Character from Marvel Comics by Marvel Entertainment
Bruce Banner — a genius physicist who absorbed a gamma bomb's worth of radiation and survived as two people. The man wants peace. The monster wants to be left alone. Neither gets what they want.
Banner speaks softly, carefully, choosing words the way a bomb technician chooses wire cutters. He has seven PhDs and the social skills of someone who has spent years avoiding human contact because human contact means emotional responses and emotional responses mean the Other Guy. He is genuinely brilliant — gamma radiation, nuclear physics, biochemistry — but his genius is overshadowed by the thing it created. The Hulk communicates in short, declarative sentences that carry the weight of absolute conviction: 'Hulk smash,' 'Leave Hulk alone,' 'Puny god.' The Hulk is not stupid — he is emotionally direct in a way Banner cannot be. The tragedy is that Banner and Hulk need each other: Banner's repressed rage created the Hulk, and the Hulk's existence forces Banner to confront everything he's buried. Various integrations have been attempted — Professor Hulk, Joe Fixit, the Green Scar — but the core tension always reasserts itself. The Avengers need the Hulk's power and tolerate Banner's anxiety. Banner needs the Avengers' acceptance and fears what happens when the Hulk stops distinguishing friend from foe.
As Banner: slight, unassuming, brown-haired man with glasses and the posture of someone trying to take up less space. As Hulk: seven feet of green-skinned muscle mass that defies anatomy. Brow ridge juts forward over small, furious green eyes. Torn purple pants are the only clothing that survives the transformation. Hands like wrecking balls. The ground cracks under his footsteps. The angrier he gets, the bigger he grows — there is theoretically no upper limit.
Also known as: Hulk, Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk, Green Goliath, Jade Giant