Tired and confused

Rick Jones in the 1996 “The Incredible Hulk” series.

Ed’s Garage, Rick Jones speaking! Betty? Hi! How’s everything - what? Uh-huh. On my way.

Like remove hulk from the equation, he’s still the best nuclear physicist on the planet and could probably-definitely kill people with tools used in his own two humans hands if he had less willpower and wasn’t a fucking good person

This is what I’ve been saying for YEARS, Bruce could and absolutely would be a TOP TIER SUPERVILLAIN if he was 1% less of a good person like. He could absolutely make every villain around Eat their own shorts.

me, a longtime fan of bruce banner:

The Avengers and everyone else on this hellsite:

Banner’s genius is so freaking underplayed. And when he was given those 3 conditions in AoU the only scientific contributions he apparently ever made were helping Tony create the Hulkbuster and an evil robot. Like damn Whedon, at least drop a line like about him working on a new radiation scrubber that would immediately clear Chernobyl and Fukushima or something before Tony starts a chain of events that lands Banner in space and leaves those projects unfinished.

THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY!!!!!!!i hope you don’t mind adding my reasoning to shipping them under this post, but its something i’m really passionate about and plan on exploring more since pre-ragnarok movies stabilished only half of what their characters could have been.Bruce banner is the product of an abusive, trauma-ridden home. he grows up to have repressed emotions and split hulk alter-egos but despite all the chasing, the violence, the fear- he’s literally introduced as a guy using his genius to cure people who can’t pay for their healthcare, because he wants to be better, despite the circumstances. Thor is presented as the polar opposite of that- a literal god, raised in gold and glory and all pomp and circumstance and ego until he falls to learn a lesson and starts to give more value to those under his care and his family above fame. 

their arcs end up on the same central point, but both of them stick out in the avengers team. Hulk is too dangerous, Thor is too foreign. and we all know how much the comics and the whedon era LOVES to pit one against the other- god x beast fights sell. but its proven again and again in all medias that in that competition, hulk is the only one that rivals thor and thor is the only one that sees hulk as an equally powerful being. whenever they arent fighting, they are buds. when banner feels bad about the hulk, thor comes up to him and says how much the hulk matters, how much he is important as a protector.

ragnarok was an absolute PLEASURE bc we finally got onscreen the exploration of both banner’s act of acceptance/hulk’s singularity and their friendship blossoming as equals- bruce doesnt needs to worry about accidentally killing thor bc thor could beat his ass if he needs to chill out to regain control. Thor is enamored by strength, knowledge and kindness- present on what he aspires to be and on his previous partners- and those are all qualities banner tries hard to achieve. As seen with valkyrie and Sakaar, asgardians/otherworldly inhabitants see the hulk as an incredible, formidable being. valkyrie is literally the first person we see having a close, friendly, sparring actitude with hulk and HE BEAMS. he’s so happy, and thor soon follows on that example.

When they were trying to construct his character around black widow and their supposed romance, banner was always dark, stressed, anxious- because he could hurt her at any given moment and she is too mentally convoluted on her own struggles to realize he doesn’t wants to end up like his father and his mother. i see natasha/banner as the close awkward friends that are too trapped in false expectations of self and think the only person who can love them is one another- because they can’t look anywhere else for support. i’m glad the russos said she’s moved on in these 2 years and i hope to see their characters growing on the next movies (and her solo!) but thor understands the burden of power/responsibility/righteousness better than anyone else.

and specifically post ragnarok, he’s just gone through the same life shattering experience bruce went on his early life. i just can see them helping and supporting eachother (and the asgard people) more completely than anyone else. they just fit that relationship balance

and also js check this out. like come on.

they’re dorks and the jock/nerd, oblivious/fancy, tiny/big tropes all in one that switch varying in the situation. 

but not Bruce Banner

After hours of brooding silently in the corner Hulk growls softly, his gruff voice cutting through the air of the laboratory.

“You gonna fix this?”

Bruce heaves a small sigh but doesn’t look up from his notes.

“Hulk, we have no idea how this could have possibly happened. The event, us separating, it’s unprecedented, physically impossible—”

Hulk cuts in, voice turning vicious.

“But this is what you wanted all along, right? To get rid of the monster?”

Bruce finally looks up from his notes and glances over toward the previous co-tenant of his head. Hulk’s eyes are burning bright back at him from the darkened corner, where his massive frame is curled tight into itself. Bruce gives a resigned sigh and walks over to the behemoth.

“Hulk, it’s not like that. You know that. This way, we’re both free. Isn’t that what you said you always wanted? To be left alone?”

Hulk grits his teeth and looks away from the scientist.

‘I always thought, you’d be with me.’

Hulk can’t bring himself to vocalize it, the words stuck like tar to the back of his throat. It burnedburnedburned, his mind was empty and his chest tight, and he couldn’t stop himself mentally reaching out for that familiar presence in the back of his brain to rationalize the feeling away–but it wasn’t there.

He wasn’t there. Banner was right in front of him, but separate, and Hulk was alone for the first time of his life.

And Banner was standing there like it was okay, looking at him like he was trying to understand Hulk, but Hulk couldn’t bring forth the words to explain. Hurt. Hulk locked eyes with the puny scientist and searched his gaze, looking for the connection that had been lost. He wouldn’t have needed to speak before. Banner could have felt what Hulk was feeling and understood, but Hulk stares into the eyes of the human—puny, so small, how is he so small when the piece he took out of Hulk when he left feels so huge?—it’s like looking at a stranger. The distress in Hulk’s chest builds and he doesn’t know what to do with it because Banner is just STANDING THERE and he doesn’t UNDERSTAND. Hulk turns the feeling into anger instead. Anger is familiar. Hulk can handle anger. He clenches his fists, joints creaking under the pressure. He ducks his head down and lets his hair fall over his eyes.

“Hulk?”

A soft voice (so unlike Hulk’s own) comes from the man standing in front of him. Suddenly there is a light touch to his forearm and Hulk recoils, slamming back against the lab’s wall and sending a crack up the side of it. Bruce stumbles back a few steps at the resulting tremor but his eyes show only mild surprise and some other quieter emotion Hulk can’t parse out.

It makes him angry. He wants Banner to react, to show some emotion, to stop being so damn calm about this. Hulk surges forward, slamming huge palms down on either side of Bruce and ROARS. Bruce is suddenly on his feet, skittering away from Hulk’s noise, his anger, but he doesn’t turn his back on Hulk. His arms are held up, like maybe he’s bracing for a hit, and his eyes are wide. The hurting spot in Hulk’s chest opens up into a chasm, eats up his anger and only leaves a hollow ache. Hulk hates himself. Banner is afraid of Hulk; Hulk really is just a monster without Banner. Hulk withdraws into his corner, growling and wrapping his arms around his chest to hold in the anger.

Hulk sees Banner move toward him in his peripheral vision and he bites out another fierce snarl, snapping his teeth.

“Ssstupid Banner! Leave Hulk ALONE!”

Hulk glares at Banner but doesn’t look further up than his throat, afraid he’ll see too much (or not enough) and he keeps his arms locked around his sides. Bruce only pauses for a second and then continues forward. Hulk quickly turns his head toward the wall, gritting his teeth in a wide grimace. He only flinches minutely when the gentle hand returns to his skin, swallowing another growl threatening to rise up behind his teeth.

“Hulk.”

Hulk pretends not to hear, pretends Banner isn’t touching him, pretends he doesn’t miss him.

“Hulk, look at me.”

Another hand rests on Hulk’s cheek, bidding him to look up and Hulk is so surprised that he does. Banner’s face is placid, and also a little bit sad, but mostly knowing, and Hulk’s heart clenches a little bit around the place where Banner was.

“I’m sorry.”

Hulk still can’t get his voice to work, so he just stares uncomprehendingly. Banner’s hand smooths over his cheek, lighter than a butterfly, and his eyes soften with kindness.

“I didn’t consider your feelings. Forgive me, Hulk.”

Banner speaks softly, his touch gentle, like Hulk is the small and breakable one. The thought makes Hulk want to scoff, but he does feel small, even though he’s looking down on Banner even while sitting. He uncurls a little, feeling the tight thing in his chest begin to unwind.

“Hulk…forgive you.”

What Hulk knows he should really say is sorry, because Bruce didn’t do anything. Hulk is the one who messed up. Hulk jumped into the anomaly that caused this in the first place; he’s the one who roared at Banner, but Banner is apologizing to Hulk. Banner looks at him and gives him a small smile, and Hulk knows Banner understands, even if he can’t touch Hulk’s thoughts like normal. This comforts Hulk more than he wants to admit, and the majority of the fear-anger drains out of him, leaving him feeling exhausted. Banner looks tired too, and he leans into Hulk. He knows Hulk won’t lash out again. Hulk leans forward into Banner’s touch as well, turning his head into the stroking of his hand.

He wouldn’t tolerate having this moment of weakness in front of anyone else. For the moment, however, he embraces it.

__

After about an hour of sitting comfortably in each others’ presence Hulk makes a low groaning noise.

“Tony’s gonna be pissed about the wall, huh?”