Hulk Can Be Cured One Way, But It is Way Too Dark For Marvel

It is often said that the Hulk is a sort of curse that Bruce Manner must cure. There has been one foolproof way he’s rid himself of the Hulk, but Marvel would never permanently allow it to stand. This happened in story arc “Banner: DOA” published in the the first four issues of the 2014 Hulk series. The story was written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Mark Bagley.

Mysterious groups are always seeking to profit and benefit from the Hulk in some way. In this story one such group hires an assassin to shoot Banner in the back of the head. They need the shots to be precise to only knock him out and not kill him so that they can kidnap Banner and perform brain surgery on him without waking up the Hulk. However, the anesthesiologist feels bad and wakes Banner up so that he can escape. After transforming into the Hulk, he bursts through a wall and tries to get away. Unfortunately, he is experiencing brain damage from the traumatic incident and crash lands.

Bruce is eventually found by Maria Hill of SHIELD two weeks later. But by then, it is too late. Bruce’s brain damage is so severe he doesn’t even know who he is. In order to keep him safe, Maria Hill moves Bruce to a town populated with SHIELD agents. There, Bruce becomes “Bobby” and is relatively happy. His mental faculties are severely diminished but he is content just doing odd jobs around the town. If ignorance is bliss, then this type of situation is perfect for Bruce. Nobody knows where he is so nobody bothers him. He just lives out his life with SHIELD agents whose sole job is to keep him calm and prevent him from transforming into a monster he doesn’t even know exists.

This situation eventually ends, of course. Bruce is indeed found by the mysterious group and they send the Abomination to fight him. But Marvel would never give Bruce the happy ending he wants for several reasons. First off, it’s just too dark and depressing. It says that the only way for the brilliant Bruce Banner to truly be happy and rid himself of the monster he’s cursed with is to completely rewrite his personality. It says that Bruce needs to be stupid to lead a life free from the Hulk, and the ramifications of stating that brain damage of any kind is a cure is something Marvel isn’t prepared to admit.

The second more practical reason is that Hulk has been one of the most popular Marvel characters for decades. Bruce is continually trying to rid himself of the Hulk, but this will never happen because that would mean Marvel would lose him as a character. Even if the Hulk was cured, Bruce Banner is still an integral part of the Marvel universe on his own. He’s brilliant and the world’s foremost expert on gamma radiation. But in order to enact the cure, Marvel would essentially have to erase Bruce Banner entirely. So it’s not that they would lose just the Hulk, they would lose Banner too. That’s just a step too far for Marvel Comics.

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