Marvel Just Confirmed Why Bruce Banner Will Never be Free of the Hulk

There are few characters in all of Marvel Comics with a more tragic life than Bruce Banner. From growing up in an abusive household to being transformed into a gamma-irradiated monster called the Hulk, Bruce’s life is defined by suffering. Bruce has wished for nothing more than to be free of his green counterpart, which made him a fugitive and monster. In the series Infernal Hulk, he unintentionally got his wish when the eldritch villain the Eldest separated Bruce from the Hulk. Now that the Eldest has taken over the Hulk’s body and is going on a rampage, only one question remains: where’s Bruce? Infernal Hulk #3 gives us the answer to this question, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.

In Infernal Hulk #3, Bruce gets everything he’s ever wanted: a quiet, everyday suburban life with his love interest, Betty Ross, who has also lost her connection to gamma radiation and her Harpy form. Living under the names David and Heather, Bruce and Betty seemed to have left their monstrous lives behind them forever. However, this perfect life Bruce has built is fundamentally based on a lie, and it’s caving in.

Bruce can Never Escape the Hulk

In his mind, Bruce is finally living his dream of being completely cut off from the Hulk, with a chance now to settle down with Betty and live a normal life. However, over the course of Infernal Hulk #3, we see that Bruce is the only one trying to hold onto this illusion, as everyone in his life –either directly or indirectly– tells him that he can’t hide forever. And the more Bruce ignores this fact, the more people get hurt.

While Bruce loves his new life, Betty couldn’t hate it more. Throughout the issue, we see bandages on her arms, and it quickly becomes clear that she’s hurting herself. The trauma of losing her Harpy form had done irreparable damage to her psyche. When Betty struggled to open a jar of ice cream, the feeling of weakness broke the last remnants of her facade, and she hurt herself even more. She sobs that, as Harpy, she had the power to fly across oceans and through volcanoes. Now, she’s reduced to a weak human. It’s a gut-wrenching scene that shows the vast divide between what Bruce and Betty desire and how Bruce selfishly assumed they shared the same dreams.

Betty’s breakdown isn’t the only sign that Bruce can’t escape his past life with the Hulk. With the Eldest-possessed Hulk causing untold mayhem, obviously heroes like Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic go to Bruce for help in stopping his separated alter ego. Bruce tries to get them to leave, leading to Iron Man calling out Bruce for what he really is: a coward. While the world burns, Bruce is playing make-believe by pretending that he has no connection to the Hulk that’s now terrorizing people. And they’re right, because Bruce is the foremost expert not just on the Hulk, but on everything related to gamma radiation. Bruce’s efforts to move on with his life are just making the Hulk everyone else’s problem.

Betty, Iron Man, and Mr. Fantastic make it clear to Bruce that the Hulk is more than just a big green monster that emerged from him. The Jolly Green Giant had been an inseparable part of Bruce’s life, leading to drastic changes in his relationships. Betty never would have become the Harpy if not for her relationship with Bruce and her exposure to gamma radiation. Yet unlike Bruce, Betty reveled in the power it granted her. Additionally, Bruce would not have befriended Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic if not for the Hulk becoming a superhero. Almost every decision and relationship Bruce made over the past few decades was in some part influenced by the Hulk, ensuring that he’ll never truly be able to cut himself off from his past.

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Bruce and the Hulk Need Each Other

Not only does Infernal Hulk #3 tragically show why Bruce will never be rid of the Hulk, but it also shows the biggest issue facing both of them: denial. Bruce’s suburban life is built on a lie — when the world and his loved ones express their grievances, he tries to ignore them. When Betty first began hurting herself, Bruce doubled down on the belief that they were safe and needed to move on. It’s only when Betty has her breakdown that Bruce finally grasps Betty’s pain and tries to comfort her. What Bruce and the Hulk fail to understand is that they can’t exist without the other because they are two incomplete parts of a greater whole. The denial of that fact is the source of their animosity.

The Hulk isn’t only a product of gamma radiation; he’s a physical manifestation of Bruce’s dissociative identity disorder and suppressed rage from a childhood filled with abuse. Bruce’s current desire to ignore and forget the Hulk mirrors a person trying to ignore their mental health issues instead of addressing them, only worsening things for themselves and others. Separating the Hulk from Bruce doesn’t magically fix all his mental issues. The comic features several instances in which Bruce’s irritation leads to brief fantasies of transforming into the Hulk and unleashing his rage. These flashes represent the void in Bruce’s psyche created by his separation from the Hulk. By pretending everything is fine and denying that he has no connection to the Hulk, Bruce is hurting his friends and ultimately himself.

Bruce’s unwillingness to accept this reality reflects the very failings the Hulk revealed throughout The Incredible Hulk series. By suppressing Bruce into their shared mindscape and pushing all his friends away, the Hulk tried to live alone in the wilderness, ignoring the Eldest’s looming threat. He refused to admit that he needed Bruce and believed that his life was better without him. This denial of the need for others’ help is ultimately what led the Hulk to become vulnerable enough for the Eldest to separate him from Bruce and take over the gamma monster’s body. Because Bruce and the Hulk are two intertwined psyches, Bruce ends up making the same mistakes as the creature he claims to no longer be connected to.

Bruce’s desire to escape the Hulk is fundamentally flawed because he’s trying to ignore a part of himself. The Hulk may be different in a lot of aspects, but ultimately, he’s a manifestation of Bruce’s flaws and suppressed emotions. For Bruce to deny and attempt to sever that part of himself is psychologically destructive. The more he tries to escape into his false idea of a perfect life, the more people get hurt, whether from his inaction or from the corrupted Hulk’s rampage. Bruce may not like it, but the reason he can never break free from the Hulk is that they need each other. Only by reuniting can Bruce and the Hulk defeat the Eldest and become whole again.

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