Bruce Banner <WIP>
Dr Robert Bruce Banner
Dr Bruce Banner is a physicist, radiation expert, and a founding Avenger.
He was hired by General Ross to work on the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project. The aim of the project was to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum given to Steve Rogers, although due to the highly secretive nature of the project, the scientists working on it were told they were working on a treatment for radiation poisoning.
When an exposure to high levels of gamma radiation went awry, he became the first known Gamma Mutant. Unbeknownst to Banner (due to the amnesiac nature of the illness) he suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Rather than retaining control of the body, transformation forced a switch, putting Savage Hulk in control and making Bruce aware of Hulk, who he dubbed 'the Other Guy'.
After several years on the run from Ross, he was recruited by Tony Stark to assist in the hunt for Steve Rogers's body, and later, he was asked by S.H.I.E.L.D to assist them in tracking Loki during the Chitauri Invasion.
He is one of the longest serving Avengers, having been a member of the team consistently since the Chitauri Invasion.
During Hela's attempts to bring about Ragnarok, he was possessed by the Hammer of Nul, becoming the Breaker of Worlds.
Original Timeline
In the original timeline, he was recruited to the Avengers by Natasha Romanoff during the Chitauri Invasion. He was partially responsible for creating that timeline's Ultron. Following the Ultron Offensive, he chose to leave Earth, eventually ending up on Sakaar where Hulk worked as one of the Grandmaster's gladiators.He eventually left Sakaar with Thor and Valkyrie, joining the battle against Hela during the destruction of Asgard. When the ship carrying the Asgardian survivors was attacked by Thanos, Savage tried to fight him but was defeated.
He travelled to Earth to warn the Avengers about Thanos, and was part of the group which faced the Black Order in Wakanda.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Bruce is underweight, and suffers intermittent periods of stuggling to eat and sleep.
Physical quirks
Bruce is theoretically capable of transforming without switching, though he has never managed this. However when experiencing strong emotions, especially negative emotions, he can start to manifest symptoms of his mutation, such as his eyes or skin turning green.
Special abilities
Banner is a Gamma Mutate. At will, or when experiencing strong emotions, he can transform into a mutated form. His mutated form is more than a foot taller than his human form, which green skin and eyes and an unnaturally broad musculature. In this form, he possesses potentially unlimited Super-Strength, massively enhanced stamina and durability, and a regenerative Healing Factor.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Early Life
Due to his unusually high intelligence, Bruce's father believed he was abnormal. His verbal, physical and emotional of Bruce quickly expanded to including physical abuse of Bruce's mother when she tried to defend her son. This eventually culminated in David Banner murdering Bruce's mother in front of the young Bruce.Following the event, Bruce spent some time in a psychiatric in-patient facility, and thereafter was raised by his aunt Susan. Although a loving caregiver, she was not prepared for a child with the mental health problems and trauma Bruce had suffered, and so he did not recieve further psychiatric care after his time in the facility.
Despite his mental health struggles he succeeded in achieving high grades and winning sufficient scholarships to allow him to attend Pennsylvania State University, where he made his first real friend in his roommate Walter Langowski. After completing his undergraduate studies at Penn State, he moved to Harvard University to do his Doctorate, where he met and fell in love with Betty Ross.
After graduation, they were both able to obtain posts at Culver University, Bruce as a lecturer in nuclear physics, Betty as a bio-chemistry researcher. During that time, Banner co-authored a revolutionary paper on anti-electron collisions and gamma radiation. Bruce's father died during this time.
The Hulk
When the U.S. Army restarted Project Rebirth in the wake of September 11th, Bruce and Betty were both hired onto the project, due to Betty's father having been appointed to lead the project, although the full details of the project were not provided to the research staff. During an accident in the lab, Bruce became exposed to their experimental serum and high doses of Gamma radiation, resulting in him becoming the world's first Gamma Mutate.As a result of this first transformation, Savage Hulk destroyed the lab, injuring both Betty and her father and killing two researchers and a military officer.
After returning to human form with limited memories of what had happened, Bruce confronted Ross, who admitted the truth of what the project was researching. However, he also told him that his body was now military property, and that Ross intended to use Hulk as a weapon. Bruce was able to escape, but was now a fugitive with military and law enforcement hunting for him.
On the Run
While he initially remained in the U.S.A. after his former student at Culver, Rick Jones, was injured by the military, he detirmined he would need to leave the country.
During his journey to Canada, he encountered Nick Fury in a bar, who succeeded in talking him down from a transformation, proving to Fury that Hulk and Bruce were not as dangerous as Ross had been painting them.
Although a clash with border agents did lead to an incident, Bruce was able to get into Canada. He attempted to contact Betty via secure email at this time, but the emails were intercepted by the military who were monitoring her commuications. Realising that he would not be able to even email people, let alone see them, without putting them in danger, Bruce made the decision to end his own life. However, the attempt was unsuccessful in doing anything except triggering a transformation, during which Hulk triggered a minor avalanche.
Attempting to stay ahead of his pursuers, Bruce began to travel the world, seeking out possible cures. Realising the transformations were connected to emotional state and heart rate, Bruce studied meditation and experimented with traditional treatments for stress, high blood pressure, or over-active heart-rate. During this time he became aware of a cellular biologist who he believed might be qualified to help him, and the two begin a correspondence using the psuedonyms Mr Green and Mr Blue.
While in Paraguay, he recieved a message on the secure server he'd been using to contact Mr Blue from someone calling themselves Mr Red. Mr Red offered Bruce protection, but also intimated that he could track Bruce, leading to Bruce abandonning his laptop and fleeing to Brazil.
He lived in Rochina, one of the favellas of Rio de Janeiro. He studied breathing techniques with a Brazillian Ju-Jitsu master, and worked under the table at a soft-drink bottling plant. While repairing some of the machinery, he cut his hand, and a few drops of his blood fell into one of the bottles. When this bottle was shipped to America, the man who drank it fell sick with radiation poisoning, due to Bruce's irradiated blood.
This incident allowed the Hulkbusters to track him, and Ross sent a unit lead by Emil Blonsky to capture him. After a chase through the favella, he was forced to transform, but Hulk managed to escape.
Meeting Tony Stark
He found himself in Guatemala, with no memory of how Hulk had got there. Realising he had no options left, he called the number Mr Red had given him. Tony Stark answered, and immediately agreed to come and collect him.
Stark took Banner back to Pinnacle House. Banner lived with Tony for several weeks, beginning to assist Stark with his missions to locate Steve Rogers's plane. However, when he witnessed an argument between Stark and James Rhodes about the danger Bruce posed, he decided to return to his quest for a cure.
Returning to Culver
Before going to meet Mr Blue, Banner returned to Culver in order to retireve research he had left with his TA, Rick Jones. He stayed with an old friend, Stanley, who ran a pizza restaurant. Using pizza delivery as a cover, he was able to get onto campus and hack into Betty Ross's account, where he found that Jones has left the College, but had passed on the files to Ross before leaving. He also found that all digital records of their research has been destroyed.
Banner was caught by campus security before he could locate Ross's office, and escorted off the premises. Returning to Stanley's he encountered Ross and her boyfriend, Leonard Samson. Samson left them to catch up, but later realised that Ross's old friend was likely the same person as the wanted murdered who used to teach Physics, and he called the authorities, believing Ross to be in danger.
Ross revealed that she had saved copies of all their research prior to the military destroying it. They agreed that they would collect the papers from Ross's office the next day, and she would pay for Banner's transport to New York City to find Mr Blue.
They retrieved the research, but the Hulkbusters arrived. Hulk fought them, but Ross was injuring in the battle. Not knowing how else to protect her, Hulk picked her up and fled.
When Banner came too, he found they were miles from civilisation, and Ross had lost dangerous amounts of blood. With no other option, he gave her a transfusion of his blood, to try and keep her stable long enough for help to arrive, and called James Rhodes, who borrowed a Stark Industries helicopter to collect them.
He took them to Samuel Sterns's Lab in Harlem, where Sterns (the mysterious Mr Blue) was able to use the research notes to replicate the serum Banner had taken, saving Ross's life. Not wanting Ross's life to be destroyed the way his had been, Banner persuaded Sterns to give her his experimental cure, however this did not work, and in fact caused Ross to mutate even further.
Battling Abomination
Blonsky was able to locate Banner, and took Banner and Rhodes into custody, although Ross escaped. While the other Hulkbusters were processing their detainees, Blonsky persuaded Sterns to inject him with the same serum given to Ross, mutating him into the Abomination.
Realising weapons were ineffective against it, General Ross released Banner so that Hulk could attempt to subdue Abomination. It appeared Hulk would loose the fight, but Harpy returned and intervened, and between them they were able to kill the Abomination.
Stark, who had been in Puente Antiguo assisting Thor when Banner called him for help, arrived in the aftermarth of the battle with Clint Barton. Barton was able to prevent General Ross from taking Banner and his daughter but taking them into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, although Harpy chose to leave rather than go with them.
Commander Fury released Banner from custody, and he returned to Pinnacle House with Stark.
Finding Steve Rogers
Stark and Banner focussed on the hunt from Steve Rogers. Using Banner's expertise and some prototypes Howard Stark had kept in storage, they were able to isolate the radiation signiture of the HYDRA weapons which were in the plane when Rogers went into the ice.
By tracking this signiture, they were able to locate Rogers. Stark and Banner worked closely with medical experts and a team of archeologists (who had experience with defrosting organic matter preserved in ice) in order to defrost and revive Rogers.
The Chitauri Invasion
When Loki stole the Tesseract from the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, Banner was brought in by S.H.I.E.L.D. to assist in locating Loki, by tracking the energy signiture of the Tesseract.He remained on the Hellicarrier while Stark and Rogers retrieved Loki, but was present for Bobbi Morse's attack on the Hellicarrier and Loki's subseqent escpe.
Morse succeeded in triggering a Hulk-out, but Banner was able to regain control. However, a plane piloted by one of Morse's allies fired on Natasha Romanoff, forcing Banner to shield her. Being shot triggered a second hulk-out, and Hulk leapt out of the Hellicarrier in his attempts to get to the plane.
He survived the fall, and Rhodes collected him and took him to New York to join the other Avengers in combatting the Chitauri Invasion. Hulk fought in the battle, managing to bring down one of the Chitauri Leviathan single handed, and beating Loki into submission once the Chitauri mothership was destroyed.
Lecturing at UCLA
Despite Hulk's successes, Banner continued to search for a cure. He travelled to Los Angeles to confer with a former colleague, Geoffrey Crawford, who he believed might be able to help him.While Sterns was studying Banner's condition, an explosion in his laboratory resulted in Crawford becoming a Gamma Mutate. Before Banner could intervene, he was killed by an apparent Superhero team, the Alliance.
Suspicious of the team, Banner began to investigate them. He was assisted by Clint Barton, who had recognised one of the Alliance as his estranged brother, Barney Barton.
They tracked the Alliance to their Headquarters, where they discovered that the Alliance was being commanded by Samuel Sterns, who was dying after being exposed to Banner's blood when Abomination destroyed his lab.
Curing Sterns
Banner, feeling guilty for Sterns's condition, committed to try and save his life. After attempting to create a cure himself, he realised he needed the help of Betty Ross.After learning that she had not returned to Willowdale after the battle against Abomination, he and Barton tracked her to Nome, where they succeeded in persuading her to assist Banner.
Working together, Banner and Ross were able to save Sterns by completing, rather than curing, his transformation into a Gamma Mutate.
Los Angeles Incident
Unbeknownst to Banner, Sterns believed Gamma mutation was the next step in human evolution. Once he had access to Banner and Ross's stable serum, he had the Alliance plant bombs throughout Los Angeles, which aerosolised the serum on detonation, mutating anyone who breathed it in.
While Barton and the Alliance worked to protect people in the city, Ross and Banner raced against time to synthesis a cure. With the help of Helen Cho and the Chemistry students of UCLA, they were able to create a cure and means of distributing it.
Sterns, seeing the cure begin to take effect, deliberately exposed a group of people to the liquid version of the Serum, mutating them into the Horde. Banner was forced to transform into the Hulk to restrain it long enough for Barney Barton to administer the cure.
Ultron Offensive
Banner fought with the Avengers against Ultron. He was present in South Africa, when the Avengers intercepted Ulysses Klaue selling stolen Vibranium to the Maximoff twins. Wanda Maximoff attempted to trigger a hulk-out, but Stark had warned Banner that she would try, and he was able to keep control.Pietro Maximoff did succeed in triggering a hulk-out while the Avengers were in Madrid to rescue Toni Ho, who had been taken prisoner by Ultron. Clint Barton was able to use his close relationship with both Bruce and the Hulk to force a switch back to Bruce before Hulk could do much damage.
He also participated in the final battle against Ultron in Novi Grad.
Breaker of Worlds
When the Hammers of the Worthy landed on earth, it was initially believed that they only affected women, due to Natasha Romanoff, Jessica Jones, and Wanda Maximoff being the first of the Terran Worthy. Banner was therefore sent to investigate one of the unclaimed Hammers.The Hammers in fact affected people with trauma and anger problems, making Banner a perfect candidate. When he got within range, the Hammer of Nul compelled him to pick it up, transforming into the Breaker of Worlds.
Thor attempted to subdue Hulk, but when Hela arrived, he realised this was a distraction, and left in search of Mimir's Prophesy.
Hulk was one of the Worthy who fought the Avengers in Broxton. Even working together, the Avengers and their allies were not able to subdue him. However, before leaving to investigate the Hammer, he had given an experimental anti-Gamma arrow to Barton, but warned him that it was untested, and might kill any subject it was used on.
Seeing no other option, Barton used the arrow, which worked as intended. It temporarily absorbed the Gamma radiation which powers Banner's mutated form, reverting him to human. The effects proved to be temporary, and Banner was able to transform again within a few days.
Working with AIM
<Section in progress>Korvac War
<Section in progress>Secret Wars
<Section in progress>Infinity War
<Section in progress>Gender Identity
Because of the abuse he suffered as a child, bullying during school and college, and Hulk's hypermasculinity, Banner has extremely negative associations with maleness and masculinity. He has never explored his own gender identity in depth, but would likely identify as non-binary if he did.
Education
Banner did his undergraduate degree at Penn State university, majoring in physics. After graduation, he applied for and won a position to his post graduate and doctoral studies at Havard.
After becoming the Hulk, he expanded on his existing knowledge of bio-chemistry, eventually becoming a respected expert, and being granted an honorary Doctorate from Culver in recognition of his pioneering research.
Mental Trauma
As a result of verbal and physical abuse, and witnessing his mother's murder when he was four, Bruce has dissociative identity disorder and PTSD.
At the beginning of the revised timeline, he is only aware of himself and Hulk, although Devil Hulk and Joe Fixit do also exist without the other two being aware of them. Bruce is not initially aware that he has DID - due to the physical transformation, he views the "Other Guy" as something more like demonic possession, a totally alien entity which sometimes uses his body against his will. He has not yet made the connections between Hulk and his own childhood trauma, nor is he aware that Hulk is mentally a child.
Intellectual Characteristics
While unquestionable a genius, one of Bruce's failings is a tendency to reach conclusions first and try to find evidence to fit it. especially when it comes to Gamma Mutates. He is also unaware of his DID, and the associated amnesiac walls, or of his CPTSD, resulting in mental and emotional blindspots.
Morality & Philosophy
Bruce is a moral person, but due to his mental health issues and lack of role models for moral behaviour in his childhood, his moral reasoning can be imperfect. He also tends to jump to conclusions and assume the worst of people, which can impair his abiluty to accurately assess a situation.
Personality Characteristics
Personality Quirks
When he was younger, he had a lot of internalised homophobia, and in fact never came out to Betty, but since the advent of Hulk as a sepperate physical entity, he he decided being queer is the least of his problems and is now fairly relaxed about it.
However, despite having come to terms with his own attraction, he struggles to cope with the idea of other people being attracted to him, both because he considers both himself and his alters monsters and inherently unattractive, and also because of the (not unreasonable) concern that he could seriously hurt any romantic or sexual partner. The idea of actually having sex terrifies him to the point he has largely lost any libido he had, though he still experiences sexual attraction.
Social
Family Ties
A counsin, Jennifer, her parents, and the Aunt who raised him are Banner's only living relatives. Although he was close to Jennifer as a child, once he reached university he saw them only rarely, and after becoming a mutate he has not contacted any of them.
Social Aptitude
Banner believes himself to be more awkward than he actually is, due to his low self-esteem. As a result, he's frequently astonished that people he spends a lot of time with end up liking him.
Relationships
History
Although Rhodey is initially afraid the Bruce's presence would put Tony in danger, they bonded during the revised version of Hulk, and became good friends.
History
Bruce was expecting Pepper to hate him, and hate having him around, and was pleased but bemused when she accepted his presence with apparently very little shock.
She was one of the first people to know about his DID, and immediately researched things she could do to help him, which he mostly found baffling, but appreciated the effort all the same.
Pepper thinks Bruce is adorable, and was a little bit disappointed that he fell for Clint before she and Tony ever had a threesome with him. They regularly team up to force Tony into doing things like eating and sleeping, and Bruce is only slightly resentful of the fact that Tony and Pepper also do the same to him.
History
Sterns considers Bruce to be his rival, the one person worthy of his genius. Bruce is grateful that Sterns was willing to try and help him, but believed it to me mainly out of scientific curiosity. After Betty's transformation, he barely ever thought of Sterns.
History
Ross considered Bruce useful but pathetic, and unworthy of Betty, untill the accident. It took almost no time for him to begin thinking of him as less than Bruce. Bruce considered Ross uncomfortably similar to his own father, and Ross hunting him to the ends of the earth has only cemented that view.
History
Bruce and Savage Hulk do eventually learn to work together, but they never stop resenting each other, Bruce because of the destruction Hulk has caused, Hulk because he sees Bruce as his jailer.
History
Although initially deeply suspicious of one another - Bruce because of Natasha's spycraft, Natasha because of Bruce being a gamma mutate - their connections to Clint lead to them becomming friends. Once they began spending time together, they realised they had a lot in common, and Natasha is one of the first people to understand and accept that Bruce and Savage Hulk are two different people, and she is one of the only people to have met Devil Hulk, though he didn't give her a name.
History
Bruce never had a chance to truely know his mother, as she was killed when he was a child. As an adult, he struggles guilt because a part of him blames her for not leaving Brian, or doing more to protect Bruce from his abuse, although he knows academically that trying to leave would probably always have ended the same way.
History
Bruce enjoys the light-heartedness Scott brings to the Avengers, although it takes a few missions before he trusts that Scott isn't going to do something that will accidentially trigger a switch. Scott respects and is a little intimidated by Bruce, but appreciates that he's willing to play the straight man when it'll be funny.
History
Bruce and Steve don't get one another, and probably never will, but they respect one another and have learned to work together for the sake of the Avengers and their mutual friends.
Species
Conditions
Ethnicity
Professions
Date of Birth
18th December 1969
Year of Birth
1969 CE
49 Years old
Birthplace
Dayton, Ohio
Family
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Pronouns
He/him
Gender
Male
Weight
9stone
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Related Plots
English (native), ASL (learner), Spanish (limited), Portugese (limited), Russian (limited)
Ruled Locations
