Post by Dr. Robert Bruce Banner on Mar 16, 2007 10:28:09 GMT -5
Full Name: Robert Bruce Banner
Code Name: The Hulk
Former Aliases: Annihilator, Captain Universe, Joe Fixit, Mechano, Professor, War, Maestro, Green Goliath, Green Scar
Identity: Publicly known; it is not publicly known that Joe Fixit was the Hulk
Age: 34
Height: (Banner) 5'9" (Green) 7' (Grey) 6'6"
Weight: (Banner) 128 lbs (58 kg) (Green) 1040 lbs (473 kg) (Grey) 900 lbs (409 kg)
Hair: (Banner) brown (Green) green (Grey) black
Eyes: (Banner) brown (Green) green (Grey) grey
Sex: Male
Citizenship: Slave of the Empire; formerly citizen of United States of America with a criminal record previously pardoned
Place of Birth: Dayton, Ohio
Education: PhD in nuclear physics
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Betty Ross Talbot Banner (wife), Brian Banner (father, deceased), Rebecca Banner (mother, deceased), Morris Walters (uncle), Elaine Banner Walters (aunt, deceased), Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk, cousin), Thaddeus E. Ross (father-in-law), Mrs. Drake (aunt, possibly deceased)
Occupation: Nuclear physicist
Area of Operation: (Banner) Hulkbuster Base, New Mexico, (Hulk) mobile, but prefers New Mexico
Group Affiliation: Defenders; former member of the Avengers, an alternate Fantastic Four (Ghost Rider [Dan Ketch], Spider-Man, Wolverine), Pantheon, Titans Three, the Hulkbusters of Counter-Earth-Franklin and the Order (as the Hulk); former member of the Hulkbusters (as Banner)
Known Powers: The Hulk possesses the capacity for nearly limitless physical strength, making him perhaps the strongest mortal being to ever walk the Earth. The gamma radiation that mutated the Hulk's body fortified his cellular structure and added, from some as yet unknown source, over 800 pounds of bone marrow and tissue to his body. The mutation is not a stable one, and what causes it or the outcome of it differs with time. When Hulk reverts to the human form of Bruce Banner, he loses the extra mass and energy to the same as yet unknown source from which he derived it. At the time of the initial mutation, nightfall appeared to trigger the transformation into the Hulk. Later, a machine that projected a measured dose of gamma rays triggered the change.
Then, the transformation into the Hulk was determined by Banner's emotional state. That has been the most common cause to trigger the change. Later, Banner was able to trigger the change at will, and control the Hulk's form. But this eventually cause the Hulk persona to totally take control. Later, Dr. Leonard Samson was able to separate the Hulk and Banner into two discrete beings. But this separation proved almost fatal so Samson merged them again. Banner started to revert at nightfall to the Gray Hulk. Then, through psychoanalysis, Samson seemed to "merge" Banner, the Green Hulk, and the Gray Hulk into one persona known as the Professor. Then it was revealed that this incarnation was one of many Hulk personas that live in Banner's psyche. Bruce Banner now dominates the Hulk persona, having the Hulk's might in his human appearance. But the transformation factors and outcomes will surely keep on... changing.
The process by which Banner transforms into the Hulk has a chemical catalyst, adrenaline. As in normal humans, Banner's adrenal medulla secrets large amounts of adrenaline in times of fear, range, or stress, which hormonally stimulates the heartbeat rate, raises blood-sugar levels, and inhibits sensations of fatigue. Whereas this secretion simply heightens normal physical abilities in normal human beings, in Banner's case it triggers the complex chemical/extra-physical process that transforms him into the Hulk. The total transformation took from 25 seconds to as long as 5 minutes, depending on the initial adrenaline surge which is determined by the original, external stimulus. Soon after the transformation, the amount of adrenaline in the Hulk would return to more normal, reduced levels.
In times of stress the Hulk's adrenaline level escalates, causing a corresponding escalation in strength. This is not accompanied by an additional gain in mass, but does appear to promote increased levels of energy efficiency. To date the Hulk has never apparently been provoked into demonstrating a maximum output of strength; hence, its upper limit remains a mystery.
In addition to great strength, the Hulk's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, pain, and disease. The Hulk's skin is capable of withstanding great heat without blistering, up to 3,000° Fahrenheit, great cold without freezing down to -190° F, and great impacts, he can survive direct hits by field artillery cannon shells. It is possible to injure him: he could not, for example, survive a near-hit with a nuclear warhead. The Hulk's highly efficient physiology renders him immune to all terrestrial disease.
The Hulk can use his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Hulk has been known to cover three miles in a single bound.
The Hulk has two powers apparently not related to his physical attributes, he can see astral forms, and he has a homing ability that enables him to locate the area in New Mexico where he first became the Hulk. The nature of the first ability is not yet known, but the nature of the second one is due to being called by the remains of the Maestro, a future version of the Hulk, who died in ground zero when the G-Bomb that originated the Hulk, was detonated.
The Hulk's body also has a gland that makes an "oxygenated per fluorocarbon emulsion", which creates pressure in the Hulk's lungs and effectively lets him breath underwater and move quickly between varying depths without concerns about decompression or nitrogen narcosis.
Hulk has shown a limited ability to manipulate forms of energy, most particularly gamma radiation and the ability to physically grab beings composed of energy that do not have phyiscal bodies.
The Hulk can regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with far greater efficiency than an ordinary human. His healing powers, much like his physical strength and resistance to injury, increase during periods of heightened emotional stress. He fully regenerates the destroyed tissue within a few moments of concentration.
And last but not least the Hulk can not get drunk, no matter how hard he may try to do so.
Like the Hulk's strength he's abilities increase when as he gets angrier, his strength increases, he becomes more durable, his healing factor gets faster & he can jump greater distances, making him one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
Abilities: Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test. When Banner is the Hulk, Banner's consciousness is buried within the Hulk's, and can influence the Hulk's behavior only to a very limited extent.
History: Robert Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic scientist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated the child. Possibly an alcoholic, Brian Banner was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian Banner believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son. Robert Bruce Banner was born in Dayton, Ohio, to Dr. Brian and Rebecca Banner. As a child, Bruce was abused by his alcoholic father, who killed his wife when she and Bruce tried to escape from one of his drunken rages. Later, Bruce was raised by his aunt Susan when his father became institutionalized. Burying his emotions throughout his childhood, Banner had developed over time a deep and repressive personality. A genius in nuclear physics, Robert Bruce Banner went to work for the United States Defense Department nuclear research facility at Desert Base, New Mexico. There, Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and Ross' daughter Betty. Banner and Betty Ross eventually fell in love with each other. Banner designed and oversaw the construction of the "gamma bomb" or "G-bomb," a nuclear weapon that had a high gamma radiation output.
At one point, Bruce's father was released from his mental facility. Reluctantly Bruce agreed to let his father live with him, although he again acted belligerently towards Bruce. On the anniversary of his mother's death, Bruce visited her grave but was attacked by his father. Fighting back, Bruce accidentally killed his father by causing him to fall and crack his skull on Rebecca's tombstone. Bruce repressed the memory of his actions and the police dismissed the death as a random mugging. Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground trial detonation of the gamma bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to get the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing. He was confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench. Before Banner could get himself to safety, the gamma-bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation hit the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly-charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to transform frequently into the vastly powerful, green-skinned, humanoid monster named "the Hulk" by the military present at the test site. Banner would forever be changed by such an event. Unleashing a creature that’s been their since childhood, only surpassed, by his bottling of his emotions. He would become to be known as a wanted man, feared and hated, and forever perused, in efforts to destroy him once and for all. At the same time Banner became attached to Betty Ross, whom is the only one, or if someone reminds him Of Betty, that can calm Banner down after he has transformed.
At first, Banner would change into the Hulk at sunset and at first the Hulk was gray not green, later taking on a green color, when the transformations became more frequent. Due to the gamma radiation running through his entire body. Always reverting to Banner at dawn. However, Banner's body eventually changed so that his transformations into the Hulk were triggered by the release of adrenaline when he became intensely excited, no matter what time of day or night it was. Seldom did the Hulk ever possess Banners memory or intelligence, easily enraged, not so easy calmed. The creature, this brute known to the world as the Hulk was a menace; always hunted by General Ross, and the likes of Major Glenn Talbot. Always haunted by the brute military--that aimed to destroy the Hulk. Like wise Banner shared an extreme hatred for the Hulk, as the Hulk shared a hate for Banner. Banner aimed to rid himself of the Hulk time and time again, always seeming to fail. For a surprisingly long time Banner managed to conceal the fact that he was the Hulk, but his secret inevitably became public knowledge. For years Banner wandered the world as a hunted fugitive, cursed by his recurring transformations into the bestial Hulk. Terrified of the destruction that lay in his wake. Banner spent his early child-hood living with his aunt whom was found of Bruce.
Banner came to L.A where he went to visit Jennifer Walters, a lawyer, and a pretty damn good one at that. She was working a case defending a hood named Lou Monkton, whom gangster Nicholas Trask had framed for murder. The two were having a worth while time catching up. While Walters drove Banner to her home, one of Trask's henchmen shot her. To save his cousin's life, Banner improvised an emergency blood transfusion. The transfusion of Banner's mutated blood mutated Walters herself, causing her to become the She-Hulk. Banner now had reason to find both of them a cure. Finally, scientist Leonard "Doc" Samson captured the Hulk and succeeded through unknown means in separating Banner's psyche and atomic structure from the larger atomic structure of the Hulk. The Hulk's body, now with all personality and memory removed, was inert until Leonard Samson stimulated the brain within the body. This new Hulk escaped and became a greater menace than ever before. Banner became leader of a new government task force to capture the Hulk, called the new Hulkbusters. Banner also finally married Betty Ross, believing himself free of the curse of turning into the Hulk.
During the honeymoon, Bruce became gravely ill and was hospitalized. Due to his separation from the body of the Hulk, Bruce's body began to lose molecular cohesion. The Hulk's body soon followed suit and he was defeated by the Avengers. Realizing there was only one way to save her husband, Betty pleaded with the Avengers not to kill the Hulk. With the aid of the synthezoid Vision, Bruce was re-merged with the Hulk. With Bruce's psyche once more in the body of the Hulk, the original Hulk persona assumed control of the body. However the reintegration was unstable and an attempt to stabilize and possibly cure Bruce resulted in the Hulk returning to his original gray color and Rick Jones being cursed to become a Hulk-like creature for a short time. When the Leader detonated a gamma bomb with the Hulk at ground zero, the Hulk was assumed to be dead. In reality, he had been transported to Jarella's world moments before the detonation. On Jarella's world, the Hulk helped a group of minor wizards to overthrow the "Grand Inquisitor" in return for a spell which was promised to rid him of Bruce Banner for good. When the Hulk returned to Earth, he was given a job as an enforcer for a casino owner named Michael Berengetti. Calling himself Mr. Fixit, the Hulk spent several months without reverting to human form. It was during this time that he met and dated Marlo Chandler, who would later marry Rick Jones. Banner eventually returned and the Hulk's life as Mr. Fixit soon came to an end. Shortly thereafter, the savage Hulk persona resurfaced and Bruce's psyche was in turmoil. Through hypnosis, Samson created the green intelligent "Professor" Hulk - believed at the time to be the integration of Banner's separate personalities, but since revealed as a new persona the psychiatrist crafted to help keep the monster's destructive powers in check. Due to the deteriorating effects of ALS and the chaos ravaging his mindscape, Banner cut a deal with the three dominant Hulk personalities - the green Hulk, the grey "Joe Fixit" Hulk and the "Professor" Hulk - essentially to time-share their existence, in return for stabilizing his fractured psyche and providing him with release from his disease. The Leader provided the means to cure Bruce. The original Defenders reluctantly re-formed when Yandroth surfaced again to menace the world. Though the heroes defeated his plan, Yandroth used his sorcery to levy a deathbed curse upon their heads, binding them to come together in times of crisis.
After the events of the M-Day, Banner sought refugee and peace in Alaska, where he lived as a hermit loosely connected to the town community. He was eventually tracked down by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., who required his help in defeating the Hydra space weapon called the Godseye which could detonate all the nuclear bombs in the world. Sent up as the Hulk, he discovered that the Godseye was actually a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that could match the strength of any enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Godseye found that though it could try, it could not match the increasing power of the Hulk, and it exploded. A S.H.I.E.L.D. commissioned space shuttle was sent to retrieve the Hulk, or so he believed. Seizing the opportunity to be rid of the Hulk, a group of superheroes known as the Illuminati decided to jettison the shuttle into space, to a planet with no intelligent lifeforms. Unfortunately, there was a navigation error, and the Hulk landed on Planet Sakaar, a planet full of barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled over by a corrupt empire. The planet was situated near a portal, which gave it access to several different cultures and technologies.
Code Name: The Hulk
Former Aliases: Annihilator, Captain Universe, Joe Fixit, Mechano, Professor, War, Maestro, Green Goliath, Green Scar
Identity: Publicly known; it is not publicly known that Joe Fixit was the Hulk
Age: 34
Height: (Banner) 5'9" (Green) 7' (Grey) 6'6"
Weight: (Banner) 128 lbs (58 kg) (Green) 1040 lbs (473 kg) (Grey) 900 lbs (409 kg)
Hair: (Banner) brown (Green) green (Grey) black
Eyes: (Banner) brown (Green) green (Grey) grey
Sex: Male
Citizenship: Slave of the Empire; formerly citizen of United States of America with a criminal record previously pardoned
Place of Birth: Dayton, Ohio
Education: PhD in nuclear physics
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Betty Ross Talbot Banner (wife), Brian Banner (father, deceased), Rebecca Banner (mother, deceased), Morris Walters (uncle), Elaine Banner Walters (aunt, deceased), Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk, cousin), Thaddeus E. Ross (father-in-law), Mrs. Drake (aunt, possibly deceased)
Occupation: Nuclear physicist
Area of Operation: (Banner) Hulkbuster Base, New Mexico, (Hulk) mobile, but prefers New Mexico
Group Affiliation: Defenders; former member of the Avengers, an alternate Fantastic Four (Ghost Rider [Dan Ketch], Spider-Man, Wolverine), Pantheon, Titans Three, the Hulkbusters of Counter-Earth-Franklin and the Order (as the Hulk); former member of the Hulkbusters (as Banner)
Known Powers: The Hulk possesses the capacity for nearly limitless physical strength, making him perhaps the strongest mortal being to ever walk the Earth. The gamma radiation that mutated the Hulk's body fortified his cellular structure and added, from some as yet unknown source, over 800 pounds of bone marrow and tissue to his body. The mutation is not a stable one, and what causes it or the outcome of it differs with time. When Hulk reverts to the human form of Bruce Banner, he loses the extra mass and energy to the same as yet unknown source from which he derived it. At the time of the initial mutation, nightfall appeared to trigger the transformation into the Hulk. Later, a machine that projected a measured dose of gamma rays triggered the change.
Then, the transformation into the Hulk was determined by Banner's emotional state. That has been the most common cause to trigger the change. Later, Banner was able to trigger the change at will, and control the Hulk's form. But this eventually cause the Hulk persona to totally take control. Later, Dr. Leonard Samson was able to separate the Hulk and Banner into two discrete beings. But this separation proved almost fatal so Samson merged them again. Banner started to revert at nightfall to the Gray Hulk. Then, through psychoanalysis, Samson seemed to "merge" Banner, the Green Hulk, and the Gray Hulk into one persona known as the Professor. Then it was revealed that this incarnation was one of many Hulk personas that live in Banner's psyche. Bruce Banner now dominates the Hulk persona, having the Hulk's might in his human appearance. But the transformation factors and outcomes will surely keep on... changing.
The process by which Banner transforms into the Hulk has a chemical catalyst, adrenaline. As in normal humans, Banner's adrenal medulla secrets large amounts of adrenaline in times of fear, range, or stress, which hormonally stimulates the heartbeat rate, raises blood-sugar levels, and inhibits sensations of fatigue. Whereas this secretion simply heightens normal physical abilities in normal human beings, in Banner's case it triggers the complex chemical/extra-physical process that transforms him into the Hulk. The total transformation took from 25 seconds to as long as 5 minutes, depending on the initial adrenaline surge which is determined by the original, external stimulus. Soon after the transformation, the amount of adrenaline in the Hulk would return to more normal, reduced levels.
In times of stress the Hulk's adrenaline level escalates, causing a corresponding escalation in strength. This is not accompanied by an additional gain in mass, but does appear to promote increased levels of energy efficiency. To date the Hulk has never apparently been provoked into demonstrating a maximum output of strength; hence, its upper limit remains a mystery.
In addition to great strength, the Hulk's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, pain, and disease. The Hulk's skin is capable of withstanding great heat without blistering, up to 3,000° Fahrenheit, great cold without freezing down to -190° F, and great impacts, he can survive direct hits by field artillery cannon shells. It is possible to injure him: he could not, for example, survive a near-hit with a nuclear warhead. The Hulk's highly efficient physiology renders him immune to all terrestrial disease.
The Hulk can use his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Hulk has been known to cover three miles in a single bound.
The Hulk has two powers apparently not related to his physical attributes, he can see astral forms, and he has a homing ability that enables him to locate the area in New Mexico where he first became the Hulk. The nature of the first ability is not yet known, but the nature of the second one is due to being called by the remains of the Maestro, a future version of the Hulk, who died in ground zero when the G-Bomb that originated the Hulk, was detonated.
The Hulk's body also has a gland that makes an "oxygenated per fluorocarbon emulsion", which creates pressure in the Hulk's lungs and effectively lets him breath underwater and move quickly between varying depths without concerns about decompression or nitrogen narcosis.
Hulk has shown a limited ability to manipulate forms of energy, most particularly gamma radiation and the ability to physically grab beings composed of energy that do not have phyiscal bodies.
The Hulk can regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with far greater efficiency than an ordinary human. His healing powers, much like his physical strength and resistance to injury, increase during periods of heightened emotional stress. He fully regenerates the destroyed tissue within a few moments of concentration.
And last but not least the Hulk can not get drunk, no matter how hard he may try to do so.
Like the Hulk's strength he's abilities increase when as he gets angrier, his strength increases, he becomes more durable, his healing factor gets faster & he can jump greater distances, making him one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
Abilities: Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test. When Banner is the Hulk, Banner's consciousness is buried within the Hulk's, and can influence the Hulk's behavior only to a very limited extent.
History: Robert Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic scientist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated the child. Possibly an alcoholic, Brian Banner was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian Banner believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son. Robert Bruce Banner was born in Dayton, Ohio, to Dr. Brian and Rebecca Banner. As a child, Bruce was abused by his alcoholic father, who killed his wife when she and Bruce tried to escape from one of his drunken rages. Later, Bruce was raised by his aunt Susan when his father became institutionalized. Burying his emotions throughout his childhood, Banner had developed over time a deep and repressive personality. A genius in nuclear physics, Robert Bruce Banner went to work for the United States Defense Department nuclear research facility at Desert Base, New Mexico. There, Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and Ross' daughter Betty. Banner and Betty Ross eventually fell in love with each other. Banner designed and oversaw the construction of the "gamma bomb" or "G-bomb," a nuclear weapon that had a high gamma radiation output.
At one point, Bruce's father was released from his mental facility. Reluctantly Bruce agreed to let his father live with him, although he again acted belligerently towards Bruce. On the anniversary of his mother's death, Bruce visited her grave but was attacked by his father. Fighting back, Bruce accidentally killed his father by causing him to fall and crack his skull on Rebecca's tombstone. Bruce repressed the memory of his actions and the police dismissed the death as a random mugging. Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground trial detonation of the gamma bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to get the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing. He was confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench. Before Banner could get himself to safety, the gamma-bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation hit the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly-charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to transform frequently into the vastly powerful, green-skinned, humanoid monster named "the Hulk" by the military present at the test site. Banner would forever be changed by such an event. Unleashing a creature that’s been their since childhood, only surpassed, by his bottling of his emotions. He would become to be known as a wanted man, feared and hated, and forever perused, in efforts to destroy him once and for all. At the same time Banner became attached to Betty Ross, whom is the only one, or if someone reminds him Of Betty, that can calm Banner down after he has transformed.
At first, Banner would change into the Hulk at sunset and at first the Hulk was gray not green, later taking on a green color, when the transformations became more frequent. Due to the gamma radiation running through his entire body. Always reverting to Banner at dawn. However, Banner's body eventually changed so that his transformations into the Hulk were triggered by the release of adrenaline when he became intensely excited, no matter what time of day or night it was. Seldom did the Hulk ever possess Banners memory or intelligence, easily enraged, not so easy calmed. The creature, this brute known to the world as the Hulk was a menace; always hunted by General Ross, and the likes of Major Glenn Talbot. Always haunted by the brute military--that aimed to destroy the Hulk. Like wise Banner shared an extreme hatred for the Hulk, as the Hulk shared a hate for Banner. Banner aimed to rid himself of the Hulk time and time again, always seeming to fail. For a surprisingly long time Banner managed to conceal the fact that he was the Hulk, but his secret inevitably became public knowledge. For years Banner wandered the world as a hunted fugitive, cursed by his recurring transformations into the bestial Hulk. Terrified of the destruction that lay in his wake. Banner spent his early child-hood living with his aunt whom was found of Bruce.
Banner came to L.A where he went to visit Jennifer Walters, a lawyer, and a pretty damn good one at that. She was working a case defending a hood named Lou Monkton, whom gangster Nicholas Trask had framed for murder. The two were having a worth while time catching up. While Walters drove Banner to her home, one of Trask's henchmen shot her. To save his cousin's life, Banner improvised an emergency blood transfusion. The transfusion of Banner's mutated blood mutated Walters herself, causing her to become the She-Hulk. Banner now had reason to find both of them a cure. Finally, scientist Leonard "Doc" Samson captured the Hulk and succeeded through unknown means in separating Banner's psyche and atomic structure from the larger atomic structure of the Hulk. The Hulk's body, now with all personality and memory removed, was inert until Leonard Samson stimulated the brain within the body. This new Hulk escaped and became a greater menace than ever before. Banner became leader of a new government task force to capture the Hulk, called the new Hulkbusters. Banner also finally married Betty Ross, believing himself free of the curse of turning into the Hulk.
During the honeymoon, Bruce became gravely ill and was hospitalized. Due to his separation from the body of the Hulk, Bruce's body began to lose molecular cohesion. The Hulk's body soon followed suit and he was defeated by the Avengers. Realizing there was only one way to save her husband, Betty pleaded with the Avengers not to kill the Hulk. With the aid of the synthezoid Vision, Bruce was re-merged with the Hulk. With Bruce's psyche once more in the body of the Hulk, the original Hulk persona assumed control of the body. However the reintegration was unstable and an attempt to stabilize and possibly cure Bruce resulted in the Hulk returning to his original gray color and Rick Jones being cursed to become a Hulk-like creature for a short time. When the Leader detonated a gamma bomb with the Hulk at ground zero, the Hulk was assumed to be dead. In reality, he had been transported to Jarella's world moments before the detonation. On Jarella's world, the Hulk helped a group of minor wizards to overthrow the "Grand Inquisitor" in return for a spell which was promised to rid him of Bruce Banner for good. When the Hulk returned to Earth, he was given a job as an enforcer for a casino owner named Michael Berengetti. Calling himself Mr. Fixit, the Hulk spent several months without reverting to human form. It was during this time that he met and dated Marlo Chandler, who would later marry Rick Jones. Banner eventually returned and the Hulk's life as Mr. Fixit soon came to an end. Shortly thereafter, the savage Hulk persona resurfaced and Bruce's psyche was in turmoil. Through hypnosis, Samson created the green intelligent "Professor" Hulk - believed at the time to be the integration of Banner's separate personalities, but since revealed as a new persona the psychiatrist crafted to help keep the monster's destructive powers in check. Due to the deteriorating effects of ALS and the chaos ravaging his mindscape, Banner cut a deal with the three dominant Hulk personalities - the green Hulk, the grey "Joe Fixit" Hulk and the "Professor" Hulk - essentially to time-share their existence, in return for stabilizing his fractured psyche and providing him with release from his disease. The Leader provided the means to cure Bruce. The original Defenders reluctantly re-formed when Yandroth surfaced again to menace the world. Though the heroes defeated his plan, Yandroth used his sorcery to levy a deathbed curse upon their heads, binding them to come together in times of crisis.
After the events of the M-Day, Banner sought refugee and peace in Alaska, where he lived as a hermit loosely connected to the town community. He was eventually tracked down by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., who required his help in defeating the Hydra space weapon called the Godseye which could detonate all the nuclear bombs in the world. Sent up as the Hulk, he discovered that the Godseye was actually a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that could match the strength of any enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Godseye found that though it could try, it could not match the increasing power of the Hulk, and it exploded. A S.H.I.E.L.D. commissioned space shuttle was sent to retrieve the Hulk, or so he believed. Seizing the opportunity to be rid of the Hulk, a group of superheroes known as the Illuminati decided to jettison the shuttle into space, to a planet with no intelligent lifeforms. Unfortunately, there was a navigation error, and the Hulk landed on Planet Sakaar, a planet full of barbarian tribes, gladiator battles and ruled over by a corrupt empire. The planet was situated near a portal, which gave it access to several different cultures and technologies.