Characters / MCU: Bruce Banner

Main Character Index > Heroic Organizations > Avengers > Tony Stark | Steve Rogers | Thor Odinson | Bruce Banner | Natasha Romanoff | Clint Barton | James Rhodes | Bucky Barnes | Sam Wilson | Wanda Maximoff | Pietro Maximoff | Vision | Scott Lang | Peter Parker (Peter Parker Variants) | Carol Danvers | Allies (Michelle Jones)| Families (Yelena Belova | Hank Pym | Hope van Dyne)

---

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry."

"No Banner, only Hulk!"

^{Click here to see Smart Hulk}
"Eighteen months in the gamma lab, I put the brains and the brawn together and now look at me. Best of both worlds."

^{Click here to see Gladiator Hulk (Thor: Ragnarok)}
"Hulk like fire...Thor like water."

^{Click here to see him as played by Edward Norton}
"You know, I know a few techniques that could help you manage that anger effectively."

^{Click here to see Hulk's appearance in The Incredible Hulk}
'"HULK...SMASH!"'

Birth Name: Robert Bruce Banner

Known Aliases: The Hulk

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American, Sakaaran

Affiliation(s): Harvard, Culver University, Avengers, Revengers, S.H.I.E.L.D.

Portrayed By: Edward Norton (The Incredible Hulk), Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers onwards), Lou Ferrigno (Hulk's voice; The Incredible Hulk ^note Ferrigno has continued assisting Mark Ruffalo with the Hulk's voice afterward)^{Foreign voice actors} Óscar Flores [Norton], Mario Castañeda [Ruffalo] (Latin-American Spanish dub); Roger Pera [Norton], Xavier Fernández [Ruffalo] (European Spanish dub); Hiro Mizushima [Norton], Atsushi Miyauchi [Ruffalo] (Japanese dub), Damien Boisseau [Norton], Rémi Bichet [Ruffalo] (European French dub), Antoine Durand [Norton], Sylvain Hétu [Ruffalo] (Canadian French dub), Paulo Vignolo [Norton], Jorge Lucas [Ruffalo; The Avengers], Alexandre Moreno [Ruffalo; Iron Man 3 onward] (Brazilian Portuguese dub), Ilya Bledny [Norton], Alexey Myasnikov [Ruffalo] (Russian dub)

Appearances: The Incredible Hulk | Captain America: The First Avenger^note Archive footage from The Avengers in The Stinger | The Avengers | Iron Man 3 ^note In The Stinger | Daredevil ^note On a newspaper with archive photography from The Incredible Hulk | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Captain America: Civil War ^note Archive footage | Spider-Man: Homecoming ^note In a picture in Peter's science classroom | The Defenders ^note On a newspaper with archive photography from The Incredible Hulk | Thor: Ragnarok | The Punisher ^note On a newspaper with archive photography from The Incredible Hulk | Avengers: Infinity War | Captain Marvel ^note  In The Stinger | Avengers: Endgame | WandaVision ^note Archive footage from Age of Ultron | Loki ^note  Archive footage | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ^note  In The Stinger | Hawkeye | She-Hulk: Attorney at Law | Deadpool & Wolverine ^note Archive footage

"For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure."

A nuclear physicist who believed that he was trying to make soldiers immune to radiation, but was actually working on a new super soldier for General Thunderbolt Ross. He was so sure he was on to something that he experimented on himself, which turned him into the raging green monster known as the Hulk.

Horrified by his transformation, Banner has been trying to isolate himself ever since, but with the military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Avengers all keenly interested in the Hulk, he's had little time to find peace.

---

Tropes involving Bruce Banner

• 10-Minute Retirement: Throughout the five years between the Snap and the Blip, Bruce distances himself from the surviving Avengers to re-evaluate his relationship with the Hulk, and manages to merge both himself and Hulk into a single entity after 18 months of experimenting with gamma radiation. However, when Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm and comes up with the idea of traveling back to the past to retrieve the Infinity Stones and revive everyone who got dusted by Thanos, Bruce is persuaded to rejoin his teammates.
• Abusive Parents: Edward Norton's Incredible Hulk script and the novelization of the same film both imply that Bruce shares the abusive childhood his comics counterpart had. Within the main films, however, he only mentions having a strained relationship with his father, and no evidence is given that Brian was physically abusive like he was in the comics.
• The Ace: After the Time Skip, Bruce is fully merged with the Hulk, allowing him to be both incredibly strong and incredibly smart. This also allows him to gain fame as a Celebrity Superhero rather than being feared by the public.
• Ace Custom: He has a Jeep Wrangler scaled to Hulk size as shown in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
• Action Dad: The finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law reveals that he has a son named Skaar.
• Adaptation Distillation: Due to narrative conflicts and many of the major players being absent from the MCU at the time, the World War Hulk storyline from the comics was largely removed (save for a few essential elements) and was folded into Thor: Ragnarok.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: While Bruce does reveal in a tie-in comic and a Deleted Scene in Ragnarok that he had a strained relationship with his father, he didn't kill the man by accident and neither he nor Jen give any hints that Brian was ever physically abusive. As such, he is psychologically and emotionally healthier than his comic counterpart.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In Age of Ultron, Bruce mentions in conversation with Natasha that he cannot have children, as becoming aroused causes him to Hulk out, which wouldn't end well for his partner. In the comics, this isn't an issue, as Bruce/Hulk has fathered at least three confirmed kids. Subverted by the time of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law however, as Bruce reveals at the end of the show that he ended up having a son, Skaar, during his two-year stay at Sakaar.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, Bruce is typically drawn as sort of average-looking and skinny. Both of his actors in the MCU are more conventionally attractive; Edward Norton is as muscular as your average Marvel lead, and Mark Ruffalo gives him more of a "sexy scientist" look.
• Adaptational Badass: In the comics, it's usually just the Hulk that's involved in the superhero business and teams like The Defenders. In the MCU, Banner is more seen as a member of the Avengers even without the Hulk, going as far as fighting the Outriders in the Hulkbuster-armor during the Final Battle in Infinity War. In a more specific sense, this version of Bruce received martial arts training during his time in Brazil, though this aspect has largely been forgotten.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: He's portrayed in a far more comedic way from Thor: Ragnarok onwards. In his Smart Hulk persona, he even dabs.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Banner in the comics is portrayed as socially awkward even before becoming the Hulk, with his characterization running the gamut from Classical Anti-Hero to Pragmatic Hero depending on who's writing him. This often puts him at odds with his teammates. He's a far nicer person in the movies and gets along great with his fellow Avengers.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: With Tony Stark. In the comics, Stark and Banner aren't exactly friends, with the former even voting to send the latter to space as part of the Illuminati due to his fear of how dangerous he is. There was also a period where Bruce believed Tony was responsible for the accident that turned him into the Hulk. Here, Tony is far more accepting of Bruce and the Hulk, and they actively work together to solve scientific issues that require both their expertise.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Bruce Banner is a far less tragic figure in the MCU than his comic book version. Notably, Bruce lacks the emotional baggage and mental instability from the comics where he had a horrific childhood and teenage years long before Hulking Out, and in The Avengers, he’s ironically a pretty chill guy (although he alludes to a past suicide attempt). It's particularly clear in the later movies where Bruce is goofier and more lighthearted, providing a lot of the comic relief. Needless to say, comic Bruce is very rarely chipper about anything. Hulk himself is more sociable in the films and less against all humanity like he is on the page.
• Alliterative Name: Bruce Banner.
• Alternate Identity Amnesia: Zigzagged. In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce is shown suffering from PTSD-esque glimpses of Hulk's memories, but cannot fully access them. In Ragnarok, he is completely unable to recall the years he spent on Sakaar as the Hulk, but in Infinity War he retains full awareness of what happened to Thor and the Asgardians despite being "Hulked out" at the time. How much of his memory he retains and whether the memories are fuzzy or more clear appears to depend on his relationship with the Hulk personality; the more accepting Bruce becomes, the easier it becomes to retain his memories after transforming back.
• Alternate Self: Bruce has 4 known Variants, 2 of whom were killed while another is more ambiguous.
• Amazon Chaser: Between Betty, Natasha, and his reaction to Valkyrie, it's not that big a stretch to say Bruce has a thing for recklessly brave women.
• AM/FM Characterization: In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bruce is shown listening to classical music after reverting back to normal, showing it's his way of calming himself down after Avengers missions.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • In spite of having supposedly worked out his issues with the Hulk in order to perform a Split-Personality Merge to make the both of them happy, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings shows Bruce having reverted to his regular human form, albeit still with his arm in a sling. It's not explained if Hulk's personality and appearance has been overrode by Banner sometime after Endgame, or if something else happened in the interim. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, he reveals that he has built a device that allows him to return to his human form as long as it is attached to him.
  • It's implied that he is somewhat aware of the fourth wall, though not completely. He looks at Jen when she breaks the fourth wall within his earshot and later makes a joke about being "a completely different person", both referring to how Professor Hulk isn't the Savage Hulk from before and a reference to his actor changing after his first film.
• Androcles' Lion: Tony Stark's kindness to Banner earns him the life-saving loyalty of the Hulk during the final battle in Avengers.
• Ate His Gun: In the alternate opening to The Incredible Hulk, Bruce tries to commit suicide via this method, but the Hulk simply spits the bullet out. He references this later in The Avengers.
• Badass Boast: Banner gives one to a recently reformed Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron.
  Bruce: Oh, we're way past angry. I could choke the life outta you and never change a shade.
• Badass Bookworm: A nuclear physicist who learned Aikido while hiding in Brazil and managed to stay on the run from the US Military for five years. And when the Hulk refuses to come out, he resorts to using the Hulkbuster. He even kills one of Thanos's children!
• Bad "Bad Acting":
  • He tries to make it seem as though he was Hulking Out after failing to lift Mjolnir in Age of Ultron. It's very awkwardly half-hearted and everyone looking on is unamused.
  • When tasked to try and act more like his old berserker self while visiting 2012 in Endgame — something he's beyond embarrassed to do, calling it "gratuitous" — he rips off his shirt, lightly pounds the roof of a taxi, tosses away a motorcycle, and poses like he's imitating a werewolf, all with the most half-hearted roars imaginable.
• Battle Couple: He and Natasha Romanoff fell in love while working together to destroy Ultron, though their romance is short-lived.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Bruce is one of the few Avengers to genuinely like Tony because the latter treated him like a normal person instead of a ticking time bomb.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Bruce is a friendly scientist who just wanted to help people, but can turn into one of the most dangerous things on the planet at the drop of a hat. However, you shouldn't underestimate him in his human form either, as shown in Ultron when, with no change in his genial expression, he offers to murder the Scarlet Witch. This escalates in Infinity War, where he dons the Hulkbuster armor to fight the Outriders and even manages to kill Cull Obsidian with it. Bleeds a little bit into his Smart Hulkification in Endgame, when calmly, but firmly, telling a traumatized Thor to get his hand off of his shirt. In control of the Hulk form he may now be, but provocation STILL isn't the best course of action.
• Big Brother Mentor: They're cousins, but She-Hulk: Attorney at Law shows that Bruce and Jen have a very close, sibling-like relationship, and Bruce is willing to help Jen learn to control her powers when she's accidentally exposed to his radioactive blood.
• Big Eater: In Endgame, we see him casually eating at a restaurant with full plates of sausages and omelettes after his Split-Personality Merge.
• Birds of a Feather: With Steve Rogers. They’re Nice Guys who were products of the Super Soldier Serum and are struggling to fit in to society because of their predicaments (Rogers is a Fish out of Water while Banner is only seen as a monster by the public).
• Brainy Brunette: He has seven PhDs, and is the world's leading expert on gamma radiation.
• Brought Down to Badass: In Infinity War, Banner is unable to access The Hulk due to his alter ego refusing to come back out after the Curbstomp Battle he suffered at the hands of Thanos. In order to compensate Banner goes into the Final Battle with the Hulkbuster armor on, and with some quick thinking, manages to kill Cull Obsidian by himself.
• Bungled Suicide: Banner tried to kill himself by sticking a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. It only caused him to turn into the Hulk, who was unharmed.^note This is shown in an alternate opening for The Incredible Hulk — Banner was shown trying to shoot himself in the arctic but was stopped by The Hulk.
  Banner: I got low. I didn't see an end. So I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out.
• Butt-Monkey: A mild example; he spends a bit of his screentime in Endgame getting snapped at by other characters.
• The Cameo: Shows up in The Stinger of Iron Man 3. Stark had been narrating the movie's plot to Banner, who tried to act as a shrink but fell asleep towards the beginning.
• Cannot Talk to Women: He's reduced to a stuttering, blushing mess when Natasha is flirting with him.
• Can't Have Sex, Ever:
  • In The Incredible Hulk, he interrupts Betty when they're about to have sex in the motel, telling her he can't get too excited because as far as he knows, he'll Hulk Out if his heart rate accelerates beyond a "safe" threshold. This is possibly averted by the time of Age of Ultron after Banner got a hold of his transformation issues, but the issue now is that he literally can't have children, possibly due to the radiation sterilizing him.
  • Subverted by the time of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Though we don't know too many details, we do find out that the Hulk conceived a child with an alien woman while on Sakaar, with Bruce bringing him home to meet the family at the end of the show.
• Carpet of Virility: Mark Ruffalo was not asked to shave his chest hair for the scene in which he wakes up naked after a Hulk-out; in addition, some of it made it on to the Hulk.
• Celebrity Superhero: He attains this status in Endgame after successfully undergoing a Split-Personality Merge with the Hulk. A couple of fans even approach him for a group photo after they see him dining with Scott, Steve, and Natasha.
• Character Development: The Incredible Hulk implies that he went from repressing his anxieties that lead to his Hulking out, similarly to the 2003 film, to using meditation techniques to manage them. The end of that movie ominously showed him purposefully inducing a Hulk episode. The Avengers showed that he'd subsequently gone past anger management and constantly trying to fight the Hulk, and merely existed in a state of tranquil fury at all times, keeping the Hulk close but at bay through mere discipline rather than struggling to reject him. This level of acceptance leads to him being able to Hulk out at will and in turn makes the Hulk less animalistic and more generally aligned with Banner's intentions. In The Avengers, Hulk never shows himself to be particularly angry, merely bellicose and helpfully destructive; in Ultron he's become more docile and protective of Black Widow as well as remorseful about his actions, and in the finale willingly goes to space while in Hulk form. In Ragnarok, Hulk has become civilized and can even carry conversations. By Endgame, Banner and the Hulk have finally become one person, with Banner's personality and intellect but the Hulk's strength.
• Clothing Damage: Bruce's clothing will almost always be ripped to shreds when he is Hulking Out, which leaves him completely naked when he reverts back to his normal form. He eventually solves this problem by wearing more elastic clothes.
• Composite Character:
  • While the character as a whole is mainly based off of his mainstream comic incarnation, what caused his condition in the first place is trying to recreate a Super Soldier serum (not that he knew that) and testing it on himself, which is how Ultimate Hulk came to be. The mainstream version was irradiated by a bomb after running onto its test site.
  • Surprisingly, Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of the character starting with The Avengers brings in elements of both the 2003 film as well as the 2008 reboot in which Hulk debuted in the MCU, played by Edward Norton.
    • Banner's situation at the start of the movie mirrors that of Banner at the end of the 2003 film, where both of them are trying to help the local downtrodden populace while dealing with the Hulk.
    • Banner's relationship with the Hulk is slightly more nuanced in The Avengers film than in The Incredible Hulk, much like the 2003 version.
    • The Hulk's appearance in The Avengers resembles his 2003 appearance in build and his 2008 appearance in behaviour.
    • Bruce in The Avengers claims that he is constantly angry but very well self-controlled, no longer trying to avoid anger as in the 2008 film. This hearkens back to Bruce's anger issues in the 2003 film, where he is a constantly repressed boiling pot of rage, with the Hulk near at hand at all times; trying to fight it was an exercise in futility.
    • The Hulk's transformation is more closely tied to anger, as in the 2003 and most comic versions, but general excitement can also bring him out, as was the case in The Incredible Hulk.
    • In most other cases, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk resembles the comic version, as did the 2008 movie version. Ruffalo has also stated he drew from Bill Bixby's portrayal of Banner in the 1970s television series, which many reviewers picked up on.
  • In Infinity War, Banner's the one who crashes into the Sanctum Sanctorum and warns Strange and Wong about Thanos's arrival. In The Infinity Gauntlet, it was the Silver Surfer.
  • In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Bruce's characterization has taken on a lot of traits from Amadeus Cho's tenure as the Totally-Awesome Hulk.
    • He's a goofy and dorky super-genius with the same personality in both human and Hulk forms, as well as a popular and well-loved superhero, unlike Bruce during the majority of his life as the Hulk.
    • Bruce's mostly close but sometimes head-butting relationship with his cousin Jennifer/She-Hulk is similar to Amadeus's relationship with his sister, Maddy Cho.
    • The device Bruce wore in the beginning of the show to maintain his human form again is much like the device Amadeus used to regulate his Hulk form.
• Cunning Linguist: So far, he's known to speak, to some degree, Hindi, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
• Deadpan Snarker: You really couldn't go through all he does without developing a dry sense of humor.
  Banner: Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container? [the Helicarrier begins to take off] Oh, no. This is much worse.
• Death Seeker: At various points, he's considered ending his life to escape being the Hulk. In fact, he only joins the Initiative after Romanoff convinces him she'll use lethal force if there's any threat of him Hulking out.
• Defense Mechanism Superpower: It's not just anger or stress that causes Banner to Hulk Out, but life threatening situations and injuries as well.
• Doing in the Scientist: Tony suggests that the Hulk (A.K.A "The Other Guy") is not triggered by Bruce's heart rate per se but that the Hulk deliberately manifests to protect Bruce in dangerous (heart rate pumping) situations. Thus, it is an ally to be embraced instead of a monster to be caged. The events of The Avengers support this view. Bruce tells The Team that Hulk interrupted his suicide attempt and later emerges in the final battle because Bruce told him to. This is supported by the fact that Banner had created a drug to forcibly lower his heart rate that, while successful in and of itself, did nothing to help his unique problem.
• Dork Knight: In Endgame not only does he retain his typical dorky personality while being in the form of the Hulk, but the dorkiness is highlighted by the sight of the Hulk in Nerd Glasses.
• The Dreaded:
  • In The Incredible Hulk, Ross is simultaneously fascinated by the Hulk's sheer power and shocked by the level of destruction he can unleash. After attempts to bring Banner in by force inevitably fail, he switches to trying to bring him in quietly, only to be thwarted by Blonsky's reckless desire to challenge the Hulk himself.
  • In The Avengers, he makes people nervous just by being there, including the otherwise unflappable Black Widow. It's the reason that the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier had a containment unit set to drop in case Hulk got out of control.
  • After being on the receiving end of the Metronomic Man Mashing Hulk delivers in that film, Loki himself is utterly terrified to see him again in Thor: Ragnarok.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: By the end of Endgame, not only does he reconcile with the Hulk and become stronger for it, but he no longer has to live in fear and hiding and has become a hero people respect and love.
• Endearingly Dorky: During Age of Ultron, Natasha makes it clear that the fact he is, in her words, "a huge dork" is something she digs.
• Epic Fail: Bruce has seven degrees, but he's just not Tony Stark. His attempt at making a time machine during Endgame doesn't work. It really doesn't work. Scott Lang ends up being zapped into a baby, a kid, and an old man, much to Steve and Natasha's exasperation.
  Bruce: What? I see this as an absolute win.
• Epiphany Therapy: As he explains in Endgame, he was only able to begin to reconcile himself and Hulk the moment he stopped thinking of Hulk as a disease to be removed. Instead, he considered Hulk to be the cure, figuring that there are worse things in life than becoming a super strong behemoth.
• Everyone Has Standards: Played for Laughs. In Endgame, he is horrified by how Rhodes suggests the Avengers should use the Time Machine to save the universe.
  Rhodes: If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know and... [makes a gesture of strangling a baby with a rope, complete with "choking sound"]
  Banner: [shocked] First of all, that's horrible...
  Rhodes: It's Thanos!
  Banner: ... And secondly, time doesn't work that way, changing the past doesn't change the future!
• Eye Color Change: Bruce's eyes change from blue (The Incredible Hulk) or hazel (all subsequent films) to green when Hulking Out. Also in the former, the Hulk is briefly shown with Banner's blue eyes instead of his usual glowing green after Sterns tests the cure on him.
• Face Plant: In Infinity War, he gets to wear the Hulkbuster suit and has a complete blast, whooping about how it's like being the Hulk without transforming — only to fall flat on his face mid-stride.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Subverted; in Ragnarok, Banner prepares to make a Big Entrance in the battle on the Bifrost by jumping out of the ship, intending to Hulk out on the way down, even giving Valkyrie a dramatic promise that she'll see who he is. Banner ends up splatting limply on the bridge, seemingly dead, although the Hulk does make a delayed emergence just in time to stop Fenris from eating some Asgardian refugees.
• Famed In-Story: In Endgame, Professor Hulk becomes a celebrity of sort, with kids gleefully approaching him to ask for a photo with him.
• Fish out of Water:
  • In Thor: Ragnarok, Banner spends most of the movie coming to terms with the fact that he's been on an alien planet as the Hulk for over 2 years, and has to learn how to fly the Grandmaster's personal spaceship in the span of a few seconds moments later.
  • During Infinity War, Hulk refuses to come out after getting beaten by Thanos, so when Thanos's forces attack Wakanda, Bruce takes to the fight using one of Tony's Hulkbuster suits. Despite it reminding him of Hulk's movements and battle style, Bruce clearly isn't as apt at using the Iron Man suits as Tony is.
  • Not only that, his time off Earth left him out of the loop of the events that transpired afterwards. Such as a flavor of ice cream named after the Hulk.
    Bruce: There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Infinity War, Bruce notes that he'll have to have a talk with the Hulk to sort their issues out. Come Endgame, that talk clearly happened, and the two are content to share a body.
  • All the way back in The Avengers, Tony suggested the possibility that Bruce survived the incident that made him the Hulk for a reason, after noting that most people would've died instead. In Endgame, it's revealed that the reason why using the Infinity Gauntlet is fatal to most beings is because the power surge of using them also emits lethal amounts of gamma radiation; this makes Bruce, now merged with Hulk's body, one of the only humans, if not the only human, that can use the Infinity Gauntlet and survive. As Bruce himself points out (perhaps even thinking back to Tony's words from 11 years prior), it's almost as if he was made for the Gauntlet.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: In the first two Avengers films, Thor doesn't interact with Bruce Banner that much due to Bruce being more focused on science and Thor on fighting (and his interactions with Bruce's alter ego always consist of them fighting a foe or each other with no time to socialize). Thor: Ragnarok ultimately subverts it by having Thor bond with the two of them while they're trapped on Sakaar and work together to escape and save Asgard. After that ordeal, they're almost unarguably closer to each other than they are to the other Avengers — Bruce is even the one Steve and the others send to collect Thor in Endgame when they're reuniting the team for the Time Heist.
• Genius Bruiser: In Endgame, Banner manages to acquire the best of both world by turning into the Hulk but also retaining his brains, funnily now wearing glasses in Hulk form. For instance, he participates in the development of the quantum suits and a time machine in his Hulk form too. Even without transforming into The Hulk, Banner is trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
• Geniuses Have Multiple PhDs: Dr. Bruce Banner, the world's foremost expert on gamma radiation, mentions that he has seven PhDs in Ragnarok. Unfortunately, none of them gave him the skills to fly a spaceship.
• Gentle Giant: Professor Hulk combines the Hulk's enormity with Banner's dorky and non-combative personality; he'll fight if there's a need for it, but most of the time, he's just Banner in a green, hugely muscled body.
• Genocide Survivor: He survives the Snap in Infinity War, which weighed heavily on him even though nobody blamed him for it. This guilt is what motivated him to try and merge with the Hulk to become the best version of himself.
• Glowing Eyes: In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce's eyes glow bright green whenever a transformation is triggered. He is also seen with glowing green eyes in a trailer-only shot in Age of Ultron.
• Going Commando: A fan on Twitter queried Mark Ruffalo about how Banner handles the undergarment situation. This trope came up. And in Ragnarok, Hulk walks out of his bath with nothing covering himself, causing Thor to have a Brain Bleach moment.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Fitting his meek and sensitive personality, Banner rarely uses curse words, even responding to Natasha's epiphany about finding three Infinity Stones in New York at the same time in 2012 with a subdued "shut the front door".
• Green-Eyed Monster: Pun aside, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has Bruce upset that Jen manages to have a much better handle on her hulking out when it took him fifteen years.
• Ground Punch: Professor Hulk's superhuman strength allows him to create a small earthquake with a single punch to the ground.
• Handicapped Badass: As of Endgame, his right arm is left crippled, burned to a crisp by the power of the Infinity Stones. Doesn't stop him from kicking plenty of ass on the front lines in the final battle against Thanos. By the time of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the severe burns have at least healed, but he still keeps his arm in a sling even when not hulked-out. After accidentally giving Jennifer a blood transfusion in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law however, Bruce's arm heals up for good, letting him avert the trope.
• Healing Factor: While Bruce claims in The Incredible Hulk that "[Hulk's] scars heal, mine don't," it's apparent that he has a toned-down version of the Hulk's healing factor even when he's in human form. The extent of it isn't shown, but the novelization has Sparr note that she's never seen someone recover from a tranquilizer dart as fast as he does after the military captures him in New York.
• Hero of Another Story: The most important moments of his story (his origin, the beginning of his relationship with Natasha, landing on Sakaar, merging his two halves, reverting to human form, and healing his arm) all happen off-screen. As soon as Jen leaves his lab to return to her life, he takes off for an adventure in space. He’s basically on a heroic journey that the audience never sees except when it intersects with other heroes.
• Heroic Neutral: Banner wants to be left alone by the military and S.H.I.E.L.D., and maybe use his skills to do some good. This attitude extends to the Hulk as well, who rarely fights anyone or anything that didn't try to kill him first.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Invoked in Endgame. After 2014 Thanos blows up the compound, Hulk, Rhodey and Rocket are trapped under rubble. Hulk, despite his ruined arm, holds up a huge chunk of the rubble and yells at Rocket and Rhodey to save themselves. It’s the timely arrival of Ant-Man that not only saves the three of them but allows them to join the Battle of Earth.
• Homeless Hero: He's forced to stay on the run because of the government forces chasing him. Following his transformations, Bruce is often left with nothing but the pants he is wearing. At one point, he has to beg in order to survive.
• Honor Before Reason: In The Avengers, he's unable to refuse a little girl begging for his help as a doctor. It's a trap set by Black Widow to get him to meet with her. His comment to himself as soon as he realizes he's been tricked: "Should've gotten paid upfront, Banner."
• Horrifying Hero: With the exception of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner was at best tolerated by other heroes, at worst feared until he proved his ability to control himself in battle. His tendency toward collateral damage furthers this perspective. However, bystanders, especially in The Avengers, find him more heroic than horrifying. Enough to get merchandising with the other Avengers and have a flavour of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream named after him.
• Hulking Out: The Trope Namer, after all. It should be noted that this happens less in each movie between the two he has been in (The Avengers just had two), and we rarely see him "Hulk in" (i.e. revert to Bruce) until Avengers: Age of Ultron. We see him revert once on camera, and both of his Hulk Outs occur off-screen.
• Humble Hero: One of the few smart people in the MCU who isn't an Insufferable Genius or an Evil Genius.
• I Hate Past Me: A minor example in Endgame has him facepalming at the sight of past Hulk throwing a temper tantrum on a car. With the fact that he now maintains his mind as the Hulk, it makes sense for him to be disappointed by his past incarnation.
• Immune to Bullets: Bruce tells of a time when he tried to put a bullet in his head. It only triggers a transformation with "the other guy" spitting it out.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Banner thinks his intelligence makes him better than the Hulk, while his alter ego has a similar opinion when it comes to his gargantuan strength. Both are confounded that anyone would prefer their other half over them and get rather petulant when they feel they are being kissed up to just to let the competing personality take over when appropriate.
• Insecure Love Interest: To Black Widow throughout most of Age of Ultron. He's reluctant to pursue any kind of relationship with her because he feels his situation with the Hulk prevents him from leading any kind of normal life.
• Insistent Terminology: In The Avengers Bruce consistently refers to the Hulk as "the other guy", and pointedly corrects himself the one time he slips. By Thor: Ragnarok Bruce simply calls him "Hulk" with no apparent hang-ups over the name.
• Irony: Loki is frightened by the Hulk, but Bruce is himself is scared of Loki. When the two reunite in Thor: Ragnarok, he's visibly nervous and uneasy around the God of Mischief even when he's tied up.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Subverted. Banner's Character Development over The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers is about realizing that the Hulk isn't a villain or a mindless beast: he's part of Banner, driven by Banner's simplest and most uncomplicated instincts, and he needs to be accepted rather than constantly restrained.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Thanks to his complex relationship with the Hulk, Banner is often reluctant and reserved about being a hero. He knows he's done good but at the same time, he hates that his heroic work is contingent on losing control, possibly at the expense of massive collateral damage that he is powerless to stop. As such he tries to avoid going green as much as possible unless things hit the Godzilla Threshold.
  Bruce: Sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear...
• Like Brother and Sister: With his cousin Jennifer. Hulk or not, the two spend a lot of time ribbing one another in a (mostly) good-natured way.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Due to being in outer space during the time between Age of Ultron and Infinity War, Bruce is completely unaware of the developments that have taken place on Earth such as the Avengers splitting up, the emergence of Spider-Man and Ant-Man, and the King of Wakanda becoming a close ally to the heroes.
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: He's not a jerk, but he's very bitter, aloof, and uptight until Tony starts dumping good-natured teasing on him uninvited, at which point he starts to open up and relax.
• Magic Pants:
  • Justified. Two scenes in The Incredible Hulk show he makes sure his pants are several sizes too large and very stretchy. Age of Ultron instead gives him specially made, Avengers branded pants. The pants in question are also purple.
  • Played straight (and subtly lampshaded) in Ragnarok. Bruce is forced to dress up in Tony's spare clothes, and outright complains that the pants are tight. They still stretch out when he transforms during the climax.
• Middle Name Basis: His first name is actually Robert, but he prefers to go by Bruce so everybody calls him Bruce.
• Mysterious Past: Next to Hawkeye, Bruce's past is the least explored of the starting Avengers line-up (probably because the 2003 movie already explored that, and because Bruce hasn't actually been the main protagonist of anything since Incredible Hulk).
• Named by Democracy:
  • In the Incredible Hulk novelization, he's annoyed when he catches himself referring to his alter ego as the Hulk after hearing it in the media.
  • In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, he insists he didn't come up with the nickname "Smart Hulk", but just went with it. Jennifer disagrees and points out that he's still using it himself.
• Nervous Wreck: Often tries to calm down his nerves but sadly fails due to being stressed out constantly.
• Never Gets Drunk: Due to his fast metabolism as Professor Hulk, Bruce can drink a lot of alcohol without getting drunk.
• Nice Guy: He's very sweet, polite, and good-humored, thus making the contrast between him and his alter ego even greater... Unless he's Professor Hulk, where he's somehow nicer.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite his initial reservations, he goes along with Tony's plan to use the scepter (an alien artifact neither of them truly understand) to speed up Ultron's creation. The Mind Stone ends up turning their failed interface into a killing machine.
• Not That Kind of Doctor: In Iron Man 3, he explains his inability to help Tony with his PTSD by pointing out he's not a doctor of psychology.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Tony Stark, of all people, as they bond over science geekery in The Avengers. This is a complete 180 from their relationship in the comics. It is also implied that Tony's willingness to make merry by teasing Banner (he gives him an electric shock at one point just to see what would happen) helps bring him out of his shell by reminding him that not everyone is afraid of him.
  • Also with Steve, who is always respectful and kind to him and refers to him as Doctor despite his mutation. Though this is not so odd when considering they are the only two genuinely nice, humble people on a team filled with egos and ulterior motives. Part of this is that they are both the results of the super soldier project. Rogers understands what could have been with Banner.
  • Gets one with Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. Thor himself points out that he’s more similar to Hulk, and while both Hulk and Bruce start out wary of Thor’s intentions for them, they quickly take to working with him as a duo.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, he and Rocket are sent to pick up Thor, presumably due to their respective experiences with him. They’re clearly good friends, as Rocket refers to Hulk as "Big Green" and they listen to music together as they travel to New Asgard.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: He's the world's foremost gamma radiation expert, but obviously no slouch in biochemistry either. He occasionally shows knowledge in other fields:
  • He's practicing back-alley medicine in The Avengers and knows enough quantum mechanics to grasp the implications of Selvig's work on 'the Cube'.
  • In Age of Ultron Tony calls him a leader in bio-mechanics and defers to him to integrate J.A.R.V.I.S. into the Vision's processing center. Tony and him also collaborate on a hugely complex AI puzzle twice in the movie, proving he has a vast understanding of high-level computer science (although ultimately it's Tony in the driver's seat on those).
  • Thor: Ragnarok downright proves it when Banner claims he has seven PhDs. Going by previous examples, at least five of them are relatively clear: cellular and molecular radiobiology, medicine, nuclear astrophysics, biomechanics, and computer science.
  • Avengers: Endgame, however, reveals that quantum physics is one thing he is not an expert in.
• Only Sane Man: Being the mild-mannered intellectual of the group often means that Bruce has to be the most level-headed and serious in situations but unfortunately when he's angry, he turns into The Hulk and loses a lot of his sanity.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Downplayed for him when he uses the Stark Nanotech Infinity Gauntlet. Stark's gauntlet is strong enough to allow someone to use the Infinity Stones but it doesn't protect the wielder as well as the one created by the dwarves. The power leakage would have been strong enough to kill most of the Avengers before they could even do anything with the Gauntlet. The Hulk was the only one there strong and durable enough to withstand the backlash. What makes it more of a The Chosen One situation is that most of the energy leakage comes out as gamma energy, which created the Hulk in the first place and is the type of energy the Hulk can process and use within his own body, so he could absorb to an extent and resist it the most out of anyone.
• Out of Focus: In Phase One, he was considered one of the "big four" Avengers alongside Stark, Cap, and Thor due being the star of his own movie. While they got sequels however, Banner was relegated to only appearing in ensemble films (with the exception of Ragnarok, where he plays a supporting role).
• Painful Transformation:
  • The Incredible Hulk: Banner's transformation into the Hulk is massively unsynchronized, with body parts changing at different paces. In one scene, the bones in Bruce's shoulder grow faster than the rest, leaving his skin grotesquely distended for a brief moment.
  • The Avengers: His first transformation looks excruciating and takes a long time, because Banner is fighting it the whole time. Subverted the second time, when he transforms intentionally and it only takes one smooth second, with no thrashing or screaming.
  • Thor Ragnarok: The inverse, where it's Hulk turning back into Banner that's extremely painful, with the two of them fighting for control in a struggle that destroys a portion of the Quinjet.
• Perma-Shave: Despite being stuck in the form of the Hulk for two years, on an alien planet, Banner has only the slightest amount of visible stubble on his face in Thor: Ragnarok. Does Hulk shave?
• Powered Armor: He is using the Hulbuster-armor in Infinity War.
• The Prankster: The trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law shows Bruce waking his cousin Jennifer up with an airhorn.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Gets one in The Avengers, right before Hulking Out and destroying a massive Leviathan:
  Steve: Now might be a good time for you to get angry.
  Bruce: That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry.
• Precision F-Strike: Banner is normally not the type to use strong language, but when he finally gets fed up with Hulk's refusal to come out in the Battle of Wakanda, Banner snaps at his other half and resolves to defeat Cull Obsidian himself.
  Bruce: Oh, screw you, you big green asshole! I'll do it myself!
• Professor Guinea Pig: Within the MCU, he's a pretty famous example.
  Coulson: [showing Cap footage of the Hulk on a rampage] Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula.
  Capt. America: Didn't really go his way, did it?
• Promoted to Love Interest: He has little interaction with Black Widow in the comics, but becomes her love interest in Age of Ultron. This is partially because Bucky Barnes and Daredevil, Widow's two major love interests in the comics, have no real connection to her in the MCU continuity.
• Properly Paranoid: He's learned to be cautious in order to avoid getting tracked or endangering other people, because there are several factions tracking him.
• Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Thanos's beatdown of the Hulk leads to Banner being unable to transform into the green giant for the rest of Infinity War. It is an odd example since Bruce isn't affected by it, but the Hulk is.
• Put on a Bus: In the wake of the devastating Hulkbuster battle in Africa and not wanting to endanger Natasha, he takes off in the Quinjet for parts unknown. He eventually ends up on Sakaar thanks to some wormhole shenanigans in Thor: Ragnarok.
• Reluctant Warrior: He is one of the most powerful individuals in the MCU. He also has absolutely no interest in fighting and killing, not even getting into the fact that he can't control the Hulk.
  Natasha: All my friends are fighters. And here comes this guy who spends his life avoiding the fight because he knows he'll win.
• Residual Self-Image: Banner's Astral form takes the form of his human self, even though he's accepted his Hulk side in a Split-Personality Merge.
• Resurrective Immortality: It's strongly implied that the Hulk grants this power to Banner. In both The Incredible Hulk and Ragnarok, Banner jumps from a great height with the intent of unleashing the Hulk, hits the ground, and seemingly dies from the impact, only for the Hulk to emerge moments later. In The Avengers, he also discloses that he once attempted suicide by gunshot, but the Hulk spat the bullet out; Hulk transformations never happen fast enough to stop a bullet except during the aforementioned falling incidents, suggesting the suicide succeeded only for the Hulk to undo it.
• Reveling in the New Form: Early in the franchise, he shows fear of "the other guy", and takes caution to prevent himself from getting too angry or stressed and Hulking Out. In his solo film, he even attempts to find a way to cure himself, but fails. By Avengers: Endgame, however, Bruce has made peace with Hulk and expresses enjoyment over his Split-Personality Merge form, which he now has full control over. He even takes note of how he used to consider the Hulk a "disease", but now considers him a "cure" instead.
• Science Hero: According to Black Widow, Bruce is the leading expert on gamma radiation, which is why she sought his help in The Avengers to stop Loki's Evil Plan.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He plays the sensitive guy to Tony Stark's brash manly man.
  Tony: You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.
• Sharing a Body: Thor: Ragnarok makes it clear that this is his situation with the Hulk; they are different people. They have the same roots but they have different minds and personalities.
• Shrinking Violet: A meek, somewhat disheveled, and polite nerd; it seems almost unbelievable that this man turns into the Hulk.
• The Smart Guy: He's the world's foremost expert in gamma radiation, and in The Avengers, once he gets curious enough to drop the heroic neutrality, he picks up on a tiny clue and gets halfway to unraveling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scheming without trying before the rest of the Avengers realize there's a puzzle to solve.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He's one of the greatest scientists in the MCU, the leading expert on gamma radiation and has seven PhDs. He's also occasionally seen wearing glasses, though he can function without them with little difficulty. He continues wearing glasses after becoming Professor Hulk.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Ruffalo's Bruce Banner can be witty, but his body language is always awkward and non-confrontational, as if he's trying to take up as little space as possible. When a lovely girl like Natasha is practically throwing herself at him during the party early into Age of Ultron, he's speechless and unsure how to react.
• Split-Personality Merge: In Endgame, Bruce can now be conscious and converse in his Hulk form, explaining that both of his halves reconciled and he accepted that Hulk was a part of himself, and resolving his split personality issues thanks to that. He appears as a big, green Bruce Banner and while his personality mostly comes across as Bruce's, there's elements of Hulk's persona intermingled with it, such as a lack of tact and slight, lingering childishness. He later briefly shows signs of the Hulk's rage while grieving over Natasha's death. Bruce is shown being comfortable answering to both his real name, and the name "Hulk".
• Split-Personality Takeover:
  • He fears that this will happen to him in the Incredible Hulk novelization, fueling his efforts to cure himself and lead a normal life again.
  • Becomes a serious risk for Banner by the time of Ragnarok. During the two years on Sakaar, the Hulk never reverted back into Banner. Banner spends most of the movie terrified he will never change back if the Hulk resurfaces. Ultimately, he decides to transform anyway to save Asgardians from Fenris. It's subverted in Infinity War, as after a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by Thanos, the Hulk refuses to emerge when Banner tries to summon him.
  • Implied in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In that film's mid-credits stinger, Bruce is shown to have reverted back to his natural human form, with no visible indication that he and Hulk are still merged in appearance or personality-wise. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law shows that he has invented a device that allows him to assume his human form, which he did during the fateful accident that turned Jen into the She-Hulk.
• Straight Man: Often playing the role as the serious one whenever he works with Tony Stark and Thor who are big personalities.
• Tainted Veins: After turning back from the Hulk or when he's about to Hulk out, his veins will be gamma green.
• Taught by Television: In The Incredible Hulk, he studies Portuguese by watching the local version of Sesame Street with a Portuguese/English Dictionary in his lap, in addition to making a living working in Brazil.
• Technological Pacifist: Stated to be this by Ross, who argues that "scientists" are not to be trusted with military matters in any way, shape, or form.
  Ross: He's a scientist. He is not one of us.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He's not happy at having to work with Scarlet Witch. Justified as she caused his rampage in Age of Ultron.
• Threat Backfire: By the time of The Avengers, Bruce is completely unmoved by any kind of threat (including guns in his face), as he knows he'll just turn into the Hulk if hurt.
  [Black Widow points a gun at Bruce]
  Banner: Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the "other guy" doesn't make a mess? Okay?
• Took a Level in Badass: In Infinity War, because the Hulk refuses to fight Thanos again, Banner does all the fighting for the film by piloting the new model suit of Hulkbuster Iron Man Armor.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Bruce has grown more jovial and relaxed upon becoming Professor Hulk in Endgame. The trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law shows him training and relaxing with his cousin Jennifer, and even waking her up with an airhorn.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • His ultimate goal in the films is to achieve a state of quiet anger so he can stay in control. It's achieved by The Avengers.
  • In Age of Ultron, he is so pissed off that he boasts he could strangle Scarlet Witch and not change a shade.
• Troll:
  • He's not above using the threat of Hulking Out to scare Black Widow, just to see her reaction.
    Banner: [in deadpan tone] [Fury] needs me in a cage?
    Natasha: No one's gonna put you in—
    Banner: STOP LYING TO ME!
    [Black Widow freaks out and draws her gun]
    Banner: I'm sorry, that was mean, I just wanted to see what you'd do.
  • And he's at it again in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law:
    Jen: Was the airhorn necessary?
    Smart Hulk: For comedy? Absolutely.
• Unkempt Beauty: As many a film review has pointed out, nobody pulls off the rumpled-curls-and-bedroom-eyes aesthetic quite like Mark Ruffalo. Despite constantly looking like he needs a week of sleep and the world's biggest hug — or perhaps because of it — Bruce Banner is a dreamboat.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows that his reversal of the Blip caused its own far-reaching chaos as large numbers of people who adapted and found new opportunities were suddenly displaced, leading to new types of conflict and a violent terrorist movement.
  • Not that he or any of the Blip-spared Avengers knew, but as Eternals showed, his snap that brought back half the population was also the same half of the energy needed to awaken the Celestial Tiamut whose awakening would destory the Earth.
• Vocal Dissonance: As Professor Hulk, he has Bruce's soft voice and the Hulk's massive frame.
• Weakness Turns Her On: What does the sexy Natasha Romanoff see in the nebbish scruffy Bruce Banner. Precisely his weak, vulnerable and scared soft center. It's also what attracted Betty to Bruce, and even in the comics this is the case.
• What Did I Do Last Night?:
  • Banner tends to wake up unconscious after a Hulk episode, and barely remembers anything of it. He's compared the experience to an acid trip, and can never put the memories back together when transformed or not.
  • The biggest example is in Ragnarok, where Hulk hadn't reverted in the two years since his prior appearance until he saw a recording of Black Widow's attempt to speak to him in the Quinjet. Once Banner is back after so long, he takes a while to recover, even comparing the experience to "Hulk was in the driver's seat, and I was shoved into the trunk".
  • Even though it's previously established that Bruce remembers very little of his time as Hulk between the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok, in Avengers: Infinity War, he is able to act as the Harbinger of Impending Doom and give detailed exposition about Thanos to Iron Man and Doctor Strange, despite the fact that Hulk, not Banner, was the one present when Thanos attacked the ship the Asgardians were on.
• World's Smartest Man: The same as his comics version. Despite living as a fugitive for years without any access to cutting-edge technology, alongside his severe case of multiple-personality disorder, Bruce still rivals Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Shuri as a scientist, being their definite superior in nuclear physics. This remains the case even after two years of dormancy from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron to 'Thor: Ragnarok.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Bruce absolutely balks at the prospect of trying to murder a baby version of Thanos when Rhodey brings up the idea.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: The Trope Namer. It's rather cleverly inserted too, as Banner messes up the line while speaking Portuguese.
  Banner: You wouldn't like me when I'm... hungry... Wait, that doesn't sound right.

Tropes involving Hulk

• Achilles in His Tent: After his fight with Thanos at the start of Infinity War, Hulk became so fed up with Banner using him that he refuses to come out for the rest of the movie. Banner is able to partly transform but Hulk otherwise says no.
• Adaptational Heroism: While still a force of nature and being incredibly dangerous when out of control, he isn't nearly the potential threat and ticking timebomb he is in the comics and usually is seen as a useful weapon by the other Avengers.
• Adaptational Wimp: As badass as the Hulk is, there is no indication of him having incalculable strength like in the comics. His healing abilities are considerably toned down as well.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: With Thor. Thor and Hulk in the comics pretty much hate each other and often clash with one another whenever they meet. While they do fight against each other in both The Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok, their overall relationship is primarily that of civil co-workers during Phases 1 and 2, which grows into Friendly Rivalry in Ragnarok to genuine friendship in Avengers: Endgame.
• Adapted Out: There’s no indication that the various other Hulk personas like Joe Fixit or the Devil Hulk exist in the Sacred Timeline, although his Sakaar outfit is modeled after the Green Scar.
• The Adjectival Superhero: The Incredible Hulk. When he and Banner undergo a Split-Personality Merge, people have taken to calling him Smart Hulk.
• Advertised Extra: Hulk was shown participating in the battle of Wakanda in the trailers of Avengers: Infinity War and appeared on posters. Following the Curb-Stomp Battle Thanos inflicts him at the beginning, he refuses to show up throughout the remainder of the movie.
• Affectionate Nickname: The Hulk tends to get called "the Big Guy." Comes up the most in Ultron, when Black Widow needs to calm him down.
• Alien Blood: Hulk is shown bleeding dark green blood in The Incredible Hulk.
• Always Someone Better: As strong as he is, he learned the hard way against Thanos that there is indeed somebody out there who can kick his ass. Painfully.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Hulk's most visible feature, apart from his size, is his green skin. Banner's eyes or skin turning green are a regular visual cue for him Hulking Out.
• Anti-Hero: Hulk's motivation is more base than the rest of his Avengers ilk. He will fight to the last as long as he has something to fight against but what that is isn't always desirable. For instance Banner is able to take the Hulk's aggression and point it at The Abomination so as to at least minimize the amount of damage being done but at the same time, he can't recognize a friendly if they're confronting him to cool him down, as was the problem Thor and Tony Stark had in trying to restrain him during The Avengers and Age of Ultron, respectively. "Heroism" in terms of the Hulk really just boils down to "he didn't smash something that didn't need smashing" and you just have to kind of hope whenever he's out, that's the outcome you wind up with.
• Ax-Crazy: The Hulk can become so enraged at times that the concept of Friend or Foe? in him can be hampered, which usually leads him into attacking everything and everyone in reach.
• Badass Boast: After interrupting Loki's last A God Am I moment by slamming him into the ground. Repeatedly.
  Hulk: Puny god.
• Bash Siblings: With Thor, Valkyrie, and the rest of the Avengers.
• Berserk Button: The Hulk doesn't like being called Bruce.
  Tony: Right, don't mention puny Banner...
  • In Thor: Ragnarok, he downright tells Thor "No Banner. Only Hulk."
• The Berserker: In Tony's words, an "enormous green rage monster".
• Big Damn Heroes: He has a habit of arriving at just the right moment to turn the tide of battle (likely so that he doesn't completely overshadow the rest of his allies). Lampshaded by Banner, though subverted in that specific instance.
  Banner: Hulk. Hulk, I know you like making your entrance at the last second, well, this is it, man. This is the last, last, second!
• The Big Guy: Hulk is the largest and, along with Thor, one of the physically strongest members of the Avengers. "Big Guy" is a common nickname for Hulk, as well.
• Big "NO!": In Infinity War, after Banner returns to Earth, he tries to force the transformation into Hulk twice, only for Hulk to bellow "No!" at the top of his lungs and snap back into Banner.
• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Hulk is like a very young child in Thor: Ragnarok, so his insults to Thor follow suit. "Baby arms! Baby!"
• Boisterous Bruiser: In Ragnarok he is shown to be this, as he clearly enjoys being in the spotlight in Sakaar's arena, and is seen joking around with Thor and Valkyrie when out of the ring.
• Blood Knight: The Hulk has two modes. He wants to be left alone, and he wants to let loose. This is obvious in the battle in New York, where he fights the Chitauri and clearly has the time of his life after Captain America told him to "Smash".
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: One of his weapons as a gladiator in the Contest of Champions is a huge battle axe.
• The Cameo: Hulk is also briefly seen in Captain America: Civil War and Hawkeye, via archive footage of the Chitauri invasion of New York City. Avengers: Endgame also includes a bit where 2012 Hulk is seen smashing a Chitauri footsoldier with a car, much to his present self's embarrassment.
• Car Fu: If there's an Improvised Weapon that Hulk loves using the most, it's cars.
  • During the Harlem Terror, he tears a police car in two and uses them as makeshift gauntlets against the Abomination.
  • During the Battle of New York, he uses a car to squash a Chitauri soldier which he then proceeds to stomp on repeatedly to fully kill it.
  • During his fight with Iron Man in Johanessburg, the first thing he does is throw a car at him. Tony manages to catch it due to using the Hulkbuster but Hulk was actually using this as bait so he can punch through the car and hit Tony.
• Carry a Big Stick: He uses a maul alongside a battle axe as his weapons in the Contest of Champions.
• Catch a Falling Star: In The Avengers, he catches Iron Man midair as he's falling from very high speeds because the Mark VII ran out of power while in space.
• Chain Pain: During his fight with the Abomination, he uses a huge chain to choke the life out of him and would've killed him had it not been for Betty telling him to stop.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Hulk ends up disappearing in the Quinjet to parts unknown, leaving him missing for two years in-universe. This results in him being absent for much of Phase 3's Earth-based events such as Captain America: Civil War, up until Thor finally finds him on Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • This Hulk is bright enough to use tools... and weapons. Supposedly, the special effects team refused to make the Abomination's pointy ears visible, otherwise they'd have to make a scene of the Hulk tearing them off and couldn't otherwise justify the Hulk NOT taking that advantage. Likewise, he hits the Abomination with everything he's got—he makes gauntlets out of cars, uses shockwaves to push him off balance before attacking, choking him with massive chains, and even rips out his elbow spikes and stabs him with them.
  • He also ignores Talking Is a Free Action, gladly hitting villains who are about to monologue and are standing conveniently still.
• Comical Overreacting: In Endgame, the Hulk responds to having to take the stairs instead of the elevator by punching the elevator doors, and when he finally reaches the ground floor, he angrily punches the door off its hinges and roars, scaring the socks off everyone around him.
• Cool Helmet: As a fighter in the Contest of Champions, he wears one that resembles the galeae helmets worn by the Roman army which is fitting given his status as a gladiator.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Many of his fights are over quickly because his strength, rage, size, and speed overwhelm most opponents. Thanos is the only one during the Infinity Gauntlet saga, who could do this to him instead, although Thor comes close in their arena fight in Ragnorak.
• Decomposite Character: While not being a direct adaption, Ragnarok took some elements from the Planet Hulk storyline. The protagonist of the movie is Thor and, while Hulk still appears in the movie, a lot of elements of the story are now given to Thor instead of Hulk: being stranded on Sakaar, forced to fight as a gladiator against a former teammate, forming a team with Korg and Miek and starting a rebellion. Meanwhile, Hulk takes on the role of former teammate Silver Surfer.
• Deus Exit Machina: Throughout the movies he appears in, it became a tradition that, whenever it seemed like the heroes were not going to win, Banner would turn into Hulk and they’d sic him on the villains. This worked against Abomination in The Incredible Hulk, the Chitauri in The Avengers, Ultron in Age of Ultron and Fenris in Ragnarok. Naturally, come Infinity War, Loki devises a plan to distract Thanos, have Hulk ambush him and nip his conquest in the bud. Hulk loses for the first time, and refuses to transform for the rest of the movie.
• Didn't Think This Through: When a S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jet tries (emphasis on "tries") to take him out in The Avengers, the Hulk responds by jumping on the jet and smashing it to pieces... which ends with the jet blowing up and sending a now on fire Hulk plummeting to the ground.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": He's always pissed off, but the easiest way to piss him off even more is to call him Bruce Banner because he hates puny Banner.
  Hulk: No Banner, only Hulk!
• The Dreaded: He's the reason why Banner makes the people around him uneasy. Special mention goes to being one to Loki; following giving the puny god a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Loki is terrified of him after seeing him again in Ragnarok.
  Loki: I have to get off this planet...!
• Dual Wielding:
  • The Hulk prefers shields (one on each hand) and will rip a car apart to make them for himself. This is because the Hulk always manifests to defend Bruce or someone else.
  • He uses a battle axe and a maul as his weapons in the Contest of Champions.
• Dumb Muscle: Just like the Hulk Speak, this is downplayed for the Hulk compared to most of the Savage Hulk's appearances. Especially in The Avengers, he behaves more like a relatively intelligent animal (such as a gorilla) than a raging baby, and in said movie his intentions are more in line with Banner's too.
• Emerald Power: He has green skin and eyes and is one of the strongest beings in the universe.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: His gladiator outfit in Thor: Ragnarok evokes this. His left arm has more armor while his right arm doesn't, his right hand has armor while his left hand doesn't, and his body paint is only on the right side of his body. He also uses a battle axe and a maul at once as his weapons.
• Forgot About His Powers: After defeating Loki, the Avengers tell him to take the stairs down to the lobby because the elevator was full. He hates stairs, but walks down, even though he could have easily jumped out the window and landed with no problem.
• Friendly Rivalry: Seems to have one with Thor, unlike their usual Headbutting Heroes behavior in the comics. In the first Avengers movie, Hulk punches Thor off of a Leviathan they just defeated for no specified reason but because their previous fight was a draw. In Ragnarok, Hulk seems more interested in fighting Thor again than acknowledging him as a "friend from work", and even defeats him. Thankfully, he doesn't kill Thor, unlike previous contestants.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: This seems to be how Hulk sees his own role among the Avengers: He states to Thor in Ragnarok that everyone on Earth hates him and that Thor and the other Avengers are only Banner's friends and don't really care for him. Seeing how the Avengers have close bonds with each other and Banner but never really see him as more than a fighting machine, he might even have a point.
• Gag Penis: Implied by Thor's comments after seeing the Hulk naked, either that or Thor wasn't expecting to see Hulk's jolly green giant.
• Gentle Giant: Downplayed, but present. It's made clear on several occasions that beyond the rage and fury on the surface, deep down the Hulk is just a troubled soul who wants to have friends and be accepted.
  • In The Incredible Hulk, he has a moment where he's protective of Betty after saving her life, and while the lightning freaks him out, she's able to calm him down. This reveals that, in spite of the Hulk being an entity driven by rage, he's not incapable of kindness and rationality.
  • It's very clear in Age of Ultron when he comes out of the Scarlet Witch-induced nightmare and looks around at the destruction he caused with a very visible look of sorrow.
  • He completely becomes a Gentle Giant when his personality merges with Banner, to the point where he's able to take photos with kids and actually be even calmer than he was as Banner.
• Glowing Eyes: In his solo movie, he sports these when he transforms into the Hulk.
• Godzilla Threshold: Both ways; if things are bad enough, only the Hulk can save you. On the other hand, if your problem is the Hulk, you're likely to cross some other Godzilla Threshold trying to fix things.
• Green and Mean: The color of his skin is green, and you do not want him as your enemy.
• Grin of Audacity: Hulk sports this a few times, such as when Thor smashes him with the Hammer and he lets out a toothy grin and then when Captain America sics him on the Chitauri.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: The Incredible Hulk's entire existence basically hinges on his short temper, and even if you do manage to get him to a calm state, he often assumes that someone is stealth insulting him or trying to tell him what to do, which causes him to either leave in a huff or just attempt to smash you to death. Or some idiot will come along and provoke him again.
• Happiness in Slavery: After the events of Age of Ultron, Hulk accidentally warps to Sakaar, where he is forced to be the Grandmaster's champion gladiator for two years, killing just about any person who goes up against him. However, unlike his time as an Avenger, the Hulk genuinely enjoys himself under the Grandmaster's control, as he is capable of letting loose against people in the ring while also getting time to himself in some rather luxurious personal quarters. The only reason he leaves it all behind is because he genuinely didn't want Thor to leave Sakaar, and ends up losing control to Banner, who wants to get back home at all costs.
• Healing Factor: He can regenerate from wounds at very fast rates. He was able to heal from being punctured in the chest by one of the Abomination's elbow spikes, was later bitten by the Asgardian wolf Fenris while underwater but later gets back on the rainbow bridge without any visible injuries, and as seen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was able to heal from third-degree burns he suffered from snapping half of all life back into existence, though his arm still needs a sling.
• Hero Antagonist: While usually portrayed as one of the good guys he had to be fought by Iron Man in his Hulkbuster-armor as well as Thor in a gladiator-fight in outer space. However, in both cases he later teams up with the other heroes.
• Horrifying Hero: The Hulk may ultimately fight against villains like Loki, but he is very much a monster that strikes terror into the bravest of men. Even the normally expressionless Black Widow trembles in fear whenever the Hulk threatens to come out and when he first emerges, Bruce Banner is writhing in pain as it sounds like his bones are breaking while a monster takes over his body.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Betty Ross and Natasha Romanoff. He also has a non-romantic example with Valkyrie.
• Hulk Speak:
  • Only says a few words in each movie where he appears, but they are still in the third person and angry.
    Hulk: Hulk... smash!
  • By Ragnarok, he's spent enough time as Hulk to gain a much larger vocabulary, but still retains his trademark stunted grammar.
• Immune to Bullets: Funnily, at one point in The Avengers, a fighter jet opens up on him with a jet-mounted Vulcan cannon, and he doesn't realize he's being shot until he hears the bullets bouncing off him.
• In a Single Bound: While he can't fly, Hulk's jumps are powerful enough that it doesn't really matter. This is best exemplified in Ragnarok, where he jumps high enough to punch Surtur in the face. Surtur, at this time, "was over 800 meters tall and growing according to the VFX Supervisor," while Hulk is still at ground level.
• Insult of Endearment: The Hulk affectionately refers to Valkyrie as "Angry Girl" in Thor: Ragnarok.
• Irony: Despite his many heroic deeds, the people of Earth never really treat him like a hero because they're all scared of the big green rage monster. The people of Sakaar on the other hand, treat him like a hero despite performing no heroic deeds, in fact he's helping prop up the Grandmaster's corrupt regime and murdering political dissidents. But the Sakaarans just love the big green rage monster.
• It Can Think: Hulk is not just a mindless tower of muscle and id. It can use rudimentary strategy, work in a team, and hold grudges really well.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: In The Incredible Hulk, Ross often calls him "it" when speaking about him to other characters, with the exception being when he tells a soldier to "give him some help" during the battle in Harlem. Betty makes a point to avoid doing this in the novelization.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This is his default persona whether he's in Savage mode. He can be haughty, throw tantrums and just act like a prick at times but he knows who his friends are and is more than likely willing to be there for them.
• Large Ham: The Hulk has always been an outstanding case of this, especially when he is smashing things.
• Lightning Bruiser: Not only is the Hulk very strong, but he's also quite fast and agile.
• Manchild: The Hulk during Thor: Ragnarok can be best described as a big, selfish five-year-old who throws massive temper tantrums. He almost pouts when Thor yells at him to stop attacking Surtur.
• Meaningful Appearance: Banner accepting his Split-Personality Merge seems to have resulted in Hulk getting reduced in size and musculature that Banner looks like he's only midway between the two forms.Though he seems to have reverted back to his natural human form by the time Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comes around.
• Megaton Punch: Hulk's incredible superhuman strength allows him to send opponents flying through the air with single punches.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: The masses fear and hate him and generally see him as a monster who causes chaos and destruction whenever Banner turns into him. What he actually is is a deeply troubled individual who wants to be accepted by others and and is actually very conscious of being feared by everyone.
• Mugging the Monster: Tells The Ancient One that he's not asking her to give him the Time Stone. He gets his astral form punched out for his disrespect.
• Naked People Are Funny: After defeating Thor in the Grandmaster's ring in Thor: Ragnarok, Hulk decides to relax in the hot tub in his room, completely naked the entire time. He eventually gets out to reveal where the Quinjet is, disturbing Thor in the process. Thankfully he puts on a towel shortly afterwards.
• Neutral No Longer: After some Character Development in The Avengers, he jumps in to stop the alien invasion on his own.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: It takes a lot to bring down the Hulk. (No, seriously. A lot.)
• Nominal Hero: While Hulk is somewhat willing to help people he considers friends, he's not particularly altruistic outside that. After crashing on Sakaar, he spends years fighting (and killing) the Grandmaster's "prisoners with jobs" in the arena, and shows no interest in helping Thor stop the end of the world when he can stay right where he is.
• Noodle Incident: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law reveals that the Hulk apparently conceived a son, Skaar with...somebody during his tenure as a gladiator there. Who the mother is, and how she came to know Bruce is left unexplained.
• The Nose Knows: Bruce wasn't exaggerating when he said "you could smell crazy on [Loki]"; a invoked Deleted Scene from The Avengers has Hulk sniff Loki out of a crowd of holograms.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Thor says that he and the Hulk are both "just a couple of hotheaded fools" after they have an argument on Sakaar.
  Hulk: Yeah, same. Hulk like fire, Thor like water.
  Thor: Well, we're kind of both like fire.
  Hulk: But Hulk like real fire, like raging fire. Thor like smoldering fire.
• Odd Friendship: Developed a bizarre rapport with Scrapper 142, aka Valkyrie or, as Hulk knows her, "Angry Girl". They even playfully beat the shit out of each other frequently. This friendship carries over to Banner after he turns back as well, even though they don't know each other's true identities yet.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • In between the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok, he rose through the ranks of The Grandmaster's Contest of Champions by defeating everybody he fought against, becoming the Champion of Sakaar and being given a very large and loaded apartment in The Grandmaster Palace.
  • During the events of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Bruce spends much of the series out in space trying to discover why a Sakaaran ship had appeared before him and Jennifer in the first episode. He comes back at the very end of the series revealing that during his 2-year tenure as the Grandmaster's champion, he had sired a Half-Human Hybrid son by the name of Skaar.
• Oh, Crap!: His facial expression when Thanos grabs him by the wrists and pries the Green Goliath's hands away from his throat screams of this.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Thor telling Hulk that yes, everyone on Earth does hate him in a moment of anger doesn't drive Hulk to homicidal fury like you'd expect. Instead, he freezes on the spot, stops going after Thor completely, and sits down on his bed with a look of abject hurt; a real sign that a raw nerve was hit.
  • After being curbstomped by Thanos at the beginning of Infinity War, Hulk is so fed up with Banner using him to fight that he refuses to come out for the rest of the film even when Banner becomes angry.
  • After learning of Black Widow's sacrifice in Endgame, Hulk, just for one second, reverts back to his rage-filled persona and throws a bench into a lake in anger. While he calms down not a moment later, it's clear that, after spending the whole movie in a semi-tranquil state of calm, Nat's death is tearing him up inside.
• One-Man Army: Loki might have an army, but the Avengers have a Hulk! He tears through whole armies like tissue paper, and for the most is an unstoppable killing machine. That is, until he meets Thanos.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He broke Harlem, accidentally.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Hulk's voice is much deeper than Banner's. While this could be chalked up to Hulk simply having larger vocal chords, there have been several instances that show that Hulk's voice is always that deep, even while being mid or near transformation. Once he and Banner undergo a Split-Personality Merge, Professor Hulk retains Banner's normal voice.
• Primal Stance: In The Avengers, he assumes a hunched, almost gorilla-like stance. He even slams both fists into the ground and grunts at one point.
• Progressively Prettier: Ruffalo's Hulk was monstrous and animalistic in The Avengers and Age of Ultron, however, in Thor: Ragnarok, he has a much more human-like appearance. This parallels the development of his personality, which also went from animalistic to humanized. After his Split-Personality Merge, he simply looks like a big, green version of Banner.
• Psycho Party Member: The Hulk in The Avengers, until the third act of the movie shows that Banner has learned control, but the timid, likable Banner is constantly treated like a ticking time bomb of fury.
• Punch a Wall: He punches an elevator door in anger after Tony and Thor tell him to take the stairs as a result of the elevator reaching maximum occupancy.
• Punch Catch: A semi-regular happenstance. He catches the Hulkbuster's fist in Age of Ultron, and in Ragnarok, catches Thor's weapon once.
• Red/Green Contrast: In Ragnarok, he is green to Thor's red — the God of Thunder wears a flowing red cape.
• Royal "We": In the novelization of The Incredible Hulk, Hulk often uses the pronouns "we" and "us" when speaking in Banner's subconscious.
• Same Character, But Different: In Endgame, after the five-year Timeskip. Banner and Hulk have worked out their differences and had a Split-Personality Merge.
• Screaming Warrior: As expected from a raging behemoth, Hulk grunts and roars a lot during battles.
• Serkis Folk: From The Avengers forward, Hulk is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo via mocap, making Ruffalo the first actor to play both Banner and Hulk.
• Shield Bash: With the only shields big enough for him; car debris.
• Shockwave Clap: He can use this to knock people several feet away and douse a blazing fire.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Hulk one-upping Loki in the middle of his A God Am I speech used to serve as the trope image. It involves bashing him into the floor several times and concluding with a "puny god". A few years later, when a weakened Ultron attempts to reason with the Avengers, Hulk simply sends the android flying with a single punch.
• Slasher Smile: From The Avengers:
  Captain America: Hulk? Smash.
  Hulk: [grin]
• Smarter Than You Look:
  • The Hulk appears to be a near-mindless animal, although when the fighting gets intense, he starts using his head and shows a Combat Pragmatist streak. This is in line with some interpretations of Hulk in the comics, namely that Banner's massive intellect doesn't just disappear when the Hulk manifests, but rather is channeled in different directions because Hulk is too angry to really stop and think.
  • Hulk is also relatively quite young having only had a limited amount of subjective existence. The longer he has existed, the total time where Banner is Hulked out, the smarter he appears to get. This comes to a head by the time of Thor: Ragnarok, where after multiple years spent as the Hulk, he has gone from one-word statements to talking in full sentences and forming friendships. Given how short an amount of time he has subjectively existed at that point it actually appears Hulk is quick on the uptake.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Both Loki and Wanda get the drop on the Avengers by getting Bruce to transform.
  • When Thor manages to escape the Grandmaster's palace, he was just about to take the quinjet back to Asgard. He didn't anticipate that Hulk would want his friend to stay with him. Hulk destroyed the quinjet.
  • During the Time Heist, Tony is seconds away from getting away with the Tesseract, when an enraged Hulk (mad about having to take the stairs) burst through the door, knocking him down causing him to lose the Tesseract. This led to the escape of the Loki variant that helped Sylvie get to He Who Remains, making Hulk indirectly this trope for the TVA and indeed the multiverse.
• Split-Personality Takeover:
  • After being brought out of a two-year-long Hulk streak in Thor: Ragnarok, Bruce is very concerned that the next time he turns will be this, as his Hulk side keeps getting stronger and more dominant. He voluntarily transforms again later in the movie, and is shown to still be in Hulk-mode as it ends, though is seen out of it in trailers for Infinity War.
  • Amusingly, this is inverted in Avengers: Infinity War. After his fight with Thanos, Hulk refuses to come out even when Bruce tries to transform, necessitating Bruce's use of an upgraded Hulkbuster armor.
• Split-Personality Merge: In Avengers: Endgame. Bruce Banner and the Hulk are able to work out their differences and manage to create a new persona that they can share, which has Hulk's appetite for destruction and Banner's intellect. However, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings shows that Bruce has reverted back to normal sometime after the events of the movie, with no explanation as to how or why. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, he reveals he has invented a device that allows him to return to his human form as long as it is attached to his body.
• Stout Strength: Ruffalo's Hulk, at least, has a bit of a spare tire on him. It's all muscle.
• Suddenly Voiced: For the majority of the MCU, the Hulk just grunted and roared, with an occasional word or two thrown in. He starts talking in complete sentences in Thor: Ragnarok.
• Super-Strength: He can rip stone and metal apart with ease and it increases with increased rage. For example, the metal alloy used by the Chitauri resists jackhammers and other tools made on earth; Hulk makes it buckle with one punch.
• Super-Toughness: The amount of abuse he can withstand without leaving any scratches on him and still fighting is one of the most dangerous things about him.
• Talk to the Fist: Hulk has a tendency of smashing his enemies when they are in the middle of a speech.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: He's one of the founding members of the team in the MCU and definitely is a core member throughout the franchise - he's seen as a core member in the real world thanks to the movie. While he was a founding member in the comics too he left the team as soon as at the end of the second issue of the team. He rejoined the teams decades later, after the first Avengers-movie came out.
• Teeth Flying: The Hulkbuster armor punches out one of his teeth in Age of Ultron. This just serves to piss him off even more and makes Tony meekly apologize.
• Terse Talker: In his first two movies, the Hulk has very few lines. He doesn't speak at all in Age of Ultron.
  • In the middle of The Incredible Hulk:
    Hulk: Leave me alone.
  • In The Incredible Hulk finale:
    Hulk: Hulk... smash!
  • In The Avengers:
    Hulk: Puny god.
  • Averted in Ragnarok, where he speaks in full sentences. Justified in that Banner has been in Hulk form for two years, where he acquired a wider vocabulary.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In Endgame, his past self kills a Chitauri by crushing it with a car and then jumps up and down on the car multiple times in anger, squashing its corpse flat.
• Third-Person Person: Downplayed. While Hulk usually refers to himself in the third person most of the time on account of his Hulk Speak, he does occasionally use first person terms in Ragnarok. Once he properly merges with Banner in Endgame, he completely forgoes the usage of this trope.
  Hulk: I'm sorry, I just get so angry all the time. Hulk always, always angry.
• Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. While he isn't a bad guy per se, he is an unstable and unpredictable force of nature in stark contrast to the other members who all can be seen as true heroes. He also gets into physical fight with at least one of his teammates in both the first Avengers-movie and Age Of Ultron.
• Troll: In Ragnarok, he purposefully goads and pisses Thor off to get him to walk into the forcefield in his room. It's as funny and childish as it sounds.
• Underestimating Badassery: To Thanos and The Ancient One. Both ends in Curb-Stomp Battle, though the latter is less violent.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Hulk is a big ball of rage and has never had any formal training, thus he fights savagely with straightforward strikes without a care for stuff like avoiding hits, parrying, or anything more refined than aiming to break every bone in someone's body. However, he's in the same weight class as Thor, and rare are those who can match Hulk on a physical level, so his lack of skill is unnoticeable most of the time.
  • Less so that you might think, as the Hulk has a Combat Pragmatist streak and excellent battlefield awareness. Still, his fist fight with Thor in Ragnarok features most of Hulk's offence getting dodged and countered whenever Thor's actively trying, and the big guy certainly gets mileage out of his exceptional durability in most fights.
  • This backfires on him badly during his fight with Thanos. The Mad Titan is not only able to match The Hulk blow for blow, he also knows how to fight with skill and finesse while also being stronger. So the outcome is both swift and brutal.
• Unstoppable Rage: When he hulks out due to stress, he's a force of nature.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His anger at having to take the stairs in Endgame leads to a Loki variant making off with the Tesseract, sets the events of Loki in motion, one thing leads to another, and now Kang the Conqueror, who makes Thanos look like a playground bully in scope, is back and another Multiversal War is on the horizon.
• Victorious Roar:
  • Though he is prone to roaring regardless, he lets off a truly epic one after defeating the Abomination.
  • Subverted in the first The Avengers film, after the Battle of New York. He roars to try to wake Tony up when Thor and Steve thought he was dead, and then happily roars again when Tony jumps awake.
• Victory Pose On Person: After Hulk defeats the Abomination, he stomps his foot on his defeated enemy's chest letting out a Victorious Roar as he does so.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Thor, whenever it comes to their alliances when the Avengers are needed. It's especially evident during Ragnarok, when they have actual conversations that involve them constantly ribbing one another, and Hulk gets upset when Thor attempts to leave Sakaar to the point of begging him to stay.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Justified. His transformations destroy everything he wears except his pants.
• The Worf Effect: Just to drive the point home of how strong he is, Thanos kicks Hulk's ass thoroughly at the start of Infinity War. With their ace in the hole easily defeated, the rest of the Avengers must come up with another solution to stop Thanos.
• World's Strongest Man:
  • The Hulk is clearly initially the physically strongest being on Planet Earth, with his only challenge being the Asgardian Thor and Thanos, the Mad Titan, both of who are not from Earth. When the Hulk is let loose, neither cities nor armies (both from Earth and outer space) are safe. Once he's off the planet, he even becomes a formidable competitor in Sakaar's gladiatorial ring and later fights a giant Asgardian wolf.
  • To elaborate, Hulk has only ever lost two fights he's participated in; fighting Tony in the Hulkbuster armor during Avengers: Age of Ultron (and given that he had been mind-raped by Wanda he was fighting less effectively but more savagely) and his opening bout against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Every other defeat he's suffered over the course of the franchise has been caused by getting Hulk to shift back into Banner, typically by dropping him from a great height and disorienting him enough to let Bruce reassert control. Thor in his Super Mode has the edge on Hulk, but the Grandmaster interrupts the fight before there is a definite winner, thus allowing Hulk to win.
  • However, as of Endgame, Captain Marvel has taken the title from him, being able to grab Thanos's hand and prevent him from closing it, even outright ignoring a headbutt from the Mad Titan. And if one counts overall powers and not just pure physical might, Wanda has also surpassed him.
• Wrestler in All of Us: He uses a fisherman's suplex on Fenris during their battle in the river below the Rainbow Bridge.

Variants

Team Thor's Bruce Banner

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"I never wear cut-offs, how do I keep waking up in cut-offs?"

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Portrayed By: Mark Ruffalo

Appearances: Team Thor

The Bruce Banner of Earth-16828, who after the events of Age of Ultron visits Thor in Australia.

---

• Adaptational Comic Relief: He's more silly than the main Bruce Banner, at least prior to Thor: Ragnarok.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Seems to be more at peace with himself than his Sacred Timeline counterpart, who always seemed nervous and hesitant prior to resolving his issues with the Hulk.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Him and Thor are much closer than their Sacred Timeline selves were at this point in time, who only became friends during Ragnarok while here they are apparently happy to spend time together outside of being Avengers.
• Only Friend: Since both Iron Man and Captain America want nothing to do with Thor, it seems that Bruce is one of the few Avengers who's on good terms with him.

King Loki's Bruce Banner

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"No need for violence, Agent Romanoff. That’s probably not gonna work out for anyone."

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Voiced By: Mark Ruffalo

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-51825, Bruce Banner is on the run from the U.S. government only for things to take a turn for the worst.

---

• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce was terrified of transforming into The Hulk at any time, and was actively leery of getting involved in dangerous situations due to his fear of transforming uncontrollably. This variant of Bruce is much more confident relaxed when around Betty and Natasha, and shows zero fear of dying due to believing he's an Invincible Hero. He barely even panics after being shot, merely warning Nat calmly to get away from him.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Banner initially thinks he was hit by a sniper round, but soon after transforming into the Hulk, Hank Pym attaches a blue-colored Pym Particles Disk to the gamma monster's heart, causing it to increase exponentially in size until Hulk's body can't contain it anymore, resulting in a green-colored Ludicrous Gibs explosion.
• Closet Shuffle: Betty Ross tries to hide the fugitive Banner in a supply closet in one of the university labs to keep him safe from Gen. Ross. Natasha catches on fairly quickly when she sees Banner's pizza-guy disguise nearby.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: Unlike his main timeline self, the Hulk was killed by none other than Yellowjacket (specifically Hank and not Darren Cross) long before he became an official Avenger.
• Death by Adaptation: Hulk is killed by Hank Pym when the latter threw a Growth Disc at his heart, causing him to explode.
• Not So Invincible After All: Bruce is more concerned for Natasha's wellbeing than his own, confidently telling her that he can't be killed. He is fatally proven wrong later when Hank Pym invades the Hulk's body and causes his heart to enlarge and obliterate him.
• "Pop!" Goes the Human: In the middle of the confrontation at Culver University, the Hulk suddenly starts expanding rapidly like an inflating balloon, and like an overinflated balloon reaching its limit, he eventually bursts explosively. It's later revealed that the apparent sniper shot that provoked Bruce's transformation was Hank Pym entering his body, with the expansion caused by a Growth Disk attached directly at his heart.
• Tempting Fate: He tells Natasha that he can't die because of his powers. Hank Pym proves him wrong.

Zombie Apocalypse Bruce Banner

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"What the hell happened to the neighborhood?!"

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Voiced By: Mark Ruffalo

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-89521, Bruce Banner returns to Earth after the events of Thor: Ragnarok, only to find the world is not how he remembered it.

---

• Achilles in His Tent: Like in Infinity War Hulk refuses to come out until Bruce puts them in danger of becoming zombies.
• Adaptational Badass: In the MCU, the Hulk's skin is tough enough to be able to No-Sell being bit by a zombie, in contrast to his comic self who is among the first to be infected.
• Bearer of Bad News: He notices the scar Hope got from killing a zombified Sharon and tells her that she's infected.
• Big Damn Heroes: After spending most of the episode refusing to come out like in Infinity War, the Hulk finally emerges to fight a zombified Wanda Maximoff and the rest of the horde, giving Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Scott Lang an opportunity to escape from Camp Lehigh.
  Bruce: Okay, big guy. Kinda counting on you here. Things are pretty bad. It'd be nice for you to be the hero. I mean, wouldn't it be kinda cool for you to be the nice one for a change?
• Bolivian Army Ending: The last time we see him, the Hulk is in the midst of a solo stand against a zombie horde lead by Zombie Scarlet Witch, and whether or not he survives is not revealed.
• Calling Your Nausea: He exclaims that he's gonna vomit after seeing a large ant eat a zombified Tony Stark's head.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Knowing the others needed more time to escape and having learned that the Hulk will come out when in danger, he charges at a zombie horde to turn into the Hulk and distract Zombie Scarlet Witch.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Like his Sacred Timeline self, this Bruce has no idea what has transpired on Earth after the two years he spent on Sakaar. Unfortunately, he has more to deal with than just the Avengers breaking up...
• Mythology Gag: The clothes he took from the New York Sanctum are purple, which is usually the color of Hulk's pants in the comics. So, naturally when he transforms into Hulk near the end of the episode he bears a stronger resemblance to his comic counterpart.
• No-Sell: The Hulk is the only known character to be able to shrug off zombie bites thanks to the toughness of his skin.
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees that Tony and his wizard friends are actually flesh-eating zombies.
• The Remnant: With Thor still in space and the rest of the Avengers as mindless fleshcrawlers, Bruce is the only one of the original Avengers who's available to deal with the apocalypse.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike in Marvel Zombies he isn't infected, at least to our knowledge.
• Uncertain Doom: The last we see of him, he's in the middle of fighting a zombie horde led by a zombified Scarlet Witch. We've already seen his skin is impervious to zombie bites, but we don’t see if he survives. At the very least, we see him winning in his fight against the zombified Wanda.

Infinity Ultron's Bruce Banner

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

The Hulk of Earth-29929, who was killed during Ultron's genocidal quest for peace.

---

• Dead Alternate Counterpart: He's killed by Ultron alongside Steve, Tony, and Thor.
• Death by Adaptation: Is killed by Ultron.
• Killed Offscreen: We don't see him getting killed by Ultron. We only see his corpse after the act.
• The Worf Effect: He's killed alongside the other founding Avengers sans Black Widow and Hawkeye to show how dangerous Ultron would have become had he successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body.

The Freak's Bruce Banner

Dr. Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"Clint, think we need to wrap this up. Sun's getting real low, pal. Like, super winter solstice kind of low."

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Voiced By: Mark Ruffalo

Appearances: What If...?

A variant of Bruce Banner who got into an argument with Clint Barton while Justin Hammer took over Avengers Tower.

---

• Adaptational Origin Connection: In this version his blood is responsible for transforming Happy Hogan into the Freak.
• Pass the Popcorn: When the Avengers fight a mutated Happy Hogan, he just watches them while eating a Christmas cookie. When Steve asks for his help, he nonchalantly declines and says they get this.

Captain Carter's Bruce Banner

Bruce Banner

Species: Human (possibly enhanced)

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Avengers

Appearances: What If...? (mentioned only)

The Bruce Banner of Earth-82111, who is allied with the Avengers led by Captain Peggy Carter.

---

• Adapted Out: The Hulk isn't present for the Battle of New York in this timeline, his place being taken by the Wasp.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear if Banner ever became the Hulk in this timeline; he isn't present at the Battle of New York, and is only mentioned as a scientist who could help with the brainwashed HYDRA Stomper, but in 1602, Peggy expresses awareness of that version of Banner being the Hulk and also seems aware of how unpleasant the experience of Hulking Out is for him.
• The Ghost: Although mentioned by Natasha, Banner doesn't appear in What If Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper?.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite not joining the Battle of New York, Banner is still at least an ally of the Avengers, being mentioned in the same breath as Tony Stark (who is definitely an Avenger in this reality), implying that the two of them still became best friends.

Bruce Banner 1602

Bruce Banner / The Hulk

"Shh. Go away. I don't want any trouble."

"Hulk smash thee!"

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: English

Affiliation(s): Avengers 1602

Voiced By: Mark Ruffalo

Appearances: What If...?

A variant of Bruce Banner who was a prisoner in 1602.

---

• Adaptational Heroism: In the comics he was the right hand man to King James, being a torturer with few morals while ironically the Hulk was a more peaceful character, though he did pull a Heel–Face Turn later on. Here he's just as heroic as any other version of the character.
• Adaptational Name Change: In the comics his name was changed to David, but here he's still called Bruce.
• Big "SHUT UP!": The Hulk ends up getting tired of The Freak's Flowery Insults, and promptly puts a stop to it with an emphatic "SHUT THY MOUTH!" before throwing him into an organ and roaring.
• Desires Prison Life: He prefers being locked in a dungeon because the peace and quiet of the place prevents him from Hulking Out.
• In the Hood: He wears this and a mask in his prison cell. Both get destroyed when he transforms into Hulk.
• Man in the Iron Mask: He's introduced this way, wearing a cloak and a mask that resembles the Mark I Iron Man Armor's mask. He's even called "The Monster In The Iron Mask".
• Manly Facial Hair: This variant of the Hulk has a thick beard that emphasizes his barbaric nature.
• Shipper on Deck: He calls Steve and Peggy cute.
• Shoulder Teammate: Peggy hops on his back and mounts him when he makes his escape from the dungeon.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Ironically, Hulk is one of the few people in the setting to make use of this. His page quote is the most notable example.

---

"I spent a lifetime running from this aspect of myself. Denying half of your being is no way to live, trust me."