The Hulk is one of the strongest and most unstoppable beings in the Marvel Universe. While there have been times where Bruce Banner has had a modicum of control over the Hulk, more often than not he’s helpless to stop his big, green other half. As a result of his shaky control, several other heroes debate as to what they should do with Banner in Civil War II after they all receive a vision of the future in where the Hulk goes on a rampage, creating a swath of destruction with irreparable damage. During the tense moment, Banner is killed by his fellow Avenger, Hawkeye.

The product of a gamma radiation experiment gone wrong, Dr. Bruce Banner becomes plagued for the rest of his life, holding within him a massive rage monster that becomes unleashed when Banner becomes angry or stressed. In the months before Marvel’s Civil War II storyline, Bruce had been experimenting on himself once more, hoping to keep the Hulk at bay for good. However, as a failsafe, he gives Hawkeye two gamma-irradiated, vibranium-tipped arrows, the only weapon that could kill the Hulk, asking him to kill him if he ever turns into the Hulk again, and Clint agrees.

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When Civil War II does happen, the young Inhuman Ulysses receives a vision of Bruce Banner losing control to the Hulk and going on a vicious rampage in the future. As a result, he is confronted by almost every major Marvel hero, hoping to prevent the Hulk-Out from happening. The group of heroes are split however, with some not wanting to take in their friend before he’s even done anything wrong. Understandably, Banner starts to become confused and agitated, which is when Hawkeye makes good on his word. According to Clint, he saw Banner’s eyes flash with green.

Remarkably, there is enough evidence along with Clint’s testimony in court to acquit him with no charges for Bruce’s murder. However, the concept of life and the permanence of death is one that is extremely loose in the superhero genre. Naturally, after some time passes, the Hulk is brought back to life with a new game-changing evolution to his power set. Though Bruce Banner can die, Hulk will always survive, transforming into a now immortal rage monster at night. This kickstarts the ongoing Immortal Hulk series from writer Al Ewing, featuring a Hulk comic that totally embraces the monster horror genre more than comics’ past. Shortly after the Hulk is brought back, Bruce apologizes to Clint at the end of Avengers: No Surrender. He’s sorry for the struggle and pain he put Clint though, especially considering that the arrows didn’t even work. However, Clint tells Banner not to worry, claiming that he would have done it again considering the vision he saw. 

While it’s cool to see Banner and Banner come to some sort of reconciliation for the equally traumatic event, the Hulk himself is far from satisfied. In Avengers: No Road Home, Hulk expresses his anger at Hawkeye, mad that instead of taking Banner to get mental help, he just went ahead and agreed to Banner’s wishes to kill him along with the Hulk himself. He warns Clint that the two of them should never be alone together. Ever. It looks as though the Jade Giant still has some beef with Hawkeye, and it will be interesting to see as time goes on in Marvel Comics if that grudge will ever come to a head.

 

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Kevin Erdmann
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Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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