Bruce Banner (Earth-21399)

"I'll only warn you once, Creel: Don't piss me off. You wouldn't like me when I'm pissed off."

- Bruce Banner

Bruce Banner was a physicist, biologist and inventor, searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. But during his work, an accidental overdose of gamma radiation altered his body chemistry, and now, when Bruce Banner grows angry or outraged... a startling metamorphosis occurs. His creature, the Hulk, is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter as well as the United States military for murders he never committed. Bruce Banner is believed to be dead, and he must let the world think that he is dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him...

Early Life
Bruce Banner was born in Dayton, Ohio, to power plant technician Brian Banner and his wife, Rebekah Walters. Bruce's childhood was nowhere close to what could be considered healthy; though Rebekah, loved him as a mother should, Brian was an irascible drunkard who constantly abused his wife and child – often verbally and emotionally, sometimes physically. This was for one main reason: Brian was of the delusional belief that exposure to toxic chemicals at work had caused him to pass defective genes to his son – the fact that Bruce was actually possessed of a gifted intellect only seemed to confirm Brian's fears and reinforce his hatred of the boy. Furthermore, he was envious of Bruce for being the focus of Rebekah's attention and affections.

One day, after a particularly vitriolic outburst by Brian, Bruce's mother decided she had had enough; she told her husband that she was leaving him and taking the then-15-year-old Bruce with her. Brian was so furious that he attacked them both - this time with deadly intent. Bruce tried to fight back and protect his mother, but was ultimately overpowered and tossed aside, being forced to watch as Brian repeatedly bashed Rebekah's head against the coffee table, killing her. Bruce escaped his father's murderous wrath by locking himself in his room, then jumping out the window and hiding inside his neighbor's house. The neighbors promptly called the police and Brian was arrested. As he was being dragged away, Brian swore revenge against his son, calling him a weakling and vermin.

Bruce was later placed in the custody of his aunt Susanne in New Mexico, where he spent the rest of his high school years. Even after undergoing therapy, Bruce never truly recovered from his psychological trauma; to avoid ever having to become as violent as his father, he kept his negative emotions locked away in the subconscious part of his mind and avoided confrontation.

Education and Science Career
Bruce went on to graduate from high school as valedictorian, and then attended the University of New Mexico in pursuit of degrees in biochemistry and physics. During the later years of his education, he met fellow student Elizabeth "Betty" Ross, an army brat studying microbiology. The two quickly befriended each other and often worked together on projects, though Bruce kept his romantic affections for her unspoken. Eventually, however, Betty started dating Glenn Talbot, an officer in the Army whose boorish attitudes reminded Bruce too much of his father.

Bruce's thesis was on hysterical strength, a phenomenon in which ordinary people demonstrated seemingly superhuman strength when under pressure, commonly when a loved one is in danger. This was of personal importance to Bruce because he was still haunted by his inability to save his mother and the biting words his father spoke as he was dragged away, which left him always feeling weak. After months of research, however, the only links Bruce could find between the subjects of his study was a high adenine/thymine content in their DNA. This puzzled him, considering his own DNA tests showed higher adenine/thymine content than any of the other subjects.

Becoming the Hulk
At some point during the study period, Bruce was having lunch by himself in the university's library when he came across a history book detailing the life story of World War II hero Steven Rogers, better known as Captain America. Inspired by Rogers's story, Bruce theorized that what had been holding him back from accessing his potential strength was a lackluster adrenaline boost, and that he could unlock such dormant genes by using a similar enhancement process. Unfortunately, he didn't have the proper materials to work out his hypothesis, so he resorted to infiltrating the biology labs after hours and using the equipment there to continue his research, intent on replicating the Super Soldier enhancement process.

Working in secret over a period of two months, Bruce engineered a retrovirus to transmit the desired genes throughout his body. Then one night, impatient to test the theory, he infiltrated the radiology labs and subjected himself to a dosage of gamma radiation to activate the gene therapy. Unbeknownst to him at the time, the lab equipment had been upgraded and gave Banner a much greater dose of radiation than he had anticipated - even so, the experiment seemed to be a failure at first, since Banner never felt any stronger or weaker than he had before. Tired and dejected, Bruce left the lab, forgetting to retrieve his notes.

The next day, Betty and her classmates discovered Banner's secret notes in the radiology lab. They confronted him about it during closing time, during which Glenn Talbot appeared and antagonized Bruce further, threatening to bring the weight of the whole US Army down on the "rogue" scientist. In the course of their altercation, Talbot accidentally knocked over a shelf full of dangerous chemicals, causing a huge explosion that started a fire and in which Bruce was seriously injured.

The shock of the injury compounded by the anger he felt towards Talbot finally activated the virus inside Bruce's body, and he transformed into the monstrous, green-skinned Hulk for the first time - and this creature, a manifestation of Bruce's repressed emotions, both good and bad, came into the world confused and afraid. Talbot, terrified by Bruce's transformation, fled into the night. Meanwhile, the Hulk wandered the university, which was now engulfed in flames, until he found Betty unconscious beneath a pile of rubble. Using his superhuman strength, the Hulk cleared the debris off of her body and carried her out of the building, leaving her at the home of Bruce's psychologist, Leonard Samson, and then disappeared into the night.

On the Run
Bruce woke up the next morning atop Atalaya Mountain, draped only in torn jeans and with little recollection of the night before. After stealing clothes from someone's backyard and renting a room at a local motel, Banner picked up a local newspaper at a coffee shop and read the front page in horror: "Albuquerque University in ruins; "Incredible Hulk" kills two". The story was written by Rick Jones, an investigative reporter who had happened to be covering the university's research projects and had witnessed the Hulk leaving the burning campus with Betty Ross in his arms. Jones surmised that not only was the Hulk responsible for destroying the university, but that he had in fact killed Banner.

As a consequence of all of this, Bruce decided to go into hiding until he could find a way to cure or control the problems caused by his "Gamma Virus". After visiting an unconscious Betty Ross in the hospital to say goodbye, he picked up a taxi to the outskirts of town and then began hitchiking north.