You wouldn't like him when he's sad....
- Elaina Marks' death in the pilot movie. She doesn't even get to say a proper goodbye to David himself, since it's the Hulk who gets to watch her die. She tearfully wonders who will take care of him and then confesses her love, before passing away. The Hulk screams to the heavens in anguish.
- Later, when standing over her gravestone, David (with no memories of her last moment with him as the Hulk) says that he always loved Elaina. And he thinks she loved him back, "although you never said it."
- At the climax of the second part of "The First", Del Frye's Hulk throws the last remaining sample of the serum that would've cured both him and David at the wall, destroying it completely. And he does it seemingly all out of spite. David's reaction is especially powerful; he's spent the last couple years running, fearing the beast inside of him coming out, and he had finally found salvation....only for it be taken away...by another person just like him, no less. All he can do now is sob pitifully....and then the "Hulk out" music starts...David: [his eyes wet and green-white] No! NO!!
- If David crying is already sad, things get sadder when the Hulk cries. It happened in the pilot episode, after the Hulk realizes that Elaina Marks is dead, despite his efforts to save her.
- Similarly, he cries when he arrives too late to save a murdered girl in "Of Guilt, Models and Murder".
- And in "Married", when David's wife dies as a result of a disease.
- The only situation in which Hulk's tears aren't related to death is in "Homecoming", as his father, with whom David had just made peace after years of estrangement, tells Hulk to go away (in order to protect him from persecution), but Hulk wants to be with his father.
- Emmerson Fletcher's story, in the episode "An Interview with the Hulk". Fletcher started off as a suspicious character, when he learns about Jack McGee's story and swipes it for himself, tracking down David Banner. However, though reluctant at first, when David tells Fletcher his backstory about the Hulk and his tragic stories of living in fear and suffering loss, Fletcher opens up very emotionally, because he can relate. Though not as strange as David's story, similar to his losses, Fletcher lost his young daughter, Lisa, after she fell deathly ill. The biggest emotional gut-punch hits when David recollects the day he said goodbye to Elania in the cemetery, which triggers Fletcher's memory of himself at another cemetery openly sobbing at Lisa's funeral. When Fletcher admits this to David, the two really form a deep friendship-like connection, respecting each other's pain. Fletcher then promises David not to exploit his pain, saying won't publish the interview, and assists David in his escape from Jack McGee.
- A Child in Need
, deals with heavy child abuse themes, so it’s pretty heart wrenching enough to start with. But as the abusive father fights the Hulk near the end, he recalls how his own father abused him and in tears, begs and pleads, crying for his father not to hit him any more. He then begs his son for forgiveness and soon after goes to seek help and become a better father. - The Lonely Piano Piece, entitled "Lonely Man," which plays at the end of most episodes is widely considered to be one of the saddest pieces of music ever composed.
- The Death of the Incredible Hulk was never going to be a happy film, but it's still tragic that after thirteen years of searching for a cure the only freedom from his condition David gets is through dying. The only positive outcome of the ending is that he gets to save his new friends and give Jasmine a chance to leave the life of espionage behind.
- On a minor note, just before the impact, a horrified police officer on the ground watches the Hulk falls from the exploding plane. He can be seen silently signing a catholic cross symbol, praying for the Hulk's life. That emotion and gesture of empathy show that unlike the past in the TV series in most episodes, the officer doesn't see the Hulk as a monster or a thing. He sees him as human, which is exactly what the Hulk is, a misunderstood being whose emotions are no different than anyone else.
