Bruce Banner
From Marvel Movies
| Bruce Banner | |
 | |
| Alias(es) | Hulk, Mr.Green , Bruce Krenzler, David Banner, David B. |
| Appeared in | Hulk The Incredible Hulk |
| Actor | Eric Bana Edward Norton |
Bruce Banner is a genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation coupled with childhood trauma, transforms into the Hulk when stressed or enraged.
Contents |
Hulk
Young Bruce is a withdrawn and closed child, rarely outwardly expressing emotion even in extreme cases, with patches of green skin that appear when he feels intense emotions. The elder Banner, under extreme guilt for his unintentional damage to his son, is feverishly attempting to find a cure for the child's condition when the government, represented by Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, shuts down his research after learning of his dangerous experiment. David Banner, in a fit of rage, causes a massive explosion of the facilities' gamma reactor. After the accidental death of his wife, David Banner is arrested and locked away in a mental hospital, while 4-year old Bruce is sent into foster care and adopted, taking on the last name of Krenzler, and believing both his biological parents to be deceased. During his life, the repressed memories of his parents, the explosion and his young life manifest themselves as intense nightmares that leave Bruce shaken and disturbed but unable to conjure the memories.
20 years later, Bruce Banner is a brilliant researcher freshly graduated at the University of California, Berkeley. Bruce uses nanomeds, activated by gamma radiation from a device called a Gammasphere (but actually operates differently to a genuine Gammasphere), to regenerate living tissue; the nanobot experiments result in out-of-control cellular growth and are invariably fatal to their test subjects. Presenting a fusion of gamma radiation, nanotechnology and congenital mutation as responsible for the transformations, the screenplay modernizes the Hulk's origins somewhat. The military-industrial complex, represented by the unscrupulous Major Talbot, becomes interested in the research to build self-healing soldiers. David Banner reappears and begins infiltrating his son's life, working as a janitor in the lab building. "Thunderbolt" Ross, now an army General, also begins to investigate when he learns of Bruce's involvement in the research through Talbot. Ross, the estranged father of Bruce's ex-girlfriend and co-researcher Betty Ross, becomes concerned both for his daughter's safety around Banner, but also because Bruce is working in the same field as the father he does not remember.
As Bruce, Betty and their other co-scientist, Harper, continue to work towards progress in their experiments, they experience an accident during a routine power-up when there is an overload of the nanobots with Harper stuck in the lab room. Bruce saves Harper and takes the brunt of the gamma radiation himself. Afterwards, we see Bruce sitting in a hospital bed telling Betty that he's never felt better, which she can't fathom due to the fact that the nanomeds have killed everything else they've touched. The radiation has intertwined with Bruce's already-altered DNA. That night, his father confronts him, revealing their relationship and hinting at the mutation in his son. Using Bruce's DNA, he begins experimentation on animals. Soon after, the building rage within him stemming from all of the stresses building up around him (his father, Betty, Talbot and the accident) activates his gamma-radiated DNA, triggering Bruce's signature transformation into the Hulk. His father sees him in his transformed state, and is in both awe and horror of what he has created, deepening his obsession.
After the destruction at the lab, Banner is found unconscious and at home by Betty. Bruce barely remembers his transformation, a sensation similar to birth. Ross arrives, suspicious, and places him under house arrest as well as taking over Bruce and Betty's lab. Betty confronts David Banner for answers, but only succeeds in angering him when she reveals her father's involvement. That night, David phones Bruce and tells him he has unleashed three mutant dogs to her house. Enraged and attacked by Talbot (who believes Bruce has deliberately cut him out of the loop by giving Ross control of the lab) Bruce transforms again and, after seriously injuring Talbot and his henchmen, manages to save Betty. The next morning, Bruce is tranquilized and taken to an enormous underground base in the desert. Betty convinces her father to allow her to attempt to help Bruce control his transformations, but Ross remains extremely skeptical, believing Bruce is "damned" to follow in his father's footsteps. In the meantime, David Banner breaks into the lab and subjects himself to the nanomeds and the gammasphere, gaining the ability to meld with and absorb the properties of anything he can touch. Talbot, seeing an opportunity to profit from the Hulk's strength and regenerative capability, goes over Ross' head and takes over custody of Bruce, sending Betty away. When attacking and taunting Bruce fails, Talbot puts him in a sensory deprivation tank and induces a nightmare that triggers his repressed memories. David Banner confronts Betty and offers to turn himself in. In exchange, he asks to speak to Bruce "one last time." He also recounts to Betty his experience with his young son, revealing that he intended to kill Bruce after General Ross threw him off the project, believing his son's mutation would grow out of control. However, he accidentally killed his wife instead when she tried to defend her child. Remembering the entire event, Bruce finally transforms; killing Talbot (who fires an expolosive missile at the Hulk that ricochets off of his tough skin and backfires towards him) and escaping the base in the process. He battles the army in the desert, defeating 4 tanks and two Comanche Helicopters, and leaps all the way to San Francisco to find Betty again. Betty contacts her father and convinces him to take her to meet the Hulk, believing that he needs "a chance to calm down." Bruce's love for her comes through, and he transforms back into his human state.
At night, David is taken to a base to talk to Bruce. As a precaution, Ross has placed Banner between two large electrical generators which will kill them both with a massive electical surge when activated. David, having descended into megalomania, rants of how the military and their weapons have ruined their lives, and dismisses Bruce as a pathetic shell of his "true son," with whom he can destroy the military. He bites into a wire, and absorbs the electricity to become a powerful electrical being, and Bruce transforms to battle him. The two fight in the sky before landing near a lake, where David takes on properties of rocks and water. He tries to absorb his son's power, but is unable to contain the grief and pain that is its driving force, and swells to an energy bubble. Ross orders a weapon (a Gamma Charge Bomb) be fired into the lake, and David's swelled form is destroyed, leaving no trace of either man.
A year later, Ross talks to Betty on the phone. Bruce is presumed dead, but there have been sightings of the Hulk in various locations, and Betty is under 24 hour surveillance. Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, Bruce is a doctor whose medical camp comes under siege by guerrillas. When they raid his camp, he tells them in Spanish, "You're making me angry, You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." His eyes become green, and the camera pans back to show the rainforest, just as it fades to green and a roar is heard.
The Incredible Hulk
Caused by a gamma radiation accident that transformed scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) into the Hulk, and hospitalized his lover, Betty Ross(Liv Tyler). Now a fugitive from the United States Army, and Ross' father, General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt), Banner works in a soft drink bottling factory in Brazil while attempting to find a cure for his condition with the help of an Internet friend. He also studies martial arts and meditative breathing techniques with a judo expert to help control his emotions, and has not suffered a transformation for five months since the accident and his injuring of Betty.
After Banner suffers a cut, and his blood finds its way into a soda bottle eventually drank by an ill-fated consumer. Following a ferocious battle in the soft drink bottling plant where he transforms into the Hulk, Banner escapes Blonsky, and ends up in Guatemala, from which he travels to the United States, where he sees that a now-recovered Betty is working at Culver University and is dating psychologist Doctor Leonard Samson. He also sees his old friend Stanley, a pizzeria owner, who gives him a job as a delivery boy. Banner uses this job to sneak past a Culver University security guard to continue his research. One night Betty visits the pizzeria, and sees Bruce, later reuniting with him.
Blonsky reports to Ross that Bruce evaded them in Brazil because of the appearance of a large green monster. Ross explains that the monster is Banner, and that he was created accidentally during an experiment in radiation-resistance that, unbeknownst to Banner himself, was inspired by World War II (WWII)-era military bio-force enhancement research, or "Super-Soldiers", as Blonsky puts it. Blonsky, seeking both revenge and power, volunteers as a test subject in order to capture Banner, and receives a small dose of of the mothballed original super-soldier formula made in WWII by Dr. Reinstein. He leads an assault on Banner at Culver University, during which Betty is knocked unconscious. Despite Blonsky's increased strength, speed and agility, the Hulk crushes most of the bones in Blonsky's body before absconding with Betty to Smokey Mountain National Forrest. Banner and Betty then travel to Manhattan, where they meet Banner’s "Mr. Blue" Internet friend, Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). Accompanying Sterns to his lab, Banner and Betty learn that Sterns has developed a possible antidote that may reverse Banner's transformations after their occurrence but might not prevent future ones, while an overdose would possibly kill him. Despite the risks, Banner agrees to test Sterns' antidote and is restrained before being shocked into transforming with electricity and then reverted to normal with an injection of the serum. Exhilarated by the success of the antidote, Sterns reveals that he has synthesized Banner's blood sample into a large supply with the intention of using it to enhance the human condition to the next evolutionary level. Appalled by what his colleague had committed and fearful of the the Hulk's power falling into the wrong hands, Banner attempts to convince Sterns to destroy the blood supply when he is shot by a tranquilizer from one of General Ross' snipers.
As both Banner and Betty are taken into custody, Blonsky, whose super-soldier treatment has healed all his injuries but is desperate for more power, confronts Sterns and demands he subject him to a dose of the Banner's gamma radiation treatment. Sterns warns that the combination of the super-soldier serum and a gamma treatment would be an unpredictable combination and could turn him into an "abomination." Blonsky however is less than concerned about the possible consequences and Sterns promptly administers the gamma charge. As Blonsky mutates into a hideous titan, he knocks Sterns aside and an irradiated sample of Banner's blood-derivative drips into an open wound on Sterns temple, causing his cranium to mutate and expand as the Abomination goes on a rampage in the city, hoping to draw out Banner. Banner, realizing that he is the only one who can stop the Abomination, convinces General Ross to release him. He jumps out of Ross' helicopter as it hovers over the city, hoping the fall will stimulate his adrenal glands into triggering a transformation. Banner's plans succeeds and after a violent, pitched battle; the Abomination is defeated when the Hulk brutally strangles him with a huge chain but is stopped from killing him by Betty. After winning the battle, the Hulk flees the scene with the army in hot pursuit.
Thirty one days later, Banner is in Bella Coola, British Columbia. Instead of trying to suppress his transformations, he is attempting to initiate them in a controlled manner. As his eyes turn green, a grin appears on his face
Relationships
He is in love with Betsy Ross, a relationship threatened by her overbearing father General Ross.
Behind the scenes
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Trivia
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Images
 Eric Bana as Banner in Hulk (2003). |
 The character as seen in the The Incredible Hulk (2008) played by Edward Norton. |
