Chase of Bruce Banner

"The Bruce Banner Manhunt is still not over. This shadowy figure renowned as a doctor and professor at the Culver University Science Department has once again slipped through the authorities' hands and is still on the run."

- Nick Fury, in a typed report The Chase of Bruce Banner, also called the Bruce Banner Manhunt was an organized search issued by the United States Army for Culver University scientist Bruce Banner, who had transformed into the Hulk following the results of the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project. The manhunt for the Hulk was led by General Thaddeus Ross, who later dedicated his life to the dissection of the Hulk so he could create replicas for the United States Armed Forces.

Banner traveled to various countries in order to escape the Army. He disappeared for five months after his failed suicide attempt in Greenland and then disappeared again for almost five years after he was spotted in Italy. In 2011, Banner resurfaced on the map in Rio de Janeiro and went on the run again after a man died of gamma poisoning when drinking a bottle of Pingo Doce. Desperate, Ross had re-initiated the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project and used Emil Blonsky as a test subject. Banner was found in Harlem by Blonsky with Samuel Sterns and took him into General Ross' custody, ending the manhunt.

Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project
"Let me emphasize that what I'm about to share with you is tremendously sensitive, both to me personally and the Army. You're aware that we've got an Infantry Weapons Development programme. Well, in WWII, they initiated a subprogram for Bio-Tech Force Enhancement." "Yeah, Super Soldier."

- Thaddeus Ross and Emil Blonsky Following the, General Thaddeus Ross initiated an attempt to recreate Project Rebirth, a United States Government project which was issued during World War II, the purpose of the project being to create super soldiers to fight against the Axis forces. This attempt was the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project. Initially, the project was struggling, as it was denied by United States Congress when the project was made public knowledge.

Ross' daughter, Culver University professor Elizabeth "Betty" Ross convinced her boyfriend Bruce Banner to join the project. However, General Ross kept private the true intentions of the project, instead of having Banner believe that he was working on radiation resistance.

Transformation of Bruce Banner
"He was so sure about what he was onto that he tested it on himself. And something went very wrong..."

- Thaddeus Ross In 2005, Banner became confident in his work and tested the imperfect Super Soldier Serum and an overdose of Gamma Radiation on himself. Bruce then underwent a transformation that had turned him into a hideous, green monster that would later be referred to as the Hulk. The Hulk caused an explosion at Culver University and trashed the laboratory. In his rampage, he had killed two scientists and a military soldier and also injured General Ross and placed Betty in a hospital, along with several graduate students at Culver.

Thaddeus Ross' Proposal
"You've been sitting here for three days with something enormous cooking inside you! We need to know what we're dealing with and we can't wait any longer. We're not going to squander the opportunity--" "It's not an opportunity! People hospitalized... your own daughter in a coma. And I'm responsible. It's not a piece of data anymore. It's a nightmare!"

- Thaddeus Ross and Bruce Banner Ross, fascinated by the destructive power of the Hulk attempted to convince Banner to unleash the monster within him and subject it to him for experimentation. Banner, looking at the condition that Betty was in as a result of trashing the University fled from the discussion. Ross attempted to bring him in through force, but Banner disguised himself as a janitor and left the university campus. Ross deemed Banner a fugitive of the United States of America, starting the chase.

American-Canadian Border Incident
Bruce Banner sought to leave the United States of America in order to evade Thaddeus Ross. Banner hid in a trailer which was driving to the Canadian border at Idaho. During inspections, Banner was found by the patrol officers, who learn that he was wanted in Virginia for tearing down Culver University. Now being arrested and scared, he rid himself of his handcuffs and transformed into the Hulk and threw a rampage on the highway, throwing the trailer in the process in a furious rage. He had collapsed the border and left a massive trail of wreckage in his wake, killing one of the state troopers. On the scene of the wreckage after Hulk fled, Ross recovered Bruce's shattered watch.

The Greenland Suicide Attempt
"I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out."

- Bruce Banner In 2007, Banner, who has grown incredibly sick of being hunted by Ross traveled to Greenland to commit suicide alone in the desolate, snowy landscape where no one could find him, in hopes of finally ending the worldwide chase for him.

When he had opened his revolver in the vast, icy, uninhabited area and placed it in his mouth, it triggered his transformation into the Hulk, who spit out the bullet, rendering him practically unkillable. The Hulk then shattered the landscape in a fit of rage - the event was captured via satellite. Shortly after, the Hulk then transformed back into his human form. This was the last sighting of Banner for nearly five months.

The South American Jungle
"Who sent you? CIA? DEA? Our own spineless government?!" "Please don't make me angry. You wouldn't--" "I won't make you angry... I'll make you dead!"

- Espinoza and Bruce Banner Banner settled in the South American continent and while wandering in the jungles of South America, he found a lost child named Miguel who was the son of a man among those of a terrorist cartel. Banner aided him to the closest village, which was indeed Miguel's home, but unfortunately for Banner, who was oblivious that the village was run by criminals was attacked by the terrorists.

The leader of the arms dealers, Espinoza confronted Banner himself under the belief that he was a spy working for the United States Government, while in reality he was that of the contrary. Espinoza began yelling at Banner, ferociously beating him in order to find out which government he was working for. Banner tried to warn Espinoza to not make him angry, but the criminal shrugged it off and taunted him. Banner then underwent a fit of furious rage as the Hulk and laid the village to waste.

An American three-man team, led by Emil Blonsky and consisting of Bill Mantlo and Greg Pak was searching for Espinoza and while walking through the jungle, they witnessed glimpses of the rampage, including an explosion and a jeep thrown near them. Arriving at the destroyed village, Blonsky found Espinoza and the criminals all unconscious and Miguel alone still awake. Miguel, despite not being a fluent English speaker told Blonsky of the events and the "American" who helped him. Ross was bewildered by the events, marking that the manhunt wasn't over.

Banner, on the other hand, was working as a factory worker which bottled Pingo Doce sodas and settled in the Rocinha favela slums.

Milwaukee Gamma Poisoning
"A man drank one of those Guarana Sodas. Guess it had a little more kick than he was looking for."

- Kathleen Sparr While working at the Pingo Doce bottling factory, Banner had accidentally cut his finger. Not wanting to be exposed, he had checked the bottles and found a drop of his blood next to them. He wiped it off and assumed himself to be safe. However, he didn't see a second drop of his blood fall into one of the glass bottles, which later was mixed in with the soda and shipped to the United States of America.

The bottle ended up in a household in Milwaukee. A man drank the bottle and became ill from the Gamma poisoning inside the drink. This report was brought to the Pentagon and Kathleen Sparr gave the report to Thaddeus Ross. He had ordered his men to look for a white male in the bottling factory, absolutely positive that the man responsible was Banner. Ross grouped up the field members of the Strategic Operations Command Center, including Emil Blonsky, who was on loan from the Royal Marines. The team took a plane to Brazil.

Ambush in Rio de Janeiro
"We've got a bogey of some kind. Please advise." That is the target! Use every tranq you've got! Do it now!"

- A military soldier and Thaddeus Ross The night of the ambush, Banner sensed the SOCC team, led by Blonsky chasing after him. He then got out of his bed and rappelled down to his co-worker Martina's house, who lived directly below him. While Blonsky and the SOCC team blew charges to his door and tranquilized "Banner", they found that he already escaped - a pillow, pajamas and a wig was in place to make it look as if he was sleeping. Blonsky downed Banner's dog Ricky and the team concluded that he was already out of the house. Thinking that they were gone, Banner thanked Martina and fled.

On the ground, Banner spotted Blonsky and slowly walked away, but the SOCC field team noticed him and gave chase. They chased him throughout the Rocinha slums, through a basketball court, and down the streets, later going through various homes: Banner made it with his heart-rate rising, and ultimately had lost two of the members of the field team. Banner encountered Ross, who was hidden securely in a van with Sparr and more SOCC assets.

While running from the team chasing after him, he accidentally ran into a gang of men, chief among them was his xenophobic co-worker. The gang attempted to attack him, but Banner temporarily downed them as he made his escape to the bottling factory, with both the SOCC field team and the Brazilian gang after him. Banner made it into the factory, with both groups chasing him. Blonsky, who had separated from the SOCC group noticed Banner going into the factory and led the remaining team inside.

Despite Banner's efforts, the Brazilian gang made it to him first and beat him inside the factory, throwing away his backpack containing his laptop and placing him in a hold for his co-worker to taunt and beat him. Banner then noticed the SOCC field team taking their positions, and glanced at his watch worriedly, as it was close to hitting 200 beats per minute. Banner tried to warn the gang of what was going to occur, but they shrugged it off as just another idle taunt. Blonsky fired a tranquilizer, but accidentally hit one of the members of the gang. Banner’s heart rate hit 200 bpm and then began to transform into the Hulk.

The xenophobic co-worker kicked Banner while he was transforming, severely injuring his foot. The Hulk dragged him away before throwing him screaming through two glass windows into a wall, killing him. This startled the remaining people in the group as they ran away. However, Banner got ahold of one of them and killed him, while the last one escaped. Blonsky and the SOCC soldiers shot at the Hulk, but their ammunition did little to nothing to his near-impenetrable skin. When one of the soldiers threw a grenade at him, he pushed a tank full of soda at two of the soldiers, killing them. With only Blonsky surviving, he shot at the Hulk, but he retaliated by throwing a forklift truck, much to his horror. The Hulk then escaped the factory to Guatemala.

Capture of Bruce Banner
"You all have copies of the correspondence. The aliases Mr. Green and Mr. Blue have been added to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Operations Database. If he comes up for air, we'll be waiting. If he makes a peep, we'll hear him. And when he slips up, we'll be ready."

- Thaddeus Ross A day following the Battle at Culver University, Banner and Betty escaped to New York City to meet Samuel Sterns, who went by "Mr. Blue" when collaborating with Banner without using anything that would trace the United States Armed Forces to their location. The three conducted an experiment to create the antidote that Banner had been longing for in Grayburn College.

Thaddeus Ross and his team, however, knew of "Mr. Blue" and later realized that Sterns was Banner's contact in Brazil. With that provided, they traced him to New York City at Grayburn College. Ross, Kathleen Sparr and their field team, led by Emil Blonsky traveled to New York City to apprehend Banner.

All of a sudden, Blonsky marched in and knocked down Betty before grabbing and slapping Banner by the face and angrily confronting him in an attempt to unleash the Hulk. However, his efforts were a failure, as he was already injected with the antidote. When a military soldier came in to stop Blonsky's rage, he knocked out Banner with blunt force.

Banner, who was recovering from the concussion he had received was then taken outside on a stretcher outside Grayburn College. Ross confronted him outside the building, threatening that if the Hulk was really gone that he would place him away in prison for the rest of his life. Banner and Betty were taken into a cargo helicopter, ending the six-year manhunt.