To be... HULK-inued!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Did you ever think about what life must be like for Bruce Banner? Imagine and endless stream of "rude awakenings"... on a missile headed toward Manhattan... in the hold of a sinking ship filling with water... on a sacrificial alter with a knife raised high above your chest... and so on.

The Time: June 1967

The Place: New York City

The Situation: On the lam!

You are Robert Bruce Banner, scientist. Caught in the heart of a nuclear explosion, a victim of gamma radiation gone wild, you now find yourself transformed in times of stress into seven feet, one thousand pounds of unfettered fury, the most powerful creature to ever walk the Earth: The Incredible Hulk!

#92: It has been a full month since you last transformed from your emerald alter ego. You have been cobbling together a make-shift apparatus in the dingy flophouse in which you live designed to rid yourself of your curse forever. You activate the device and the sensation of a thousand live wires flows through your body. You immediately realize you have failed. But the stress has caused your heartbeat to quicken... your pulse to speed up... it's happening again! You try to fight it, but it's no use. You're feel yourself growing bigger... stranger...

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

FADE IN...

#95-96: When you come to yourself again, you find yourself in a fantastic space ship, hurtling towards the stars! 

"I-I'm changing!" you say to yourself. "I'm growing smaller... weaker! Even my skin--losing its green color! The Hulk is gone! I've become Bruce Banner again! If only--I could remember clearly... what happened... where I am! Everything so hazy... like a fading nightmare! Except... I feel that this nightmare... is just beginning!! There's a man on the floor... lying there... so motionless... No!! He... he only looks manlike!! But, what--?? He's neither man... nor beast... but, some sort of fantastic combination of them both! There's no pulse... no heartbeat!! He's dead! But... we're the only two aboard this ship!! that can only mean... the Hulk must have KILLED him! If only... when the changes occur... If only I could remember!! The ship is slowing down! I can feel it! There's a planet looming ahead... on the viewscreen! But where?? Where... in this mad, mysterious universe has destiny brought me? What has the Hulk to do with a flight into space?? If only I could remember!! something is guiding the ship... by remote control! It's descending... into a sub-surface area! Some sort of dome is closing above me! Wherever I am... one thing is certain... I'm trapped here!" 

You are greeted by a man in armor who introduces himself as the High Evolutionary. He ushers you into a room filled with fabulous equipment. Stunned by the scene that greets your startled eyes, the scientist in you forgets your mysterious plight as you gaze at the marvels before youin undisguised awe. Suddenly, you are shot from behind with a vacuum ray blast , which not only paralyses you, but prevent your from transforming back into the Hulk. The High Evolutionary encases you in a tube. He had intended to use the power of the Hulk to stop the uprising of his New Men, but instead he has now decided to evolve you what mankind will become a million years from now.

His New Men break in and, in sheer desperation, he frees you from stasis in hope you will change into the Hulk. One of his New Men wounds the High Evolutionary with a sword, but his armor keeps him from being fatally injured. He throws a forcefield around the area and entreats you to change to the Hulk. When he realizes that you cannot change at will, he drops the shield and fights. A beast man grabs you and, raising you high above his head, prepares to hurl you into the midst of the fray. You blood pressure begins to rise...

FADE TO BLACK...

[The Baron]

I've always been uncertain what, if anything, Banner remembers from his time as the Hulk. If the Hulk meets Petunia Grimm, does Banner remember her if he runs into her later?  I've always figured that he maybe retained fragments of things, like the remnants of a dream.  Whatever the answer, I'm not entirely certain that Marvwl's been perfectly consistent about it over the years.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Not perfectly consistent, other than that he usually retains little memory of what happened to him as the Hulk. I recently pointed out (in a recent discussion of Tales to Astonish #68), "There's also a bit of writer's fiat involved as Bruce Banner 'awakens with the memory of what has occurred clearly impressed on his brain,' but whatever it takes to move the plot along, I guess."

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#99: You wake up in a cell next to Betty Ross, who is lying unconscious on the floor. You are surrounded by a group of uniformed men. Just before their leader can give the order to have you killed, a commotion arises outside the cell. "Leader! Come quick! The major escaped!" You pick Betty up off the floor and are ushered out of the cell at gunpoint. Betty's father, General Ross, is in the hall, also captive. Suddenly, a uniformed man arrives and opens fire on the other soldiers. It is Majot Talbot in disguise! With the strangely-garbed soldiers downed, the General leads you to a lab in which you find your gamma ray device. You step onto the platform and activate it...

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#100: You begin to come to. You're groggy. You're on a beach. The sun is setting. A man is walking away from you into the surf, a man with... wings on his ankles? You slip back to sleep.

#101: You wake up again, still on the beach. The Moon is now above the horizon. Suddenly, you feel yourself changing into the Hulk for no apparent reason at all!

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#101: "I've become Bruce Banner again!! I-I'm falling--into the yawning chasm below--in a strange world--that I can't comprehend--I'm plunging to certain doom!"

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#102: "Only have seconds to live! My entire life... flashing before my eyes... Betty Ross... Rick Jones, the only ones who had faith in me! I--I'll be cheated of the chance to ease the pain I've caused them... by death!" 

A gesture from a green-garbed woman sends a bolt of pure, mystic energy through the void to save you. she demands what you know about Hercules.

"It--it's all so unreal! These strange people... with their archaic speech patterns! They save my life... then ask me about the existence of a character from ancient Greek mythology... as if I should know him! Then, because I can't answer... they're going to slay me! What sort of madness is this? Am I going to die without learning? It--it's happening again! No way... to stop it! Body... straining! Every muscle... throbbing... I'm once more becoming... the Hulk!"

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#103: "Wha...? I'm on a narrow ledge... hundreds of feet above the ground! But how did I get here... why...? I... must have been the Hulk... and leaped here! and that means people must have seen me! The Army will be hunting me! I have to get away... Find a place to hide... to think! Must hurry, though! If I'm spotted, they may shoot me on sight!"

You steal a pair of coveralls from the janitor's locker in the basement and make your way to Rick Jones' apartment building. Pretending to be his uncle, you trick your way inside. Your turn on the television and see your formerly loyal friend being interviewed and he turns on your. the interview must have been taped earlier in the day, though, because before too long, Jones himself enters and holds a gun on you. Betty Ross arrives as Rick fires the gun, but he fires it into the floor at the last second. Betty falls into your arms, then suddenly she turns on you as well. An alien calling himself the Space Parasite arrives and...

FADE TO BLACK...

In a haze of gas you hear the words, "He's changed back to Banner!" and "Put 'em up high, buddy!"

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#104: You are being held in Sing sing under heavy sedation. While enroute to a "high security prison" vehicle is attacked by the Rhino, who takes you to a waiting helicopter where you are given an additional dose of chloroform, which does not prevent the metamorphosis.

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#105: You hear a shot! "UNNHHH! I'm hit... just as I finished changing! But... I can't die! Not now... Not like this...!!"

You are aware of someone... Betty... shuffling you into a car. The police arrive, investigating the shot. She drives awat and they pursue. Not wanting to involve her, you open the door and tumble onto the tarmac.

FADE TO BLACK...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#105: "Feel change coming again! But... why? WHY? Hulk's skin is getting pale... I'm turning back to Bruce Banner! I... I am Bruce Banner! And my hand... it's burned, from trying to hold that monstrous ogre...!"

This time you seem to have retained some of the Hulk's memories; you realize the Hulk had been fighting some sort of radioactive monster. Somehow, the monster recognizes you and is coming for you!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

#106: The monster continues to approach. Suddenly, a car appears and strikes the monstrosity. The car is driven by Betty Ross. The thing lumbers forward and grabs you by the wrist as you think, "When I first fought the beast-man as the Hulk, his radiation transferred [sic] me back to Banner... But now... since I was in human form... his presence is instead changing me into..."

FADE TO BLACK...