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History

The past history of Bruce Banner of Earth-774 mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterpart up until the point in which Banner was in the accident that transformed him into the Hulk. Much like on Earth-616, Banner would rescue young Rick Jones from the gamma bomb blast and transform into the Hulk the following night. However, in this reality he would transform into his common green-skinner form and retain the mind of Bruce Banner, unlike Earth-616 in which he manifested in his grey skinned Hulk form and showed a more savage personality.

Shocked by what had happened to him, Banner and Jones would seek out his colleague Igor Drenkov and discover that he was a spy. Banner would angrily attack him until stopped by Rick and they would leave him to fetch the military police to arrest him. Drenkov would call his master the Gargoyle and inform him of this, prompting the Russian scientist to smuggle himself into America and try to capture this "hulk" for himself. Banner would run into Betty Ross on the way to getting to the military to arrest Drenkov, Betty would initially be frightened of Banner, but soon accept his Hulk form upon explanation.

Gargoyle would arrive in a capsule and attack them, and Banner would disarm the Gargoyle, putting the Russian at his mercy. Banner would spare him and convince the Gargoyle to return to his own country and use his scientific expertise for peace instead of war. The Gargoyle would promise and the two would part as friend. With the threat of the Gargoyle ended, Banner would revert back to normal at sun rise making him realize his form would transition during only at night. Banner would then pursue a romance with Betty and the two would fall in love. One night while bringing Betty back home to her father they would arrive too late and Bruce would turn into the Hulk at nightfall. Seeing Banner in this form General Ross, Betty's father, would be horrified by Banner's transformation. Banner would call Ross on the fact that he used to push Banner for being a "milksop" before and is now pushing him for being an angry brute. Realizing how hard he had been on Banner, and that his current condition is the result of an accident and nothing else, Ross would reconcile with Banner.

Eventually, Bruce and Betty would be married and the two would build their own home and live happily together. Banner would eventually be called by the Fantastic Four's leader Reed Richards to help him find a cure for his colleague Ben Grimm also known as the Thing. Banner would travel to the Baxter Building and he and Richards would succeed in finding a cure, restoring Ben to normal. Ben's return to human form would also mark the end of the Fantastic Four. On his way home, Banner would be targeted by Loki, seeking to blame the Hulk for a rail accident. He would create the illusion of a bundle of TNT on the tracks. When Banner would go to remove it, he would learn that it was an illusion and soon bound off before anything could happen and think nothing more of it. This foiled attempt would prevent the formation of the Avengers on Earth-774.

Soon Bruce would be invited back to New York by Reed Richards to research together, a position that Bruce would accept. They would soon be joined by Professor Charles Xavier who had also accepted an invitation to join. The trio would build a device called the psychotron that could merge their three minds into one body.

When the Earth would be menaced by Galactus, the three scientists would use the psychotron to merge together into a single being that would dub itself the X-Man. As the X-Man, Banner and his fellow scientists would succeed into besting Galactus in mental combat. However, the aftermath of the battle would the three stripped of their powers and Ben Grimm transformed into the Thing once again. The Thing now hostile towards humans and more stronger than ever would bound off and become the menace that the Hulk never was.[1]

The Bruce Banner of this reality appeared in a cameo in What If? 45 as a happy, peaceful version of the Hulk as opposed to the Earth-840645 version. It is unclear if this is a flashback or if the Banner has been repowered.[2]

Attributes

Powers

Previously similar to Bruce Banner of 616, now depowered. However it is unclear if he has regained his powers since then.

See Also

Links and References

References

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