History[]
- Dad told me to forget Bruce Banner! But I could as soon forget my heart... or my soul!
- -- Betty Ross src
Born in California, Betty was the only child of Air Force General Thaddeus Ross and his wife Karen Lee. Karen died when Betty was a teenager, and Ross shut Betty out of his life, claiming that a military base was no place for a young woman. Betty went off to boarding school.
She returned to Thaddeus' home after finishing school but then as for much of her life she was dominated by Thaddeus. By now Thaddeus was in charge of the top secret Gamma Bomb Project at Desert Base in New Mexico. Betty greeted the bomb's creator, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, when he arrived at the base. A strong attraction grew between Bruce and Betty. However, Thaddeus held resentment for the quiet, slender, nuclear physicist thinking him a physical and emotional weakling. Thaddeus' dislike of Bruce intensified when he realized that Betty was falling in love with him.[citation needed]
Exposure to intense gamma radiation caused Bruce to transform repeatedly from then on into the monstrous Hulk[7]. When Ross began to realize that his daughter was falling in love with Bruce Banner, he tried to dissuade her from following those feelings, not liking the secrets that Banner was obviously keeping. Later Betty was kidnapped by Tyrannus a long lived Grecian ruler who controlled the underground domain of Subterranea. Tyrannus ordered Ross to not impeded his coming invasion of the surface world in order to ensure the safety of his daughter. Ross complied, but Betty was eventually rescued by the Hulk.[8]Although Bruce managed at first to keep his identity a secret his activities as the Hulk led to circumstances that caused Thaddeus and his security chief Major Glenn Talbot to suspect Bruce of being a traitor.[9] Glenn fell in love with Betty himself. However Betty remained devoted to Bruce through all of his trouble even when it became known that Bruce was the Hulk.[citation needed]
At one point Bruce's condition changed so that he could now control his changes into Hulk and could maintain his normal personality and intelligence when he was in the Hulk's form[10]. Reluctantly, Thaddeus consented to the wedding of Banner with his daughter, which was held in the house in which she had been born. However, during the ceremony, just before Bruce and Betty could be pronounced husband and wife, the Hulk's archenemy the Leader, seeking vengeance, fired radiation that returned Bruce to his previous condition as the savage Hulk. The Hulk tore the house apart, and hopes for the wedding to occur were no more[11].
Marrying Glenn Talbot[]
Betty remained in love with Bruce, but she eventually learned that Bruce also loved Jarella[12], a queen from the sub-atomic world of K'ai. Believing she had lost Bruce to another woman, Betty finally allowed herself to fall in love with Glenn, and they were soon married.[13]
While Betty and Glenn were on their honeymoon, Thaddeus continued his pursuit of the Hulk, only to be captured by the Soviet scientist known as the Gremlin and sent to a Soviet prison. Glenn joined a mission to rescue Thaddeus and was successful, but Glenn himself was captured. Ross and the other Americans on the mission incorrectly believed that Talbot had been killed. When Betty learned of her husband's supposed death, she suffered a nervous breakdown.
Harpy[]
M.O.D.O.K., who was at the time the leader of the subversive organization called A.I.M, discovered Betty's condition and decided to take advantage of it. In order to create a creature powerful enough to defeat the Hulk, he infused an incredible amount of gamma radiation into her, making her the monstrous and insane Harpy. The dreadful creature broke out of a special shell, immediately wanting to know where the Hulk was so that she could kill him.[citation needed]
M.O.D.O.K told Harpy where to find the Hulk, and she flew off to find him.[citation needed]
The Harpy soon found the Hulk, ambushing him and engaging in combat. The two fought each other without hesitation, but before the Hulk landed the killing blow, the Harpy told him she was Betty.[citation needed]
The Hulk, shocked and confused by her statement, is blasted unconscious by the Harpy.[citation needed]
General Ross saw the Harpy and the Hulk fighting on TV and recognized his daughter. He made his way as quickly as possible to the battle-site, running to talk to her right before she blasts and tries to kill the Hulk. Ross tried to convince her that she was a gentle human being, but still under the influence of M.O.D.O.K.'s brainwashing. Thinking his words to be a poor trick, the Harpy flew away with the Hulk in her clutches.[citation needed]
When the military sent out fighter jets to try and stop her, she shot one out of the sky before she and the Hulk were swept up in a strange tornado that pulled them into a giant cloud mass. They soon found themselves in a strange city hidden in the clouds. As the Hulk revived, they were confronted by a two-headed creature calling itself the "Bi-Beast". When it grabbed the Harpy out of interest, she lashed out with gamma ray blasts, and the Hulk, wanting to protect Betty, attacked the creature as well. The Harpy was easily knocked out with a single blow, but the Hulk proved to be more of a challenge. Despite the fight the Hulk put up, however, the thin air in the upper-atmosphere brought him to defeat. He collapsed from a lack of oxygen and reverted back to Bruce Banner.[citation needed]
When Banner revived he explained to the Bi-Beast that he was a scientist, leading the creature to believe that destiny had brought him to the floating island. It told Banner that the island was created by the "Bird-People" and the Bi-Beast was created to be a living monument of their achievements once they passed on. It explained that the machines holding the city in the air were starting to break down and that they had no knowledge on how to repair them. It asked Bruce to use his skills to save the city, with the predicament now known. Additionally, it explained that it captured the Harpy because they yearned for the company of someone that resembled their creators. The Harpy fit that description.[citation needed]
Bruce, not knowing how Betty's transformation occurred, figured he could use the advanced equipment to try and help her. He went looking for the Bi-Beast, finding it trying to communicate with the reluctant, caged Harpy. Bruce said he would help repair the equipment if the Bi-Beast let him take the Harpy with him, to which the Bi-Beast agreed. Bruce gathered equipment together he suspected would cure Betty. Unbeknownst to him, M.O.D.O.K came to the island looking for both him and the Harpy. He tricked the Bi-Beast into thinking Bruce was going to betray him. The Bi-Beast, fooled, attacked Bruce just as he hit the switch to start the equipment. A fight ensued, angering Bruce and turning him into the Hulk. The successful M.O.D.O.K double-crossed the Bi-Beast and attacked it. As the Bi-Beast hit the self-destruct button, the Hulk became Bruce once more and went to search for Betty. He found her in the device still as the Harpy. He was devastated due to the apparent failure of the machine. Nevertheless, he grabbed her, became the Hulk, and made a run for it as the island fell apart. As the Hulk ran in attempt to bring them both to safety, parts of a building from the island fell on top of the Harpy. When the dust cleared, the Harpy had reverted back to Betty Ross. [citation needed]
Betty's transformation was reversed permanently after the encounter with the Bi-Beast. She regained both her normal form and her sanity, showing that Bruce's machine was successful.[citation needed]
Return[]
Glenn was finally rescued, but Betty realized that she was still in love with Bruce, and the marriage of Betty and Glenn soon ended in divorce.[14] For a time Betty lived on her own. Ultimately, she returned to Bruce. As for Glenn, he blamed his divorce on Bruce and died trying to destroy the Hulk.[15]
Again Bruce achieved a state in which he could control his transformations and maintain his normal personality and intelligence while in the form of the Hulk. This time, however, Betty was upset because she wanted Bruce to be rid of the Hulk, not to control him. When Betty learned that Thaddeus conspired with M.O.D.O.K to kill the Hulk, Betty accused him of treason. Realizing Betty was right, Thaddeus nearly committed suicide and then disappeared.[citation needed]
Marrying Bruce[]
The Hulk disappeared from Earth for an extended period, and Betty began dating a man named Ramón. Upon learning that the Hulk had been sighted on Earth again, Betty left Ramón and returned to Gamma Base, where the Hulk was subjected to a process that split Bruce and the Hulk into separate entities. Believing himself cured, Bruce proposed to Betty, and she accepted. Thaddeus appeared at the wedding, armed with a gun and demanding that the marriage not take place before shooting Rick Jones. Courageously, Betty confronted her father, accused him of tyrannizing her throughout her life, and cowered him into surrendering the gun. Then finally, Bruce and Betty were pronounced husband and wife.
However, Bruce began dying as a result of being physically separated from the Hulk. Bruce and the Hulk were secretly merged together once more and Betty soon discovered this.[citation needed]
Thaddeus died before his daughter's eyes when he sacrificed his life to destroy an unnamed mutant that nearly killed both Betty and Bruce seeking a strong host to be parasitically linked to.[citation needed]
Betty was distraught on learning that Bruce had sometimes consciously triggered his transformation in the past and was even now willing to become the Hulk in order to deal with very menacing threats. She left Bruce and returned to Ramón, but then changed her mind and abandoned Ramón as well. She was then captured by the Leader, who set her free after learning that she was pregnant with Bruce's child. She was eventually reunited with Bruce, but soon afterward the Hulk seemingly perished in a tremendous explosion at Gammatown. Believing the Hulk dead, Betty left for New York City, where she eventually began training to become a nun.[6]
The Hulk, meanwhile, had found a way to prevent Bruce from ever surfacing again while in the sub-atomic world of Jarella. Returning to Earth, the Hulk adopted the identity of Joe Fixit, and began a romantic relationship with Marlo Chandler, although Bruce was still married to Betty. Marlo later ended the relationship, growing uncomfortable with the secrets Joe Fixit kept from her.[citation needed]
After many months, Bruce learned of Betty's whereabouts during the Hulk's encounter with the villain Madman, and was soon reunited with her, but not before the savage Hulk reappeared as well, in an encounter with the hero Prometheus. Bruce and Betty searched for Rick and were similarly reunited, as was the Hulk with Rick's new girlfriend Marlo.[citation needed]
Soon afterwards, the various personalities of the Hulk were fused in one whole personality, and the Hulk was contacted by the enigmatic leader Agamemnon to join his clandestine hero team the Pantheon to which the Hulk served with the Pantheon for a long time. During this time, his relationship with Betty became strained. She was not comfortable with the merged persona nor did she agree to live at the Pantheon's headquarters with the Hulk. With time and effort the Hulk and Betty's relationship improved.[citation needed]
After many months, the Pantheon had a falling out with their former leader and in the subsequent battle the Pantheon's headquarters was destroyed and Betty was fatally wounded. The Hulk lost control over his form and the savage Hulk re-assumed control but physically in Bruce's form. Bruce came into SHIELD custody and Betty was hospitalized.[citation needed]
At some point, the Hulk sneaked Betty out of the hospital that she was in and Betty and the Hulk began living as fugitives. Betty and the Hulk eventually settled down in Sunville, Florida under assumed identities. The Hulk managed to keep their identities secret despite several adventures in Florida and New York. Eventually however, Betty was captured by the U.S. Army's Matt Talbot who succeeded in capturing the Hulk despite the re-emergence of the Hulk's fractured personalities.[citation needed]
Betty was freed by the Leader's former creations, collectively known as the Headshop. Betty and the Headshop in turn freed the Hulk but in the process the Hulk still in Bruce's body jumped on a live grenade which left him with shrapnel in his brain and a subsequent penchant for turning into a physical alter ego of the Maestro. After helping the heroes save the world from Onslaught the Hulk left to begin a series of adventures ultimately leading to Leonard and the U.S. Army hunting the Hulk once more.[citation needed]
Death[]
As Bruce returned from Counter Earth and continued his life as the Hulk, Betty learned that her long association with the Hulk had left her dying from gamma radiation poisoning. The Hulk's archenemy the Abomination out of revenge for his brutal defeat by the Hulk learned of this and then somehow used a transfusion of his own gamma-irradiated blood to poison her and Betty died.[citation needed]
However she mysteriously reappeared with a new face and began to provide the Hulk with information under the code-name of Mr. Blue. Betty did not seem to want a relationship although she felt obliged to continue helping Bruce.[citation needed]
However some of the mysterious events surrounding the Hulk had been revealed to have been illusions made by Nightmare. Betty washed up on the same beach where the Hulk learned of this manipulation. Nightmare seemed to have taken a particular interest in Betty, and his daughter Daydream seemed to have taken an appearance similar to hers.[citation needed]
Once again Betty was mysteriously resurrected and was present at her father's funeral in tears over his death. [16] She was now apparently with Glenn, over Bruce due to his recent marriage to Caiera on Sakaar and his subsequent attack on Manhattan. However, it is not known if there was any sincerity behind her motives or if it was only to help locate and help her husband.
Resurrection and Red She-Hulk[]
This mysterious female version of Red Hulk first appeared when the Red Hulk had gathered a team of mercenaries to hunt down Domino.[citation needed]
Red Hulk's team of mercenaries Code Red found Domino in a bar located in the heart of Hell's Kitchen. However Domino had been waiting for them and ambushed Code Red with X-Force. All the various team members paired off and began their individual battles with Wolverine facing Red Hulk. Wolverine slashed his claws across Red Hulk's eyes blinding him until his healing factor restored his eyesight. Wolverine was about to deliver the killing blow to Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk appeared blindsiding him. Red She-Hulk protected Red Hulk long enough in challenging Wolverine.[citation needed]
Red Hulk had no idea who had come to his aid and Thundra was forced to explain that it was a female counterpart who looked just like him. While Red She-Hulk and Wolverine battled she proudly boasted that she had stolen Elektra's sai and Domino's automatic firearm and clothes after killing them. Enraged Wolverine plunged his claws into a power line and electrocuted them both. Having forced Red She-Hulk away Wolverine went to search for Domino but Red She-Hulk pulled herself to her feet and lunged at Wolverine once more. When Wolverine stabbed Red She-Hulk with his claws she distracted him by spitting acid saliva on his face.
Punisher distracted Wolverine long enough for Red She-Hulk to drag Red-Hulk away from the fight. She dragged him down into the sewers to escape. Down there Red Hulk slowly followed Red She-Hulk around while Red She-Hulk evaded his questioning. There was a moment of silence after Red Hulk told the story of a blind man and an elephant and she screamed that the last person who told her that story was dead to her.
However just as Red Hulk began to trust Red She-Hulk she double crossed him and plunged Elektra's stolen sai into his neck. Code Red were gathered in the sewers and awaiting the orders of Samson. Their encounter ended with Red She-Hulk kicking Red Hulk off the Empire State Building. She was next seen capturing Hank Pym for the Intelligencia.[17] Her identity was finally revealed when she was stabbed with a sword by Skaar and reverted to her human form revealing her as Betty. Betty tells Bruce how she came back to life, and asks that Bruce leave her to die, but as soon as Doc Samson shows up, Betty's anger at his betrayal transforms her back into Red She-Hulk, healing her injuries; this time in control of her own mind Betty helps Bruce reconcile with his son Skaar. When Bruce gains the upper hand in the fight against General Ross, Betty worries for her father, which, combined with her heightened aggression while she's the Red She-Hulk leads into conflict with the original She-Hulk, Betty fights hard as Red She-Hulk but ultimately loses. After General Ross himself is defeated as Red Hulk and locked-up, Betty still manages to convince Bruce to give her father the opportunity to redeem himself, after the Leader's attempted takeover, Betty is having a hard time to cope with being resurrected, brainwashed and turned into Red She-Hulk all at once, and while talking to Bruce, she says since they're no longer married, and she was declared legally dead and that everyone else knows that Bruce married Caiera while he was the Green Scar Hulk, they should just go their separate ways. Even though he tries telling her otherwise it only gets her stressed and she transforms back into Red She-Hulk again.[citation needed]
Chaos War[]
As Red She-Hulk, Betty joined Hulk, Skaar, A-Bomb, and Korg in their fight against the Abomination, as well as a Zom-possessed Doctor Strange, and the forces of Amatsu-Mikaboshi.[citation needed]
After the Chaos War saga Betty again goes on the run, with Bruce who discovered that her gamma levels are unstable and that if she transforms just a few more times, she may be permanently stuck in her Red She-Hulk form; after finally catching up with her in Rome, he finds out that she's teamed up with his old nemesis Tyrannus to steal Pandora's box, which frames the Hulk for its theft. When Bruce confronts Betty and Tyrannus with the help of the museum curator, Dr. Sofia di Cosimo (an expert on artifacts of antiquity) - who plans to use Pandora's box to form a new Roman empire - they are attacked by a pair of men in armour claiming to be the "Knights of Rome", who disappear with Tyrannus, Dr. Di Cosmo and Pandora's box, forcing Betty to team up with Bruce as Hulk and Red She-Hulk.
Bruce and Betty are able to track down and defeat the Knights of Rome but Tyrannus uses the opportunity to transform their magical floating fortress into a giant impregnable stone golem while keeping Dr. Di Cosmo captive. He immediately flings Hulk away, while Betty follows after him as Red She-Hulk, to Tyrannus' obvious dismay as he has feelings for her. She arrives to find the Hulk unhurt and both revert to their human forms and tells Bruce she's struggling to keep the Red She-Hulk at bay.[citation needed]
They return to the Colosseum, with Bruce turning back in to the Hulk but Betty still human. Tyrannus has gathered thousands of locals to witness the opening of Pandora's Box; with Amadeus Cho having disabled the mystical defenses of the fortress, Hulk is able to rescue Dr. Di Cosmo and the Pandora's Box. Tyrannus and Hulk fight with Tyrannus having the upper hand, prompting Dr. Di Cosmo to ask Betty to become Red She-Hulk again to help Hulk. Both Amadeus and the Hulk tell her not to - because of the risk of her being unable to become human again, instead the Hulk throws Pandora's Box to her so that she can keep it away from Tyrannus.[citation needed]
Tyrannus exits the golem and shoots Pandora's Box, unleashing the corrupted spirit of hope which was contained inside which takes possession of Betty. The Hulk is able to absorb and overcome it, freeing Betty from its hold while returning to human form as Bruce. Even though they're both relieved that it's over and embrace Betty realizes that she and Bruce will never be able to have a normal life together and gives in to her Red She-Hulk persona, who tells Hulk she doesn't care and flees with Tyrannus.[citation needed]
Fear Itself and Shattered Heroes[]
They eventually reconcile and leap off into the distance together. The two were in Brazil when the Serpent began his invasion of Earth. They're enjoying their time together when the Hammer of Nul lands next to them. Hulk, entranced, picks it up and becomes Nul, Breaker of Worlds. Betty struggles to stop him and rescue the civilians caught in his path of rampage.[citation needed]Iron Man returns from Svartalfheim with Uru weaponry. One of these items, a sword, is given to Betty. She refuses to return it afterwords.[citation needed]
After Hulk and Banner are split asunder, Betty and Banner leave and go to a tropical island together. When she finds out however that Bruce has been working on turning himself back into the Hulk, despite promising that he'd do nothing but spend his time with her, she turns into Red She-Hulk and remarks that after seeing him without the Hulk, she's not sure who she fell in love with, the man or the monster. She then leaves in disgust feeling betrayed. After Hulk seemingly kills Banner by holding him point blank to a Gamma Bomb, she senses that something has happened to Banner and leaves to find whoever is responsible. [citation needed]
Defenders[]
When Nul was set loose in Midgard, the Hulk went to Doctor Strange and the Defenders. He convinced them to set off to defeat Nul, but refused to join them. Instead, he recommended Betty for the team. A bored Betty agreed to join the team. They tracked Nul to Wundagore Mountain, where they encountered Prester John.
John planned to lure Nul into attacking a Concordance Engine guarded by Prester Omega. The Defenders defeated him after Omega destroyed Nul. The energies of the Engine affected them, leaving them bound together and to the Engine, and unable to speak about it. They take the Engine and Prester Omega to Doctor Strange's home.[citation needed]
The Defenders find the wreckage of the Nautilus, accidentally releasing the Daughters of Pontus. They find another Concordance Engine inside. The Immortal Weapons are killed by Prince of Orphans, who has a history with the Engines, as does Iron Fist's predecessor, Orson Randall.[citation needed]
The Defenders journey to Wakanda on their way to Z'Gambo, home of the Prince of Orphans. After Aman breaks the ceasefire between the two nations, T'Challa is seriously wounded and the Defenders invade Z'Gambo. They are confronted by Aman, and then aided by the Black Cat, who stole the third of King Solomon's Frogs from Aman. They defeat Aman, only for him to reveal that the three Frogs are parts of another Concordance Engine, which he uses to blast the Defenders away.[citation needed]
They emerge in the past or an alternate reality, and decide to recruit Nick Fury to help them. Hydra intervened, and the Silver Surfer convinced Prester Omega to teleport them away once more.[citation needed]
Depowered[]
When the Order of the Shield's Terranometer determined Bruce was going to be responsible for an extinction-level event, she reluctantly enlisted Bruce's assistant Melinda Leucenstern to kill him.[18] After being shot, the Order of the Shield took Banner and attempted to implant a device to control him, but they failed when Bruce Hulked-out in the middle of the surgery.[19]
Bruce was later cured from his brain damage by Arno Stark with the use of a new version of Extremis,[20] however, this procedure unleashed a new personality for Banner, the super-intelligent, determined and arrogant Doc Green.[21]
When Doc Green began working on depowering every Gamma mutate on the Earth, he enlisted the help of Rick Jones, who had been the first Gamma-powered hero to be reverted back to normal, to depower Red She-Hulk. Rick visited Betty to inform her that the Hulk was coming for her to take her powers, and slipped the cure into her food. Doc Green appeared in Betty's house and fought her until the effects of the serum made effect. Doc Green then confronted her about the shooting of Bruce Banner, thanking her for causing his emergence, and telling her that Bruce Banner was now dead.
After Doc Green left the scene, Betty realized with dismay that she made the same mistake as Bruce, she had created a monster.