//------------------------------// // Issue #3 - The Hulk // Story: Equestrian Hero Origins // by Blondlionezel //------------------------------// Issue #3 - The Hulk Twilight Sparkle put the third disc, which was green and purple and labeled "The Hulk" into the computer as the movie began to play... Doctor Bruce Banner was born to Brian and Rebecca Banner. At a young age, Bruce Banner lived with Brian Banner, who was an alcoholic. while Rebecca Banner worked on finding a new, clean energy source. Due to an accident caused by Brian Banner at a Nuclear Energy Plant before Bruce Banner was born, he believed he has gotten "Monster Genes", which increased intelligence but it would eventually kill them, something that Brian Banner feared. Brian Banner promised to never have kids, but he impregnated Rebecca Banner. When Bruce Banner was five years old, Rebecca Banner had gotten Bruce Banner a toy model of a fighter jet, which Bruce Banner had assembled in minutes. Brian Banner realized that Bruce Banner had the "Monster Genes" and beat him that day. Thankfully, some neighbors saw the abuse and reported Brian Banner to the police. After Brian Banner was sent to an insane asylum, Bruce Banner was sent to an orphanage, as Rebecca Banner became an alcoholic and a drug addict. He did have an aunt, but she had three kids, Melanie, Jessica, and Jennifer Walters. Bruce Banner grew up alongside other orphans, named Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. The three became inseparable friends, until Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon were adopted by families. It was Bruce Banners intelligence that would put off potential parents. He was picked on regularly by the bullies of the orphanage, who cut, beat, and humiliated him for every school year. After spending many years in the orphanage, Bruce Banner went the Celestia School for the Incredibly Gifted, and graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Science and two majors in Nuclear Physics. He began to work with a new type of energy called Gamma Radiation, which he planned to use for power. However, the one funding his projects, named General Thunderbolt Ross, wanted to use it for other reasons. "I want to use the power to make a bomb more powerful than a nuke!" General Thunderbolt Ross told Doctor Bruce Banner. "Well, if we make it too powerful, it might destroy nearby Verde Town" Bruce Banner warned General Thunderbolt Ross. "Don't be silly, my boy!" General Thunderbolt Ross chuckled as poured himself a glass of vodka, "We need to be able to show force! To kick butt!" "Well...alright..." Bruce Banner sighed. The next day, Bruce Banner, along with his assistant Igor, was preparing to test the Gamma Bomb in Nevada. He pulled the switches and put on his safety goggles. However, on the outskirts of the testing site, a teenage boy named Rick Jones was sitting next to his motorcycle, drinking a Pepsi. He looked into the sky, not noticing the Gamma Bomb falling slowly, as he was listening to some screamo music. He saw Bruce Banner running towards him and simply ignored him. "Wait! Wait!" Bruce Banner called out his ran to go warn Rick Jones. "What is it, old man?" Rick Jones moaned, chewing on a ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise sandwich "We're dropping a bomb!" Bruce Banner shouted as he pulled out a walkie-talkie, "Igor, I need you to stop the bomb!" "No!" Igor yelled from the walkie-talkie, "Thunderbolt Ross wants results, weapons of mass destruction!" "But we're going to die!" Bruce Banner retorted desperately. He could only hope that Igor had some form of mercy in his tiny, shriveled-up heart. "Too bad!" Igor laughed as he continued the bomb on its path of destruction. "Igor! Igor!" Bruce Banner demanded for Igor to turn it off. But it was almost too late. Bruce Banner saw the Gamma Bomb, and decided there was only one thing that he could do. Bruce Banner pushed Rick Jones into a small trench, as Bruce Banner was blasted by Gamma Rays, his body remembering everything. He remembered that his father would beat him, he never got adopted, he got picked on in school, and he never dated a woman. He felt pure anger and then he went silent... A few hours later, Bruce Banner woke up in a lab, dazed and confused. He saw some human and pony scientists working with his cells. He was also strapped down to a large, human sized dissection table. He saw a human scientist pull out a dissection knife and sharpen it. "What are you doing?!" Bruce Banner questioned the scientists. The scientists ignored Bruce Banner as he struggled. Something felt like it was trying to come out of Bruce Banner. It felt like pure anger attempting escape his body and rip this room apart! Bruce Banners skin began to change, it turned green! His brown hair turned black, his body became more musclebound, and his shorts became purple. His eyes filled with primal rage, and his muscles filled with primal fury. "What is that thing?!" The scientists screamed as Bruce Banner broke free and began to attack the scientists. The now Gamma-mutated Bruce Banner began to destroy lab equipment. "BANNER...SMASH!!!!" Bruce Banner roared as the scientists began to run and panic. "Run! It's some kind of Hulk!" A female pony scientist screamed as she ran. "Yes...Hulk..." Bruce Banner, now the Hulk, named himself as he walked off, but he was stopped by the lead scientist. "What the hell is going on?!" The lead scientist demanded as he looked at Bruce Banner complete his metamorphosis. "HULK...SMASH!" The Hulk roared as he smashed the lead scientist before running out of the building. Twilight Sparkle yawned as she took the floppy disc out and began the next Floppy Disc, a red and blue one labeled "Captain Marvel".