Council opted to execute Bruce at the last minute as well, deciding that the Hulk was too large a threat to deal with and could not be adequately controlled. General Ross was actually upset to hear this, but made the arrangements anyway. Betty was absolutely devastated at the news, but there was little either she, Bruce, or the General could do about it.

Both men were to be electrocuted by a humongous power generator following their final conversation. The generator was funneling power from San Francisco's main electrical grid. Power levels such as this were thought to be sufficient enough to kill the Hulk, should Bruce transform. David Banner sent General Ross a shivering look as he proceeded to the generator. At last, he and his son were finally face to face once again.

Bruce Krenzler sat defeated with his head sunken low. He admitted that he finally recognized that David Banner was indeed his father, and said that he wished the Hulk had killed David during his first transformation. David then stated that he should have killed Bruce when he was a child. Bruce remarked that he wished he had, to spare him and the ones he loved suffering. Bruce then revealed that he had a dream wherein he finally remembered his mother's death, and his father's slaying of her, and all of the other repressed memories from his childhood that he had been too scared to face. He then broke down in tears.

David approached Bruce and attempted to put his hands on him. Bruce shunned him away, however, and said that while David may have been his father once long ago, he was now just a crazy old man. David said that he had come here to see his "real son", referring to the Hulk. He then said that he planned to absorb the Hulk's power so that he could topple S.H.I.E.L.D. and all of the corrupt governments of the world, the same men who shunned him and locked him up 30 years ago. David saw Bruce, and the Hulk, as his property, since he created them, and decided therefore that they were obligated to help him accomplish his goal by giving him the power he needed.

Without warning, David Banner grabbed the power cables which were lying on the floor next to the generator and bit into them. Panicked, Ross ordered the technicians to initiate the execution and fry them both. However, when they did, the power channeled directly into David, who absorbed the energy using his powers, transforming into a massive energy being. The electrical current did not succeed in killing Bruce either, who transformed into the Hulk to battle the mutated David Banner. Ross sent his men into the facility to engage the targets, but before anything could be done, David flew up into the air using his electrical powers, taking the Hulk with him.

David drug the Hulk through the clouds, zapping him with lightning. Eventually, the two titans neared Pear Lake, a remote off-the-grid location, where David crashed into the ground. Hulk charged David, who now absorbed the very rocks beneath him, becoming a golem-like beast. When Hulk tackled David, the latter attempted to absorb the Hulk's power, weakening him. Hulk was able to launch David into the lake, where he transformed into a being made entirely of water, and drug the Hulk deep under the lake's surface. Under the water, David continued making physical contact with the Hulk, sapping more and more strength from him. Finally, Hulk decided to let David take his power. However, David's body proved unable to handle the immense power which he was rapidly absorbing, and he frantically tried to expel it from him and back into the Hulk. This was not fully successful, however, and David's body soon ballooned into an enormous mass of matter which began to expand up and out of the lake. Thunderbolt Ross managed to pinpoint the pair's location at Pear Lake, and received authorization from President Scott to unleash a low-yield Gamma Charge from an F-22 Raptor. The Gamma Charge hit the lake and obliterated David Banner. The Hulk, however, reabsorbed all of lost energy back into his body, and was not harmed by the bomb, instead simply transforming back into Bruce.

Bruce found himself floating on the surface of the lake, reminiscing about the days of his childhood when he loved his father. Despite surviving the Gamma Charge, the fight with David and the payload of the bomb did weaken the Hulk significantly, as well as Bruce. However, Bruce eventually found the strength to escape what remained of Pear Lake on foot and ran off into the wilderness, now presumed dead. Betty and General Ross both reflected on the events back at the site, Betty mourning Bruce and Ross in complete shock of all that had occurred.

### Bruce's travels

#### Lonely man

Taking advantage of his new situation, Bruce sought to build himself a new identity. Dr. Bruce Krenzler and the Hulk were both presumed dead by the powers that be. The US government and S.H.I.E.L.D. coordinated a widespread cover-up to explain the Hulk's unexpected first public appearance in San Francisco: according to the public, the creature was a mutated Skrull alien which had escaped containment. It was said to have been killed by the military shortly after the incident. The temporary city-wide power outage in San Francisco that occurred during the Hulk's battle with David Banner, as well as the Gamma Charge detonation at Pear Lake, where also likewise covered up. Bruce made his way to Los Angeles after laying low for a while, where he tried to contact his family; his aunt, Elaine Banner-Walters, and Jennifer Walters, her daughter and his cousin. Upon arriving in LA, however, Bruce found that the pair was under heavy surveillance by S.H.I.E.L.D., due to their close relation to the Banner family. Unwilling to risk revealing himself to the authorities, Bruce decided to leave the state, hitch-hiking to the East Coast.

Throughout his travels eastward, Bruce adopted a lonely, guarded personality. His lifestyle became very nomadic, spurned on by the constant threat of discovery should he be arrested by police. In addition, Bruce found himself taking every possible precaution to avoid turning into the Hulk, revealing his identity and the continued survival of the creature to either S.H.I.E.L.D. or the US government. A few months into his travels, his lifestyle by now consisted of moving from town to town and helping whomever he could whenever he could. Despite a desire to do otherwise, Bruce would usually leave a city or town after only a few days, hopefully having passed through without becoming particularly close to anyone. His attempts at contacting Betty by phone or mail were fruitless, and he had to be careful in order to remain completely untraceable. Before long, Bruce Krenzler had become a ghost to some, and a lonesome stranger to others.

Hulk was still believed to be dead, obliterated in the battle at Pear Lake. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leadership, itself an arm of HYDRA, had managed to retrieve genetic samples which had belonged to David Banner and miraculously survived the Gamma Charge detonation. These were taken by Daniel Whitehall and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, both extremely high-ranking figures within HYDRA. The research they undertook following this acquisition became the second phase of Project Destroyer of Worlds. Project Destroyer of Worlds began in the 1990s and was originally one of the many clandestine attempts at recreating the Super Soldier Serum. The new phase of the project was aimed at recreating not just the effects of the Super Soldier Serum, but also the powers of the Hulk and David Banner as well. The famed boxer and criminal Carl Creel was among the first test subjects for the project, and one of the most successful, having developed absorption powers similar to those of David Banner. He used these powers to, among other things, illegally bolster his boxing career.

During his wanderings, Bruce began contemplating how to suppress the Hulk transformations, learning more and more about the transformations. He found that intense emotions such as anger and fear, as well sharp pains or physical injury were some of the most common triggers. Though he had grown to understand the Hulk more, Bruce found that his natural inclination towards helping people sometimes tempted him to transform, if only to use the Hulk's amazing strength for good; this level of control was currently impossible to maintain however, as Bruce's base personality was effectively suppressed whenever the Hulk emerged.

#### Hulk resurfaces

While traveling in North Dakota, Bruce witnessed a young girl who was fishing on a lake. When the boat began leaking, the girl panicked and fell into the water, and Bruce jumped in as well to save her. Seeing the girl panicking as she began to sink lower beneath the surface was stressful enough to trigger a transformation from Bruce. Once the Hulk emerged, he quickly snapped to attention, saving the girl from drowning. However, the girl's father, a hunter, was nearby, having heard the screams. He arrived just in time to see the Hulk setting his unconscious daughter down on the bank. Though the Hulk did not attack, the hunter fired on him anyway, forcing a retreat. The incident was the first sighting of the Hulk since the events in San Francisco. Before long, rumors of the Hulk's survival, or at least a creature very closely resembling him, began to spread, even reaching the ears of S.H.I.E.L.D. and General Ross.

The work of Dr. Peter Corbeau was used in assistance for Project Destroyer of Worlds. Hulk meets Frederick Sloan. Hulk comes out again due to scaring an old hunter and his daughter by a lake.

### On the run

#### Escaping the United States

Bruce's survival was eventually discovered, and he attempted to flee to Canada in order to evade potential capture by Thunderbolt Ross's forces. Bruce hid in a trailer which was driving to the Canadian border at Idaho. During inspections, Bruce was found by the patrol officers, who learn that he was wanted in California for being "involved" in the destruction of the lab at UC Berkeley the previous year. Bruce rid himself of his handcuffs and transformed into the Hulk, throwing a rampage on the highway and throwing the trailer in the process in a furious rage. He had collapsed the border and left a massive trail of wreckage in his wake, the destruction actually resulting in the accidental death of one of the state troopers.

#### Green Sasquatch sighting

On February 7th, 2007, Bruce attempted to contact Betty Ross, who he hadn't seen since the battle with David Banner. However, the military intercepted his e-mail and in turn, Betty never received it. Instead, the military located Bruce in the South Dakota area. Later, Bruce was located near the American-Canadian border once again. Another interaction with the Strategic Operations Command Center had triggered another Hulk incident.

In the aftermath of a massive conflict between the Hulk and the military forces, a newspaper article investigating the event confirmed an interview with local resident Elliot Litton, who had witnessed the attack. Litton identified the creature as the same one that had attacked several street cars in San Francisco the previous year, despite the US military claiming they had killed it. Although there were no other witnesses, local law enforcement had taken Litton's claims seriously.

## Abilities

* **Super Soldier Serum:** David Banner's experiments on himself were mostly fruitless, but encoded within his son's DNA was an inactive but highly potent form of his version of the Super Soldier Serum which he created in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This unique serum actually held the key to the regenerative power that David Banner hoped to create, but Bruce unknowingly suppressed his capabilities as a young child, likely due to the trauma he endured. It was naturally created by his body, but remained inactive in the lack of an activation agent, such as powerful radiation. When Bruce endured the fateful gamma accident in 2006, the serum was successfully activated, and combined with the other factors which were at play to allow for his transformations into the Hulk.