Only canon to the end of Avengers 1.

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Brian Banner was a tormented man who self medicated with alcohol, and probably should never have had children.  He was a violent alcoholic, and might have once had the makings of a brilliant scientist.  Some people, Bruce has decided as an adult, were just never meant to be parents.  And while he can forgive his father the violence inflicted on him?  He can’t forgive what he did to his mother.  When Bruce was nine, his father murdered his mother… it took the authorities three years to convict him.  

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With no other relatives, Bruce was put into foster care– and to their credit, none of the families he was placed with were bad people.  Just busy, and unsure how to deal with a preteen than was already finishing high school, or attending university classes.  

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When Bruce was sixteen he built a small gamma radiation bomb, which he set in the basement of his school.  It was rash and violent, and he never really intended for it to go off (he’s forever grateful that it didn’t).  But school had become a nightmare, and more than anything, he simply wanted everything to stop hurting. 

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The incident caught the attention of General Ross, who saw potential in the scientific prodigy.  The offer was simple– Bruce could come work for Ross after graduation, or he could go to jail for possession of contraband and spend the rest of his life pounding rocks.  Unsurprisingly, Bruce chose the first option.

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It was there that Bruce met Betty Ross, the General’s daughter.  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen; brilliant and sweet and perfect.  And if the General was a vocal opponent to their relationship?  Well, she truly believed he would come around.  They were married 18 months later, and for the first time in his life, Bruce was truly happy.

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But his work wasn’t proceeding fast enough for Ross.  The government wanted their super soldier serum, and they weren’t willing to wait.  The accident changed everything.  

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For a time, Bruce tried to hide his condition.  But when the General discovered his secret, he concocted a cruel plan to rid himself of the threat.. and the unwanted scientist, in the process.  Tragically, his plan resulted in the death of his daughter.  And Bruce, heartbroken and horrified, fled the country.  

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For years he moved from place to place, helping where he could, sticking to the fringes of society.  Until SHIELD, and the invasion, and Loki; until Tony Stark who spoke his language, and  offered him a place in Candyland. For the first time since Betty’s death, there was something like stability.

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He may still be the scientist with a monster monkey on his back.  But these days, Bruce is finding new ways of making the world better.