Like It or Not, Bruce Banner Is Far From the Pacifist Marvel Would Have You Believe He Is

While the Hulk often gets blamed for his and Bruce Banner’s violent outbursts, Banner isn’t exactly the paragon of pacifism. Sure, he does his best to keep things in control, but Banner is just as much a Hulk as the rest of his alters. Underneath his docile nature, exists a cruel man with a talent for torture. Where the Hulk is hot rage, Banner is chilling sadism.

It’s worth understanding the nature of Banner’s Hulks to see why he isn’t any different from his gamma-powered alters. Bruce’s father, Brian Banner, was a violent abuser who saw Bruce as a monster.

Brian hated Bruce’s intellect as a child, frequently taking out his rage on Bruce and his mother. In that stress, two Hulk alters were born. First is the Devil Hulk, a father figure who protects Bruce but with Brian’s hatred. Second is the Savage Hulk, Bruce’s childlike rage. Then there’s Bruce Banner, the final Hulk. Born from fear and anger too, but in a third form: cruelty.

This Is Far From Bruce's Only Instance of Cruelty

Marvel frequently embraces Banner’s darker tendencies; they’re just hidden by the Hulks’ destructive personalities. In a recent Reddit post from Apprehensive_Mix4658, the user shared a scene from Incredible Hulk #25 (2001) - by Paul Jenkins and John Romita, Jr. - that highlights this part of Bruce. After Emil Blonsky poisoned and killed Betty Ross, Bruce, Thunderbolt Ross, and all the Hulks banded together to hunt Blonsky down. After catching Blonsky, Banner locked Emil in a specialized prison cell. Immobilized, Emil was forced to witness his final interaction with his wife before he left and became the Abomination on repeat.

Banner doesn’t yell or scream or smash; he doesn’t even smile. As Emil cries and begs Bruce to stop the video, the cruel scientist merely walks away spewing more apathetic spite. Disparagingly, this is far from the only example of Bruce’s cruelty. During Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s Hulk (2021) series, Bruce turns away from the peace he had just made with his alters and happily traps the Hulk, turning him into a rage-battery. Even in the most recent Incredible Hulk series - by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein - Bruce still calls himself a monster.

Hatred and Cruelty Are in His Blood

Sure, it’s a quality that purely depends on the writer. However, when this quality gets repeated enough over time, it becomes a character trait. In fact, his first true act of violence as Bruce Banner was a character-defining moment. Back to Incredible Hulk #312 (1985) - by Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola - Bruce and Brian finally fought as physical equals. The clash is visceral as they spill blood across a graveyard. Brian is kicked back, falling onto Bruce’s mother’s grave, splitting his head open. While it was always assumed this was accidental, Bruce has insinuated that it was purposeful.

At that moment, he realized he was no different from his Hulks. The Hulk doesn’t hold all of Banner’s anger; the Hulks were born from it. Banner’s hate, resentment, apathy, and fear are the defining emotions that have redefined his delicate psyche. Hatred and cruelty are in his blood. Brian Banner’s abject inhumanity will always define Bruce, no matter what series or writer. Whether he’s afraid of himself or embraces his true nature, it doesn’t change what he is. Banner doesn’t pretend to have a pacifistic nature to hold back the Hulk ; he does it to hold back himself.

His Resentment Fuels His Cold Fury

The thing is, in an “eye for an eye” way of thinking, Banner justifies his own cruelty. When Bruce snaps the hardest, are after moments where he has been betrayed or broken. During the World War Hulk storyline, Bruce and the World Breaker Hulk were equals in their warpath of vengeance. Years later, during the Original Sin event, Bruce mistakenly believed that Iron Man tampered with the original gamma bomb, thus creating the Hulk. Bruce orchestrated a meticulous chain of events to destabilize Tony while creating a new, smarter Hulk alter called Doc Green.

This type of resentful cruelty is Bruce Banner’s specialty. After killing his father, every instance of Banner releasing his rage has been defined by a sinisterly cold callousness. He meticulously plans his plots of revenge, often depending on psychological manipulation to do so. When his plans come to fruition and his victims crumble beneath his machinations, Bruce smiles at his victory, overjoyed to crush his enemies. His pacifism is a disguise because in reality, Bruce Banner knows that he is a Hulk.

Source: Apprehensive_Mix4658