Bruce was waiting in his office at the university when there was a gentle knock at his door and he turned around to see Bucky Barnes entering. “When my assistant told me that you were here, I almost told her to tell you that I was tied up in the lab,” Bruce admitted with a sigh. “But I also assume if Steve wanted us to assemble, he wouldn’t have sent you.” Fidgeting in his seat, Bruce tried to find words for how to proceed. “Uh -- so, should I be offering you a chair or the door?” Bruce then asked as he scratched his temple surreptitiously.
“No,” Bruce said after he stiffened slightly in surprise, having walked into his locked office and found Clint sitting in there. “Whatever it is, Barton, the answer is no.” He was shaking his head as he went to his desk and carefully sat down his keys and tablet. “Don’t tell me why you’re here, just go.” Bruce was frowning as he stood over the desk, anxious about sitting down with Clint there. He took his glasses off momentarily to spray them with cleaner and wipe them with a static and lint resistant cloth. He then sighed, never one to have patience. “What is it?”
is that MARK RUFFALO? no, that’s BRUCE BANNER. he used to be known as THE HULK but now he is just a RESEARCH PROFESSOR. if I’m not mistaken HE is FORTY-NINE and he was PRO the hero ban.
PERSONALITY
as Bruce Banner: Bruce is a highly intelligent and reserved person unless he knows he’s right in an argument, then his temper will usually get the best of him. Struggling with his anger has only become worse since the accident that created The Hulk. Normally, Bruce likes for his environment to be quiet and calm in order to control the unruly other-half of himself. Bruce also suffers from depression and suicidal tendencies. Sometimes, he’s even known to say that he would rather die than allow The Hulk (who he can’t control) to hurt anyone.
as The Hulk: The Hulk comes off as angry, mean, and even sarcastic, especially if he’s provoked. He’s convinced himself that he enjoys chaos and destruction because both are expected of him. In reality, The Hulk has a lot of the same emotions and struggles as Bruce, with one glaring difference: The Hulk loves being more powerful than others.
POWERS
as Bruce Banner: While physically weak and socially withdrawn, Bruce Banner is known as one of the most brilliant minds of his age. He’s collected PhDs like Halloween candy and the only thing that slows him down in a lab is worry about triggering The Hulk. He is wicked smart and knows it, which can make him insufferable when he believes he is right.
as The Hulk: The Hulk is a Goliath green humanoid that Bruce transforms into when he loses control of his emotions, especially anger. Hulk is strong, enormous, and resilient. It has been said this ability to grow and gain strength is limitless, especially with his increasing anger, which thrills The Hulk but terrifies Banner.
HISTORY
Robert Bruce Banner had a traumatic childhood that he locked away and repressed as an adult until an accident with a gamma-ray radiation bomb he was designing. Bruce saved others from the detonation and in turn, took the full blast of the bomb. It was believed he wouldn’t survive, but then The Hulk (coined by a soldier that was pursuing him in his mean and green form) emerged and created havoc in New Mexico where he worked.
At first, it was believed that The Hulk was manifesting at sundown, but later, it was discovered that Banner’s anger was what triggered the “monster.” At the time, Bruce was in love with his boss’ daughter Betty Ross and struggled with his jealousy setting off The Hulk. When Betty was married to another man, The Hulk went on a rampage and caused so much damage that the military tried to kill him. The Hulk ended up in Central America where he could roam without being attacked and eventually, he returned to being Bruce Banner. At this point, Banner became a recluse and focused on staying calm and never transforming again. That is until he was sought out by the would-be Avengers.
Though the deal that was presented to Banner was for Bruce to become part of the Avengers, he was smart enough to realize that they’d rather have The Hulk, an unstoppable force that could give their team a great advantage. Nevertheless, Banner helped co-found the Avengers along with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye under the direction of Nick Fury. By then, Banner had some control over himself when it came to transformation, but he was still a depressed man and eventually, many many years later, even The Hulk would refuse to fight with the Avengers for worry of destroying the world with his own hands.
When the hero ban was fresh in the world, the government made Bruce an offer: be the spokesman for the ban or be locked away forever. Reluctantly, Bruce agreed and he began speaking on the government’s behalf why mutant and metahumans were dangerous, something he believed himself because of his other half. After a while, the speeches that he was given became more and more hostile towards heroes and after an incident at a symposium in which Banner was attacked and The Hulk surged forward, he was caught and kept in isolation until he returned to his human state.
After the incident, he worked for the government on research into finding ways to stop mutants and metahumans for good. He designed the power dampener and was working on other tools since NOVA began using them in the field against his own kind. Eventually, he came to a crossroads when he had developed a device that could identify mutants and metahumans on sight. He fled the research facility with his work in-tow and hid with Tony Stark until he was ready to come forward and turn himself in.
With his research ready to be turned over, Bruce refused to work for the government any longer and made a deal to give the military the new device in order to be released from his contract and allowed to live in the City. Bruce knows what he did was not in the best interest of his comrades, but now that he’s allowed to live in peace and work at the university, he believes it was worth it.
The Hulk had been hiding out in the forest well-beyond Star City. Knowing that NOVA wanted him for Banner and for Hulk’s part in fighting the fires. It had been weeks and Hulk was now shrunken to the size of ten-foot Goliath. He was sitting between some trees, trying to sleep when he heard footsteps. Hulk readied to run, but then, he saw who it was. Reaching out to the person was enough to cue a transformation and Hulk’s body jerked before he fell to writhe on the ground. Eventually a very naked Bruce Banner was on the ground, at a total loss for how long he’d been Hulk or why he’d become Hulk in the first place. “Hello?” he croaked from the heap of leaves and underbrush he was laying upon and he looked around to see a person. “You wouldn’t happen to have an extra pair of pants would you?” he weakly asked with an even weaker smile.
Betty stick out her hand to touch Hulk. “That’s ok, big guy. You’re safe now” she told him with a small smile. Seeing him like this bring her some old memories, especially what happened in Harlem. She shake this thoughts away and look again at Hulk. She nodded. “Were you going somewhere, Hulk?”.
When she touched him, Hulk lost control of Banner. He staggered back into the woods as he shrunk down to the size of a man and collapsed on the ground. He was a very green Banner for several seconds before he looked up and he was back to being Bruce. Confused about why he wasn’t in Tony’s bunker and in some woods, Banner looked around and then he saw Betty Ross before losing his footing again.
Yelping, Bruce scrambled to get his overgrown pants under control and cover himself before he even tried to stand. “W-What are you doing here? You shouldn’t -- you shouldn’t be here. Star City isn’t safe, Betty.”
Betty heard about what happened in Star City and heard that the Hulk makes an “cameo” in the event. She didn’t know exactly where she was going, since she came out in Star City, she just wanted to know if Bruce, or Hulk, was fine. She heard some noises and turn her head seeing the familiar green guy. She step closer to him and being cautious. She could hear her heart beat. “Hey, big guy” she said looking at him and gave him a small smile. “It’s me, Betty”.
Days ago, Hulk had been the size of a skyscraper, rampaging through Star City to hide from those trying to trap him. Now, he’d shrunk to the height of a maturing tree, so he was calmer and could hide in the woods, which happened to be outside Tony Stark’s farm. It was daylight, so he was trying to hide and blend with the trees as he walked, looking for food. Then, he saw someone in the clearing up ahead. The voice... He was shrinking more as he got closer. “Hulk know...” he said as got close enough to the woman to look at her.
“Yeah, dude, let’s take care of business.” Gwen pat his shoulder twice. When he picked up the man from the rooftop, Gwen gestured at him to calm down. “How about we just put him down on the street? We’re not so sure this guy can swim.” I can’t swim! I can’t! Gwen nodded, waving at the guy to pipe down. Jesus, these people were so needy. Couldn’t he just be happy he’s getting saved? “Down there, big guy,” she said, pointing down towards the street.
Hulk was confused until she pointed to the street and then he nodded. He leaned down and carefully sat the struggling person on the ground. Hulk huffed when the person took off running and Hulk stood back up. “Hulk help more?” he asked the woman on his shoulder, not realizing they were being approached by NOVA agents as they worked.
“oh shit.” tony said as he saw the hulk beginning to act out over his hand, stepping on the back of the firetruck which sent a man flying. tony doubted that she man had wings so he quickly flew over to where he was and caught the other, bringing him back down to safety. “friday, we have a fire here, send in the iron legion to take it out.” tony said before looking back to where the hulk had been and saw him running off. “for gods sakes banner.” he mumbled to himself before following in the direction of the green man.
once tony had caught up with the other he powered up the thrusters in his suit before charging directly at his chest, hoping to stop the hulk from destroying anything else.
Hulk ran because he did not want to be captured again. He also ran because the bullets hurt, even if they were like paper cuts. Then, he saw Stark in front of him and flying at him, ramming into his chest. Hulk paused and then beat his chest with an angry roar.
Kon couldn’t just sit at home, otherwise he’d keep tearing up the house in frustration; so the male did the only reasonable thing – donned his shield-emblazoned long sleeve, tugged on his fingerless gloves and navy jeans and went to work. It wasn’t long before he picked up on the commotion of – yes, that was a giant, green man – leaping down the street towards a flaming building. The hybrid quickly followed suit, bounding through the air and landing next to the giant.
“Uh, whoa there.” He said, holding his hands up. “Here to help too, uh, Hulk?” He repeated the name the man – was it a man? – had given the firefighter. “Can we try to not bring the building down in the process?” He questioned as he watched the Hulk slam his fist through the wall to save the people inside. Crude, but effective, he had to admit. Kon shook his head and bound upwards, bursting himself through one of the windows higher up. Inside, he quickly maneuvered some fallen debris and motioned for an older woman to hold onto him before leaping back outside and setting her down once they landed.
Hulk was known for not considering consequences when he was helping. He simply smashed and waited to see if he would be shot at for it. When the puny human on the ground who was shouting to him suddenly jumping up into the window near Hulk’s face. Hulk moved forward to watch. He saw the man grab a woman and he moved as they came toward him. When Hulk saw that they were on the ground safe, he nodded.
“Hulk smash?” he asked, referring to the other windows, not realizing his intentions weren’t necessarily clear to the man on the ground.
“Wuh-oh.” It was the first thing Gwen thought (and the first thing she said) when she saw the giant green hero stomping around the area where the fires were raging. Jumping off a building and grabbing onto his shoulder, she spoke into his ear. “Hey there, big guy. You want to team up?” She knew that it probably wasn’t in her own self-interest to spring a surprise like that on the Hulk, but 1: she couldn’t resist teaming up with him an 2: even if he didn’t mean it, it would be too easy for him to hurt someone. She didn’t want to stand by and let that happen, let him take that guilt.
She pointed across the street. “You see that dude on top of the building over there? Let’s go help him out, huh?” Gwen’s hood dropped from her head and settled onto her shoulders as she balanced on one of Hulk’s massive shoulders, crouching perfectly upright on her toes.
Feeling something land on his shoulder, Hulk moved to swipe it off, but found it was a person in a suit who was talking to him. A woman who wanted to team up, actually, and Hulk eyed her before poking his own chest. “Hulk help,” he said. Looking to where she indicated, Hulk stepped across the street and reached out to grab the man standing on the building. Hulk then took the shouting man and held him up to the woman.
“Drop in water?” Hulk asked, indicating the pool he’d been tossing people into at what was actually a hotel next to the building on fire.
tony had quit being iron man. he had every intention on staying on the farm forever and not having to deal with any more problems but when the man was sitting on the couch and heard the familiar roar of a large green man he sighed softly. “here we go.” he said softly before standing up and walking outside, seeing a hole in the bunker room. “god dammit banner.” he mumbled to himself. “friday, locate the hulk.” he said before calling his suit to him and flying off to find him.
the man knew only snippets of what had been happening in the outside world but as he flew above the city he saw just how bad it had become. “holy shit.” he mumbled to himself. ‘sir, i have located the hulk he’s at the star city hotel.’ “thanks friday, oh also keep the iron legion on standby, this place looks like a warzone.” the man said to the AI in his suit.
as tony made his way to where reports of the hulk were he dropped himself down on the ground, looking up at the other he’d grown acquainted to. “hey big guy, need a hand?”
Hulk had his hand in the building when he heard a familiar voice as he pulled out a family who he was gentler about dropping into the pool. “HULK HELP!” he repeated, this time, stronger and he suddenly felt pain in his left arm. He pulled it away from the building and realized he was on fire. Hulk roared, which rattled the building and he stomped in a semicircle as he waved his arm to try to put out the flames. In the process, he stomped on the end of a firetruck which sent the man on the ladder flying as the truck itself was jacked around before falling over. But Hulk didn’t notice this. He was still waving his arm, slapping at the flames. And that’s when the helicopters started firing on him.
Roaring loud enough to shake the city, Hulk started to run away from the scene. Hulk wanted to help. But helicopters. He’d been told before not to attack them so he didn’t, but he kept running, smashing up the streets as he went.
Banner had tried to stay hidden at Tony’s bunker and not be discovered, keyword being “tried.” Hulk had seen the people burning on the TV. Hulk knew that he had to help. So, Hulk was trudging his way toward Star City and he had helicopters overhead as he walked. He expected them to start firing at him, but they didn’t, not yet anyway. Truth be told, Hulk knew they wanted Banner, though Banner was puny and weak. Banner had made a discovery that he hid, even from Hulk. Hulk didn’t like Banner. Hulk hated Banner for hiding things. So, Hulk did what he did best: smash.
Running when he got to the main streets, Hulk jumped over cars and small buildings and he started to grow bigger until he came to a building that was burning and shoved his hand through a wall to grab a screaming woman and then turned to drop her into the swimming pool of the hotel across the street. He grunted and repeated the process with a man and his dog this time. “Hulk help,” he said to the fireman on a ladder that couldn’t reach the top floors of the burning building.
“i’ve seen a lot of horrible things –– i don’t think some green monster would really scare me.” damian said as he looked over at the other. “honestly sounds like something out of a comic book.”
“Right,” Bruce said before staring at the kid. “And you are? How do you know me? Am I really a celebrity now?” Bruce shook his head. “Just don’t knock it until you’ve seen it, all right?”
“Yes!” MJ pointed at him in semi-dorky finger guns, cringing at her own corny gesture. “Exactly.” The statement made her grin. “He talks about me? Aw. We’ve known each other since we were kids. He’s… he’s real special.”
He smiled shyly at her enthusiasm. “I guess I don’t want to give the kid away, but yeah, he talks about you. He seems really proud of your theater work.” Bruce was just rattling off what he heard Peter and Tony talk about while he was in the lab.
