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After Avengers: Infinity War, some people thought Hulk feared Thanos, but the real person he fears is one he can never truly defeat.
In Avengers: Infinity War, the Hulk proved that he couldn’t take on every threat in the Marvel Universe. At the start of the film, Thanos easily defeated Hulk just before Heimdall saved the Green Goliath and sent him to Earth. Bruce Banner never Hulked up again in the movie, almost making it seem as though he was afraid of Thanos.
While that was never proven definitively within the MCU, one of the Hulk’s most heart-breaking comic book stories explores the Hulk’s fears and how those fears interact with his Hulk transformations on a far deeper level. Within the Marvel Universe, Hulk has shown intense fear for Brian Banner, and Bruce’s father often takes the blame for Hulk’s lack of control. Brian convinced his son that he was a monster and killed Bruce’s mother, Rebecca. Eventually, Bruce killed his dad in self-defense.
The actual Hulk origin story played out in Incredible Hulk #312 by Bill Mantlo, Mike Mignola and Gerry Talaoc. Before Bruce ended up in a Gamma explosion, Brian exposed himself to radiation during his atomic research before his son’s birth. When Bruce displayed genius-level intellect as a child, Brian decided his son was a monster. He hated the young child, claiming the boy took his wife’s attention away from him. Brian appeared as a dragon-like figure to his son while berating him. After his mom’s death, Brian attacked Bruce at Rebecca’s gravesite. After this, Brian walked away, leaving Bruce’s life. However, that isn’t what really happened.
Bruce blocked the truth from his mind. He actually killed his father in self-defense in the graveyard. This broke his mind and led to his anger issues as the Hulk, turning Bruce into the monster Brian painted him as. Doc Samson and Mastermind attempted to help Bruce resolve these issues in Incredible Hulk #377 by Peter David, Dale Keown, Bob McLeod, Joe Rosen and Glynis Oliver. Bruce, Hulk, and Joe Fixit battled for control inside his head. It was here that Samson revealed the problem wasn’t Hulk and Joe Fixit battling for control. The real problem was Bruce Banner and his unresolved feelings for his father, who once again showed up in his memories as a giant dragon.
This dragon, the form of Brian Banner in Bruce’s broken mind, was strong enough to overpower Hulk and Joe Fixit. Only Bruce could stop his dad, and he was too scared and weak to do anything to stand up to the man who turned him into a monster. Bruce finally remembered Rebecca tried to run, and Brian killed her. Bruce never showed emotion at her death, believing it would weaken him, and when he showed emotion, it was anger, the anger that fueled the monster. When Bruce reconciled these feelings, he became the smart Hulk.
But that wasn’t the end of things, and this is where Hulk’s life might get rough in the MCU. Between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Bruce reconciled something in his mind and turned into the Smart Hulk. The MCU never showed its Hulk became smart, but that too led to more disaster for Bruce Banner.
Hulk worked as a smart hero for a time in the comics but things never stay peaceful for the Green Goliath. In Incredible Hulk #403 by Peter David, Glynis Oliver, Joe Rosen, Cam Smith and Gary Frank, Red Skull held Hulk captive and Mentallo cracked into his mind to see how they could break him. He dug deep into Hulk’s psyche and found the one person Hulk feared most — Brian Banner. This was when the comics revealed the truth about Brian Banner’s trial. He bullied Bruce into testifying for him at Rebecca’s murder trial, and Bruce betrayed the memory of his mother by allowing his father to get off easy. While Bruce killed his dad later, it only made his psyche more damaged. With that knowledge, Red Skull gained control of Hulk’s mind, briefly turning him into his agent.
While the MCU still hasn’t covered this ground, it’s still a central part of his overall transformation that could easily come back to the fore, possibly in Disney+’s upcoming She-Hulk series. While Bruce always feared was that he would become a monster like his father, his ability to triumph over that remains once of the most potentially fertile stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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