History
David Banner was a genetics researcher who, in his quest to improve on humanity, experimented on himself; after his wife, Edith Banner, gave birth to Bruce, David, seeing that Bruce was not normal, barely showing emotion and gaining patches of green skin when he did, felt that he was responsible, realizing that his experiments on himself had affected Bruce. Trying to find a cure for Bruce's condition, David had his research shut down by Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross; going into a rage over the loss of his work and the hopelessness of Bruce's situation, David accidentally destroyed his laboratory and tried to kill Bruce only to accidentally fatally stab Edith, before being arrested and confined to a mental institution; blocking his memories of David killing Edith, which haunt his nightmares, Bruce was taken into foster care.
Thirty years later, David was released from mental hospital and got a job as a janitor at the research institute Bruce worked at, in the same field as his father. Confronting Bruce on the night after he was blasted with radiation and nanobots, David revealed his relationship to him (Bruce had previously thought his biological father was dead) and stole some of his mutated DNA. Experimenting with Bruce's DNA on animals, David also saw his son's first transformation into the Hulk, which he soon became obsessed with copying to possess that power.
Releasing three dogs he had mutated to kill Betty Ross, who had confronted him over what has happened with Bruce, David called Bruce and told him of this. Defeating the mutant dogs and saving Betty, Bruce was tranquilized and taken to a military facility, which David followed him to. As Bruce was held captive, David subjected himself to the same devices that gave Bruce the ability to change into the Hulk, giving himself the ability to absorb the properties of everything he touched (similar to the villain Absorbing Man from the Hulk comics). Finding Betty, David told her that he will turn himself in if he was allowed to see Bruce one more time, also revealing to her that he had intended to murder Bruce (believing he would mutate out of control) when his research was originally shut down and that instead he ended up killing Edith when she tried to stop him.
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Attributes
Powers
- Omni-Morph Duplication: David Banner has the ability to absorb elemental substances from anyone and anything he touches. And in doing so takes the appearance of any matter or energy he had mimicked. He can even physically merge with the items into his body, such as floor grating or a computer terminal.
Abilities
- Genius-Level Intellect: David is a gifted scientist specializing in genetics.
Weaknesses
- Gamma Overload: He cannot comfortably contain all the Hulk's gamma powers inside him. This eventually caused his own body to explode.
- Megalomania: David becomes obsessive with the Hulk. He thinks the humanoid monster is his "real son" and not Bruce.
- Insanity: David tries to kill Bruce, but instead he stabbed Edith by accident. After that, he was sentenced to thirty years in the mental hospital.
Notes
- Nick Nolte portrays David Banner in Hulk. Paul Kersey portrays a younger version of the character in the same film.
Trivia
- David Banner takes his name from Bill Bixby's main character from the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV series, David having become his mainstream counterpart's middle name.
- David Banner's abilities after he is exposed to gamma radiation are similar to that of the Absorbing Man.
- Likewise, after biting into the cable, he became a being made of electricity similar to Zzzax.
See Also
- 9 appearance(s) of David Banner (Earth-400083)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of David Banner (Earth-400083)
- 6 image(s) of David Banner (Earth-400083)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about David Banner (Earth-400083)
- 1 victim(s) killed by David Banner (Earth-400083)